"Onoki’s sly as a fox — who knows what schemes he’s cooking up. I’m not afraid of him personally, but I worry he’ll do something utterly stupid and hand Madara the power of the Tailed Beasts." Right now the only Jinchūriki still wandering free were Iwagakure’s old Rōshi and Han; most of the others were tightly watched by their villages. True, none of those precautions would be perfect against someone like Madara sneaking in, but at least they were safer than leaving people completely unchecked. Onoki’s posture lately was like a man bent on unifying the shinobi world — trying to seize hegemony. Kanda Kyoichi thought for a moment and said, "Konoha has always preached peace — we don’t chase domination. Still, Onoki needs an answer from us; we can’t let him have anything to exploit later." "That’s for sure," Tsunade nodded. She agreed with Kyoichi. No matter what Onoki might be up to behind the scenes, such a claim could not go unanswered. How to answer mattered. You couldn’t simply write back "we prefer peace" and be done with it, nor could you put something as explosive as Madara in a letter. Kyoichi tapped his fingers and said, "Tsunade-nee, let’s convene a Five Kage Summit." "A Five Kage Summit?" Tsunade frowned — it gave her a headache. "That would require Madara’s cooperation. You don’t think a few words from us will make them agree to a summit...?" "It’s not that hard. Of the five great villages we’ve already got three on board. Onoki’s not likely to refuse outright, so we only need to convince Kumogakure," Kyoichi replied, pausing to mention that Minato was already heading to Kumogakure. Tsunade already knew about that — the travel permission had been her okay. If Kumo agreed, a Five Kage Summit led by Konoha would indeed be possible. Tsunade’s spirits lifted. The last Five Kage Summit had been in the First Hokage’s time... She thought for a few seconds, then slammed her hand on the table. "All right! We’ll call the Five Kage Summit — let Madara see the strength of the Five Great Villages!" Shizune’s blood ran hot hearing that; she felt like a witness to history and imagined Tsunade’s name written in the annals. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝※𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖※𝕟𝕖𝕥 But the next moment Kyoichi straightened up and cooled things down. "Don’t get carried away. Even if the summit succeeds and a shinobi coalition is formed, most of those villages will be little more than flag-wavers — useful against those weird biological things, but not necessarily decisive in battle." "True — you reminded me. Even if they have the manpower, they might not actually send it. After the last great war many villages are still recovering," Tsunade said, sobering. She was right. If a coalition were only going to shout encouragement while Konoha did the fighting and others picked over the spoils, the alliance would be pointless. What use those villages have remains important. "For things like those monsters, everyone must contribute manpower — Konoha can’t be the only one on the front lines. As for Madara... I’ll go first and try," Tsunade said. Madara wasn’t the same as the White Zetsu creatures. Those were individually not that powerful — hard to spot and a pain to deal with, but ultimately a matter of numbers once you knew how to detect them. That called for broad participation. Madara, though, was different. In the shinobi world his name meant "legend" and "invincibility." Until things reached a desperate point, leaders would hesitate to step forward. That hesitation needed someone to push — to prove Madara wasn’t undefeatable. A Madara who hadn’t been fully resurrected and who had weakened with age, even if he rebuilt a fightable body with those White Zetsu bits, still wouldn’t be invincible without the Rinnegan. There was one nagging question everyone kept returning to — the long-said, old worry: Does Nagato’s heart actually carry a curse from Madara? Since Tsunade was present, it was the perfect moment to discuss it. Kyoichi thought for a moment and glanced at Shizune. "Shizune, you go do what you need to do." Shizune froze at first, then bowed quickly. "I’m sorry — I’ll go at once!" "Right. I’m discussing something important with Tsunade," Kyoichi replied. Tsunade’s mouth twitched. The exchange was straightforward and perfectly appropriate, but something about Shizune’s instant apology had left a strange air in the room. Tsunade let the thought go and allowed her mind to focus. Kyoichi began to plan how to present the "curse" issue. To make the case convincing, he’d need a concrete example — the best one would be the Third Mizukage and Yagura. One is the Mizukage; the other had been a substitute Mizukage. Both, it seemed, had been manipulated by Madara — strong evidence that Madara possessed some kind of controlling technique. Tsunade’s expression grew graver as she listened. "You mean there was foreign chakra present at the locations of the Mizukage and Yagura’s hearts?" she asked. "Yes. It disappeared fast, but I’m certain it was there," Kyoichi nodded. Tsunade felt a headache rising — but oddly, she wasn’t surprised. Madara could bring the dead back. Of course he’d leave contingencies, some method to control Nagato. A terrifying thought took root. "Could he control Nagato even after he died?" Tsunade muttered. "Maybe," Kyoichi said. "Tailed Beasts are, fundamentally, amalgamations of chakra. The Sage of Six Paths created them with a secret method that infused them with true consciousness — Madara, possessing the Rinnegan, could plausibly have learned a similar ritual." Silence filled the room. If Madara could exert influence after death, that was dangerous for the entire ninja world. Tsunade took a breath, fingers curling as if to strike the table. "That old bastard won’t even let people rest. If Nagato truly has such a curse, we need to remove it. Or... why not replace his eyes?" She proposed another measure: if Madara wanted the Rinnegan, swap Nagato’s eyes for something else and seal or destroy them — then Madara would be thwarted. But Kyoichi raised another concern. What if the Otsutsuki — those dangerous cosmic-level players — ever showed up in the world? Without the Rinnegan, they might become a far greater problem. And sealing the eyes might not be a safe long-term solution. "First, let’s find out if there’s really a curse on Nagato," Kyoichi said. "If there is, we’ll remove it. We have those special cells now — maybe we can try creating an artificial heart." Tsunade considered that. Creating a replacement heart would be a major medical undertaking, but with the research they’d been doing, perhaps it wasn’t impossible. *************************** Read advanced Chapters ahead of everyone else on my P@treon.