"Brat, you're being too reckless."
Facing the oncoming yellow sand, Raikage A showed no fear. He released his lightning chakra and charged straight into the sandstorm.
The speed of the lightning was so fast that the yellow sand couldn't stop Raikage's assault.
"Gaara, be careful."
Seeing the powerful advance of Raikage, Temari opened her fan, and Kankuro took out his puppet. The two stood in front of Gaara, wanting to block Raikage.
"Get out of the way."
Unfortunately, neither Temari nor Kankuro were a match for Raikage.
With just one punch and one kick, Raikage sent the two flying out of his path.
At this moment, Gaara stood still, not moving, as if he was stunned by the sight.
"Brat, you'll pay for your arrogance."
Raikage A shouted and raised his fist, charged with lightning chakra, aiming for Gaara's face.
In that instant, a wall of sand suddenly appeared in front of Raikage.
"Boom!"
The powerful attack hit the sand wall, creating a muffled sound.
Gaara had successfully blocked Raikage's attack.
"Not bad, brat. Looks like you have some strength. How about this?"
Earlier, Raikage A had only wanted to teach Gaara a lesson, to show him that the world of adults was harsh and not a game like the one he played.
After his attack was blocked, Raikage A restrained his underestimation, now seeing Gaara as a proper opponent.
"Whoosh~"
Just as Raikage A prepared to continue his assault on Gaara, a golden figure flashed in front of him.
"Ai, how about we hold a meeting first?"
"Minato, are you trying to stop me?"
The person who suddenly appeared in front of Raikage was none other than the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, Minato Namikaze.
The reason why Minato didn't address A as the Raikage was that he wanted to use the friendship they built during the Third Great Ninja War to try and mediate with him.
After all, this was the place for the Five Kage Summit. Even if they didn't show respect to the host country, the Land of Iron, they still needed to consider the other three major ninja villages' Kages, right?
A understood this, so he didn't oppose Minato's attempt to mediate.
However, in order to maintain his dignity as the Raikage, he still threw some harsh words at Gaara.
"Kid, for the Fourth Hokage's sake, I'll let you go this time."
As for the Raikage's words, Gaara remained expressionless. He just replied coldly, "Is that so?"
Then, he gestured for the Raikage to look behind him.
"Huh?"
The moment the Raikage turned around, he was instantly furious again.
Because behind him, Darui and C were already wrapped up by Gaara's sand.
From the symbols on the surface of the sand, it seemed like Gaara had used a sealing jutsu.
If Gaara wanted to, he could eliminate both of them in an instant.
"Damned kid, let them go!"
With that, the Raikage erupted again, releasing his Lightning Chakra.
If it weren't for the safety of his right and left hands, he really wanted to punch Gaara out of existence.
"Fifth Kazekage, can you please let this slide for my sake?"
Minato was also exhausted.
He had just managed to calm down the Raikage, and now Gaara was causing trouble again.
Minato just hoped Gaara would show him some respect as Naruto's father.
Otherwise, this Five Kage Summit would end up as a joke.
"Fine."
Gaara nodded, agreeing to Minato's mediation, and immediately released Darui and C.
"Phew~"
"Hah~"
As soon as the two of them were freed, they immediately started breathing heavily.
"Darui, C, are you two okay?"
Raikage Ai gave Gaara a deep look, then walked up to Darui and C.
"We're fine, boss. It was just too stuffy inside the sand."
"Yeah, it was so suffocating that even breathing was hard."
Seeing that they were really fine, Raikage Ai snorted coldly and sat back down in his seat.
On Gaara's side, seeing that Raikage Ai didn't continue to make trouble, he asked about Temari and Kankuro's situation. After getting a reply that they were okay, he also sat back down at the position for Sunagakure.
Mifune, who was in charge of hosting the meeting, saw that the situation had calmed down, so he began to fulfill his duties as the host.
"Ahem... Since all participants are here, I declare that the Five Kage Summit officially begins."
It was said to have begun, but none of the Kage spoke up first.
The Kages of Sunagakure and Konohagakure were not in a hurry.
The ones who were anxious were the Kages of Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure.
Among these three villages, Kumogakure was the most anxious.
After all, their village had been destroyed by the Akatsuki organization.
When it comes to hatred for the Akatsuki, Kumogakure is the most passionate.
"Tsuchikage, Mizukage, since neither of you is speaking, I'll speak first."
Sure enough, Raikage Ai was the first to lose his patience and spoke up, "I propose that the five major ninja villages unite to form an elite ninja force to deal with the Akatsuki."
As soon as these words were spoken, Tsuchikage Onoki immediately replied, "There's no issue with forming a ninja team together, but the question is, who will lead this team?"
When it came to dealing with the Akatsuki organization, the positions of Iwagakure and Kumogakure were aligned.
However, Onoki didn't want to hand over the power to lead the team.
He didn't trust anyone else.
"The Five Kage Summit was proposed by us, Kumogakure, and it was also our suggestion to form this ninja team. Therefore, the leadership of this team should naturally belong to us, Kumogakure."
Upon hearing this, Onoki sneered and said, "In that case, you Kumogakure handle it yourselves. We, Iwagakure, won't participate."
After speaking, Onoki waved to Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi to leave.
Seeing this, Mifune immediately stepped in and said to Onoki, "Tsuchikage-sama, please don't let emotions cloud your judgment."
"This is not about emotions. Given the current situation of Kumogakure, they are truly not suited to lead this team," Onoki replied.
Everyone present, except for the Kumogakure representatives, nodded in agreement.
Kumogakure was nowhere near as strong as it once was.
After Pain's Shinra Tensei attack, their overall strength had dropped to the bottom among the Five Great Shinobi Countries.
During the peak of Kumogakure's power under the Third Raikage, Onoki had never thought highly of them, so it was even less likely now, when Kumogakure was at its weakest.
Similarly, Onoki did not have high regard for Sunagakure or Kirigakure.
The only village that truly made him wary was Konoha.
"Heh, I see. It's not that Kumogakure wants to lead the team; it's that you, Onoki, are the one who wants the leadership role. You're just a power-hungry person," Raikage A said.
Raikage A knew that Kumogakure had no chance of leading the team.
However, if they couldn't lead it, then Onoki shouldn't be allowed to either.
Raikage A was determined to ruin Onoki's plans.
*********
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