[Land of Wind - Sunagakure No Sato]
Sunagakure's council chamber had never felt smaller than it did now. While in name, Suna was one of the five major ninja villages in the elemental nation, however, there was no doubt it was the smallest in terms of it army side and actual power.
And today, that gap felt bigger than ever with so many of their shinobi being hostage in Konoha.
Baki stood before what remained of Suna's leadership, one of the few who was able to escape that shit show in due time, before everything went to shit.
Him with a few handful of jōnin advisors, the treasury overseer whose face had gone gray reciting the numbers, and two elders who'd been dragged out of a retirement they'd clearly hoped was permanent.
"Lord Rasa is dead," Baki said, because someone had to say it plainly before the meeting could move anywhere useful. "He took down the Hokage along side him in the invasion, or the other way around..." Baki added that last part quitely.
"An invasion this council never fully endorsed," one of the jōnin muttered.
"And I presume you had an better choice for the village's declining economy and funding, or perhaps you could do something about the significantly less missions we get now since the Daimiyo of wind has reduce our budget and have started allocating more mission to both Konoha and Iwa. Missions which were supposed to be assigned our village." Chiyo snapped back, sharper than her frail frame suggested she had any right to be.
She'd been called out of retirement that morning, along with her brother Ebizo, both of them summoned the moment it became clear nobody currently sitting on the council had the standing to actually lead this conversation. "Rasa saw the same numbers the rest of us did. Our reserves were bleeding out long before the exams. He made a desperate choice. Desperate doesn't mean wrong, only that we had no better option to offer instead."
"It means we're now leaderless, indebted, and about to face demands from a village we just attacked," Ebizo said, dry as sand itself. "Whatever justification existed beforehand, we still have to survive what comes next."
The treasury overseer cleared his throat. "Konoha has already signaled they intend to open negotiation regarding hostages and compensation talks. Given the scale of damage we caused, and the loss of their Hokage specifically, those terms will not be generous."
"And Gaara," Chiyo said, quieter now, the name landing heavier than anything else in the room. "Our jinchūriki, currently in their custody. Along with Kankuro and Temari."
"Are they even alive?" one advisor asked.
"Reports say yes," Baki said. "Gaara is reportedly unharmed. Physically, at least. What state his mind is in after however he was subdued, none of us know yet."
"Then that becomes priority one," Ebizo said. "Bringing back our shinobi back, specially village's Jinchuriki. We need our children back, and we need a Kazekage in place before Konoha or anyone else decides Suna is simply there to be picked apart."
Nobody in the room had a name ready for that particular problem. The silence that followed made clear just how badly that gap needed filling, and how little anyone currently present felt qualified to fill it.
-x-
[Land of Water - Kirigakure No Sato]
A similiar discussion was taking place in Kiri, however, Kirigakure's meeting carried a different, quieter kind of dread.
The village had only recently begun climbing out from under the shadow of the Bloody Mist era, Mei's leadership the first real promise of something better after years of purges and paranoia. Now she was gone — not dead, reports insisted, but held in Konoha custody, critically wounded, her exact condition still uncertain.
If they knew that their Mizukage was turn into a nuetron star by one of the kunoichi of the leaf, then they might already have declare war.
"We cannot afford instability right now," one councilman said, voice tight. "Not after everything it took to steady this village under her."
"Then we negotiate for her return quickly," another pressed. "Whatever the cost."
"The cost will not be small," a third pointed out. "We joined an invasion against Konoha. Whatever sympathy we might have earned by participating conditionally rather than wholeheartedly, it won't erase that we still attacked them."
"Better a costly negotiation than a power vacuum," the first councilman said. "This village has seen what a vacuum at the top does to us. We are not doing that again."
Nobody argued that point. Nobody needed to. The silence in that room carried the weight of an era none of them wanted to repeat, and getting Mei back, whatever it took, mattered more to most of them than pride ever would.
-x-
[Land of Earth - Iawagakure No Sato]
Onoki received the news the same way he received most news these days — without visible reaction, and without any immediate intention to act on it. He wasn't called the fence sitter for no reason.
"Two kage dead in a single day," his advisor reported. "Konoha weakened and old monkey Hiruzen Sarutobi is finally dead. Suna in economic collapse and also lost his kage, shame, Rasa was rather young if I't not wrong. And as for Kiri, that woman Terumi Mei was captured, meaning kiri leadership is in disarray."
"And?" Onoki asked, not looking up from whatever paperwork currently held his attention.
"Several among the council believe this is an opportunity, Tsuchikage-sama."
"Several among the council are impatient fools," Onoki said flatly. "Let the others move first. Let them bleed each other further while we sit comfortably and watch. If war comes, Iwa will decide when it comes, not react to whatever chaos Suna and Kiri stumbled their way into."
The advisor didn't press further. Onoki's reputation as the fence-sitter of the five great villages hadn't been earned by accident, and there was little use arguing with a strategy that had kept Iwa intact through worse situations than this one.
-x-
[Land of Lighting - Kumogakure No Sato]
If any village greeted the news with something close to celebration, it was Kumogakure.
The council chamber buzzed with an energy that hadn't been present in months, ever since the Raikage's disappearance had first thrown the village into quiet, simmering suspicion.
Darui stood near the head of the table, doing his best to keep the mood from tipping fully into recklessness. Samui stood a short distance away, arms crossed, her brother Atsui radiating far less restraint beside her.
Mabui, might be the calmest of them all, hovered near the door with a stack of reports she hadn't yet had the chance to fully deliver. And near the far wall, still favoring the side of his body missing an arm, sat Killer Bee — recovering, but far from whole.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen is dead," one of the elders said, satisfaction bleeding through every syllable. "Their village gutted by an invasion from two other great powers. This is the opening we've been waiting for."
"Waiting for, or manufacturing excuses to want," Darui said evenly. "We still don't have confirmation Konoha was directly responsible for the Raikage's disappearance."
"We have Bee's testimony," another elder shot back. "A four-armed monster, wearing a Konoha forehead protector, nearly killed him and took his arm in the process. What further confirmation do you require?"
"And that all we have, we all believe in lord Bee, but what about the Daimiyo, what about other nation, if we start a war now, what excuse we give them…?"
"What excuse is needed, we saw the chance and we attack, is there really an excuse needed for us, we are shinobi for Kami's sake."
"Enough… if anyone here is suitable to talk about this matter then it should be Lord Bee…"
All eyes drifted toward Bee at that. He hadn't spoken yet, and the silence stretched long enough to become its own kind of statement.
"That thing wasn't playing around," Bee finally said, low, none of his usual rhyming cadence present at all. "He was dangerous, far to dangerous for us to face it without knowing what we're dealing with."
"Which is precisely why we should act now," the first elder pressed, "before that monster grows into something even less manageable."
"Or precisely why we shouldn't," Samui cut in. "Let's say that monster as Lord Bee describe is really from Hidden Leaf, who is currently in the village could beat him ?"
"She's not wrong," Atsui admitted, more subdued than his usual bravado.
Mabui raised a hand before the argument could spiral further. "We do nothing rash. We gather intelligence first — on this individual specifically, on Konoha's actual remaining strength, on whether Suna and Kiri intend to regroup or fold entirely. We need to know how the land of fire's Daimiyo will react to this invasion, whether other two villages involve in this go to war or decide to negotiate peace, what's Onoki's stand on this. And lastly, we need to know about this four hand four eyes monster who almost killed Lord Killer bee…"
"Half this council wants war regardless of what intelligence says," Darui murmured, just loud enough for Mabui to catch.
"Then half this council will be overruled," Mabui said, tone leaving no real room for debate.
"We can't act rashly, not when we're currently lacking our own Kage." Said one of the man while eyes directed at Darui.
"Not that again…"
"You're the only one currently capable of taking the position. You have to take responsibility, its you're duty as a direct disciple of Raikage Sama."
-x-
[Land of Fire - Konohagakure No Sato]
Sukuna had lost track of how many missions he'd run in the past week alone. With Tsunade confined to the village and every available shinobi stretched thin covering the gaps the invasion had torn open, requests kept piling up faster than anyone could clear them, and somehow his name kept landing at the top of the list.
He was only a special Jonin damnit, how come he was given so any mission back to back. He highly suspected that old hag was misusing the power given to her.
Yup, somehow, he have no idea how, but somehow those two remaining old fossils were able to convince Tsunade to take the Hokage position.
It could simply be the world correcting it course but who cares about that, Sukuna didn't needed this kind of course correction if that mean he will be the one getting grinded to the dust by back to back mission.
He could swear Tsunade was doing this on purpose.
He finished the latest one with barely enough time to change out of his gear before Aizawa intercepted him in the hospital hallway.
"Good, you're back," Aizawa said, already steering him toward a patient room without waiting for a response. "What took you so long brat ?"
"Old man, how many times I have to tell you, I have got tons of mission, stop calling me to heal every other person with crack bones and puctured lips.
"Oh, the cases I assign you were only cracks bones and puctured lips for you, then we might as well just playing with bandages…" Aizawa snorted.
And it was true, he only demanded I came when the matter was serious. Which recently with all the increase work load and no enough rest, was quite often.
That got a short, humorless laugh out of Sukuna. Of course he had. "Let me guess. You also want to talk to me again about a full-time position while I'm here."
"The offer remains open," Aizawa said, entirely unbothered by the eye-roll that earned him.
"Whatever… who I'm fixing this time."
"I need you on Sasuke Uchiha. Personally."
Sukuna raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke… what happened to him ?"
"He decided challenging Neji Hyūga to a fight was a good idea," Aizawa said flatly, "His condition isn't lethal but the damage is too much for any of us to take it and be done by tonight itself."
Sasuke's injuries turned out to be exactly as bad as advertised. Multiple fractures along both arms, cracked ribs, and a dense cluster of sealed tenketsu that would have left him unable to draw on his own chakra properly for weeks without intervention.
Not lethal for sure…It wasn't even close to what Sukuna had patched together on a battlefield days ago. Just thorough, precise, and clearly delivered by someone who'd wanted to make a point rather than actually kill him.
'Naoya Zenin holding back… hmmm,' Sukuna honestly had to think about it and the only thing which he could think of it was the man seems to have gotten a bit more smarter than go around acting like a young master.
"That also reminds me I have to go and talk to him as well…say hello as new neighbour hood jujustsu sorcerer, but this damn woman not giving me enough time to even breath nowadays. I might as well storm her office and demand an force abduction at this point." He grumbled.
He didn't even need to wonder why Sasuke will go and challenge Neji either, it was rather simple.
Sukuna worked through it methodically, mending bone and reopening blocked chakra pathways one by one, Sasuke unconscious and mercifully unaware of just how much pride had apparently gone into this particular beating.
Once he was finished with the brother, he made his way down the hall to check on sister next, same as he had every day since the invasion ended.
She looked the same as always on the surface — steady vitals, no new damage, nothing the charts would flag as concerning. But when Sukuna let his awareness settle briefly over her cursed energy, the way he always did out of habit more than necessity, something felt subtly different than it had a few days ago. Nothing alarming. Nothing he could immediately name.
Just a shift. Small, quiet, and impossible to ignore once he noticed it.
He stood there a moment longer than usual, frowning slightly, before going close and take a look.
Just as his face right above her, he found her hands snap around his neck out of nowhere, completely caught even him off guard.
Before he even register the act, his face was yanked down by the hand…
"Smoooooooooooooooch!!!"
xXx
A/N : My boi seems to getting popular…huh.
Please Consider Donating Power Stones if you like the Chapter.
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patreon on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond