"It's not your place to tell Konoha how to handle its affairs, Rasa." Hearing Rasa's words, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression darkened as he spoke coldly.
"So, is Konoha just throwing its weight around now?" Mei Terumi rested her chin on her hand, her tone slightly teasing as she spoke.
Her words made the scene even more somber.
The atmosphere seemed to grow even more tense.
Many Kage from the smaller villages were already preparing to flee, fearing that a clash between the Great Villages would catch them in the crossfire.
"Konoha is indeed powerful right now." The one who answered Mei Terumi wasn't Sarutobi Hiruzen, but Lexon.
He spoke with a smile once more, drawing another wave of hostility.
"Brat, don't be too arrogant." Hearing Lexon's provocative words, Tsuchikage Onoki of Both Scales could no longer hold back. He shot a sharp glance at Lexon and spoke in a low voice.
"Is that so? I don't think so..." Lexon replied.
"Say something, Raikage... Has your Hidden Cloud Village plotted something with Konoha?" Onoki shifted his gaze toward Ay, who had remained silent. "Normally, you, with your explosive temper, should have been the first to blow up..."
He wanted to determine the Raikage's stance and what his relationship with Konoha was.
Or rather, was this meeting itself a trap?
Had the Hidden Cloud and Konoha joined forces to set a trap and wipe out the Kage of the other villages?
However, Raikage Ay remained silent and did not answer, keeping his eyes downcast as if he were completely indifferent to everything being said or done around him.
At that moment, Lexon moved.
He walked slowly from the entrance of the conference room toward the meeting table, heading for the chair at the head of the table.
"I advise you not to approach that chair," Rasa, who was already seated, suddenly warned.
Lexon ignored him entirely, continuing toward the head chair on his own.
[MAGNET STYLE: GOLD DUST]
Suddenly, chakra surged, and a mass of golden sand erupted from Rasa, striking directly at Lexon.
"BAM!"
A loud, heavy thud echoed through the conference room.
This was not the sound of the gold dust hitting its target.
It was the sound of a human head being slammed violently against the round conference table.
"What are you doing... Can't you just talk properly...?" Lexon stood beside Rasa's chair, pressing his head into the table, his voice calm and detached.
'When did he move...?'
Both Mei Terumi and Onoki were stunned in their seats.
They hadn't seen a single trace of his movement...
Not even a hint of a warning...
[MAGNET STYLE: GOLD DUST SPEAR]
Rasa, pinned to the table, was clearly enraged. More gold sand surged from him, instantly condensing into a sharp spear that lunged fiercely toward Lexon.
"It seems I can't let you keep it," Lexon said cryptically, and then a sudden, powerful attraction erupted from his palm.
Immediately, the chakra in Rasa's body surged out of control, drawn through Lexon's palm and flowing entirely into Lexon's body.
Deprived of the chakra needed to sustain it, the gold sand spear attacking Lexon instantly crumbled and fell to the floor.
"What... what did you do!" Rasa's voice rang out, weak and filled with a touch of terror.
He felt the chakra within him become completely empty, and it wasn't even regenerating...
He cried out in a panicked state.
"It's nothing. I simply extracted your chakra. From now on, you won't be able to use ninjutsu." Lexon's voice remained flat, as if he were discussing a trivial matter.
This was a technique learned from Kaguya; it could completely drain an opponent's chakra, effectively turning them into an ordinary person...
"You! You! You..." Rasa was at a loss for words.
Extracting someone's chakra and making it impossible for them to ever use ninjutsu again...
Was such a thing even humanly possible?
Rasa found it utterly incomprehensible.
"No need to thank me," Lexon said with a smile.
"Lord Kazekage!" Rasa's two bodyguards finally reacted. They had been negligent before, assuming the intruder would be killed by the Kazekage's attack, and only now did they rush forward.
"This is Konoha!" The one who moved wasn't Lexon, but Sarutobi Hiruzen.
He stood up from his chair and summoned his great staff, knocking both guards flying with a single strike each, before ordering the Konoha ninja on standby to restrain them.
"Hokage! What is the meaning of this!" Mei Terumi's face paled as she stood up.
At this point, she was convinced that this meeting was indeed a pre-arranged trap, just as the Tsuchikage had suggested.
She immediately entered a combat stance, prepared to resist.
"Tsuchikage!" she called out to the man who shared her position.
Escaping from Konoha's heart would be impossible without the Tsuchikage's help.
"Don't bother resisting, Mizukage." Compared to the relatively new Mei Terumi, the aging Onoki saw the situation far more clearly.
Uchiha Lexon's speed and his method of draining chakra were not things they could fight against...
Resisting would only result in him sharing Rasa's fate...
Onoki decided it was better to simply cooperate.
Hadn't the man said, "It seems I can't let you keep it"?
That implied that if he didn't resist, he might be allowed to keep his powers...
"Tsuchikage!" Mei Terumi was clearly reluctant to surrender and be at their mercy, so she called out again.
But Onoki ignored her and looked at Ay, asking, "Raikage, did you know about this all along?"
"I didn't know he could drain someone's chakra," Ay said, speaking for the first time since arriving.
"So you knew that chair belonged to him and accepted it..." Onoki understood his meaning, stroked his beard, and continued, "Since even you've accepted it, this old man can't refuse either. Uchiha Lexon is indeed qualified."
While giving himself an out, Onoki was also indirectly currying favor with Lexon.
Seeing the situation was grim, he immediately changed his stance.
Any trace of his earlier displeasure was gone.
"Lord Tsuchikage..." Behind Onoki, his granddaughter Kurotsuchi was speechless seeing her grandfather's shameless display.
Beside her, Onoki's son Kitsuchi—Kurotsuchi's father—whispered into his daughter's ear, "Learn from this. If you want to be Tsuchikage one day, you have to be this shameless."
"Hmm?" Onoki heard him and turned to glare at Kitsuchi.
Kitsuchi flinched.
Seeing that she had no support from her fellow Kage, Mei Terumi sat back down in frustration.
After Onoki spoke, she added, "I also agree that Uchiha Lexon has that qualification."
"So, I can step on your heads now?" Lexon smiled at Mei Terumi, the future 'big sister' who was still somewhat green as a new Mizukage.
"You... can..." Mei Terumi forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"Very well." Lexon didn't press them further. He released Rasa's head, which had gone silent, and took his seat at the head of the table.
For a moment, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone was waiting for Lexon to speak.
Without making them wait, Lexon sat up straight and spoke directly to all the Kage: "From now on, the Ninja World and all nations will unite to form a Ninja and National Alliance. We will be under unified management, developing and progressing together."
"War is prohibited. All disputes will be resolved through other means."
Just a few simple sentences.
But when he finished speaking, the silence remained.
Every face in the room was etched with an expression of utter disbelief.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]