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We were worried sick, terrified that things would erupt into a fight any second—and the two of you are just sitting there eating and drinking like it’s a casual picnic?

It wasn’t just Fugaku who felt this way. The Iwagakure ninja who had followed their Tsuchikage out here were equally stunned. Their eyelids twitched uncontrollably as they watched their venerable leader sitting side by side with Kazuki, calmly sharing food and sake.

They kept sending subtle signals toward Ōnoki—silent pleas that basically said, "Lord Tsuchikage, is this really appropriate?"

Unfortunately, Ōnoki completely ignored them. He only gave a discreet gesture from behind his back, warning them not to approach carelessly.

"Father, there’s no need to worry. Lord Advisor will be fine. Even if it does come to blows, the Tsuchikage won’t necessarily come out on top."

Knowing that Fugaku was struggling to stay calm, Itachi spoke up quietly to reassure him. There was no reason to fret excessively—just wait patiently and trust the situation.

Honestly, I have no idea what you’re so worked up about. The one you should actually be worried about is whether Kazuki will hold back too much. If he accidentally kills the old man with one careless strike, Konoha will have a much bigger headache on its hands.

Orochimaru shook his head in silent exasperation.

Am I seriously the only one concerned here?

Fugaku stared in disbelief at his son and Orochimaru. How could the two of them be so composed?

Itachi remained silent. Orochimaru’s lips curled slightly as he offered an example:

"At such close range, with Lord Kazuki’s Mangekyō Sharingan abilities, it’s entirely possible that the Tsuchikage would be placed under direct control before he even realized what was happening. Even with precautions, dodging it would be extremely difficult. And even if direct control fails, it’s far from certain that the Tsuchikage would be able to turn the tables."

"Dust Release isn’t invincible."

Of course, Dust Release was powerful—terrifyingly so.

But it was not unbeatable.

If Dust Release truly had the power to sweep across the entire shinobi world unchallenged, Ōnoki would have taken Iwagakure soaring to dominance long ago.

There would have been no need for the village to develop its strength so cautiously and steadily over the years.

"That’s Uchiha Fugaku and Orochimaru over there, isn’t it? That young one looks quite worried about your safety."

Ōnoki set down his cup and casually swept his gaze toward Fugaku.

Kazuki smiled lightly and tilted his head slightly in the direction where the Iwagakure ninja were hiding:

"It seems the ninja of your village are equally worried about your safety, Tsuchikage. Look at them—all those people lurking in the shadows, afraid I might do something to you."

We’re all in the same boat here. Do you really have the nerve to say something like that?

Compared to me, your own people are far more nervous about you, old man.

You’re getting on in years—don’t go pushing yourself too hard. What if something happens? Even if you don’t die, what if you throw out your back? That would be embarrassing.

Everyone in the shinobi world knows your age is catching up to you and your waist isn’t what it used to be.

"Heh heh~~~"

Ōnoki gave a dry, humorless chuckle—more of a meaningful "heh" than genuine laughter.

Kazuki didn’t take it personally. The old man was clearly holding back a lot of anger. If all he did was throw out a sarcastic little "heh" instead of attacking outright, that was already being remarkably restrained.

After all, Iwagakure had just been thoroughly humiliated by Konoha—no, stabbed in the back by them. For Ōnoki to keep his composure and sit here sharing drinks was already quite something. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

If it had been the Raikage in his place, the man would have been roaring and charging in for a fight by now.

So Kazuki responded in kind, perfectly calm.

"Heh heh..."

"..."

When Ōnoki had let out his own dry laugh earlier, he hadn’t thought much of it.

But the instant Kazuki mirrored him with an equally insincere "heh heh," Ōnoki’s face immediately began to flush red. He felt unmistakably mocked.

"..."

Ōnoki’s anger flared up in an instant.

Kazuki tilted his head in mild puzzlement.

What? You can "heh heh," but I can’t?

"..."

Fine.

Forcing himself to rein in his emotions, Ōnoki took a deep breath. He kept silently warning himself: don’t get angry, don’t lose control. There was no point in it. Losing his temper now would only push the situation into territory that would be impossible to recover from.

It took him quite a while, but eventually Ōnoki managed to stabilize his emotions, which had been teetering on the edge of explosion.

Once he calmed down, he didn’t refuse Kazuki’s gesture. He lifted his cup again, and Kazuki obligingly refilled it to the brim.

Ōnoki stared at the liquid swirling gently inside the cup.

"Kazuki, I’m sure you can see it clearly: the current chaos in the shinobi world has been entirely orchestrated by the Akatsuki organization. They want the five great villages to tear each other apart, exhausting our strength in the process. That serves their plans perfectly."

The Mizukage Yagura has already been taken over by the Akatsuki. Do you really need to guess who’s behind all this?

It’s obvious.

"Exactly. No matter how brainless Rasa might be, even he wouldn’t be foolish enough to attack the daimyo of the Land of Water on his own. The Akatsuki has plenty of ways to control people. Having a group of Sunagakure ninja carry out the assassination under their influence is child’s play for them."

Kazuki didn’t bother denying Ōnoki’s words—he openly acknowledged them.

The war tearing through the shinobi world right now was indeed the Akatsuki’s handiwork from behind the scenes.

"But even if we see it clearly, what can we do? I can’t control the other villages. Managing to keep Konoha somewhat stable is already an achievement."

You’re stabilizing nothing.

If you truly wanted to stabilize the situation, would he have formed an alliance with Kumogakure? Would he have stabbed Iwagakure in the back?

Ōnoki’s nose almost twisted sideways from sheer frustration at those words.

Before he could recover, Kazuki pressed forward with another question:

"Since you’ve already seen through it all, Tsuchikage, why did you still choose to launch a war against Takigakure? Aren’t you afraid of causing an even bigger disaster?"

You want to walk your own path until there’s nowhere left to walk? Trying to play the emotional card with the Akatsuki? Not going to work.

Since you brought it up, let me ask you straight: knowing full well that everything is being manipulated by the Akatsuki, why did you still give the order to attack Takigakure?

Isn’t that just slapping your own face?

"..."

Kazuki’s sharp counterquestion instantly choked off everything Ōnoki had been about to say.

He no longer had any way to use the Akatsuki as an excuse to persuade Kazuki.

The path had been completely blocked.

"So Konoha is going to keep waging war against my village from here on out?"

"You and I are sitting here together right now precisely because of that question, aren’t we?"

Ōnoki was starting to lose his temper. Kazuki, however, kept his smile perfectly in place:

"The village has already formed an alliance with Kumogakure. As allies, we naturally have to fulfill our responsibilities. War cannot be stopped. Of course... how far that war goes will depend entirely on your village’s actions."

In short, the war itself could not end.

But the scale of the war? That could be controlled.

After all, Konoha was now allied with Kumogakure. Your ally is currently fighting for their life on the Takigakure battlefield, while you sit back, reap all the benefits, and do absolutely nothing. If word of that got out, who would ever want to form an alliance with Konoha again?

Who would trust a village that breaks its word so easily?

Therefore, the war could not stop.

The only variable was how tightly its scale could be restrained.

Whether that scale remained manageable would depend entirely on how Iwagakure behaved from this point forward.

Understood: the war will not end, but its scope can be limited.

For Ōnoki, this was actually not terrible news. Konoha would not commit massive forces to a prolonged, all-out assault on Iwagakure. But small-scale skirmishes and raids would be unavoidable.

Even if not for Konoha’s own interests, they still had to uphold their obligations as an ally.

"What you call ’controllable,’ then, means personally coming to the border line, preparing once again to destroy the camps my village has only just begun rebuilding?"