Kurotsuchi's voice trembled with disbelief.

  “You’re telling me that both Han and Rōshi got captured? And not only that, we were unable to respond in time?”

  She stood in the war room of Iwagakure, arms rigid at her sides, fists clenched. Behind her, a half-dozen shinobi remained frozen around the mission board, no one spoke, and no one moved to correct her.

  Because it was true.

  Her grandfather, the Third Tsuchikage, sat in grim silence across the table. Onoki’s face was pale beneath his thick brow, his lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. Age had never dulled his instincts, and yet this time… even he had been too late.

  “I saw the battlefield myself,” muttered Akatsuchi, voice uncharacteristically heavy.

  “Nothing but craters. Burnt-out trees. Collapsed ridgelines. It’s like a storm hit them. Not even a trace of the Tailed Beasts’ chakra left behind.”

  Kurotsuchi turned toward him sharply.

  “Did you confirm they were taken alive?”

  Akatsuchi hesitated.

  “I… think so. There wasn’t much to go on. No bodies. No blood. But no sign of escape, either.”

  Onoki’s voice finally cut through the air like falling stone.

  “It was the masked one. The one Konoha warned us about, Obito, or whatever his name is. And the other… the one with the Rinnegan. The man who calls himself Pain.”

  Kurotsuchi looked stunned.

  “Both of them?”

  Onoki didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.

  The silence dragged.

  Then, without raising his voice, the Tsuchikage gave the order.

  “Inform the other villages. I want a summit convened. Immediately.”

  Inside the Raikage’s office, the air was just as charged.

  Ay stood staring out the massive window at the clouds churning below, his gargantuan frame a silhouette of pure, contained rage. Every muscle in his body was coiled as tight as a steel spring.

  First Yugito, then his own brother, Bee.

  Gone.

  Snatched from under his nose by that cursed organization. The shame was a physical, burning weight in his gut, eclipsed only by his fury.

  Beside him, Darui slouched against a wall, his expression one of weary exhaustion. Mabui stood rigidly by the desk, holding a stack of intelligence reports that seemed to grow heavier with each passing moment.

  “Still no word,” Darui said, his voice a low drawl that did nothing to mask the tension. “It’s been weeks since Bee… you know. We’ve had patrols combing every inch of the coast. Nothing.”

  “Because they are not on the coast!”

  Ay roared, slamming his fist against the reinforced glass of the window. A web of cracks spiderwebbed outwards, but the pane held.

  “They are in some damned hideout, their base of operations, and we have no idea where it is!”

  He spun around, his face a mask of frustration. Kumogakure had been stubborn.

  After losing the Two-Tails, they had tripled their internal security, confident in their strength. They had refused to share detailed intelligence with the other villages, viewing it as an admission of weakness.

  Then Bee was taken.

  The silence that followed was born not just of strategy, but of deep, provincial pride and profound embarrassment. They would handle their own.

  They always had.

  “Konoha is the key,” Mabui said, her voice crisp and logical, a stark contrast to the Raikage's volcanic anger.

  “Our intelligence confirms they currently hold the Jinchūriki of the One, Six, and Seven-Tails, in addition to their own Nine-Tails. They are turning Konoha into a fortress for the Tailed Beasts.”

  “They are hoarding them!”

  Ay countered, his voice dripping with suspicion.

  “Turning them into weapons, just as the villages have always done! How do we know this isn’t some elaborate Leaf plot?”

  “Sir, with respect, the threat of Akatsuki is a verified, global one,” Darui sighed.

  “Konoha has been advocating against them for the longest time. In fact, most of our intelligence about the organization comes from them.”

  Ay growled, unconvinced.

  Their intel also pointed to the Mizukage of Kirigakure, Yagura Karatachi, being a fully-realized Jinchūriki of the Three-Tails. But recent reports painted Yagura as unstable, his village descending into a bloody mist of paranoia and purges.

  He was no ally.

  If anything, he was the Akatsuki’s next most likely target, and there wasn’t a thing Kumo could do about it. They were isolated, powerful, and utterly impotent.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  A knock at the door broke the tense standoff.

  A shinobi with the sigil of Kumo’s intelligence division stepped inside, bowing low.

  “Raikage-sama. An urgent message, Level-A priority.”

  The Raikage snatched the scroll. He tore it open, his eyes blazing as he read the contents. The thick paper crinkled in his iron grip.

  He was silent for a full ten seconds.

  “What is it, Lord Raikage?”

  Mabui asked tentatively.

  Ay looked up, his expression a thundercloud of conflicting emotions. Rage, suspicion, and a sliver of raw, grudging necessity.

  He tossed the scroll onto the desk.

  “It’s from Iwagakure,” he growled. “They lost both of them. Rōshi and Han. Taken by Pain and the masked man.”

  Darui straightened up, his languid demeanor vanishing completely.

  “Both? At once?”

  “That’s what it says.”

  Ay confirmed, his voice now dangerously low.

  “And because of it, that stubborn old fence-sitter ōnoki is finally acting. He’s calling for a Five Kage Summit.”

  Darui’s eyes flickered to the side, a thought solidifying in the heavy silence.

  "That changes things."

  "Damn right it does!"

  Ay slammed his hand on the desk, the impact rattling the entire room. It was a surprise the desk was even holding on.

  "Four Jinchūriki. Four of them, gone! Iwagakure kept their mouths shut just like us, and look where it got them! We all acted like this was a problem we could muscle through on our own."

  The unspoken shame hung thickest in the Raikage's own words.

  "What are you saying, Lord Raikage?"

  Mabui asked, her expression carefully neutral.

  Ay took a deep breath, the sound like rocks grinding together. He stared at the scroll from ōnoki. For weeks, they had been hiding the truth, sending out false reports about Bee being on a private training mission, all while their most elite trackers scoured the land in secret.

  It was a strategy born of pride, and it had yielded nothing but failure.

  Now, Iwagakure’s loss had inadvertently given them an out. A chance to reveal the truth without being the first to admit their own monumental blunder.

  "The Summit..."

  Darui prompted, understanding dawning on his face.

  "This is our opening. We can’t go to a meeting about captured Jinchūriki while hiding the fact that our own are gone."

  "Exactly."

  Ay growled, his gaze hardening into one of grim resolution.

  "I will not let that old fossil ōnoki lecture me about security while he thinks Bee is safe and sound here. We will attend this summit. And we will lay all our cards on the table."

  He paced the room, his frustration beginning to channel into a focused, destructive energy.

  "Konoha has been hoarding Jinchūriki. The Stone just lost theirs. The Mist is a madhouse. The Sand is doing god knows what. This alliance will be a nest of vipers, each one looking out for themselves."

  “But it will be an alliance.” Mabui countered softly. “It’s the only logical path forward. Fragmented, we will be picked off one by one. United, we at least have a chance to strike back.”

  Ay stopped pacing, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white.

  He hated it.

  He hated admitting they needed help. He hated relying on the other villages, especially Konoha.

  But he hated Akatsuki more.

  "Darui. Cee," the Raikage barked. "You will be my guards for the summit. Prepare immediately."

  Darui gave a slight nod.

  "And what of Bee?"

  Ay's jaw tightened.

  "At the summit, we announce it. We tell them that Killer Bee, the perfect Jinchūriki of Kumogakure, has also been taken. We will leverage our loss, all of our losses, to force a united front. We will hunt these Akatsuki dogs down, and I will personally crush the skulls of the men who took my brother."

  “I didn’t expect for the experiment to succeed, and with such great results… However, I must say, you were reckless.”

  Minato commented, scanning Ryuu from head to toe as he showcased his newly acquired zero-tails Chakra Cloak.

  “I’m sorry, Minato-sama… I just acted on impulse, thinking it was the perfect opportunity.”

  “Well, it’s not like the results are bad… but still, you could have lost your life…”

  Minato pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling a slow, heavy sigh. He sat behind the Hokage desk, which was piled high with scrolls and reports, the formal setting doing little to ease the tension in the room.

  The chakra cloak dissipated from Ryuu’s form, sinking back into his skin, leaving only the faintest afterimage of dark power. He stood there, his crimson eyes now holding an unnerving, profound stillness. He looked calm, but Minato could feel the colossal Chakra coiled within the boy, Chakra that dwarfed anyone he had ever encountered outside of the tailed beasts.

  Ryuu’s artificial beast easily rivaled the full nine-tails in Chakra quantity. No, it in fact surpassed it.

  Minato leaned back, the leather of his chair groaning in protest.

  "To call it an 'impulse'... Ryuu, you took a theoretical power source, one that I personally sealed away because it was too volatile for anyone to control, and funneled it into an unstable, artificial Tailed Beast that you then sealed into yourself. 'Reckless' does not begin to describe it. It borders on insanity."

  Ryuu remained silent, letting the Hokage's words wash over him. He understood the assessment. He had wagered his existence on a series of complex, unproven theories.

  "However."

  Minato continued, his tone shifting from worry to the cold pragmatism of a Kage.

  "Your insanity succeeded. The reports from the Analysis Division confirm it. You now possess a chakra reserve that is, for all intents and purposes, limitless."

  He locked eyes with Ryuu, his gaze sharp enough to cut diamond.

  "That is not a power one 'acts on impulse' with. That is a strategic deterrent on a global scale. So I will ask you again, not as your superior officer scolding a subordinate, but as the leader of this village entrusting its ultimate weapon. Can you control it? Absolutely?"

  Instead of answering, Ryuu held out his hand, palm up. A small, perfect sphere of black-violet chakra materialized above it, no bigger than a marble. It didn't burn or crackle.

  It simply spun, silent and stable, absorbing the light in the room, it was a miniature tailed beast bomb. It was a demonstration of absolute, effortless control.

  "The vessel has no will, Hokage-sama."

  Ryuu stated, his voice even.

  "It has no sentience. It is a reservoir, and I am the gatekeeper. I can draw upon it as easily as I draw my own chakra."

  The sphere vanished without a trace.

  Minato watched, his expression unreadable. He had seen the reports, but seeing even this minuscule display was something else entirely. It was the confirmation of a paradigm shift.

  "Good."

  Minato said finally, the single word carrying immense weight. He gestured to a scroll on his desk, its seal bearing the crest of Iwagakure.

  "Because the world is already moving. ōnoki has called for a Five Kage Summit. The Raikage has agreed to attend."

  Ryuu’s expression, even if unseen, would have remained placid. He had anticipated this.

  "Iwagakure has lost both of its Jinchūriki."

  Minato informed him.

  "And while they haven't announced it officially, our sources confirm Kumogakure has lost theirs as well. ōnoki will be looking for concessions, while the Raikage will be reckless. I will be walking into a den of angry, paranoid leaders, all of whom know Konoha is currently housing four Jinchūriki."

  He stood up, walking to the window and looking out over the village as the sun bled across the horizon.

  "They will see our strength as a threat. They will demand we share our 'assets.' They will see us as hoarders."

  He turned back to Ryuu.

  "Which is why your role is about to change. You will not be attending the summit. You will not be part of the official delegation. Your existence, and the true scale of your new power, remains Konoha’s most guarded secret. An ace that no one, not even our allies, can know we possess."

  Minato walked back to his desk, his demeanor now one of absolute command.

  "Your new mission is simple, Crane. You will remain in the village. As of this moment, you are the designated guardian of the other Jinchūriki. Gaara, Fū, Utakata, and Naruto. The ANBU will maintain their standard watch, but that is a formality. If Akatsuki makes a move on Konoha while the village's leadership is away at the summit, you are the final line of defense. You are the 'what if'."

  Ryuu straightened, understanding the gravity of the order. It was a prison and a throne all at once. He was being trusted with the village's most valuable assets, but he was also being contained, kept under the Hokage's direct observation.

  "I understand, Hokage-sama."

  "I hope you do."

  Minato said, his voice dropping to a low, serious tone.