Chapter 162 - 160: Satō's Visit

The festivities lasted all night, and according to the folks in Ame, the village had never been this lively.

On the surface, the Kage summit seemed to be going fine. But that was just the surface of how things really were. Since when was anything involving all the Kage ever that simple?

Sensing someone already in her room before she'd even stepped through the door, Azula smiled. Yeah, she confirmed it. Things were definitely not that simple.

"Gotta say, you're the last person I expected to drop by, Third Kazekage." Azula spoke even though she was supposed to be alone in her room.

Silence answered her. That actually pissed her off a little.

"Should I take your silence as an assassination attempt? I caught you red-handed." Her whole demeanor shifted, turning more serious.

"No, Lord Fourth, I was waiting for your return. I was just a bit surprised." The Third Kazekage's voice answered immediately, a soft puff of air as he materialized from nowhere.

The real reason he hadn't answered right away? He was shocked she'd apparently clocked him before she even stepped into the room, while he was using his ultimate stealth technique. He'd considered it the best among all the Kage.

Apparently not.

Azula nodded. He looked calm on the outside, but she could feel his nervousness bleeding through.

For Konoha's delegation, Ame had set up an entire compound, which is standard. A Kage's entourage could easily hit twenty people.

That meant plenty of rooms but only three people staying here: her, Tsunade, and Tobirama. Not that it mattered since she and Tsunade shared a room anyway.

Even now, she'd only asked Tsunade to give them space because they'd both sensed the Kazekage who should've left the banquet the same time they did.

Once the tension eased, Satō sat down on the tatami.

"I assume you already know why I'm here." He'd regained his composure, voice calm.

Azula nodded. "I have an idea. You probably realized your alliance with Ame and Iwa isn't getting you anywhere, and now you want to join my camp. Am I right?"

She put extra weight on "my camp," and Satō didn't miss it.

Normally in a situation like this, he'd play politics, play hard to get, and try to squeeze out advantages by dancing around the point until someone blinked.

But he had no doubt that if he tried playing games, the best-case scenario was Azula kicking him out in public for Hanzo's men to see and know he visited Azula privately.

Worst-case? Azula visiting Suna personally. For Satō, that was a nightmare he wasn't touching.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I'd already planned to ally with Konoha. But these past few days in Ame, the meetings with Hanzo and Ōnoki, they pushed me harder to make my choice."

What he didn't mention was Chiyo and Ebizō. Even when they weren't on the same side in Suna's internal mess, on village matters they shared one philosophy: everything for the village.

Azula studied him. She'd always underestimated this Kage. The one she'd beaten even with Ōnoki backing him and the one who got ambushed by a young Sasori and paid for it.

But here he was, laying his cards on the table without flinching.

She looked at him with fresh eyes.

"Just like that?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, just like that. Or do you think I made a bad call?"

For a moment, Azula let the silence stretch, her mind already spinning ahead.

Truth was, she'd expected one of them to defect because the math wasn't complicated.

Her camp had Konoha, Kiri, and Kumo. Konoha alone was recognized as strong enough to face all the other villages at once. Kiri was practically under her thumb, two tailed beasts, their remaining clans, shinobi already being sent to Konoha for training.

If a war broke out between the two camps, you could ask any neutral ninja and they'd bet on her side to crush it.

So what was holding the Ame-Suna-Iwa trio together? Stubbornness. Old men who knew that once they joined her camp, their power would slip. Maybe not overnight, but eventually.

Ōnoki had been a Kage for a decade, leading Iwa with an iron hand. Hanzo had his demigod title, and Satō had... well, his Iron Sand and his pride. What was certain was that none of them wanted to kneel.

She'd figured the shrewdest of them would eventually do the math and step back. She'd bet on Ōnoki being that one, the pragmatist who'd survived wars and betrayals and knew when to fold.

Instead, it was Satō.

"You made the right call," she said. "At least it proves you're smarter than Ōnoki and Hanzo. But then again, as a man who developed his own Kekkei Genkai, it tracks that your head isn't completely screwed."

Satō's eyebrow twitched. He was known for intelligence, composure, and wisdom. What did she mean by "not completely screwed"? But recalling everything he knew about Azula Uchiha, he let it slide.

Who was going to argue with a hotheaded Uchiha teenager?

"Suna is willing to cooperate with Konoha," he said, brushing past it, "as long as Konoha guarantees Suna's security and agrees not to intervene in the village's internal operations."

Azula turned the words over in her head.

Suna wasn't Kumo. Kumo had agreed to terms after being beaten, but Suna, technically, hadn't been defeated. They should've been in a better bargaining position.

But no one was a fool.

Compared to Kumo and even Kiri, Suna had nothing to offer. Worse, cooperating meant they'd be leeching resources from Konoha just to stay afloat.

Satō had to know this. Which meant his offer was his bottom line, laid bare. That was either sincere desperation or a very good act.

Not intervening in Suna's internal affairs. That was the sticking point.

For Azula's long-term planning, for the unification she was building toward, and for the Ōtsutsuki threat she was preparing for, non-interference was impossible. She planned to bring the whole ninja world under one roof eventually.

She just didn't want to do it through war.

"Hmm." She tilted her head. "You know what kind of cooperation we reached with Kumo by now. As long as Suna is willing, I won't interfere much with your internal affairs."

She smiled pleasantly, almost a bit diplomatic.

But once Suna is completely dependent on Konoha for everything... She filed the thought away for later.