Naruto's Plea

Naruto pleads with the Fourth Raikage to lift the execution order on Sasuke, insisting that his friend's death would drag Konoha into war with Kumogakure. As he drops to his knees, Yamato points out that Kumo already owes Konoha over the Byakugan affair, when a Kumo-nin abducted Hinata on the Raikage's orders and Hizashi Hyuga had to die in the aftermath. Unmoved, the Raikage declares that a shinobi should be strong and unbending rather than bowing and begging, brands Akatsuki as criminals to be hunted, and continues toward the summit with his escort.

Once the five Kage assemble in the Land of Iron, the Raikage announces that he trusts none of them, since each has hired Akatsuki as mercenaries in the past. He reminds Gaara that Orochimaru, though not a member during the Konoha Crush, slew both the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage, and that Iwagakure and Kirigakure have long bought Akatsuki's services. The Tsuchikage admits he found it cheaper and more effective to hire them without regret, while the Mizukage reveals that the previous Mizukage, Yagura, had secretly been under an Akatsuki member's control. Gaara discloses his own past as a jinchuriki, noting that only Konoha's former Fifth Hokage ever offered him help.

Danzo shatters the room's calm by naming those who fully mastered the tailed beasts, among them Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, Yagura, and the Raikage's brother Killer B, then declaring that Madara himself commands Akatsuki. Grasping the gravity of the threat, the Kage listen as Mifune, general of the Land of Iron, appoints himself neutral arbiter and proposes uniting all five villages into the Allied Shinobi Forces, with Danzo, keeper of the last jinchuriki, put forward to lead them. The episode adapts three consecutive manga chapters from the Five Kage Summit storyline.