Yes, the Hokage!

"Don't rush," Feng Lan waved her hand to stop her, "Tell me first."

Logically speaking, Orochimaru also had feelings for this teacher. Although he is now a prisoner, it is unlikely that he would betray his teacher for personal gain. But... trying won't hurt, so he might as well listen first.

He had expected Orochimaru to try and negotiate first, but to his surprise, the other party went straight to the point: "You must be very familiar with Tsunade, right?"

"I wouldn't say we're very close," Feng Lan said, pursing her lips. "When Obito was being treated, it was mainly Minato who did the work, but she didn't even give Minato any face. In the end, Minato had to ask Jiraiya to come. That woman only agreed to go back to the village to treat Obito because of Jiraiya, but she left very quickly after the treatment."

"Do you know why she became like this?"

"Hmm... I'm not too sure about that." Actually, Feng Lan knew, but he didn't have much interaction with Tsunade, so he said it like that on purpose. Otherwise, wouldn't it seem suspicious to spill out all the information about her?

“Because she suffers from hemophobia.” Orochimaru chuckled sinisterly. “This is fatal for a medical ninja, and it basically means the end of her ninja career. I think she probably didn’t even do the treatment herself when she was treating Obito; she was just instructing Shizune from the sidelines.”

“That’s true.” Feng Lan frowned, seemingly having already fallen for the trap.

"The culprit that caused her to develop hemophobia was the death of Tsunade's younger brother Nawaki and her lover Dan Kato during the Second Shinobi World War. She watched as she did everything she could to treat them but to no avail, which left her with great psychological trauma."

It must be said that although Orochimaru is disgusting, he still has a certain charm as a villain. At this moment, he used his hoarse voice to tell his past stories in detail, with a touch of the sentiment of someone who had experienced them firsthand. For a moment, even Shisui was captivated by what he heard.

"The story is exciting, but what does it have to do with bringing down our beloved Third Hokage?" Feng Lan shrugged.

"Don't rush, now for the main point." Orochimaru revealed a sinister smile. "Kato Dan... I was the one who actually killed him."

"what?!"

This time, Feng Lan was truly stunned. What the hell was this Konoha unofficial history? Unofficial history can be unofficial, but it can't be real shit!

"Wait a minute." After a moment of absurdity, he immediately realized a possibility. "Could it be that you mean..."

“That’s right, it was Sarutobi-sensei who ordered me to carry out the assassination.” Orochimaru grinned. “How about that, is this information enough…”

"You're talking nonsense!" Shisui rarely lost his composure. "How could the Third Hokage possibly... how could he possibly!"

"Heh, brat, you've been brainwashed by the Will of Fire. How much darkness in Konoha do you even know?" Orochimaru scoffed disdainfully. "Feng Lan, I think you can guess the reason."

"Because he... threatens the position of Hokage?" After a moment of silence, Feng Lan frowned and spoke.

The Second Shinobi World War was about ten years after the Third Shinobi World War. At that time, Hiruzen Sarutobi was in his prime, wielding great power and harboring great ambitions. Dan and Minato were different; Dan was not the successor in his eyes, but rather... an enemy who threatened the position of Hokage!

Of course, these conclusions can only be reached by thinking in the darkest and most conspiratorial directions. Fenglan personally thinks that it is true that the third generation manipulates power, but they should not be capable of doing such a thing.

"That's right!" Orochimaru laughed maniacally. "If Dan is wrong in any way... it's that he was born too early. If he were of the same generation as Minato, he would be much safer!"

Feng Lan remained silent, pondering the possibility that this matter was true. After a long while, she slowly spoke: "This is all your side of the story."

"Do you know why the teacher turned a blind eye to many of my actions, and even risked turning against me last night to save me? Of course, it's because I have evidence!" Orochimaru stuck out his snake-like tongue and licked his lips. "At the time, I was on a mission on the other side of the front line when I received a secret letter from Sarutobi-sensei, ordering me to infiltrate Tsunade's side and assassinate Kato Dan."

"That secret letter bears Sarutobi-sensei's signature and the Hokage's seal, which is enough to serve as evidence to bring him down!"

"Where is the secret letter?" Feng Lan's gaze sharpened.

“I’m not a fool, Fenglan,” Orochimaru sneered. “This is a deal. I need to see your sincerity first. Only when I’m certain that I can safely regain my freedom will that letter be handed to you.”

[Hmm... Does this guy still have anyone he can trust in the village? Danzo definitely doesn't count. Could it be Mitarashi Anko?]

Feng Lan fell into thought, but quickly realized: [Wait, why am I worrying about this? Does the existence of this secret letter even matter?]

Upon realizing this, he suddenly understood: "I need to think about it carefully first."

As he spoke, Fenglan waved his hand, and Shisui stepped forward to put Orochimaru's torture devices back on.

That's right. Whether or not the Third Hokage ordered Kato Dan's killing is not important. It is very likely that this was a smokescreen thrown out by Orochimaru to divert his attention and take the opportunity to escape or buy time for other schemes.

The important thing is that I can use this incident to trick Tsunade into coming back, and then find a way to get a lot of benefits from her.

For example... I haven't been able to use ninjutsu for the past three months, so my chakra is just sitting idle. I might as well store it up for use in a critical moment. Tsunade's Yin Seal seems to have that effect...

"grown ups……"

Just as Feng Lan was pondering, he heard Zhi Shui calling him. He turned around and saw that Zhi Shui, who was usually calm and reliable, had a childlike look of confusion on his face.

It was only then that he realized that although the other party was the number one ninja of the Uchiha clan, he was still just a teenager.

"What's wrong? Are you struggling because of Orochimaru's words?" Fenglan saw through Shisui's mindset at a glance.

"Um……"

“That thing is most likely not real.” Feng Lan shrugged. “Leaving aside whether the Third Generation would do such a thing, given his level of caution, he wouldn’t leave behind a secret letter as leverage for others to use against him.”

"Is that so?" Upon hearing this, Shisui's expression softened slightly.

"The world is not black and white. Many things cannot be based on what others say. You have to explore and think for yourself to find out what the truth is and how important the truth is to you."

Feng Lan patted his shoulder: "At least in my opinion, whether the Third Hokage did this or not does not affect the fact that he was once a hero who protected Konoha and led the village to its peak, nor does it affect the fact that he has now been corrupted by power and turned into an old man called desire."

"So the truth of this matter...who cares?"

Chapter 32 Still Water's Special Trouble

Although Fenglan told Shisui that she didn't care, she knew very well that there were still people who cared about this matter.

So he first arranged for Shisui to visit Rin and then sent a message to Kakashi and Obito to come to the Hokage's office, while he himself went to tell Minato about it.

"Impossible!" Minato's reaction was exactly what Feng Lan expected. He waved his hand firmly, "Although the Third Hokage may have some different ideas from us, he would never harm his fellow villagers. Those people are family to him!"

"Um, the word 'family' has become a rather awkward concept for me." Feng Lan twitched the corner of his mouth. Before he transmigrated, every live-streaming e-commerce session he watched was filled with phrases like "OK family members" or "Who understands family members?", which made him want to laugh when he heard the word now.

“Personally, I think it’s unlikely, but we should still keep an eye on it.” He quickly put away his smile. “And some people should know the answer to this, such as Shizune, Kato Dan’s niece, and Tsunade, his lover.”

"My personal suggestion is to find Lady Tsunade and tell her about this, and then let her decide whether to continue the investigation. Even if we do investigate, as one of the Legendary Sannin, she is more familiar with Orochimaru and should be able to get more information out of him."

"Hmm...you make a good point." Minato frowned and thought for a long time. "Then who should we send, and where should we go to find Lady Tsunade?"

"Miss Shizune should know Lady Tsunade's whereabouts, as for who to choose..."

Before Feng Lan could finish speaking, a knock sounded on the door: "Fourth Hokage, Lady Feng Lan, we're here."

He happened to walk over and open the door: "How are these two?"

"Kakashi and Obito... Although they are a good match, what about Rin..." Minato was still a little conflicted.

Kakashi and Obito's attitude towards Feng Lan has obviously cooled down a lot. Although they are children, they are not stupid. When the two of them were guarding Rin, they discussed it briefly and were able to figure out that Feng Lan was using Kakashi and Rin as bait to awaken Obito's awakening.

Although he did have a backup plan to protect Kakashi and Rin, even the most magnanimous person cannot simply laugh it off.

Furthermore, the two were quite resistant to Fenglan's mission, since they still had to protect Lin.

However, this was no problem for Feng Lan. He directly said to Minato, "Although Lin is out of danger and in the recovery period, it is still a grass sword. Who knows if it will cause any irreversible physical effects? We should be cautious and have Tsunade come back to take a look at her. Besides, I think Lin has a very good aptitude. If we work things out properly, we might be able to get Lady Tsunade to take her as a disciple."

Upon hearing this, Kakashi and Obito's eyes lit up instantly: "Let's go!"

"Let's go, let's go." Feng Lan smiled and handed the two of them the secret letter she had just prepared. "Come with me to find Jing Yin. We need to explain things to her properly."

Although the two were a little awkward, they obediently followed him. Seeing this, Minato couldn't help but sigh, "Fenglan..."

The atmosphere was slightly silent on the way to the hospital. Obito tried to speak several times but hesitated. Finally, Fenglan took the initiative and said, "You want to ask me why I did this, right?"

"Hmm," Obito responded dully.

"Because you need power, the Uchiha clan needs power, and Minato and I also need this power, that's all." Feng Lan gave a cruel answer.

"Just because of this, we can get Lin..."

“I’m fairly confident I can save her. Of course, I admit it’s a despicable act, so if you choose to hate me, I’ll accept it without question.” Feng Lan’s face was expressionless, as calm as if she were discussing what to eat for dinner.

"I……"

Obito clenched his fist tightly. In his heart, Rin was more important than anything else. If anything really happened to Rin, he would definitely go berserk and pounce on her to kill Feng Lan right now.

But now that Lin is alive, he has something to hold onto in his heart. It's like a wild beast has been put in shackles. Before doing anything, he has to think things through (even though it's Kenji).

Even if he hurts Rin, Fenglan cannot kill her. He is Konoha's chief Hokage advisor. Killing him would make him an outright traitor, and Rin would never forgive him.

Moreover, no matter how much Feng Lan used or schemed, objectively speaking, he had done Feng Lan a favor. Without Feng Lan, there would be no Obito Uchiha who had become a ninja again and possessed great power.

“Lord Fenglan, you have been kind to me… so I will obey your orders, nothing more.” In the end, he chose to compromise.

“Yes, that’s good.” Feng Lan nodded. As mentioned earlier, he never intended to treat Obito as a confidant. For a pawn, this mutual benefit was enough.

"Lord Fenglan..."

After following the two children back to the Hokage's office, and then walking along the road with Feng Lan again, Shisui witnessed all of this and showed a complicated expression.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Fenglan went to Shizune's office, leaving Shisui and the two children to wait outside. He then came in and relayed Orochimaru's words to Shizune without missing a single detail.

“I think…” Shizune hesitated, “the Third Hokage wouldn’t do such a thing.”

"I think so too, but no matter what, Lady Tsunade has the right to know, doesn't she?" Feng Lan said calmly.

“That’s true, but I’m worried that Lady Tsunade might… Sigh!” Shizune sighed deeply, pointing to the map on the table, “Have those two children search along the edge of the Forest of Fire, first to Tanabata Town, and then…”

Soon, Kakashi and Obito set off with the secret letter, while Fenglan, despite being weak and busy all day, could finally lie down in bed, put aside those annoying conspiracies and schemes, and get some sleep.

……

Uchiha Shisui never suffered from insomnia. As a ninja, he was very good at controlling his body. After all, he had experienced the Third Shinobi World War. If he hadn't been able to seize every spare moment to rest during the brutal and urgent war, he simply wouldn't have survived.

He can stay awake for three days and three nights straight, or fall asleep within ten seconds of lying down, and sleep as long as he wants and wake up on time.

But tonight, Zhishui couldn't sleep.

During the time he spent with Feng Lan, he experienced and thought a lot, but the more he thought, the more confused he became.

What exactly is the Will of Fire?

The Third Hokage often mentioned it, and the Fourth Hokage probably believed in it as well. Most people in Konoha follow the Will of Fire, but their superior, Lord Fenglan, disdains it.

His experiences during this period did indeed challenge his faith, leaving the young Zhishui somewhat confused.

Before he knew it, dawn had broken. Shisui, who hadn't slept a wink all night, sighed, quickly got up, washed up, and then hurried to the hospital while munching on a rice ball to continue his guard duty.

However, he was slightly taken aback when he entered the ward, as Lord Fenglan was not in the room at all.

However, the battle-hardened Zhishui was not alarmed. He quickly considered various possibilities and then rushed to the consultant's office. Sure enough, he saw Fenglan carefully organizing documents outside the window.

Shisui, perched on a tree outside the window, was momentarily stunned. Lord Fenglan had never believed in the Will of Fire, so why was he so diligently devoted to his work? He said that once Konoha was completely stable, it would no longer need advisors, yet everything he did was making Konoha better: reducing redundancy in the middle ranks, capturing Orochimaru, establishing a standing army, rescuing Hizashi…

He had clearly done many things that he felt were inappropriate, such as arresting people because of a few insults behind their backs, and using children as bait to awaken Obito, but for some reason... he just couldn't hate him.

At this moment, Feng Lan seemed to have encountered some trouble. Her brows were furrowed as she stared at the document in her hand. She held a pen in one hand and subconsciously reached for a teacup with the other, bringing it to her lips, but there was not a drop of water in the cup.

He moved his lips a few times, as if he wanted to get up and pour water, but in the end he did not move and instead returned to writing the document.

Witnessing all this, Zhishui suddenly felt an impulse, jumped down from the tree, knocked on the door, and then went inside to pour Fenglan a cup of tea.

"Hmm? You actually found your way here." Feng Lan smiled, her face still looking very pale and weak, and casually picked up her tea and took a sip.