Yes, the Hokage!

"Lord Fenglan, I want to..."

"What are you thinking about?" Feng Lan answered as he wrote. He was preparing Shui Men's speech. Although the actual speech was still a while away, he needed to have an outline beforehand.

"I'd like to ask for a leave of absence." Zhishui took a deep breath. "There are some things I want to think about and verify."

"Oh, then I'll go," Feng Lan replied casually.

However, Zhishui did not leave. Instead, he sat down opposite Fenglan and said, "My first question is for you."

"Hold on……"

Feng Lan quickly finished writing the last few strokes, put the document and pen back on the table, and looked up: "Ask away."

"Lord Fenglan..."

Shisui's fingers were slightly clenched with nervousness: "Was there poison in the rice ball I was given the night I captured Orochimaru?"

"Well?"

Feng Lan raised an eyebrow, pondered for a few seconds, and then smiled, "I see. You find it unbelievable that you were poisoned by Orochimaru without anyone noticing, so you suspect that someone on your side is working against him... Hmm, if I want Obito to awaken, I need Orochimaru to target Rin or Kakashi. If you are unharmed, Orochimaru won't have this opportunity at all, so it's reasonable for you to suspect me as well."

"And what's your answer?" Shisui's fist clenched involuntarily.

“I did consider it,” Feng Lan replied casually, as if it were no big deal. “I even got the medicine from Jing Yin, but in the end I didn’t poison it.”

"What's the reason?"

“Well…” Feng Lan thought for a moment this time, “Although I’m going to do something very Danzo-like, I ultimately don’t want to really become Danzo. That’s probably it.”

Shisui remained silent for a long time, then bowed deeply before turning and leaving.

"This child has become more intelligent," Feng Lan smiled, then continued working, casually grabbing her cup...

"Damn, the tea is all gone again."

Zhi Shui sped all the way to the training ground, where Dai was training the new recruits that Feng Lan had brought over.

"Mr. Dai, I have some questions I'd like to ask you."

"Teach me?" Dai scratched his head. "I'm completely clueless about anything outside of physical skills."

"I wanted to ask..." Shisui said seriously, "Why do you trust Lord Fenglan so much?"

"Oh, you mean this?" Dai gave a thumbs up, his gleaming teeth flashing. "Because Lord Fenglan saved Kai and me, and he respects us. That's youth!"

"Respect...?"

Shisui was stunned, recalling the vacation that the other party had casually granted him. When had the Shadow Guard ever had a vacation?

Isn't this a form of respect?

She suspected Feng Lan, yet he had always treated her with respect...

With a heavy heart, Shisui left the training ground and headed straight for the guard unit.

"Lord Fugaku." He knocked on the office door.

"Hmm?" Fugaku, who was flipping through documents, looked up. "Why aren't you with Lord Fenglan?"

"I have some questions I'd like to ask you." Zhi Shui stood at the door, his expression more serious and solemn than ever before.

"Ask away." Fugaku also put down the documents and straightened up.

"Just to what extent do you trust Lord Fenglan?"

Fugaku pondered for a few seconds: "I trust him completely, to the point that I've staked the fate of the entire Uchiha clan on him."

"What's the reason?"

"Well..." Fugaku's wrinkled face showed a hint of helplessness, "because he is already the best choice for the Uchiha. Apart from Fenglan, who in Konoha doesn't regard the Uchiha as a scourge?"

"I see, so there was no other choice..."

Shisui lowered his head, the words of Fenglan, Dai, and Fugaku intertwining in his mind...

After a long pause, he raised his head and said, "I've made my choice!"

Chapter 33 Tea

"Huh? Why are you back so soon?"

Feng Lan, who was about to get up to pour herself some tea, raised an eyebrow when she saw Zhi Shui push the door open and enter.

“Lord Fenglan,” Zhishui said earnestly, standing in front of his desk, “I have something I want to tell you.”

"Alright, alright." Feng Lan sat down helplessly, realizing she wouldn't be getting any tea. "Go ahead."

Shisui took a deep breath, seemingly recounting a story, but more like confiding. He first explained everything he had just done, and then concluded: "When I asked you if the rice ball was poisonous, I was comparing you to Danzo, trying to find out who was more trustworthy between you and Danzo."

"When I asked Mr. Dai and the clan chief, I was comparing you to the Third Generation Lord. Mr. Dai's trust in you is just like my past admiration and trust in the Third Generation Lord, while the clan chief's trust in you has opened a completely new door for me."

“I can’t trust you as purely as Mr. Dai does, but I think… like the clan chief, choosing you between you and the Third Generation Lord might not be a bad idea.”

Feng Lan didn't speak, but instead looked him over with amusement for a while, while Zhi Shui lowered his head awkwardly.

"Shisui, Shisui, this is not the kind of thing a good ninja should do."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have compared myself to you..."

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant." Feng Lan shook her head. "Didn't I just tell Itachi before that if you want to observe what kind of person someone is, at least don't tell them that you're planning to do it?"

"An excellent ninja should silently compare in his mind, draw a conclusion, make a rational choice, and then put on a cloak of loyalty. They will not talk about the process, let alone tell the person being compared."

"I'm sorry, I..."

“You’re rather straightforward… or rather, all Uchiha are like that.” Feng Lan chuckled. Mentally ill people are often more cheerful, aren’t they? If you prevent Uchiha from expressing their emotions, they’ll go crazy. “I don’t want to boast, but I am indeed different from Danzo. I have my bottom line. After he’s used someone, he’ll eliminate them to maintain the safety of Konoha… of course, that’s what he says. In reality, he’ll just eliminate them to protect his own interests. But I will try my best to protect the person I’ve used, because if I can use him once, I can use him a second or a third time.”

"So I am better than Danzo, not because I am moral, but because I have a broader perspective."

The word "vision" appears for the first time in Feng Lan's work, which shows that his views on Danzo are completely consistent with those of the Third Hokage: "When that old man, Biden, was holding a knife, he was also afraid of that knife. I am different. Since I dare to use a sharp knife, I am not afraid of cutting my hand."

Shisui fell silent, comparing Fenglan's words and actions in his mind. It was clear that they matched, because that was exactly how he treated Obito.

His kindness towards Obito was simply like polishing and maintaining a sword. When Obito showed signs of backlash, he didn't care and frankly told him that he could hate him.

What if it were Danzo? He would probably have been surrounded and killed the moment Obito showed any rebellious attitude.

"As for why I didn't poison you that night... to be honest, it was to prevent this possibility from happening now." Feng Lan shrugged. "If I had poisoned you, you would definitely turn against me. Although you wouldn't fight back, you obviously wouldn't continue to serve me. Since I want to use you as a bodyguard, I naturally have to consider your feelings."

Although what he said was harsh, Shisui still sensed respect in it. After all, no one else would care about the feelings of a shadow guard. As the name suggests, he was just his master's shadow and had no right to have any self-awareness.

"As for the Third Hokage..." Feng Lan leaned back in his chair, a position more comfortable for him as he was still quite weak. "Are you praising me or belittling him by comparing me to him?"

"Huh?" Shisui was taken aback, clearly not expecting Fenglan to say that.

"The Third Hokage was a hero who protected Konoha, a true Hokage, while I was just an advisor to the Hokage, a shadow who clung to Minato's coattails to reap benefits. If you want to make a comparison, you should compare Minato with the Third Hokage. I am not qualified to do so, understand?"

"As for your past admiration for him, it's normal for your idealized image to shatter now. The Third Hokage wasn't a god; he was just an ordinary person. Humans have emotions and desires. The Hokage needs to be portrayed as a lofty idol to intimidate enemies and appease villagers. But what about his true identity after stripping away this myth?"

He shrugged: "Minato is a goofball who can't even get scrambled eggs when his wife isn't home. He gets drunk after just three drinks. Although he's always unhappy with some of my actions, I often manage to outwit him... That's what he is as a human being, but that doesn't stop him from being a war hero who protected the village, the fearsome Yellow Flash, our Fourth Hokage."

"So personally, I think it's okay if the idol filter is shattered. As the saying goes, worship is the furthest distance from understanding, but there's no need to think that the Third Hokage is a bad person because of it. Like I said, the world isn't black and white, but rather..."

He flicked his fingers: "A touch of exquisite gray."

Shisui fell silent again, clearly not expecting Fenglan to speak well of the Third Hokage at this moment. Shouldn't he have taken the opportunity to belittle the other party and completely pull himself into his camp?

He simply couldn't fathom this man's thought process.

"Then, what about Mr. Dai?"

“Dai…” Feng Lan rarely showed a complicated expression. “Dai is a good person, much better than me. There’s nothing shameful about you not being able to be like him, because there aren’t many people in this world who are as pure as him.”

“I think Dai’s strengths and weaknesses can be summarized in one sentence: he never thinks too much.” Feng Lan also said a lot for the first time. “If you can’t win, there’s nothing you can do because the opponent is a genius. This kind of thinking is the first reaction of most people when they encounter an insurmountable opponent.”

"Because rather than trying to overcome obstacles and recognizing one's own shortcomings, people are more willing to protect their fragile and ridiculous self-esteem."

“But Dai and Kai don’t have that mentality. They can face their shortcomings frankly without feeling ashamed, and they will never be discouraged by one or two failures.”

Shisui recalled Dai Wannian's title of Genin. Despite possessing such immense power, he willingly acted as a Genin, completely unconcerned about the ridicule from the villagers, and remained incredibly optimistic every day.

"And another thing," Feng Lan continued, "most people prefer a wide variety of choices. For example, they can't stand long periods of monotonous studying or exercising, and even the most fun game will get boring after a while. They might even be looking for something better when dating..."

"However, there are a few people who, once they set their mind on something, will never give up and have an absolutely tenacious spirit of never giving up until they achieve their goal. Dai is a person with this spirit. He can devote all his energy to a thing without hesitation and does not feel bored, tired or troubled at all. He even finds it very enjoyable."

Zhi Shui frowned: "It sounds a bit like single-threaded."

“Yes, it’s single-threaded.” Feng Lan said, a slight smile appearing on his face. “But this single-threaded approach may have taken him further than any of us on the path of a ninja.”

Without external assistance, Shisui would have stopped at the Mangekyou Sharingan. Although his Kotoamatsukami was overpowered, it required eye contact and had a cooldown period of over ten years.

The Eight Gates technique of Might Guy becomes stronger as his physique improves. To use the original story as a reference, Guy was exhausted after using just one Morning Peacock at the beginning of Shippuden, but by the Fourth Shinobi World War, he could use Daytime Tiger followed by Daytime Tiger, with high damage from both hands.

Currently, the top general under Fenglan's command is not Shisui, nor even Obito, but Might Guy.

"We've gotten a bit off-topic." Seeing that Shisui seemed somewhat unconvinced, Fenglan summarized at the right moment, "What I mean is, there's no need to compare yourself to Dai or anyone else. You are you, the unique Uchiha Shisui. If you choose to stay, then stay. You don't need to find reasons like faith or loyalty for yourself. Staying and doing what you're supposed to do is enough for me."

"So……"

Shisui hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help asking, "Lord Fenglan, do you trust me?"

Feng Lan was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "Your question is a little more sophisticated than the previous ones, but the answer may disappoint you. I don't trust anyone, including Minato."

Upon hearing this, Shisui's heart sank.

“But I will entrust my life to Minato, give you a very important task, and carry the future of the Uchiha on Obito’s shoulders. This is not called trust, but division of labor. A person like me will never trust anyone, but distrust does not mean we cannot cooperate, because trust is emotion, and cooperation is rationality. I believe more in rationality.”

“If you absolutely need an answer…” Feng Lan stretched and stood up again. “I won’t ask you to trust me like Dai did, nor will I require you to choose me like Fugaku did. You just need to do your job well, and I will naturally do mine. As for the rest of the time, I will tell you the answer. As I just said, you are the one and only Uchiha Shisui. Your answer must be derived by your own thinking, not given to you or instilled in you.”

After saying that, he curled his lip. When did it become his turn to give philosophy lectures to others? He'd rather think about what to eat for lunch.

Hmm... let the chef make scrambled eggs. Minato was saying yesterday that he wanted to eat Kushina's scrambled eggs.

As he thought this, he reached for the empty teacup, but found nothing.

Looking up, Shisui had already skillfully brewed the tea and placed it on his table before returning to his proper position as a Shadow Guard.

Feng Lan's lips curled up slightly as she picked up her cup and took a sip.

Hmm...surprisingly sweet.

Chapter 34 The Invitation of the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio

If cutting off the Root organization's finances and manpower was a warning to others, then capturing Orochimaru was an absolute show of force. Now, the major clans were truly uneasy. Whether it was reducing redundancy in the middle ranks or establishing a standing new army, the Fourth Hokage was serious.