Yes, the Hokage

As night fell, a roaring fire blazed in the cave at Konoha's outpost. Uchiha Momo wolfed down the freshly cooked mushroom and wild vegetable soup, occasionally scalding herself and making sizzling sounds, while glancing over warily.

Of course, you can't blame her. A girl who traveled thousands of miles to infiltrate the battlefield and mingle with men would have been devoured long ago if she hadn't been constantly on guard.

Feng Lan's expression was unpredictable. After much hesitation, he still took Uchiha Momo back to the cave where he was temporarily hiding instead of the Konoha camp. He had two reasons for this: First, he had no interaction with Uchiha Momo three years ago. Sending Momo there now to change history could lead to some uncontrollable anomaly, making it impossible to return to his own timeline.

Second, he needs to pass on some messages to Minato so that things can continue smoothly even when he is not in Konoha. This message may need to be kept from now until he encounters Urashiki and disappears three years later, so a reliable person must be in charge of it.

And Uchiha Momo was undoubtedly that reliable person.

After eating most of Fenglan's dinner, Uchiha Momo nimbly jumped behind a large rock, only showing half of her head: "Are you really a Konoha ninja? Why aren't you wearing a uniform during wartime?"

Feng Lan sighed helplessly, because as a civilian advisor, he didn't need to wear the standard Konoha ninja vest. Besides, those clothes were too ugly, and he had always wanted to change them when he had the chance.

Fortunately, I still have my headband. Although I don't wear it on my forehead, if you think back to the characters in Naruto, how many of them actually wear their headbands properly on their heads? Shikamaru wears it on his shoulder, Rock Lee wears it on his waist, Hinata wears it on her thigh... They all wear it as an accessory, so I, Maple, can just tuck it into my pocket without any problem.

He took out his Konoha headband, calmly waved it, and said, "I am an Anbu."

"Anbu? Where's your mask?" Uchiha Momo seemed a little confused. After all, it was the Hokage's personal guard, and she was just a genin now, so how could she possibly know anything about the Anbu?

Then Fenglan took out the same mask as Menma that he had bought in Tanabata Street when he was on a mission to Amegakure: "Now you understand, right?"

"Oh……"

Although she still didn't quite understand, Uchiha Momo could only nod and say, "I understand."

"Now it's my turn to ask you," Feng Lan said calmly. "Why would a Uchiha genin girl infiltrate a transport convoy and come to the front lines?"

"You!" Uchiha Momo was immediately taken aback. "How did you know I was a woman?"

She deliberately raised her voice to act like a boy, and was not noticed along the way in the transport team.

Feng Lan did not answer, but continued to threaten, "I will report your answer to the Hokage truthfully. Based on your answer, it is very likely to have a negative impact on the Uchiha clan."

With his shrewdness, playing the role of a secret agent would be a piece of cake, and manipulating such a naive young girl would be even easier.

"I...I'm not an Uchiha..." The poor girl still wanted to argue.

"Your name is Uchiha Momo, your father is Uchiha Ryo, and your mother is Uchiha Aya. Do I need to continue?" Feng Lan caught her off guard with the information she already knew. You could see the girl's mouth was wide open, and she stood there dumbfounded for a long time before hurriedly covering it.

"I……"

“Answer my question.”

"I want to find... my mom and dad." After a long pause, Uchiha Momo lowered her head and slowly spoke, "The only news we received was that they died in battle behind enemy lines, nothing more, just a list, two names. I need to find them..."

"Do you know the meaning of the word 'die in battle'?" Feng Lan's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I know!" Uchiha Momo, with a courage she didn't know she possessed, raised her head and looked directly at the man before her, saying firmly, "But I want to see him alive or dead!"

Chapter 214 The Encirclement of Iwagakure

Feng Lan narrowed his eyes and silently sized up the girl in front of him. Although she seemed a little timid, Uchiha Momo did not back down. She clenched her hands and mustered up her courage to meet his gaze.

"So, you secretly left the transport team and ran to the enemy's rear alone?" Feng Lan said this with a sense of emotion. Wasn't this the same choice she made three years ago?

"Ugh..." Momo Uchiha turned her head away, making a sound of resentment, "Are you going to take me back?"

Feng Lan remained silent for a while before slowly asking, "Do you have any clues?"

"Huh?" Uchiha Momo looked up in surprise.

“Your parents are heroes who died on the battlefield. I can’t just abandon their remains and my daughter,” Feng Lan said calmly. “Besides, my mission is temporarily complete, so I’ll lend you a hand.”

"Really?" Momo Uchiha's eyes lit up immediately.

"What good would it do me to lie to a little girl who hasn't even awakened her Sharingan yet?" Feng Lan shrugged. "So, do you have any leads?"

Momo Uchiha's eyes dimmed again: "No, nothing."

"I see..." Feng Lan sighed. Just as Uchiha Momo was feeling uneasy, he heard him say, "I'm quite familiar with this area. If you don't have any clues, just follow me."

When he was reviewing information about Uchiha Momo earlier, he glanced at it and remembered the location where her parents' bodies were found after the war. Since there were no other clues, he decided to steer the search in that direction. After all, he was capable of handling things independently and truly taking on the role of a strategist three years ago.

"Wow!"

Uchiha Momo couldn't help but jump up excitedly: "Thank you... um, what's your name again?"

"Fenglan".

"Thank you, Lord Fenglan!"

"It's not like you have to call me 'sir' right off the bat," Feng Lan said, pursing her lips.

"Um, I don't think it's very polite to call you 'uncle,' considering how much you've helped me..."

"Then just call him Brother Fenglan, isn't that enough?"

“Ugh…” Uchiha Momo’s gaze darted around, and after a long pause, she finally managed to utter, “You, you’re too old.”

Fenglan's inner thoughts: 【...Hehehehe, blah blah blah!】

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Feng Lan took Tao Zi away from the Minato Squad and headed towards the border of the Land of Earth. He originally thought that it would be inconvenient to have a little girl with him, but in fact it was not.

Uchiha Momo must have made preparations in advance. She claimed that she had demonstrated excellent stealth and concealment abilities when she was in the Ninja Academy. She followed Feng Lan around the edge of the battlefield without holding him back at all. No wonder she could often follow Feng Lan without being discovered.

Furthermore, her cooking skills were several times better than Feng Lan's. Even without much seasoning, the food she made tasted better than Feng Lan's, allowing Feng Lan, who had been suffering for more than a month, to finally enjoy a little bit of comfort.

Hmm... I'm running low on water; I need to find a place to refill my tank.

Although the White Snake Sage's bodily fluids further developed his physical potential during the continuous battles, Feng Lan was not yet strong enough to sense anything beyond chakra, but he had his own methods.

This guy first caught a wolf that attacked him, left some wounds on it, and then poured some of the only seasoning on the battlefield—salt—into its mouth. The wolf, which was bleeding and thirsty, would naturally want to find a water source. He followed behind it at a leisurely pace, and then killed it just before it could drink.

"Hmm, barbecue tonight." Poor Wild Wolf just wanted to eat some human flesh, but he was forced to be a guide for half a day and couldn't even get a sip of water before he died. It can only be described as a tragedy.

Uchiha Momo, who was following behind Feng Lan, was dumbfounded, her face full of "You can do this?" expressions.

However, upon seeing the crystal-clear mountain spring water, she couldn't help but swallow and scratch her back.

Although it's standard practice for ninjas to go months without showering when on missions, she was, after all, a girl, and a young girl who had just graduated from the ninja academy not long ago, so she naturally couldn't suppress her body's instinct to be clean.

Feng Lan glanced at her: "Water sources easily attract ninjas and all kinds of animals. We'll fill the water tank first, and then give you only ten minutes to shower. Not a second more."

Uchiha Momo couldn't help but show a joyful expression: "Really, really?"

“I scanned the surroundings with my senses, and there shouldn’t be any problems.” Feng Lan nodded. “There was no chakra movement within the scan range. If it’s an animal, I can easily take care of it.”

He tossed a kunai engraved with his Flying Thunder God seal to Uchiha Momo: "Take this, just in case."

"Yes, it is."

Uchiha Momo naturally didn't know what the Flying Thunder God Kunai meant, only taking it as a weapon thrown to her for self-defense. Meanwhile, Feng Lan had already carried Wolf Brother away and disappeared into the jungle. He was going to get some meat to treat himself; after eating mushrooms for more than a month, he was practically turning into a mushroom himself.

The girl peered into the woods for a dozen seconds, still uneasy, before tentatively calling out, "Lord Fenglan?"

There was no sound. She hesitated for a while, but finally couldn't resist. She carefully took off her clothes, grabbed a kunai, and jumped into the water. After being washed by the clear spring water, she didn't care about anything else and swam happily.

On the other side, Feng Lan was also very satisfied. If he wasn't afraid of attracting enemies by starting a fire rashly, he would have been tempted to roast a couple of pieces of meat and eat them first. Friends who have been vegetarian for a month can definitely understand this feeling. Now, even if you put a piece of raw cured meat in front of you, you would still be tempted to take a couple of bites.

"Eee-ya—!"

Just as he was feeling smug, he suddenly heard a scream coming from the direction of the spring: "[I couldn't sense any chakra. Was it a beast? Or is there another creature with similar sensory abilities hiding itself?]"

Without thinking twice, he used Flying Thunder God Technique to appear next to Uchiha Momo, and sure enough, he saw a poisonous snake coiled in the water.

"That's it?"

For Feng Lan, who had been fighting alone on the battlefield for a month, this was nothing. With a casual wave of his wand, he pinned the venomous snake to a nearby tree and asked without turning his head, "Are you alright?"

Uchiha Momo trembled as she lay face down underwater, whispering, "You...you saw everything?"

To be honest, although he only glanced around when he teleported over, Feng Lan still saw some things. However, he didn't answer the question. Instead, he turned his back to the girl and walked towards the shore on his own: "Little girl, your skills are lacking. You're a genuine genin who graduated from the Ninja Academy. Isn't this something that can be dealt with with a kunai?"

"I, I was just startled! It's not that I couldn't handle it myself... Wow! Why are you taking off your clothes?" Uchiha Momo subconsciously retorted, but then screamed in fright.

"Since we're already here, let's take a shower." Feng Lan said that she wasn't some ascetic, she was always very hygienic and showered every day! She hadn't touched water for over a month, and she was itchy!

Ignoring Uchiha Momo's voice, he took off his shirt, rinsed it briefly with water, and left without looking back: "You have three minutes left."

On the other side, Uchiha Momo was so frightened that she shrank into the water, her face turning as red as an apple. Only after confirming that Feng Lan had left did she hurriedly climb out of the spring and put on her clothes.

"Luckily, it's her now. I wouldn't dare take my clothes off three years from now." Feng Lan rolled her eyes as she went back to cut her flesh. "Now I'm being made to look like a thug, but you're the biggest thug here."

Soon, Uchiha Momo, her face still flushed, nervously came out, her eyes filled with some inexplicable emotions as she looked at Feng Lan.

Feng Lan then used a powerful fireball to burn the remaining corpses of the wolf brother: "Let's go, let's find a safe place, we'll have a barbecue tonight."

"Grilled, grilled meat!" Uchiha Momo couldn't help but cheer. She had been alone behind enemy lines for some time, and before meeting Feng Lan, she hadn't even had mushroom soup, let alone meat.

The desire for food overcame the girl's shyness, and she rushed over and hugged Feng Lan's arm: "Let's go now!"

……

The scorching firelight grilled the meat skewers, making an irresistible sizzling sound, and the aroma made the two people beside the fire keep swallowing their saliva.

Uchiha Momo, who was better at cooking, was naturally in charge of grilling. Soon the first skewer of meat was cooked. She swallowed her saliva, but still handed it to Feng Lan with both hands: "Lord Feng Lan, please enjoy."

"I wouldn't stoop so low as to steal a little girl's food." Feng Lan chuckled and flicked her forehead. "You eat first, there's still so much left."

"Hehe..." Uchiha Momo chuckled, eagerly taking a bite. The oily texture immediately brought a satisfied smile to her face.

Just as she was about to eat while tending to the other grilled meats, Feng Lan's expression suddenly changed. She kicked the ground, sending up a cloud of dust that covered the fire, making the meat on it inedible.

As he delivered the flying kick, he simultaneously grabbed Uchiha Momo, preventing the meat skewer in the other's hand from being damaged. Then, he appeared outside the cave using the Flying Thunder God Technique and leaped southwest.

[I never expected someone to get this close. They definitely have a sensory ninja. Starting a fire in the cave was far too careless; this is behind enemy lines.]

Although the enemy's sensory ninjas concealed their approaching presence, Feng Lan didn't rely solely on his senses for warnings. While grilling meat, he had already transformed his ninja umbrella into a tentacle net, lurking in all directions—some underground, some in trees, and some even disguised as rocks… The end of the net was wrapped around his left hand fingers; any vibration caused by the opponent's touch would be detected.

Furthermore, the areas covered by these networks can be marked with the Flying Thunder God technique for easy relocation.

This move wasn't Feng Lan's original creation; it was a technique from Kidomaru, one of the Sound Four who could spit spider webs. He was simply copying it.

So when the rock hermits rushed into the cave, they only saw a bonfire emitting gray smoke and meat skewers that were so dirty they were inedible.

"They can't have gone far, chase them!" the leader immediately gave the order.

“No.” The other person closed his eyes, sensed for a moment, and shook his head. “That guy has already used his sensory abilities to hide himself. We can’t track him down.”

"It's not that simple." The leader of the Iwagakure sneered, raising his hand and sending a signal into the air from his sleeve. "If you can't catch him with your sensory abilities, then search him! This guy is after the Uchiha clan; he might even have the Sharingan himself!"

[They're actually using signals to transmit intelligence; has an ambush already been set up around them?]

Upon seeing the colorful signal blooming in mid-air, Feng Lan's gaze sharpened, and he immediately accelerated with Uchiha Momo, determined to break through before the encirclement was complete.

But soon, they were blocked by the oncoming enemy. Beside the mountain road on the cliff, a skilled Jonin and two Chunin stood in front of them with a cold smile.

Uchiha Momo trembled slightly as images of the horrific corpses she had witnessed on the battlefield flashed through her mind. Was she going to become like that today?

"Humph."

Feng Lan sneered. The past month of solo combat had allowed him to fully integrate everything he had learned, and he was not someone that a mere Jonin could stop.

"drink--!"

He roared and threw out his ninja umbrella, which spun and attacked the enemy. Two Chunin immediately threw kunai, but due to the effect of the iron sand, they couldn't land on the umbrella and were bounced away in mid-air.

The three of them leaped away, dodging the attack of the spinning ninja umbrella. When they turned their heads to look again, they couldn't help but freeze, because the wide umbrella blocked their view. When they looked again, there was only Uchiha Momo in the same spot.

"not good!"

The leading Jonin roared and hurriedly looked behind him. Sure enough, he saw that Feng Lan was hiding behind the ninja umbrella. He flew behind the three of them along with the wide umbrella and was throwing kunai in their direction.

"Pfft pfft—!"

Caught off guard, the two Chunin were stabbed in the neck by kunai and died on the spot, while the Jonin grabbed the kunai in his hand and performed a feat of catching a blade with his bare hands.

He was also a seasoned veteran. Taking advantage of the distance that Feng Lan had created, he turned around and headed straight for Uchiha Momo, intending to capture the hostage while the guy was unable to defend!

"Wow!"

Uchiha Momo couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. She was just a genin who had just graduated from the ninja academy. Even Sasuke, the reincarnation of Indra, was intimidated by Zabuza's killing intent when facing a jonin, and couldn't even move his fingers. Let alone her.

In that instant, her mind went blank, the world lost its color, her breath stopped, and she felt as if an icy hand was pressing on the back of her neck. Her body began to sweat, and the sweat trickled down her cheeks and spine, feeling cool, but she couldn't even blink.

Her vision began to blur. Not from crying, but because her body was drawing blood from the surface to the core, her hands and feet were becoming cold and numb, the edges of her vision were darkening, and all that remained was the burly man charging towards her like a bull.

Uchiha Momo realized the huge gap between herself and a Jonin who had truly fought her way up from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. She also realized that even her parents would probably only face death if they faced someone like this. At this moment, she felt no fear, no helplessness, and no despair, because there was simply no time. She just instinctively opened her mouth, trying to shout "Save me," but no sound came out at all.

"call out--!"

But the next second, a body that wasn't particularly muscular suddenly stood in front of him!

Uchiha Momo felt her body relax instantly, the world regained its color, her breathing became smooth, the large hand pressing on the back of her neck disappeared, and her voice, which had been unable to make a sound, finally returned to normal. A tearful "Lord Fenglan" escaped her lips.