Yes, the Hokage

"Of course I can't." Feng Lan spread her hands. "This matter definitely needs to be discussed and voted on by the higher-ups before a result can be given. So you, Takumi Ninja Village, need to perform well. The higher the value you demonstrate, the greater the chance that I will be able to persuade those old guys, and the more generous Konoha will be."

The highest level of lying is to blend truth and falsehood, making it impossible for others to understand. The most common way to manipulate someone is to give them a hard time and then offer them a sweet treat, and Fenglan is clearly doing just that.

First, drive Peacock to the brink of despair, even seizing the ninja tools to revive Seimei. Then, give her a glimmer of hope, dispel her last thought of fighting to the death, and she can only obediently work for him.

Of course, Feng Lan isn't some kind of demon. As long as the other party works hard, he will definitely provide protection and generous treatment.

As for the Nine-Tails' chakra? It's like a carrot hanging on a stick—something you can only dream of but never get.

After the peacock left, Jiraiya slowly spoke, "You bastard..."

“What a bastard.” Feng Lan chimed in, “I know, Lord Orochimaru and Lady Tsunade have both said so, now it’s your turn to say something like that, so I can complete the Sannin achievement.”

"Ha! I saw through you last time, do I need to say more?" Jiraiya laughed loudly. "Anyone who walks the path of a ninja is a bastard. Is Konoha such a noble and righteous place? Back then, they went to war with Sunagakure in Amegakure for their own interests, which affected many innocent civilians... The blood on my body can never be washed away."

"If you and Minato are two little bastards, then I'm a complete and utter bastard, ahahaha!"

Shisui, Hizashi, and Dai all had slight changes in expression, clearly not expecting that Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, would evaluate the village and themselves in this way. On the contrary, Fenglan showed an appreciative look. Compared to Danzo's hypocritical approach, Jiraiya's personality was clearly more compatible with him.

There's no attempt to whitewash or cover it up; I'm just a scoundrel who did everything for personal gain.

As he laughed, Jiraiya sighed in loneliness, picked up the sake jug again to pour himself some sake, but it was already empty, with only a few drops left.

Feng Lan maintained her squinting smile and casually took a bottle of wine out of her bag and handed it over.

"Oh! It's actually the highest grade Dragon Slayer Wine! This is Tsunade's favorite!" Jiraiya's eyes lit up immediately. He couldn't wait to open the cap, chug half the bottle in one go, and exhaled a satisfied breath. "No wonder you became Tsunade's disciple. You really know how to please women."

“That’s right.” At this point, he remembered what he was about to say, “What I was going to say was, you really know how to handle women, kid. That little girl was completely fooled by you. If I had your skills, I would have a harem of women on both sides by now!”

"Rather than saying I know how to manipulate women, I know how to manipulate people's hearts." Feng Lan shrugged. Even if it wasn't Peacock who came to assassinate him, but Water Tiger Treasure Turtle or other older members of the Four Celestial Elephants, he would still get the same result. He would just have to change his words.

This has nothing to do with gender. It's purely because he has the backing of Minato and Konoha, is familiar with the plot and knows the other party's weaknesses. With the overall situation and intelligence on Fenglan's side, he naturally has the capital to earn more benefits.

Feng Lan suddenly raised her voice: "And Jiraiya-sama, the reason you can't have a harem isn't because you don't know how to handle girls, but because of Tsunade-sama, right?"

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya paused slightly in his drinking motion, the wine sliding down his chin as he mumbled, "What did you say? I don't understand."

"Deceiving yourself isn't fun," Feng Lan snapped her fingers and said with a grin, "How about I get her drunk for you tonight, then toss her onto the bed, and then hehehe..."

"Hey!" Jiraiya roared in anger. "If you dare do this, I will never let you get away with it. Tsunade is..."

"boom--!"

The door to the private room was kicked to pieces, and Tsunade staggered in: "You little brat, you really dare to say that!"

She had obviously lost all her money and might even be in debt, which was why she came to find Feng Lan. She didn't expect to hear such outrageous remarks before she even entered the door. How could she not be angry?

"Even the Dragon-Slaying Wine can't save you this time, Feng Lan, you should repent!"

Tsunade reached out and grabbed at thin air, but only managed to grab air. Looking up, she saw that Feng Lan had appeared next to Jiraiya at some point, grinning and saying, "Wow, this is really scary, Jiraiya-sama, you have to protect me!"

"Flying Thunder God..."

Jiraiya's gaze sharpened, and he looked down at the sake bottle in his hand, where he indeed saw the Flying Thunder God mark.

He immediately realized that a ninja who could use the Flying Thunder God Technique must be a sensory ninja. How could Feng Lan not know that Tsunade was approaching? He deliberately said that to make himself speak the truth!

"You can't escape, you brat!"

Enraged, Tsunade leaped up, and Feng Lan, without holding back, kicked Jiraiya in the butt: "Judging by Tsunade's anger, she must have lost a lot of money. Jiraiya, I'll leave the gambling debts and the broken door to you to pay."

Logically speaking, with Jiraiya's strength, dodging this kick should have been effortless. However, the terrain was narrow, the incident was sudden, and he was somewhat emotionally disturbed by Feng Lan's deliberate actions. As a result, he was kicked squarely and fell straight forward.

This lunge was just like in a classic harem anime, as he crashed directly into Tsunade's arms.

"nice shot!"

Feng Lan whistled, then instantly used Flying Thunder God Technique to appear beside Zhi Shui, patting the shoulders of the three stunned men: "Aren't you leaving? Want to watch the live broadcast?"

"Let's get out of here!"

The four of them immediately turned tail and ran as fast as they could.

"Hey! You bastard!"

Tsunade was both ashamed and angry, and instinctively raised her fist.

"Wow!"

Jiraiya was beaten up by Tsunade since he was a child. Before he even got hit, he crossed his hands to protect his face, trying to preserve his handsome appearance.

However, this time, Tsunade's fist failed to land for a long time.

The air suddenly went quiet. Jiraiya opened his eyes curiously, only to see Tsunade with red eyes, hugging him tightly: "Sorry, let me lean on you for a moment."

"Um……"

Logically speaking, Jiraiya, who could navigate a field of beauties without ever getting entangled in a petal, should have handled this situation with ease. However, he unexpectedly found himself rather flustered, wanting to embrace the other person but not daring to, as shy as Xiao Chu Nan (although he was).

Finally, he simply patted Tsunade's shoulder lightly: "Lean on me however you like. A man's shoulder is for making girls cry!"

"Fool……"

[Hmph, the situation is very favorable.]

Feng Lan, who used her senses to detect the positions of the two people in the room, smiled slightly. Despite Tsunade's usual carefree demeanor, she had been numbing herself with alcohol. After the scar of Dan's death was torn open bloodily, she had been in a state of extreme anxiety and sadness, but had nowhere to vent her emotions.

Who could he confide in? The three generations of teachers in the village might be the murderers (although it seems they aren't now), Minato and Furan are all juniors, and Shizune and Obito are even younger than children.

As for Orochimaru? What kind of thought process would lead someone to think of that? Don't forget, he's the one who tore open that scar!

The once vast Konoha Village had long since changed beyond recognition; it was no longer the home she remembered.

After all is said and done, the only person Tsunade could temporarily rely on and confide in, who was also one of the Legendary Sannin, was Jiraiya.

Currently, under the combined influence of her emotional wounds, alcohol, and anger from losing money, she was already on the verge of collapse. Then, she learned from Feng Lan's words that Jiraiya still loved her and heard firsthand how much he cherished her.

Overwhelmed with mixed feelings, she finally let go of her strong and cheerful exterior and revealed her vulnerable side to him.

Tsunade already had quite a few feelings for Jiraiya, and in the main story, everyone could tell that Tsunade was practically ready to accept his subtle confession before he left for Amegakure. Then, with Fenglan's matchmaking, hmph~

This was the ultimate value of his good teacher in his mind: not only had he learned her ninjutsu abilities and let her teach Rin and Kabuto, but he also wanted to use Tsunade to keep Jiraiya tied to Konoha for a long time, preventing him from running around looking for some prophetic child. Naruto was right under his nose, what the hell was he going to do?

If the Great Toad Sage used a prophecy to make Jiraiya run around on the basis of national righteousness, then Fenglan's move was based on personal feelings. As the saying goes, even heroes can't resist the charms of a beautiful woman. He didn't believe that Jiraiya would really marry Tsunade and even have children in the future, and would still be like Sasuke, never going home.

As for pursuing Tsunade? Many fanfics do that, but unfortunately, Feng Lan is a very self-aware and Sigma-aware person. He knows he can never win Tsunade over, so he has never considered someone old enough to be his mother as a target.

From the very first moment they met, he was already plotting to squeeze every last bit of value out of Tsunade, and now... he had succeeded.

Chapter 66 Jiraiya's Teaching and Practical Application

The next morning, everyone gathered at the intersection of Tanabata Street, and Obito rejoined the group.

It's clear that most people, although they relaxed briefly, were still able to restrain themselves from the three ninja prohibitions; at least they all went to bed early and got up early, and appeared energetic when they gathered.

However, a few people seemed to have had a great time last night, and could only stand in the line with dark circles under their eyes and trying to suppress their yawns.

Feng Lan didn't criticize them harshly. After all, they were all young men, and a little indulgence was fine as long as it didn't affect the mission.

Of course, Jiraiya and Tsunade are among the people with two black circles under their eyes.

It's impossible to expect this ill-fated couple to make any breakthroughs in one night, but Tsunade seems to be doing much better. Although she looks a little tired and lonely, it's still better than her previous forced cheerfulness and boldness. She must have poured out all the pressure and emotions she's been holding in for years last night.

No matter how hard Jiraiya tried to restrain himself, he couldn't hide the joy under his dark circles, clearly indicating that their relationship had made good progress.

Seeing Feng Lan approach with a smile, Tsunade snorted and turned her head away haughtily, clearly a little shy. Jiraiya, on the other hand, blinked, hiding all his gratitude in his small gestures.

What he wanted was for these two to be grateful to him. Even though he was using Tsunade, she still had to thank him.

So Fenglan pressed her advantage: "Lord Jiraiya, please take a look at this child."

He waved and called Kakashi over.

"No problem, no problem." Jiraiya was happy and didn't make things difficult for Kakashi. He gave him a little test and then passed him.

“And then there’s Obito.” Feng Lan, adhering to the principle of squeezing every last drop of juice, said, “Lady Tsunade said that if he could learn Sage Mode, he would have even stronger control over his Mangekyou Sharingan and Wood Release. What do you think…”

"Ha, now I understand what Tsunade meant." Jiraiya chuckled dryly. "You really don't consider yourself an outsider."

"Of course, we're like brothers." Feng Lan grinned. "Not only Kakashi and Obito, I'm even planning to learn a few moves from you."

Aside from Kakashi, he himself is proficient in all five elements. There's no reason for him to waste the resources of Jiraiya and Mount Myōboku.

"You're already Tsunade's disciple, right..." Jiraiya glanced at Tsunade, and seeing her nod slightly, he agreed. "Alright, let me, the Toad Sage, properly teach you juniors what perseverance is!"

……

Compared to Minato's teaching style of "This is offense, this is defense, this is Ashina Genichiro," Jiraiya's teaching style was much easier to understand. Even someone as naive as Obito could understand it, so Fenglan was naturally no problem.

He also improved Fenglan's shadow clone training method by adding clones that absorb natural energy to neutralize and offset the fatigue caused by the disappearance of the clones.

The specific method is actually very simple: create two clones. One clone cultivates normally, while the other clone absorbs natural energy. Finally, cancel both clones at the same time. The fatigue from cultivation and the influx of natural energy arrive simultaneously, which will greatly improve your condition.

This method is similar to how Naruto used clones to absorb natural energy during his battle with Pain, allowing him to repeatedly enter Sage Mode. However, none of them have mastered Sage Mode yet; they only absorb a small amount of natural chakra using the method taught by Jiraiya, so they won't enter Sage Mode. Of course, this also greatly reduces the probability of their internal energy becoming chaotic and turning into petrified frogs.

However, it should be noted that while the risk has been greatly reduced, it still exists. But how can one not take risks in order to become stronger quickly? In addition, with Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, and Tsunade, the Medical Saint, around, even if something unexpected happens, they can be rescued in time. Naturally, Feng Lan is eager to join them.

In fact, not only him, but everyone's eyes lit up when they saw this training method. At first, it was Obito, Kakashi, and Rin. Soon, Shisui, Itachi, and Kabuto also joined in. In the end, Hizashi and the elites of the other three clans followed suit. Only Dai, who did not know ninjutsu, was unable to use this method.

However, Dai was not discouraged by this at all. Instead, he worked even harder in his daily training and made the most of his youth.

In this way, Feng Lan's daily training consisted of his main body practicing taijutsu with Dai, one clone practicing ninjutsu, and another clone absorbing natural energy. If this continued, the best outcome would be that he would master all three of his taijutsu, ninjutsu, and sage techniques!

Of course, that would take a long time. Before that, the group had already arrived at the border of the Land of Rain.

It must be said that the addition of the two legendary Sannin played an excellent role in enhancing his reputation. No other forces dared to obstruct or assassinate him along the way, allowing Feng Lan to train intensively for a while.

"Be careful."

Jiraiya, in stark contrast to his usual relaxed and humorous teaching style, appeared serious and earnest: "We have now entered Hanzo's territory, and an attack could occur at any moment."

After all, the three legendary Sannin had once joined forces but lost to Hanzo, and Jiraiya had always been very wary of him. In addition, he felt very guilty about the civilians Konoha had affected in Amegakure. Now, revisiting this place, he was probably suffering from PTSD.

“Don’t worry so much.” Feng Lan pointed to the back of the carriage, where the flamboyant banner was still fluttering in the wind. “We are an official delegation from Konoha. Unless Hanzo is determined to wage a full-scale war against Konoha, it is impossible for him to launch an attack.”

"I'm just worried about Danzo..." Jiraiya's expression was full of disgust, clearly indicating that he also disliked Danzo.

"No matter how eloquent Danzo is, he can't persuade Hanzo to go to war with Konoha. Besides, we've been so ostentatious along the way, Hanzo has probably already heard the news. This is Konoha openly sending a signal of goodwill. How could he not understand that?"

Feng Lan smiled and said, "That old man is just trying to incite Hanzo to take action against any forces in Amegakure that might threaten him, so he can reap the benefits himself."

"So..." Jiraiya frowned, "...isn't Yahiko and the others in great danger?!"

Jiraiya had vaguely heard that Yahiko and his two companions were gaining fame in Amegakure, but by the time he heard about it again, they had already passed away. Now, after Fenglan's analysis, he immediately realized that the most likely threat to Danzo from Amegakure was the power of Yahiko and the other young people.

"Let's hurry!" He couldn't help but feel anxious; Jiraiya was genuinely concerned about the trio.

“I would like to, however…” Feng Lan, who possessed the ability to sense things, shrugged, “A roadblock has arrived.”

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and looked up again, only to see dozens of masked ninjas attacking from the front.

"Tch, Root organization people, huh?" After Feng Lan's words, he knew that the only ones who would jump out to stop him and his group were Danzo's subordinates.

With Fenglan, a sensory ninja, around, the team was very difficult to ambush. Everyone immediately prepared to fight back, but it was Fenglan himself who made the first move.

He raised the peacock swords high in his hands, took a deep breath, and exhaled sharply.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

This is the power of the Peacock Twin Swords. Once you understand how your chakra flows within your body, they can even help Feng Lan skip the hand seals and activate the sword directly. They can also reduce the amount of chakra needed and increase the power.

A series of incredibly sharp wind blades erupted from the tips of the twin swords, whistling and tearing through the air with a piercing shriek. The wind blades were almost transparent in the night; only the distorted light and the dust kicked up by the ground proved their existence.

With the support of the Peacock Twin Swords, they did not strike one after another, but poured out like a storm, layer upon layer, covering the sky and the earth.

In the hands of Peacock himself, they could not unleash their power because Takumi Village did not have many ninjutsu lineages. Peacock could only use the abilities that came with the swords themselves (which were already the prototype of scientific ninja tools). However, in the hands of Fenglan, who held Orochimaru's scroll, the swords finally showed their true value.

The dozen or so Root ninjas at the forefront didn't even have time to react before the wind blades swept past their bodies. Their armor was torn apart like paper, and their flesh and blood were powerless against the compressed wind pressure.

Some were cut in half at the waist, some were sliced ​​diagonally from the shoulder to the opposite rib, and others were dismembered by multiple wind blades. Before the blood could even spurt out, it was dispersed into a blood mist by the subsequent wind blades, spreading into a pale red cloud in the air.

Severed limbs and remains were scattered all over the ground, and kunai and shuriken clattered and fell.

"Hiss..." Tsunade, who was afraid of blood, curled her lips in disgust. "You're too ruthless, kid."

Feng Lan didn't answer, only breathing slightly heavily. Although the Peacock Twin Swords conserved chakra, it was still his first time using a wind-style technique of this scale in actual combat, and his body was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.

“However…” Jiraiya’s eyes flashed with approval, “The power is not bad. No wonder you shamelessly snatched it directly. It turns out those two swords are so useful.”

Although the scene was extremely brutal, the ninjas were already used to bloodshed and killing, and those who followed Danzo in betraying Konoha were extremely loyal; no one backed down.

"Shisui, Obito, attack from the left and right!" Fenglan ordered in a deep voice.

Two figures shot out from the group. Shisui's Body Flicker Technique was as fast as a ghost, and his Sharingan emitted an eerie red light in the darkness. Each flash was accompanied by the fall of a Root member. Obito was even more direct. His Kamui Intangibility made him ignore all attacks, and Wood Release branches burst from the ground, binding and strangling the enemies one by one.

Hizashi activated his Byakugan to protect Fenglan, and used his Gentle Fist to swat away the kunai and shuriken that were trying to sneak up on him. This was no small matter and it wasn't worth using the Reincarnation skill.