Yes, the Hokage

After seeing Mitokado Koji off, Minato was sitting at the table looking worried when Kaede walked in.

"You've finally arrived." The big golden retriever stood up abruptly as if he had seen his savior. "I think the diplomats are hiding something from me."

"Wow, that's progress." Feng Lan whistled. "You actually realized it without me having to remind you."

“I need to know what they’re hiding.” Minato looked at Fenglan with anticipation.

“Even if you look at it that way… but unfortunately, I don’t know either.” Feng Lan shrugged.

"There are things in this world that you don't know?!" Minato's expression was one of utter disbelief.

"Omniscience and omnipotence are the Sage of Six Paths' business, not mine. Even if I'm good at analysis and planning, it still depends on having intelligence." Feng Lan curled her lips. "Since they deliberately concealed something from you, they obviously wouldn't let too many subordinates know. As for this document... it is useful, but not for investigating the truth. Just like a decent person wouldn't keep a diary, since Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were determined to hide it, they naturally wouldn't leave any evidence."

"Let alone written documents, even those people from Takigakure should have been intimidated by them and dare not speak the truth rashly."

"So... unless I ask Mr. Inoichi to use his mind-reading ninjutsu directly on the Elders, it's impossible to get the information, right?" Minato sat back down in his chair, looking disappointed.

"Or you could have the Uchiha lads serve as the interrogation team and extract confessions directly," Feng Lan said with a smile.

"Stop joking! Think of something!" Minato scratched his head. "Besides the Elders, there must be someone else who knows their secret!"

"Oh, perhaps there is." Feng Lan said with a sneer.

"Who is it?!" Minato stood up excitedly again.

"The Tsuchikage and the Raikage."

It took Shuimen a while to understand what Fenglan was trying to say: "What's going on? The other side's spies can find out our village's secrets, but I know nothing about what's happening in other villages!"

“It’s not necessarily that our village’s spies are incompetent.” Feng Lan poured himself a cup of tea. “Don’t forget, Danzo also knew about the expansion of Kumogakure a long time ago.”

"Does that mean the elders have suppressed everything that happened in other villages too?!" Minato was genuinely angry this time.

"Otherwise, why do you think Mitokado Homura dared to be so arrogant yesterday?" Feng Lan chuckled lazily. "Let me guess, you're planning to call those two over directly and use your Hokage status to inquire about the specifics of Takigakure, right?"

"That's probably the only way." Minato frowned.

“Alright, let’s practice first.” Feng Lan took a sip of tea. “Mitomon En suffered a great loss yesterday. After learning that you met with Mitomon Koji alone, he will most likely claim to be sick at home and only come to Utatane Koharu. Now I am Utatane Koharu. How do you plan to get information out of me?”

Chapter 141 The Attitude of the Third Generation

"Okay."

Hearing Fenglan's suggestion, Minato was a little excited. After all, he had defeated Mitokado Homura in a head-on match yesterday. Although there were various factors involved, it was still his first solo win since taking office.

So, having secured the first kill, he's quite confident now.

So Fenglan put down his teacup, cleared his throat, and then sat up straight. He placed his hands on the table, straightened his back, and raised his chin slightly. Instantly, he changed from a lazy state to a scrutinizing and restrained one, with a hint of superiority. This was exactly the usual demeanor of Koharu Utatane.

"Fourth Hokage, what brings you to this old woman?"

Minato was a little taken aback at first, but he quickly realized that Koharu Utatane wouldn't give him much time, so he took a deep breath, sat up straight, and adopted a posture: "I need to know the specific handling plan for Takigakure's diplomatic affairs."

"I don't quite understand what you mean."

“Hidden things are useless.” Minato frowned. “You know what I’m talking about!”

Feng Lan's posture remained unchanged, but a smiling expression appeared on his face: "Lord Hokage, please calm down. If you are referring to diplomatic affairs concerning Takigakure, then I can assure you that all procedures have been strictly completed in accordance with Konoha's diplomatic norms, and the relevant documents have been archived and are available for review at any time. If you feel there is anything unclear, please specify which document, which clause, or which record you are referring to."

Shuimen fell silent, recalling what Fenglan had just said—the evidence had been destroyed and the witnesses had been silenced.

In the dialogue of the woman opposite him, "Turning Dorm Koharu," he heard a response that neither directly rejected nor admitted to the relationship. This was a distance that he could not reach at this moment, a way to bypass the entrance he was tracking.

“You said it’s already been filed.” Minato’s voice steadied slightly. “Then can you tell me the specifics of Takigakure’s most recent diplomatic visit?”

"The records show that it was a normal, friendly exchange."

What were the contents of the friendly exchanges?

“Friendly exchange.” Feng Lan repeated, her tone calm. “Lord Hokage, the details of diplomatic affairs are usually not suitable for discussion in informal settings. If you wish to know the specifics, please submit a written request for access.”

What if I refuse the written application?

"Then I would suggest that you raise a formal question at the next meeting of the elders."

Even if he achieved a partial victory, the vote at the council of elders was still two to two, and that was without the intervention of the third generation.

So Minato once again used his methods for dealing with beasts... I mean, Koji Mitokado, setting aside his disadvantages and highlighting his advantages: "What if I give the order directly as the Hokage?"

Feng Lan remained expressionless: "The Elders Council has no right to question the Hokage's direct orders. However, under the current circumstances, you have not cited any specific legal provisions or prior treaties to support your instructions. Therefore, it is still considered an instruction 'issued on a specific occasion.' In this case, the Elders Council has the right to require you to first confirm the anticipated boundaries of the execution of the instructions."

Shuimen stopped. He remembered what Fenglan had said—the law can be used on the other side, and so can we. And now it seems to be a perfect boomerang.

"At this point, what law should I propose for her to obey?" he asked, his eyes pleading.

“There is no such law.” Feng Lan also exited the Koharu Utatane form. “Because the law currently in effect in Konoha was revised by the F4 when the Third Hokage was young, and the Third Hokage obviously does not need to order Koharu Utatane to obey anything as the Hokage.”

“Isn’t this a double trap?” Minato frowned. “I’ll never be able to get anything useful out of them.”

"Of course not. First of all, your direct goal in inviting Koharu Tsune over shouldn't be to interrogate her, but rather to probe indirectly." Fenglan began her DDF baptism again. "Secondly, what we really need to do isn't to obtain information from them, but to preemptively render their information useless..."

……

He spent a full hour baptizing, and Minato took another half hour to digest it. The two even went out for lunch together and took a 15-minute nap on the sofa in their respective offices before starting their plans with renewed energy.

"Tetsu, go and invite Mitokado Homura and Lady Utatane Koharu over here."

"Yes..." Inuzuka Tetsuya's heart trembled. Thinking of what happened this morning, was it that Lord Fenglan was about to make a move?

Soon, he returned with only Xiaochun from the dormitory.

[Feng Lan's calculations were really accurate.] Minato sighed inwardly, sat up straight, and prepared to face his challenge.

"I'm very sorry, Fourth Hokage." Koharu Utatane sat down across from the desk, and the aura that Feng Lan had put on earlier was far from being even a tenth of her true self. "Yan is getting old, and he fell ill yesterday because he was too excited and his emotions were in turmoil. I'm afraid he won't be able to come today."

[Okay, let's start by putting a label on him, saying that his guilty conscience is all because of that old man Minato who couldn't come.] Feng Lan, standing behind Minato, thought to himself, but a signature smile had already appeared on his face.

Seeing his expression, Koharu Utatane's gaze also turned serious. She wasn't afraid of Minato. Even if he wanted to ask her something forcefully, she wasn't a useless person like Koji Mitokado. She had plenty of ways to evade him.

On the contrary, Feng Lan's smile is never a good thing.

“That must be tough. After all, he’s getting older, so it’s normal for his health to be a little off.” Minato spoke up at this point. The plan that Fenglan gave him was just an outline; he was to refine the details himself. This was also a kind of test. “But if his health problems affect the progress of certain decisions, do you think someone needs to temporarily take over some of the functions?”

He also began to try his hand at things, first subtly probing Koharu Utatane's stance. If she showed any greed for that position, things would be much more promising.

Unfortunately, Koharu Utatane remained unmoved: "I already said yesterday that Yan is undoubtedly the most suitable person for this position. Even if the Hokage wants him to step down, he has to find a suitable successor first and sort out the data on all salary and benefits before he can do anything else, right?"

She remained unmoved by the enormous profits and calmly pointed out the irreplaceable nature of Mitokado Ero, demonstrating an excellent sense of the big picture and an understanding of the principle that "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold."

[This old woman might be even more difficult to deal with than Mitokado Homura.] Feng Lan also gave his assessment. There are many smart people, but many people can't control themselves when faced with huge benefits. People like Orochimaru and Mitokado Homura are not considered very strong opponents.

Because no matter how strong a person is, if they have a weakness, they can be easily defeated.

But Koharu is different. At least for now, Fenglan hasn't found her weakness, so... he can only create a weakness for her.

"Before I left the Land of Iron, I saw that the samurai seemed to be sharpening their swords, as if they wanted to take action against the surrounding small countries. I wonder if Lady Koharu of Utatane thinks Konoha should intervene?"

Minato began another probing move. Takigakure is very close to Konoha and the Land of Iron, so any action from there or any interference here could have repercussions.

But Koharu Utatane remained unmoved: "Please rest assured, Fourth Hokage, there is nothing to interfere with. Although the Land of Iron is barren, it has long been supplied with resources by the Hidden Cloud Village. It is very honest and will only bite when the Hidden Cloud Village is really ready to make a move."

“And now…” she smiled and glanced at Minato and Fenglan, “the Hidden Cloud Village has been suppressed by your two brilliant strategies, and there won’t be any more threats for a while, right?”

[Hmph, this guy really knows the real reason why the Land of Iron sided with the Hidden Cloud Village.]

Feng Lan snorted inwardly. When the high-level meeting before the Five Kage Summit reminded them, these old guys didn't say anything. Obviously, they were hiding all kinds of information and were unwilling to give out even a little bit. The relationship between the Land of Iron and the Hidden Cloud Village was something he had to deduce himself after going there.

Of course, the same goes for him. He didn't reveal a single piece of information about the Five Kage Summit to F3, so Koharu Utatane's words just now were a test of their intentions.

[Even though she knew Minato had already started gathering information about Takigakure, she wasn't flustered at all, and even had the mind to turn against him. It was definitely the right thing to do to eliminate her first.] Feng Lan immediately made up her mind. Right now, Mitokado Homura was in a sorry state, and the Third Hokage was inactive. If she didn't take advantage of this great opportunity to eliminate the most troublesome guy, when would she have a better chance?

It seems... I'll have to use that card too.

Minato chatted casually, and Koharu, who was in the dorm, joined in the conversation, showing no sign of being in a hurry.

As for Feng Lan, having made up his mind, he naturally wanted to finish things off completely. His original plan was simply to make Utatane Koharu look as humiliated as Mitomon Homura, weakening her authority before gradually taking action, but now...

It's time to make some concessions and take drastic measures.

"Lord Hokage, I still have some documents to process." He bowed slightly. "Please, both of you, take your time to talk."

Koharu's gaze sharpened again. Split up? Minato, without Fuuran, posed no threat to her, but he could keep her here. That most dangerous kid... what was he planning to do under the circumstances?

But at this moment, Minato, who was working seamlessly with Fenglan, had already launched his real offensive: "Lord Koharu Utatane, I heard that an envoy from Takigakure came to Konoha. You and Lord Homura Mitokado were in charge of receiving him. I wonder what you talked about?"

Koharu Utatane was also forced to focus her attention on dealing with this: "Hokage-sama, it's just a routine greeting."

[Luckily, we had previously dispatched ANBU to keep an eye on the Hokage's office, but that kid can use the Flying Thunder God Technique... I wonder if we can really keep an eye on him.]

"Is that so?" Minato had obviously already made an appointment with Fenglan, and his offensive became even more aggressive. "But my lords, even if it is an envoy sent by a small country, it is customary for the Hokage to receive him. Why don't you keep him for a few more days until I return?"

He knew he couldn't get to this shrewd old man with the law, so he resorted to the usual practices that F3 often used.

“That is indeed the usual practice, but you were far away in the Land of Iron at the time, and the envoy's stay was limited, so we couldn't rush you because of this,” Koharu Utatane smiled. “After all, the Five Kage Summit is more important, isn't it?”

"Hmm... nothing should have happened..." Minato squinted. "Very important information was decided by the two of you in private."

"Of course not," Koharu Utatane said with a smile. "It's just that even using the Ninja Hawk wouldn't be enough to communicate in time, so we made some decisions ourselves for minor matters. Of course... we also consulted the Third Hokage."

Although the Third Hokage had long since stopped interfering in affairs, Koharu Utatane still dragged him out to recite the text in an attempt to make Minato give up as soon as possible so that she could extricate herself from the situation and inform Mitomon that Enfūran had disappeared.

But Minato clearly wouldn't let her succeed so easily: "For example?"

“We’ve written everything into the documents and submitted them. Didn’t you read the documents Yan brought yesterday?” Xiaochun, who was turning over the dormitory, remained tight-lipped.

“Well…” Minato certainly wouldn’t dwell on his disadvantages. “I want to talk to the diplomatic envoy from Takigakure again.”

Koharu, of course, could not agree with this: "I suggest we don't do it this way."

"What's the reason?"

"The envoy has already returned to Takigakure. Rashly pursuing him might cross the border of another country. Besides, Konoha is a major power. Repeatedly dispatching envoys from Takigakure would give the impression of arrogance and cause fear and anxiety among neighboring smaller countries. Considering that Takigakure itself still has tailed beasts, rashly escalating tensions between the two sides is undoubtedly not a good choice, especially since Advisor Fenglan offended so many people at the Five Kage Summit, didn't he?"

“Hmm, that sounds reasonable.” Minato smiled. “But I still want to know the specifics of your meeting.”

"Lord Hokage, that part has already been recorded in the documents."

……

Just as the two of them started arguing and bickering, Feng Lan had already left the Hokage Building using the Flying Thunder God Technique and arrived at the training ground of the Standing New Army. As a cunning person with multiple burrows, he wanted to leave his Flying Thunder God Technique mark in every corner of Konoha, making it extremely difficult for the Anbu to lock him down at the Hokage Building.

Besides, he used a shadow clone in the bathroom to keep the clone working in the office. Even if the ANBU were monitoring him, they couldn't really rush in to confirm whether he was a shadow clone or not, right?

Soon, Feng Lan used her transformation technique to become a water tiger and arrived at the Third Hokage's house: "Please help me announce that I wish to see the Third Hokage."

The guard at the gate naturally refused: "Sorry, the Third Hokage is currently unavailable..."

"Then please inform them that it is people from Takumi Ninja Village who have arrived."

Before Fenglan cut it off, the ninja tool business was always done by the Third Hokage in the village of Takumi. Moreover, if Fenglan's guess is correct, the Third Hokage should be most concerned about the situation there right now.

Sure enough, he was quickly invited inside. Feng Lan didn't stand on ceremony, and as soon as the dark guard left, everything returned to normal.

"It's you?" The Third Hokage frowned slightly, his seemingly calm old eyes revealing an indescribable sharpness.

“That’s right, Third Hokage, let’s make a deal.” Feng Lan smiled again.

"Is there anything we can trade?" The Third Hokage took a puff of his pipe. "I'm preparing to retire. What happens next is up to you and Minato."

"Don't say that. My bargaining chip..." Feng Lan's eyes narrowed into slits, "is Orochimaru."

Chapter 142 A True Judge of Character

The moment those words left his mouth, Feng Lan felt the sky suddenly darken. It was only 2 p.m., the time when the sun was at its brightest and most dazzling. The Third Hokage was just sitting there, not using any ninjutsu, yet he suddenly felt as if the sky had fallen.

This was genuine killing intent. The Third Hokage, who had survived the carnage of World War II and led Konoha to its current position as Hokage, may not have experienced battles of the same intensity as the First and Second Hokage, but in terms of sheer brutality, he was no less formidable! He was definitely more than just a seemingly kind old man.

Such terrifying killing intent even made Feng Lan's vision blur, but he was not surprised but delighted. It seemed that he had guessed correctly that his mention of Orochimaru could elicit such a strong reaction from the Third Hokage.

After a long while, the killing intent subsided, and the Third Hokage sighed deeply: "It seems that you guessed right after all."

“If those two could just disappear like you, I would indeed have no trace of them.” Feng Lan subtly stirred up trouble among the F3 members. “But the fact that the two of them are still active, especially since they even moved my office, is enough to tell the story.”

And this is also a fact. If Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu hadn't caused trouble, he certainly wouldn't have been forced to deal with them when he came back. Instead, he would have focused all his efforts on preparing for Kushina's childbirth.

"Sigh!" The third generation delivered another epic-level slam, "You are indeed very smart. Facing you, I even feel like I'm facing a teacher. No wonder he likes you."

It's not that they're smart, it's that they know the plot inside and out.

In reality, Feng Lan was only able to confirm the entire plan when the Third Generation revealed his killing intent. Before that, it was just speculation based on the original plot and the performance of his two old comrades.

He essentially set the question based on the answer, first assuming that the Third Hokage would save Orochimaru, and then figuring out how to save him and what to do afterward.

However, although he thought this in his heart, he couldn't show it out loud. Feng Lan continued with a smile, "Your sudden silence is because you've been secretly laying the groundwork to rescue Orochimaru from Takumi Village, right? And the timing was also very clever... just a few days before Kushina gave birth, wasn't it?"