Yes, the Hokage!

……

Meanwhile, inside the experimental base.

"Hmm, it seems the situation has stabilized for now." Orochimaru looked at Obito in the culture tank and nodded in satisfaction. "He's out of immediate danger, but with the injection of more Hashirama cells, death is still a constant threat."

"Obito will be alright, I believe in him!" Kakashi stood beside the incubation tank, staring intently at Obito inside.

"Hmph, the course of things is never changed by human will; it is the result of the collision of matter. You can't do anything if you just believe." Orochimaru sneered disdainfully.

"No, we can definitely do it!"

Lin also spoke firmly, her small hands clenched tightly: "[Lord Fenglan told me that as long as I say that to Obito, as long as I say it...]"

Her memory involuntarily drifted back to the previous night, when Fenglan earnestly and seriously asked Lin, "Do you know that Obito likes you?"

"me……"

Before Rin could answer, Fenglan said, "Whether you like Obito or Kakashi, if you want Obito to survive, you must do as I say..."

"Is this really okay?!" Lin blushed with embarrassment after hearing what Feng Lan said.

“It definitely will,” Feng Lan said earnestly. “Whether you reciprocate Obito’s feelings or not, as long as you say you’re willing to die with him, he will definitely… live on for you!”

You have to understand that he was a ruthless person who could endure the pain of being possessed by the Ten-Tails for Rin's sake. Feng Lan felt that for Rin's sake, enduring the Hashirama cells should not be a difficult task. Anyway, as long as he thought it would work, he would just stuff it in.

As for the relationship between these three afterwards? Sorry, that's none of my business. The Hokage advisor isn't responsible for matters of the heart.

"Hmph, after all, he's still a kid who hasn't experienced life and death."

Orochimaru sneered and turned to walk away, only to run into Shisui: "Where are you going?"

"Can't I just go back to sleep? You've been monitoring me the whole time during the experiment. Does the number one shrew of the Uchiha clan have to watch people sleep?" Orochimaru replied sarcastically.

“You can go back,” Shisui said, unmoved. “But I will continue to stay here.”

"Suit yourself. Just call me if you notice any adverse reactions." Orochimaru waved his hand dismissively. As long as Shisui didn't monitor him, this brat named Obito would have results in three days at most. He needed to secretly learn the forbidden techniques and complete the transfer of some things before then.

……

The next morning, as soon as Fenglan entered the office, she saw Shuimen's bitter face.

Although he knew what was going on, he still asked, "What's wrong, Minato?"

"No, it's nothing." Minato seemed unwilling to put too much pressure on his friend and immediately shook his head.

"Is it the reason why the standing new army is not progressing well?" Feng Lan dragged a chair and sat down opposite the water gate. "You can't blame those old guys who oppose it too much. They are all patriarchs of their respective families. It is understandable to send elites from their respective families to the front line during wartime. Now that it is peacetime, they are naturally unwilling to hand over their family generals and private soldiers to you for your command."

As he spoke, he suddenly turned his attention to Itachi: "Itachi, tell me, if I hadn't established a good relationship with Clan Chief Fugaku beforehand, would he have been willing to offer up the Uchiha's young lads for the Fourth Hokage to use?"

Itachi was startled, but Fenglan had already seen through this guy's weakness last night: he was too young to lie.

Sure enough, Itachi hesitated for a long time before stammering, "I... I don't think so."

"See?" Feng Lan shrugged. "So I have to get a team together first, and then slowly plan for more."

"Ugh!"

Minato couldn't help but sigh, "This is clearly Konoha, but... does the Hokage have the final say, or do those clan heads?"

“That’s an interesting question… I often discuss this with the elders.” Feng Lan smiled mischievously.

Minato frowned. "What's your conclusion?"

Feng Lan shrugged: "I am a bit of a heretic. I personally think that the Hokage has the final say, but... obviously I am in the minority."

"So that's how it is..." Minato didn't get angry, but silently accepted everything. A few minutes later, he raised his head again. "Fenglan, what should we do next?"

It's clear that although he was unwilling, he had no better option, so he could only rely on himself, which was exactly what Feng Lan was happy to see.

"Make an example of them," Feng Lan said, spreading her hands. "Teach the most vocal group a lesson first, and the others will naturally behave themselves."

"Which faction is jumping the most?" Minato's eyes lit up.

“Danzo’s root organization,” Feng Lan gave a matter-of-fact answer.

Minato: "...While it does make some sense, it still feels like you're settling a personal score."

“That’s right, it’s about settling personal scores, and that’s a good starting point,” Feng Lan said confidently. “As long as it serves its purpose of eliminating the enemy, does the reason matter?”

“I always feel that you have some prejudice against Lord Danzo… although I also know that some of the things he did were indeed despicable.” Minato pondered for a moment, “Fenglan, may I hear your opinion on Lord Danzo? I want to speak from the heart.”

“You’ll regret it after you hear this,” Feng Lan blurted out. “Danzo cared more about his own ambition than Konoha. He raised the average age of the Hokage advisors, but lowered the average IQ.”

"You, this..." Minato gave a wry smile, "This is just too much..."

“You want my honest opinion?” Feng Lan shrugged. “Anyway, it’s absolutely no problem to take action against Danzo. The reason is that he tried to assassinate me in the street a while ago, and it can also help vent the anger of the Uchiha.”

“But when he came to apologize before, he clearly said that this matter was over.” Minato frowned.

"I was the one who said it, not you." Feng Lan looked innocent. "This time you were the one who wanted to kill the chicken, so of course you brought it up."

"Me, me..." Minato looked a little uncomfortable; clearly, he didn't like playing the villain.

“If you’re hesitant, we can wait a bit longer.” Feng Lan then used a feigned retreat as a tactic to advance, “Once I’ve made some progress in reducing the middle management, I can just pick a chicken to slaughter…”

"No need, I'll do it!" Minato knew Fenglan too well; if he wanted to delay something, he could easily drag it out for three or five years. "Summon the advisors immediately, let's begin the council meeting!"

With his wicked scheme succeeding and knowing he was about to profit from it, Feng Lan revealed a satisfied smile: "Yes, Hokage."

Chapter 19 A Small Amount Can Be Weighed Great

"As you all know, the project to reduce redundancy in the middle management is progressing slowly."

During the meeting, Minato had barely begun when Danzo interrupted him, saying, "Isn't the slow progress of the project all due to the incompetence of the implementers? That brat talks a big game, but he hasn't actually achieved anything. Does he really deserve to sit in this position of chief advisor?"

"No one is more suitable for this position than Fenglan..."

Minato seemed to want to speak up for Feng Lan, but the latter quickly changed the subject, smiling as he said, "So what has Lord Danzo, who promised to do everything in his power to help me, done? Has he stabbed me in the back and arranged for people to cause trouble? Or has he instructed Orochimaru to sabotage Obito's experiments? Or is he busy completely eliminating that child named 'Kō' and destroying the evidence?"

What he used to threaten Orochimaru yesterday, he revealed in the meeting today. The main point is that he is untrustworthy, despicable and shameless. What's that saying again? There's no need to talk about chivalry when dealing with such evil heretics!

Besides, he himself wasn't exactly a moral person to begin with, so this is a double win.

"you!"

Orochimaru was obviously too busy learning forbidden techniques and transferring experimental assets to remind Danzo. Besides, in his opinion, the fact that the armor was exposed was probably because Danzo had betrayed him. Otherwise, how could something so closely guarded, which should only be known to heaven, earth, and the two of them, suddenly be known to Fenglan?

Using her intelligence advantage as a transmigrator, Feng Lan once again outmaneuvered those two cunning old foxes.

Therefore, Danzo was caught off guard by the information suddenly thrown out by Fenglan. Originally, Fenglan's previous two sentences about arranging people to cause trouble behind the scenes and instructing Orochimaru to use dirty tricks were completely smears. However, Danzo was so confused because of the Jia incident that it seemed that everything Fenglan said was true, which made him feel guilty.

"Danzo, what's going on?!"

It was only then that the Third Generation belatedly realized that he had been kept in the dark; he genuinely didn't know of A's existence, otherwise he wouldn't have been so shocked when he was assassinated in the original story.

"Third Hokage, now is not the time to change the subject."

Feng Lan didn't give Danzo a chance to think at all, and directly pinpointed the problem: "As you can see, with such an excellent assistant as Lord Danzo 'helping' me, how can my progress be fast?"

Minato seized the opportunity to say, "Lord Danzo, you have indeed made many contributions to Konoha, but your current actions make me feel that spending a lot of money on Root is a mistake, so let's reduce redundancy in the middle layer... starting with Root."

"Root is not some middle-level manager! I bear the darkness of Konoha on my shoulders, and I am far more important than those incompetent fools!" Danzo slammed his fist on the table in anger.

“You carry too much darkness on your shoulders; you have probably become darkness yourself,” Minato said coldly. “If you don’t want your organization, which carries the darkness of Konoha, to become an organization that rots in the darkness, then please cut your manpower and budget in half. These funds will be used, according to Feng Lan’s suggestion, for the construction of the standing new army, orphanages, and education.”

"Improving the villagers' lives is far better than satisfying a bunch of old guys hiding in the shadows, especially since those people are trying to assassinate the chief advisor, aren't they?"

Danzo's old face twisted in frustration as he glared at Feng Lan. "Didn't you say this matter was over?"

However, he saw that the other party was just smiling and did not respond to Minato's words at all. He immediately realized that this matter had just passed with Fenglan, and now it was Minato who was pursuing it.

"The Root organization undertakes Konoha's dirtiest and most important work: monitoring internal traitors and infiltrating other ninja villages..." Left with no other choice, Danzo had to play his trump card, slamming an intelligence report on the table. "Look at this! Kumogakure is expanding its military. If Konoha reduces its intelligence capabilities, who will be responsible for the next war?!"

This was indeed a trump card to turn the tide, but Feng Lan didn't take the bait at all. He had been smiling just moments before, but suddenly his eyes widened in astonishment: "Lord Danzo... you knew about the Cloud Village's actions all along, so why did you delay in reporting them? Do you not care about Minato, the Fourth Hokage, or do you think this information will bring more benefits to the Root organization?"

Upon hearing this, Danzo was speechless, realizing he'd been misled by the kid's information about armor and made a mistake in his haste to protect himself. The Third Hokage's eyelids twitched, and he cursed inwardly, "That idiot..."

Admittedly, Danzo did not keep this information to himself; as soon as he received it, he immediately shared it with the elders for analysis and to devise countermeasures, but... he just didn't tell Minato.

Because everyone in the elders knows that the real power in Konoha is still held by the Third Hokage. Minato, as a lone commander, can't even command many members of the Anbu. What's the use of telling him?

But some things are nothing on the scale, but once you put them on the scale, they can weigh a ton. Of course, you can secretly disregard the water gate, but you can't openly show it at a time like this!

Even if he's a puppet Hokage, he's still a real Hokage, a position that Danzo could never achieve in his entire life!

Just by looking at Fugaku next to him, whose face was so excited he almost threw his pen away, you could tell how explosive this news was!

Danzo is indeed greedy and stupid. He was tricked by Fenglan and Minato and couldn't wait to pull out his "trump card". No wonder the Second Hokage looks down on him.

"Actually, the intelligence only arrived this morning. Danzo just informed us and was preparing to report it in the meeting." The Third Hokage began to cover up the situation without making a sound. Danzo did deserve to be taught a lesson, but he couldn't be weakened so much, otherwise there would be no way to maintain a balance in the fight against Fenglan.

If that kid Fenglan becomes too powerful, he'll probably turn his attention to the other members of the Elders' Council soon and forget about the Will of Fire.

"So the Third Hokage also thinks it's reasonable that the elders would know about military intelligence before the Fourth Hokage?" However, no matter how the Third Hokage tried to appease him, Feng Lan clung to this point and refused to let go. Today, he was determined to tear a piece of flesh from Danzo.

"That's not what Hiruzen meant."

Koharu Utatane spoke slowly and deliberately: "It was indeed our fault this time... Because we were so concerned about the village, we were too focused on the enemy intelligence and forgot to report it. I apologize to the Fourth Hokage."

"As for Danzo... he was indeed confused for a moment and deserves to be punished, but after all, he is a veteran who has made great contributions. Cutting half of his funds and manpower right from the start is a bit too much and will probably discourage the ninjas."

This combination of tactics was indeed impressive. First, they downplayed the fundamental issue of looking down on the Fourth Hokage by saying it was because he cared about the village. Then, they talked about his seniority and achievements, sincerely expressing that Danzo was guilty but should not be punished so severely, otherwise everyone would feel disheartened.

If morale is low, the team will be hard to lead. Can you really keep running without us old guys, you lone Hokage?

However, Fenglan never intended to severely punish Danzo. Making an example of him was the best way to deter others. How big of a fuss could killing a chicken be? The key was to scare the monkeys.

Of course, one must also be able to profit from it.

He immediately chimed in, "Since all the elders have pleaded for Lord Danzo, and considering his past merits, this time he shouldn't be treated leniently..."

As he spoke, he gave Minato a look, and the latter immediately understood: "Then, Lord Danzo, please don't let this happen again."

Danzo was incredibly frustrated. He was being suppressed and stripped of his power by two juniors, and he still had to explain the matter of the armor to the Third Hokage later. If he had the ability to overturn the table, he probably would have already exploded with Feng Lan.

Taking the opportunity, Feng Lan pulled out a map: "So, reducing the Root organization's manpower and funding by 20%, symbolically closing one of the training grounds here, converting this place into a new school, and turning the old ninja academy into an orphanage, should all of you have any problems with that?"

Although it felt like building a new school and renovating an old one was a bit of a waste of time—why not just build an orphanage?—Feng Lan's punishment of Danzo was surprisingly lenient. Even if the other elders saw through the scheme, they gave him face and didn't say anything more.

Feng Lan's lips curled up slightly. Why did he insist on building a new school instead of building an orphanage directly? Because schools make money! The real estate around the training ground had already been acquired by Feng Lan in secret. Once the new school was built, the land prices in the vicinity would at least triple!

Although talking about money in the ninja world is a bit vulgar, but... people need to eat, right? Feng Lan never felt there was anything wrong with living a comfortable life. Besides, the elders control the finances right now, and Minato doesn't even have anyone to cook for him. He has to save some money for when it matters most.

Otherwise, if you can't even afford to support the Uchiha's private army, why would they risk their lives for you? Do you really think you're some dog boss from before time travel? Paying a monthly salary of three thousand and expecting your employees to be willing to die for you?

Trying to do this in the ninja world would likely result in being overthrown by subordinates in no time.