"If you know why I came to find you, then you should know that you're the only one who can do this."
"I know not only that I'm the only one who can do this, but also that it doesn't necessarily have to be done."
Summoned to woo Pakura wasn't something that absolutely had to be done. No matter how important Pakura was, she could never matter more to Konoha than Jiang Feng did.
Orochimaru pulled over a chair and sat down by the window as well. "So the teacher told me about a way—one that might convince you to agree to do it."
"What way?"
"Do you know that the Hokage has the final say in evaluating the ninja in the village?"
Orochimaru said, "Even if a ninja passes the Chunin Exams and the Jonin exams, they still can't be promoted if the Hokage thinks they're unqualified.
"Conversely, if the Hokage thinks a ninja is capable of shouldering great responsibility, he can promote that ninja to Jonin without giving any reason."
This power was like the President of America's power to grant pardons. The Hokage didn't use it often, but it did exist.
Jiang Feng sneered. "If the Hokage thinks he can force me to comply by making sure I never get promoted to Jonin, then he's mistaken!"
Fame and fortune meant nothing to me. Wouldn't the Hokage Office's unfair suppression only make me seem like a more promising young progressive?
"No. This time, the teacher got it right."
Orochimaru smiled. "He means that if you refuse, he'll promote you to Jonin immediately. If you agree, he'll keep you a Chunin for the rest of your life."
What?
If I refuse, he'll promote me to Jonin right away!?
Jiang Feng was stunned. Hiruzen Sarutobi really was something else. No wonder they were such close friends despite their age difference—he'd hit Jiang Feng right where it hurt.
Once promoted to Jonin, he'd have to take on even more "full-time" missions, and they'd be more troublesome, too. He'd also lose a "distinctive trait" worth bragging about.
Being a powerful figure renowned throughout the Ninja World, yet only a Chunin—that was Jiang Feng's distinctive trait. A true expert had to stand out. Without that trait, how was he any different from all the other powerful ninja in the Ninja World?
Jiang Feng suddenly sighed. "Those who understand me know my heart is burdened; those who don't, what do they know of my desires?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was someone who understood him.
Orochimaru suddenly smiled. Even he wanted to see Jiang Feng get into trouble for once, to see him lose his composure. The old man's plan seemed to be working this time.
"But I refuse." Jiang Feng's expression turned cold again.
Even if he were promoted to Jonin, Jiang Feng was confident he'd still be handsome and distinctive. Hiruzen Sarutobi's "threat" had hit a sore spot, but it hadn't hit his Achilles' heel.
"It seems you've made up your mind. Unless the teacher gives you a formal written order in the Hokage's name, you won't agree."
"I have made up my mind. And even if the Hokage gives me a formal written order in the Hokage's name, I still won't agree."
Orochimaru knew the Hokage could never issue a written order like that. Sending the village's young genius to woo Sunagakure's hero was the sort of thing that was easier to say than to hear.
Orochimaru also knew that even if the Hokage issued such an order, Jiang Feng would still refuse.
If he wasn't willing to do something, no one could force him—not even the Hokage. At worst, he could run off like Jiraiya and Tsunade. Konoha couldn't possibly declare Jiang Feng a traitor.
"It seems there's no turning this around." Orochimaru stood, ready to take his leave.
"No, there's still a way."
"Oh?" Orochimaru stopped and looked at Jiang Feng in confusion.
Gazing out at the courtyard full of cherry blossoms, Jiang Feng asked calmly, "How is Minato doing?"
"Pretty badly. I saw him on my way here. Kushina had him by the ear and was beating him from one end of the street to the other."
"From one end of the street to the other?" Jiang Feng asked, puzzled.
Kushina had a fiery temper and had been known as the Bloody Red Pepper for a long time. But wasn't beating him from one end of the street to the other a bit much?
"Yes, from one end of the street to the other."
The reply came from outside. Minato Namikaze crossed the flower-filled courtyard and entered the room. His handsome face was swollen and mottled with bruises, and one eye was ringed in black. He looked like he'd just taken a serious beating.
"Yikes!"
Jiang Feng sucked in a sharp breath. "I thought Kushina would just give you a little grief."
Minato Namikaze sighed. "A few days ago, Kushina really was only giving me a little grief."
"Then why did she beat you from one end of the street to the other today? Kushina wouldn't hit you for no reason."
"Because she thinks I lied to her."
Minato Namikaze recounted what had just happened, sounding deeply aggrieved. "Kushina asked me why I was spending every day with Pakura and ignoring her, my girlfriend.
"I told her it was the Hokage's order. He'd told me to put romance aside for now and focus on keeping the envoy from Sunagakure company, making sure Pakura felt right at home.
"Then Kushina hit me. She said the Hokage would never give an order like that."
What kind of village leader meddled in the private affairs of the village's ninja?
Hiruzen Sarutobi would. He'd never been all that serious a person. To strengthen Konoha, he'd even come up with the harebrained idea of sending Jiang Feng to woo Pakura.
Minato Namikaze felt deeply wronged. He'd taken that beating in Hiruzen Sarutobi's place. It was all because Hiruzen Sarutobi had such a noble, upright reputation that Kushina wouldn't believe the truth when Minato told it.
"Now I've reached the point where I have no choice but to ask you for help. To get you to come out of retirement, I've come up with a brilliant plan, too."
"What plan?"
Minato Namikaze pointed toward the flower-filled courtyard. "Your estate is called Sakura Manor, so it needs cherry blossoms to live up to its name. If you don't agree to help me, I'll sneak in tonight and chop down every cherry tree in the courtyard."
"Great! Chop them down!" Jiang Feng clapped in approval.
I'm threatening to chop down the cherry trees in your garden, and you're cheering me on? What on earth is going through your head?
Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru looked at Jiang Feng, puzzled.
Jiang Feng once again radiated an overwhelming air of smug superiority, explaining, "I often wonder if calling the estate Sakura Manor just because the courtyard is full of cherry trees is a bit too conventional.
"Wouldn't it be more wonderful if there wasn't a single cherry tree in the courtyard—or if it were empty, or full of other flowers and plants—and it were still called Sakura Manor?"
Everyone knew that Ximen Chuixue's Myriad Plum Manor had no plum trees. And Ximen Chuixue didn't blow snow—he blew blood, the blood on his sword.
Minato Namikaze was utterly dejected. "It seems there's no way I can convince you to come out of retirement."
He'd racked his brains to come up with a brilliant plan, only for it to make his opponent's smugness even worse. Where could he go to complain about that?
Jiang Feng suddenly smiled. "Actually, there's one more way you could persuade me."
Minato Namikaze's eyes lit up. "What way?"
"From now on, none of the techniques you create from the Rasengan or Flying Thunder God are allowed to have those ridiculous names. You can only call them 'Revision 1,' 'Revision 2,' 'Revision 3,' 'Revision 4'...and so on.
"If you agree to that condition, I'll help you with whatever you ask."
This time Minato Namikaze didn't laugh, but Orochimaru suddenly did. Forcing Minato Namikaze to use such plain names for his techniques would be more painful than killing him.
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