After the fire, the monks of Buddha Eye Valley came to greatly admire Uchiha Shin, though they also feared him.
They felt that Uchiha Shin was an especially ruthless man. Of course, that ruthlessness was reserved for his enemies; he was very friendly toward his own friends.
They were all rather puzzled by the method Uchiha Shin had used to identify the arsonist monks the previous night. They did not understand how he had merely seized one monk and managed to expose all the remaining arsonists.
"Mystic Spirit King, how did you find all the monks who set the fire last night? Especially that first fat monk—why was it him?" a young monk following beside Uchiha Shin asked curiously.
This young monk was named North Mountain. He was Nanshan Monk's trusted disciple. He had been given the name North Mountain because it implied that he might one day inherit the position of Venerable of Buddha Eye Valley.
North Mountain truly was quite capable. Uchiha Shin had met him the previous night. He was a disciple Nanshan Monk had taken in only later on, so Uchiha Shin had never seen him before.
Uchiha Shin smiled. "North Mountain, if a worker wishes to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools. Before you do something, you need to understand it. The art of war says: know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Do you understand?"
North Mountain paused briefly, then smiled as well. "Mystic Spirit King, you mean that you had already learned about the situation in Buddha Eye Valley, so last night, you went straight to that fat monk involved in the infighting?"
"Ever since I arrived at Buddha Eye Valley, I had been observing your monks. Later, when Nanshan