Uchiha Lan's Crooked Melons

Hearing the Third Monkey dismiss the plan he had spent all night devising without a second thought, Danzo was furious.

Danzo himself immediately burst into curses:

"Hiruzen! You're too weak! Konoha will sooner or later..."

"Shut up, Danzo. Don't forget, I'm the Hokage!"

"Hmph! You'll regret this!"

"Bang!"

Seething with anger, Danzo Shimura rose to his feet and slammed the door behind him as he left, the entire motion smooth and practiced.

He looked as though he had done it countless times before.

The two advisers, Koharu and Homura, were long accustomed to it. They watched their noses and contemplated their hearts, pretending they had seen nothing.

It was hardly the Nth time this had happened. If they butted in and said too much, they would probably become part of their play.

If Uchiha Lan had been here to hear their plan, then no matter how much he despised Danzo, that shit-stirrer, he would probably have agreed with Danzo's proposal.

Sand Village was obviously preparing to make a move against you. The whole world could see it, so why were you still dragging your feet?

As for infiltrating Sand Village to release the One-Tail being difficult?

It actually was not that difficult for Konoha. They only needed to send Auntie Snake.

After the Second Shinobi World War, to prevent Hidden Cloud Village from causing trouble for Konoha, Auntie Snake had conspired with Danzo to stir up civil unrest in Hidden Cloud Village.

She had infiltrated Hidden Cloud Village directly, subdued Blue B with genjutsu, and successfully released the Eight-Tails.

Although the eventual losses to Hidden Cloud Village had not been severe, they had successfully obtained a cell sample from the Eight-Tails.

While Auntie Snake's main purpose in that incident might have been to obtain the Eight-Tails' cell sample, Konoha or Root had definitely supported her as well.

After all, in Konoha, Auntie Snake had been a ruthless legend who had completed 16 D-rank missions, 332 C-rank missions, 521 B-rank missions, 491 A-rank missions, and 108 S-rank missions.

To say she had caused trouble purely for research would be to deny her contributions to Konoha.

Back then, she had also been the strongest candidate for Fourth Hokage. She had not even considered defecting yet.

Besides, Kishimoto was just an artist. What the hell did he know about Hokage?

The sound of Danzo slamming the door echoed through the office, but it also carried away some of the already tense atmosphere.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. A flicker of helplessness flashed through his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.

He turned toward Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, who had remained silent the whole time, took a puff of his pipe, and said slowly:

"You'll get used to it. Danzo has always been this impatient."

Homura Mitokado adjusted his glasses and said evenly:

"Hiruzen, Danzo may be impatient, but his intentions are for the village's sake. It's just that his methods can indeed be a little too radical at times."

Going after a tailed beast so openly from the very start—wasn't that practically forcing Sand Village into a corner?

Had anyone ever seen a war begin with someone bombing the other side's nuclear arsenal?

Even when Orochimaru went to Hidden Cloud Village to release the Eight-Tails and cause havoc, he had not exposed his identity.

(They did not learn that Orochimaru had been behind it until the two Eight-Tails jinchuriki faced off in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Auntie Snake really was talented in this regard.)

If they went after the One-Tail directly now and then launched a pincer attack from within and without, even a blind man would know Konoha was behind it.

Koharu Utatane nodded as well and added:

"Yes. Leaf Village has always advocated peace. Starting a war lightly is not our style. Besides, the situation is still unclear. We cannot make a decision so rashly."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled faintly, gratitude for his two old partners filling his heart.

They were always able to remain calm at critical moments, offering him support and understanding.

Danzo: Damn it, two fence-sitters!

He stood and walked to the window, looking out over Leaf Village as countless thoughts filled his mind.

Then he turned around and said firmly:

"Homura, make arrangements to strengthen the border defenses. At the same time, have the reconnaissance teams closely monitor the movements of Sand Village and Hidden Stone Village."

"Koharu, coordinate the shinobi clans in the village. Make sure that if war breaks out, we have enough combat personnel and material reserves."

"Understood."

The two answered in unison.

They also knew that at a time like this, being prepared for anything was the best course of action.

They could not possibly wait until the enemy was at their doorstep before preparing.

Once the Hidden Leaf Hokage Building reached its decision, it was like a massive stone crashing into the small lake that was Leaf Village.

Before long, after receiving the news, the various shinobi clans also shut their doors and began holding their own small meetings.

Konoha's Naka River Shrine was, in truth, just a house beside a ditch.

Many Uchiha Clan shinobi had gathered there, waiting for the meeting to begin. The youngest among them was fourteen-year-old Uchiha Lan.

Because the Uchiha Clan worshiped strength, any clansman with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan automatically gained the right to attend clan meetings.

And a Three-Tomoe Sharingan represented Jonin-level strength.

Did you think the Uchiha Clan would let some snot-nosed brat attend a clan meeting otherwise?

As for how Uchiha Lan had gone from an ordinary Uchiha clansman to a shinobi respected by everyone in the clan—

Of course, it was not because of some talent gained from living two lives, nor was it through hard work and perseverance. It was simply because he had cheats.

The instant he had been reborn into this world, a voice had suddenly sounded in his mind. It seemed to come from the depths of the universe, carrying a mysterious and solemn air.

"Host detected to have an extremely high compatibility with the King System—matching host..."

"Match successful. Congratulations, Host, on obtaining four skills for lifelong possession—"

As the voice fell silent, a brilliant flash suddenly streaked before his eyes, followed by a powerful torrent of information flooding his mind.

The torrent contained detailed introductions and usage methods for those five skills. His brain felt as though it had been instantly filled by a supercomputer, with all kinds of information rushing in too fast for him to process.

1. Diving: Dive into water or earth to escape. Cooldown: one day. Duration: one minute. Range: one kilometer.

2. Wave Break: The first attack launched upon emerging from water gains 200% power.

3. Harvest: Within fifty meters of the host, when an enemy's mana bar falls below 20%, the host can teleport to their side and finish the Harvest.

4. Otherworldly Mouth: As long as what is said is reasonable, others' degree of conviction automatically increases by 10%.

5. Superior Ninjutsu Talent: Talent as high as three or four stories.

Finally, ten Resurrection Potions are granted. (Upon consuming one, when on the brink of death or in a state of pure soul possession, the user enters a false-death state before finally emerging like a butterfly from its chrysalis.)

System mission complete. Automatic destruction sequence initiated—

Boom!

That was right. The system had arrived, and then the system had left.

It was both reasonable and unexpected.

Wasn't it perfectly normal for a transmigrator to come with a system?

But the system had fucking left again. That was a little too abnormal, wasn't it?

Could it be that it had only given him this to meet its quota, and was now running off to its next customer?

System: How else do you think this system earned the title of top sales champion?