Chapter 365: Lian Ye Was Right!

"You, why are you only back now?"

Tuan Cang, wearing a Hokage Hat, saw Lian Ye entering with Ri Zhan and casually tossed the documents in his hand onto the desk.

"I went out for a bit, just got back and heard you two arguing—what exactly happened?" Lian Ye asked, feigning confusion.

In fact, he had only caught the gist earlier; the precise reasons were still unclear to him.

He only vaguely knew that Tuan Cang seemed to have slain some Sunagakure Village ninja.

"It's nothing major," Tuan Cang said with a calm expression. "It's just that Ri Zhan likes to make a mountain out of a molehill, constantly exaggerating the impact of this incident."

From his point of view, he had merely killed a few unruly Sand Ninja, yet that Ri Zhan kept babbling in his ear.

It made him somewhat annoyed, which led to the earlier clash.

"Tuan Cang, what do you mean by making a mountain out of a molehill?" Ri Zhan suddenly grew displeased. "In peacetime, casually killing ninja from other nations can easily be labeled as deliberately creating conflict!"

He didn't want such matters to spark a war between the Village and Sunagakure.

A slight Take a Step Back would be enough to prevent war from breaking out.

Avoiding a war at the smallest cost—does that imply there's a problem with doing so?

"Deliberately creating conflict?" Tuan Cang snorted, retorting, "Ri Zhan, since when did you start caring about other nations!"

"Tuan Cang, what do you mean?!" Ri Zhan, turning a shade red, asked, "Are you questioning my loyalty to the Village?"

He was only considering the Village, yet Tuan Cang spoke of him that way.

That's really over the line!

If Lian Ye hadn't been there, he would have slammed the door and left long ago.

"It's not that I'm questioning, it's just that as Hokage I can reasonably doubt whether the Hokage Assistant is loyal to the Village," Tuan Cang said, squinting his eyes.

"Since you're loyal to the Village, why would you make me voluntarily concede to Sunagakure?"

"Tuan Cang, you're being too extreme!"

"Enough, Ri Zhan, you need to understand..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Lian Ye hurriedly interrupted their argument.

If he didn't intervene, Tuan Cang would again produce a Classic Quote and Ri Zhan would have a Famous Scene.

"Speak up, aren't you supposed to explain the whole story to me?" Lian Ye, with a strange expression, looked at the two. "Why are you fighting each other again?"

"Honestly, the two of them have completely opposite personalities, and their ways of acting are just as different."

Working together often leads to mutual misunderstandings.

The quarrel ends only with "I, Kage, you regret!" to close the conversation.

I really don't know why that old guy Qianshou Feijian let the two share the same office.

Hearing Lian Ye's words, the two temporarily calmed down.

"The Sunagakure Village ninja repeatedly trespassed into Fire Country territory. At first I warned them, but those guys didn't take my words seriously..."

"You must understand that a person's patience has limits. They were captured again by patrol ninja. This time, I didn't let them go; I ordered them executed."

"But Ri Zhan thinks I went too far."

Tuan Cang stared at Lian Ye, "Do you think my way of handling it is problematic?"

"No problem, of course there's no problem!" Lian Ye said without hesitation. "Dealing with those who give you no respect should be done this way."

Since Tuan Cang became Hokage, he's turned into a Holy Mother, only choosing to kill the ninja who entered Fire Country at the very end.

If it were Lian Ye, they'd have died the first time they entered Fire Country.

One can only say that sitting in the Hokage's seat truly requires more consideration.

Tuan Cang's eyes lit up at the words.

Lian Ye truly lived up to being his close friend; even his thoughts were in perfect sync with his.

As for Ri Zhan?

One can only say that differing paths cannot conspire together!

"Lian Ye, do you also feel the same?" Ri Zhan's face turned sour.

It's over, really over.

With Lian Ye backing him, Tuan Cang will definitely do something even more outrageous.

Konoha Village will eventually be doomed!

"Yeah, so what?" Lian Ye retorted.

"Ri Zhan, I think you're being too much of a Holy Mother. You must know that true respect doesn't come from concession, but from overwhelming strength that forces others to respect you!"

Just like Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha, many in the Ninja World dislike them, yet no one dares to oppose them...

The fundamental reason is simply that they can't beat the two, so they're forced to submit and bow.

Without great power, the two would have been chopped up long ago.

"But as long as you Take a Step Back, many unnecessary things can be avoided!"

Ri Zhan still explained with Unrelenting determination.

If Tuan Cang hadn't ordered the execution of the Sunagakure ninja back then, the current demand for compensation from Sunagakure wouldn't exist.

His thinking is simple: anyone who chooses to Take a Step Back makes everyone happy.

Only when a crisis hits do they choose to strike back.

This way many matters can be solved at minimal cost. Spending a bit of money to prevent a war—what's not to like?

The compensation money is negligible compared to the losses a war brings!

Unfortunately, both Tuan Cang and Lian Ye don't share his view...

"If you choose to concede, they'll only think you're easy to bully, and will become even more aggressive in the future. Never hand over the choice to others."

Lian Ye intends to let Ri Zhan know that matters of principle must never be yielded.

In the original, after the three wars ended, the Yunyin Shijie kidnapped Princess Hyuga, and was ultimately slain by the arriving Hyuga Rizoku.

Afterwards, Cloud Hidden Village bit back, claiming Konoha failed to protect their messenger, and demanded Konoha Village hand over Hyuga Rizoku's corpse.

To avoid war, Konoha was forced to accept Cloud Hidden's terms, and in the end Hyuga Risai took his elder brother Hyuga Rizoku's place and died.

After all, wasn't it caused by Hokage Sarutobi Ri Zhan?

Using the lives of several cannon‑fodder messengers to exchange for the Hyuga Clan Head's life, that calculation is truly striking.

The absurd thing is that Ri Zhan didn't refuse, but agreed!

To prevent similar incidents from happening again, Lian Ye intends to completely change Ri Zhan's personality.

"But..."

Ri Zhan tried to speak further, but Lian Ye mercilessly cut him off.

"Alright, Ri Zhan, on this matter I side with Tuan Cang; your temperament truly needs adjustment, so study Tuan Cang more in daily life."

Tuan Cang's handling of this matter has no problem at all.

"If Sunagakure dares to threaten Konoha with this, then we will declare war on them!"

Lian Ye's expression was cold, and his voice contained not a hint of feeling.

Those guys still haven't learned from the last war, so they must receive another profound lesson.

Seeing this, Ri Zhan could only sigh helplessly.

Perhaps, in handling this matter, I was indeed too hesitant.

Without Tuan Cang's decisiveness and resolve...

"Lian Ye is right!" Tuan Cang couldn't help but smile.

Having a close friend who shares the same ideas feels truly great.

Tuan Cang immediately issued orders to the ANBU.

"Tell Sunagakure that Konoha will offer no explanation or compensation; if they have any objections, let them speak with force in war!"