Chapter 134: Tuan Zang's Confusion and Anger, Yan Shifan's Road to Ascendancy

The Hokage Building, five days after the reinforcements departed, Zhuanxin Xiao Chun and Mizuto Monen still have other departmental duties today, and only Tuan Zang stays here to oversee the accumulating administrative work.

Tuan Zang not only is not irritated, but genuinely feels pleased.

He has contemplated this position for too long; now he can finally sit down openly and honorably.

For that, he even deliberately discarded the black garment and put on a respectable white one; at a glance, he truly looks like the Hokage.

Although he is still not the real Hokage, he is close; as long as he can prove his ability before the Jonin council, the villagers of Konoha will elect the true Hokage.

Once he becomes Hokage, he will start dealing with those families in the Village.

Konoha is a big family; how can so many closed small clans exist? This contradicts the Second Generation's theory and must be cleaned out.

Uchiha, Hyuga, Sarutobi Clan—any who disobey will be suppressed.

With his thunderous methods, he will soon unify Konoha, then he can command a great army and first crush the Land of Lightning's ruffians who repeatedly provoked Konoha.

The petty Cloud Village even dares to covet the top throne of the Land of Fire—truly clueless about life and death.

Then the Land of Earth—Rizhan's old humiliation of having defeated the peace‑seeking side is still vivid; this time he will take it back with both principal and profit.

Also the Land of Rain and the Land of Water; he will not spare any of those nations that have once harmed and humiliated Konoha.

He also intends to lead Konoha to unify the Ninja World, to show his teacher that not choosing him as Hokage was his greatest blunder!

Only he, Zhi Cun Tuan Zang, is Konoha's true shadow!

Hmm—thinking that, Tuan Zang hums lightly, suppresses a smile and continues to bury himself in administrative work.

These trivial matters indeed waste time, but since he's aiming to become Hokage, they're minor issues.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Uchiha clan, someone feels exceedingly pleased.

Yan Shifan stays in the study, seated in Sima Yi's former spot, leisurely watching the intelligence gathered by the secret network.

Sima Yi finally left; he no longer has to meekly play the subordinate. He will seize the chance to develop, look for an opportunity to suppress Sima Yi, and if possible, eliminate him.

Thus, he becomes the Uchiha's sole strategist; when the world is unified, he will be the greatest contributor.

However, mentioning Sima Yi makes him think of Shisui, and he can't help but wonder how anyone could still trust the other side after learning about the Sima family.

Isn't that absurd?

How can anyone compare to someone like him, a person of pure righteousness and loyal patriotism, while Shisui the youngster truly lacks insight.

With a cold snort, Yan Shifan puts down the intel and sighs internally: "If my life weren't tied to his, I'd have killed that ignorant youngster long ago."

At this thought, Yan Shifan returns to business; even before Sima Yi departed, he had already set the Uchiha's upcoming development path and adjusted some of Sima Yi's former ideas to align with the Uchiha's current policies.

Combining recent intel, he now has a draft in mind.

When Shisui finishes work and returns, he, as usual, goes to the study, but this time the one he greets is Yan Shifan.

Although Yan Shifan once spoke ill of Sima Yi, he is still Shisui's teacher, summoned to assist the Uchiha; Shisui does not reject him and still regards himself as a student.

Yan Shifan is quite satisfied with this; unlike Sima Yi, who values internal family succession, Yan Shifan cares more about the mentor‑disciple ties within political factions.

In Yan Shifan's view, the master‑disciple relationship is a more reliable lineage; after all, a son may lack ability to inherit the family business, but a carefully chosen student must be capable of inheriting the political legacy.

He intends to instill his own philosophy into Shisui and push Sima Yi's methods out as soon as possible.

"Teacher, Tuan Zang has completely severed ties with us; lately he's been repeatedly intervening in Police Department affairs, and the other two assistants are pleased with it. When shall we make our move?"

"Tuan Zang's matter isn't urgent; the more arrogant he becomes now, the more angry he'll be once he learns the truth.

So he'll rely on us even more; once he compromises once, our cooperation will seize the initiative."

At the height of his triumph, Tuan Zang, together with the other two assistants, shines for Konoha—so harmonious.

Without the support of the Third Generation, the two guys arbitrarily suppress, leaving Shisui exhausted to cope.

"That's fine."

Shisui sighs, but Yan Shifan laughs: "Let's set Tuan Zang's issue aside for now; I have some other thoughts on the clan's development."

Shisui, still seated, quickly says, "Teacher, please go on."

"First, clan revenue: Mr. Zhongda wants to monopolize private salt, which is indeed a way to make money, but the salt trade is fiercely competitive and is a revenue stream that those nobles care deeply about. If you don't want to be blocked by the nobles, profit sharing is inevitable.

Moreover, the Uchiha are confined within Konoha and cannot fully support it; seizing the salt routes won't be easy and may involve casualties. The later it gets, the worse it becomes, as private salt merchants will stop at nothing, potentially escalating into large‑scale conflicts or a ninja war."

Yan Shifan knows well that those salt merchants wield immense power and have long been blood‑soaked, far from easy to deal with.

Not to mention the few who vied for the world at the end of the Yuan dynasty, there was a famous person at the end of the Tang who also came from a salt‑trading family.

The man's name was Huang Chao.

Shisui nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. In the letter from Shangcun Yizhi, besides reporting expansion results, it recounted how many assassination attempts he endured; however, he heard recent attempts have lessened, perhaps because the Uchiha's Pan and others have largely repaid the salt merchants' killings.

"But our people have already established a foothold there; we can't just abandon it, can we?"

"No problem; what I plan to do next does not conflict with Mr. Zhongda's ideas."

Yan Shifan smiled, his spirit radiant, and said: "However, in my view, the Uchiha's most important aspects are their bloodline and reputation; the bloodline needs no explanation.

As for reputation, although the Nine‑Tails has tarnished the Uchiha's standing in Konoha, throughout the Ninja World few ninjas are unaware of the Uchiha clan.

Those nobles and wealthy merchants are even more so.

Especially the long‑standing noble families; after generations of accumulation, money is merely a number to them, while a stable family inheritance is what they value most, which depends on the development of family martial strength.

Such households cannot lack ninjas; they either recruit or train their own.

Yet whether recruited or trained, their ninjas could not compare to the Uchiha's.

Given the Uchiha's depth and reputation, why not secretly establish academies abroad to train ninjas for those nobles?

Shisui frowned, hesitated briefly, and explained: "But my grandfather instructed that ninja knowledge must not be freely disseminated; it would destabilize the ninja race's status and invite disaster."

"The swallows that once nested in the halls of the Wang and Xie families now fly into ordinary homes. Mr. Zhongda, though brilliant in strategy, comes from a noble lineage and naturally harbors caution toward such matters, unaware of the grand future waves."

If we don't do it now, we will have to later; otherwise, relying on the Uchiha and Konoha's current strength, unifying the Ninja World is nothing but a fool's dream.

Moreover, we are merely training ninjas for nobles and merchants; as long as we keep it secret and do it well, there will be no issue.

The Uchiha excel at genjutsu; we can first use illusion to test those nobles—if they agree, we cooperate; if not, we erase their memories.

Those trained ninjas can also be handled, like Root, so they cannot leak any academy information.

Thus, as long as it proceeds smoothly, the annual income will be quite substantial, and the risk is not high. There is certainly some risk, but it remains within an acceptable range; Yan Shifan does not intend to tell Shisui directly.

Shisui heard this and nodded; he was indeed intrigued.

The more money, the smoother the Uchiha's development; he has already sensed the benefits.

And as Yan Shifan said, as long as secrecy is proper, the risk can be reduced to the minimum.

"Then, following the teacher's words, we can try it when Tuan Zang no longer suppresses the Police Department."

Yan Shifan nodded and continued: "Besides the clan's profits, junior education is also a key to the clan's inheritance. Although the Uchiha's foundation is deep, its teaching methods are too crude and chaotic, lacking standards."

The civil‑military division assigns each to its duty; besides a unified history and loyalty to the clan in thought cultivation, it can also train clan members without ninja talent to manage clan affairs, or to handle the Police Department's administration for you.

Including you, ninjas must always train; martial strength is the foundation of the clan's prosperity, so these trivial matters should be left to ordinary people, providing them a path for advancement.

Furthermore, ninja cultivation should have a standard; for example, the promotion of a Genin, the minimum requirement can be the Three-Body Technique plus a ninja technique matching one's element, which may be c‑level or d‑level, along with some taijutsu assessments.

However, geniuses need a genius standard; multi‑element individuals require more ninja techniques, and accordingly should receive more resources.

Of course, for convenience this cultivation can select certain practical and powerful ninja techniques as benchmarks, such as the Great Fireball of Fire Release and the Heart‑Decapitation Technique of Earth Release.

Yan Shifan described his educational philosophy to Shisui: detailed, scaled, with clear hierarchical progression, targeting geniuses and special talents.

A naturally single‑element ninja, such as fire, must master a fire‑type ninja technique—e. g., the Great Fireball—to apply for the Genin exam.

A naturally multi‑element ninja, for instance one possessing all five elements, is a genius everywhere.

Geniuses receive genius privileges and also face genius demands; to apply for the Genin exam they must learn five ninja techniques, implementing integrated offense and defense, a comprehensive cultivation.

Those who have awakened the Copy Wheel Eye also receive an extra course teaching its use.

Yan Shifan considered every aspect, leaving no detail unattended.

After outlining his specific teaching methods, he added his ideas on educational policy.

The civil‑military assessment must include contests, competition and tiered ranking, selecting the best for focused cultivation, with clear rewards to foster loyalty.

In addition, he expounded his views on population, diplomacy, and the consolidation and development of political power.

Shisui listened very attentively; some ideas left him in awe, a way of thinking starkly different from Sima Yi's.

The two talked from day until night; fortunately, Shisui also has an extraordinary memory, recording everything Yan Shifan said, though now Shisui has developed a preliminary ability to discern.

He directly agreed to some policies and methods, planning to implement them within the clan, but he rejected others.

For example, regarding population, any junior in the clan—males fourteen without marriage, females sixteen without marriage—should be punished.

If this policy were set in the Warring States era, Shisui might have agreed, but not now.

The final set of ideas made Shisui hesitant; for instance, also on population, Yan Shifan wishes to allow intermarriage inside and outside the clan, incorporating some talented civilian ninjas into the Uchiha—either by marriage or as sons‑in‑law—and also to intermarry with other ninja clans to forge alliances.

The Uchiha's clan consciousness remains strong; many within would likely oppose intermarriage with outsiders, leaving Shisui indecisive for a moment.

Yan Shifan does not expect Shisui to accept everything outright; there must be a process, as long as Shisui does not blindly

refuse, that's a good thing; Sima Yi will not return so quickly, he has plenty of time.

The two negotiated for a while longer, then each rested.

The next day, after confirming some policies that could be enacted immediately, they began recruiting personnel to implement changes within the clan.

Thus, for several consecutive days, Shisui and Yan Shifan bore the assistants' difficulties while carrying out the reforms.

Yan Shifan also found time to have Anzi and members of the Police Department gather evidence of some people's corruption; the Uchiha affairs proceeded orderly under the two's control.

But for Tuan Zang, it was different; life in the Hokage Tower was not what he expected.

"These Evil Doers who have a home but no village actually dare to reject me!"

Tuan Zang, after receiving the reply handed over by a Root member, found his fury hard to contain.

As Tuan Zang grew familiar with Leaf Village's administration, he keenly discovered a problem.

Zhuan Qin Xiaochun occupied the Medical Department and part of the Logistics Department, while Shuihu Menyan controlled fiscal allocations; this function originally required the Third's approval, but now the Third has delegated authority to three people, allowing Shuihu Menyan to directly seize the Finance Department and other logistics divisions.

Meanwhile, Tuan Zang, though appearing to handle the most administration daily, was only dealing with trivial tasks, laborious and unrewarding, while the real benefits were taken by the other two assistants.

Yet whenever a major issue arose, especially concerning the ninja army or mission allocations, those two would jump out to bicker with him; those matters inevitably required their cooperation, leaving him without tangible benefit and bearing much pressure, which only made him more angry.

He tried to intervene in their work, but sadly found that even if they did not oppose him, there was no one available to use.

Zhuan Qin, Shuihu Menyan, and the Sarutobi Clan's three families, while he was engrossed in contributing to Leaf Village, covertly replaced many ANBU members; the original ANBU personnel were transferred to Sarutobi territory under the pretext of protecting the Third.

Even the Uchiha members within ANBU began to outwardly comply while secretly undermining.

By the time he realized it, he was surrounded by ninja from the four clans; they would obey ordinary orders, but would outright refuse at any slight discrepancy.

At this moment, Tuan Zang finally understood that the two old friends were not aligned with him; they were ambitious, and perhaps Sarutobi Shinzusuke was killed by those two.

ANBU is also unreliable, and the few people he has in the Root cannot take over these tasks.

Unfortunately, the Shimura Clan now has only a few big and small cats left; even if he wanted to do something for Leaf Village, he lacks manpower.

Helpless, he turned his attention again to those ninja clans, requesting, in his capacity as an assistant, that they provide personnel to enter the Root.

However, the first to respond was Shisui, who, following Yan Shifan's suggestion, outright refused.

"Assistant Tuan Zang is joking," Shisui said. "Although I wish to contribute my strength to Leaf Village, the Uchiha have already supplied two squads to ANBU; providing more would be against the rules. Please, Lord Tuan Zang, do not trouble the Uchiha clan."

On the surface, Leaf Village has no Root organization; the Root exists as part of ANBU, and its public image is that of ANBU's training and reserve forces, but anyone slightly informed knows the Root has become Tuan Zang's private power.

However, Shisui did not state it explicitly; he described the Root as a part of ANBU and then declined with a legitimate reason, while sharply pointing at Zhuan Qin, Shuihu Menyan, and the Sarutobi Clan. The three clans, feeling at a loss, did not argue and merely pretended not to hear.

Upon realizing his isolation, Tuan Zang naturally did not wish to clash with the Uchiha further, and then shifted his target to other families.

However, Tuan Zang clearly did not realize where his former deterrence had originated.

Without the Third, he lost his backing and grand cause; stepping out of the shadows stripped him of his former mystique, and the Root's strength was exposed to the ninja clans' eyes.

The ninja clans that once feared him quickly saw clearly Tuan Zang's situation and the power he wielded.

At the same time, his concession revealed his weakness to other families; with the Uchiha already stepping forward, all families decisively rejected Tuan Zang's request.

For a moment, Tuan Zang stared at one rejection letter after another in his hands, sinking into anger and bewilderment.

"The village is filled with so many rebels! How shall I revitalize Leaf Village and unify the ninja world?"