At a forward camp in the Land of Grass.
Somehow reborn as Asura's reincarnation, Shen was shouting into his phone.
"Third Elder, have you finally lost it? Why should I return the Four-Tails Jinchuriki to Iwagakure?"
"Erm, old man just wanted to add some bargaining chips for peace talks. Do you really think that's unreasonable?"
"No way! I risked my life taking down that freaking big ape for Konoha!"
"Ah, old man knows you've worked hard and bled for Konoha—which is exactly why we didn't let war spread to the Land of Rain."
"Pah! You shameless old bastard—are you planning to steal my spoils of war now?"
The Third fell silent on the other end.
As for the Sand and Grass ninja present at the camp, all their faces showed complete shock.
Calling the top authority directly by name—the current peak fighter in the shinobi world from Fire Country's Hidden Leaf Village—"shameless old bastard"?
Many of them were already picturing steamy gossip about the current Hokage.
Meanwhile, more than two hundred Konoha ninjas wore completely calm expressions.
A "shameless old bastard"? In their opinion, that was already being way more generous than Konoha's original prankster king would've been.
Come on! It could've been way worse—like sending fighter jets to haul him back and blow up Hokage Tower entirely.
"Advisor? I'll be damned if I become your advisor!" An enraged Shen clearly expressed himself. "Isn't 'advisor' just another word for scapegoat? Third Elder, do you think I'm easy to fool?"
Back in his office, the Third Hokage started coughing violently.
Wasn't he himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi, already the biggest scapegoat in all of Konoha?
How come suddenly becoming an advisor meant carrying even more blame?
Tch! If the blame gets too heavy, you'll just dump it on the advisor.
Once again, the Third fell silent.
Passing the blame—it's simply one of humanity's most natural instincts.
No matter who makes a mistake, people instinctively look to blame others before ever reflecting upon themselves.
After careful thought, the Third Hokage fired back with a question: "Do you honestly believe old man is someone like that?"
"You mean you can guarantee none of the others will be like that?"
His counter-question failed, and the Third Hokage's face turned sorrowful.
Forming factions—that too belonged to human nature.
When large groups of people try placing blame solely on your shoulders, what choice do you really have?
You get called hypocritical for trying to reason and a desperate cornered beast for fighting back.
If Shen truly became an advisor—even during this wartime era—there would probably still be plenty within the upper ranks lining up just waiting to pin blame squarely on him.
"A one-size-fits-all approach won't work. During wartime, sparking chaos within the village could break everything," the Third Hokage understood his meaning.
Shen's expression returned to normal, speaking calmly as if never angered before, "So you're dragging things out like this, hoping the next generation can handle it instead?"
"No, old man simply believes doing so would be far too cruel towards them."
"Third Elder, do you understand what 'merit cannot offset faults' means?"
For the third time, the Third Hokage fell silent. He always believed removing those in power from above would shake Konoha so severely that it wouldn't differ much from another Great Ninja World War.
Shen let out a disappointed sigh and shook his head, only strengthening his resolve to reform Konoha.
"Forget it. I'll handle these things slowly in the future."
The Third Hokage naturally understood the hidden implications behind those words.
Yet even though he knew that, he had no intention of trying to stop him.
The possibility Qing previously speculated about was likely becoming a reality.
Hearing the heavy breathing on the other end of the phone, Shen realized the other party had already accepted this reality.
He laid down the final terms: "My car got torched, and with some extra service charges, that'll be two billion ryō total. If they want their people back, not one coin less—and if they think I'll hand them over, they can forget about getting them from Iwagakure."
"Are you really determined to make both sides sworn enemies?"
"Do they want face or substance? Their choice will decide everything," Shen smiled slightly. "If we switched places, the conditions they'd propose would certainly be far more demanding than my request for real money."
"Hmph." After taking a deep breath, the Third Hokage agreed to this plan. "Fine. However, Iwagakure won't withdraw its troops so easily."
Smiling, Shen had seen that coming a mile away: "In that case, I guess I'll have to stir things up a bit myself."
"Eh, I almost forgot again," said the smirking Third Hokage, before finally hanging up after giving many warnings and instructions.
He got up and walked to the window, gazing at the Kage Rock with its three statues.
After imagining another new statue, his expression became odd.
"Should I add a face paint design? No, Lord Hashirama didn't even have Sharingan... Hmm, considering this kid's potential, he'll probably soon obtain Mangekyō too."
The Third Hokage, who revised the plans endlessly, finally decided not to trouble himself with this matter anymore.
"Aren't there engineering crews?" He chose to pass the responsibility onto others.
"Hypocrisy disguised as integrity—it's just part of human (and tailed beast) nature, really."
Inside the completely red Four-Tails' sealing space,
A certain gorilla was frantically jumping around, tormented by the black figure floating in the air.
"Tsk tsk, the environment here is definitely worse than Kurama's," said Shen casually as he easily created many large electrical appliances, grinning weirdly: "Only 998 for an LCD big-screen TV!"
"Not interested," Son Goku turned his head away while still glancing sideways at that three-hundred-meter-wide screen with interest.
"Tsk tsk," clicking his tongue again, Shen looked at it mockingly, "According to fair combat principles, you owe me some spoils of war, monkey."
Then he looked toward the new lock on the sealing gate: "Don't you want to know part of the password?"
Son Goku, who could mentally communicate with other Tailed Beasts, deeply desired those dramas and DJ setups that even Kurama had become addicted to. But such unequal treaties were ones he absolutely refused to accept.
"Cough cough. Since you insist like this, I guess I'll generously give you half then," Son Goku's behavior perfectly illustrated that hypocrisy—an instinct all beings share.
"Deal sealed!" Shen took out a sealing scroll.
Wukong, having separated a huge amount of chakra, played with great interest the suddenly appearing DJ setup right before him.
Lately, the nine Tailed Beasts often kicked off their chats with one line: "DJ Kurama."
Just as they were about to let out some colorful language, they got swept up by the beat-heavy tunes.
Kurama—the top Tailed Beast—turned out to be *this* kind of guy?
Who else has that many tails anyway? If hands weren't fast enough, there were always the tails to pick up the slack.
Feeling pretty pleased after locking up Four-Tails' chakra, Shen moved all the bulky gear behind him into the Sealing Gate before stepping out of the space.
He never imagined Kurama would end up becoming his underling.
At first, he'd only meant to clone Son Goku and switch the access key.
But once the DJ setup showed up, Son Goku came alive—eyes practically glowing with longing.
So to save time, Shen had no choice but to coax—and threaten—Four-Tails into handing over its chakra.
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