Advisor

"Quite a troublesome opponent, Sarutobi. What exactly are you thinking?"

That was what Danzo thought when he saw this scene. The moment he received the Appointment Letter making him Acting Hokage, he knew Sarutobi Hiruzen was targeting him.

After learning of Gu Sheng’s existence, he had ordered Root to gather information in secret. According to what they knew, this young man had good relationships with multiple clans, including the Three Great Clans of Konoha.

He was also Orochimaru’s disciple, and his relationship with Tsunade had just been made clear. As for Sarutobi, there was no need to mention him—he had already appointed Gu Sheng Acting Hokage. In other words, this was an extremely threatening man and a powerful contender for the Hokage Seat.

Danzo sized up Gu Sheng, while Gu Sheng also examined Danzo. The man before him still had a youthful appearance and was rather handsome, but the gloom in his bones cost him quite a few points. One of his eyes was covered by an eyepatch.

According to the information Gu Sheng had obtained, Danzo had lost that eye after a certain mission. To commemorate his fallen comrades, he had never replaced it.

What a load of crap!

Gu Sheng laughed disdainfully to himself. In the Naruto World, replacing hands and feet might be somewhat difficult, but replacing an eyeball was something any Medical Ninja with some skill could perform surgery for, even in crude conditions. (See Rin Nohara replacing Kakashi’s eye with Obito’s.)

As a Konoha advisor, claiming that Danzo lacked the ability to replace an eye was complete nonsense. Being one-eyed created a blind spot and impaired his vision, leaving flaws that could easily put him in danger during missions.

Therefore, generally speaking, if a ninja injured an eye during a mission, they would replace it with a good eyeball even if it cost them everything. Danzo was a pragmatist. There was no way he would become one-eyed just to commemorate a comrade.

There was only one explanation: his other eye could not be exposed to the light. In other words, by this point he already had the Three Tomoe, or had even learned Izanagi.

Thinking about it carefully, this was not strange at all. A major reason this man was so determined to wipe out the Uchiha was to obtain the power of Wood Release and the Sharingan. Unfortunately, he was no researcher, and later had no choice but to cooperate with Orochimaru.

Then, at a crucial moment, he had stabbed Orochimaru in the back, reporting him while taking the research materials Orochimaru had failed to destroy. However, Danzo’s own Wood Release transplant had gone wrong and could not fuse perfectly. He had to suppress it with the Sharingan. One eye was not enough, so he had put an entire arm’s worth of Sharingan in place to serve as material for Izanagi.

This man was truly an idiot. One pair of Sharingan would have been enough, yet he had crammed in a whole pile of them. If he had not also transplanted Wood Release, the passive chakra drain alone would have killed him. (Non-Uchiha cannot deactivate transplanted Sharingan, so it continuously drains chakra. See Kakashi.)

"Greetings, Your Excellencies, the three advisors!"

Gu Sheng withdrew his gaze from Danzo and casually glanced at Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu before speaking loudly. "The three of you have probably already guessed who I am, but I still need to introduce myself. Uchiha Sheng. I ask for your guidance, seniors."

Gu Sheng greeted them with a smile. His manners were so formal that no one could find fault with them. The three advisors reacted differently. Danzo still wore that gloomy expression as he sized up Gu Sheng.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At least on the surface, Gu Sheng was not as aggressively overbearing as Tsunade. That was enough. As long as he did not have Tsunade’s habit of flipping tables at the slightest provocation, everything could be discussed calmly.

"Uchiha Sheng, although I do not know why Sarutobi chose you to serve as Hokage, I hope you can shoulder your responsibility and uphold the Will of Fire…"

Mitokado Homura droned on for quite some time, while Utatane Koharu added a few remarks from the side. In essence, they were telling Gu Sheng to do his proper work obediently, ask them whenever he did not understand something, and show the advisors the respect they deserved. They rattled on endlessly, but in reality, it was all half-brainwashing nonsense.

"Your Excellencies, please calm down. I have one more matter to announce!"

After listening for a while, Gu Sheng smiled and waved for the two of them to stop. Then he entered the office and, under Danzo’s murderous gaze, sat in the position Danzo had always wanted—the Hokage’s position.

"Before returning, Third Hokage made arrangements for the village’s affairs."

Gu Sheng pointed at Tsunade and smiled at the three advisors. "Besides appointing me Acting Hokage, he also appointed Lady Tsunade Temporary Advisor. The duration has not yet been specified. This is the issued order. Please take a look."

Gu Sheng smiled as he handed Mitokado Homura an Appointment Letter. Then he stood and found a chair for Tsunade, letting her sit beside him.

"Sarutobi!"

Danzo said nothing, but his fists were clenched tightly. First there was an Uchiha, and now Tsunade. Sarutobi was definitely targeting him.

"I have no objections!"

Mitokado Homura pondered for a moment before nodding.

"I second it!"

Utatane Koharu glanced at Tsunade, then agreed as well.

"Fine!"

After remaining silent for a long while, Danzo still chose to comply.

Tsunade’s status was special, even more so than Orochimaru’s. With her strength, position, and identity, she would have had no problem becoming a formal advisor or even Acting Hokage, let alone a Temporary Advisor.

"Good. Since no one has any objections, we can begin with the first minor issue."

The corner of Gu Sheng’s mouth lifted slightly. He knew his successive moves had worked.

The Konoha leadership operated in the following way: the Hokage could decide minor matters alone, mainly small issues within the village; medium-sized matters required discussing with the advisors and securing their support, involving important internal affairs; and the Jonin Council dealt with Great War matters concerning the entire village. Every time war broke out, there would be such a major issue.

Back then, Sarutobi had defeated multiple competitors and obtained the Hokage Seat. These three advisors had contributed greatly, and the support of Danzo, who had once been a competitor himself, had been especially important to his eventual ascension.

Therefore, after becoming Hokage, he established the advisor system after considering various factors. It had successfully helped him stabilize his position, but it had also restricted him.

During the eras of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage, the Hokage’s authority directly intimidated the entire shinobi village, and no one else had the right to interfere with the Hokage’s decisions.

When Sarutobi Hiruzen succeeded to the position, he was isolated and weak. His strength was barely sufficient, but his clan was inadequate. He was not from one of the Three Great Clans, and his family could not provide him with enough support. Moreover, as the first non-Senju Hokage, his rise was somewhat unstable, and many people had been itching to make a move.

Given this situation, he established the advisor system, surrendering part of his authority in exchange for the support of his former comrades. At the same time, he restricted himself. Many decisions had to be discussed with the advisors, and if their opinions aligned, they could even reject the Hokage’s orders.

At first, the few of them worked together wholeheartedly. But after they established themselves, conflicts began to emerge, until now, when he felt they had become too powerful to control and wanted to change the situation.