Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, seemingly disapproving of the decision.
"Hiruzen, are you going to defy the will of Sensei Tobirama?"
Danzo, seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi still hesitating, was extremely displeased and brought out the flag of their predecessors to pressure him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's hesitation was real, but it wasn't the main reason: "If it were a few years ago, it might have been possible.
"But now, Tōshirō is too strong. He's not someone who can be subdued by simply sending a few Anbu ninjas anymore.
"If he resists, it would take at least two Kage-level ninja, plus a group of elite ninja, to completely subdue him.
"Besides the aforementioned reasons, don't forget that the Uchiha clan stands behind Tōshirō. With his current displayed talent and strength, he's undoubtedly the next Uchiha clan head. If we act rashly, there could be civil unrest in the village, and in serious cases, other villages might take advantage of the situation, leading to irreversible consequences."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's words were very reasonable, so much so that even Danzo couldn't find any reason to refute them. He could only coldly snort and blame: "If you had listened to me back then, we wouldn't be in this situation now."
"What's past is past. Let's not bring up old matters again."
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't want to dwell on past mistakes and quickly moved on: "Let's continue discussing how to deal with Tōshirō."
"Whose fault do you think it is that things turned out this way?" Danzo stood up, clapping his hands and shouting, "This is your dereliction of duty as Hokage!"
The weakness Hiruzen Sarutobi had just shown emboldened Danzo to press his advantage again and again. Hiruzen had to adopt a firm stance to suppress him:
"Danzo, don't be endless. Don't forget, I am the Hokage now. I have many things to consider, and it's impossible to be meticulous in every aspect of everything."
The phrase "I am the Hokage" seemed to be Danzo's inner demon, making him suppress his anger. He slumped back into his seat and said sarcastically, "Hmph, then tell me how you plan to handle it."
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned slightly forward, his arms resting on the table, his hands clasped near his mouth. His voice was low, and his expression was solemn:
"First, we cannot continue to let Tōshirō and Tsunade be together."
"Easier said than done. They've been living together for so long; it won't be that easy to separate them," Danzo said mockingly. "And what reason do you plan to use to break them up? Don't tell me you intend to use your status as their teacher."
On the issue of how to break up the couple, Hiruzen Sarutobi was self-aware. Clearly, Danzo misunderstood what he had just said. He explained:
"I'm not referring to that."
Danzo glanced at him, waiting for him to explain further.
"I plan to separate them as much as possible during future missions, at least to prevent Tōshirō from gaining enough significant military merits."
The Hokage position not only requires strength but also the recognition of the people and sufficient contributions to the village.
If Tōshirō isn't deployed in key battles, his military achievements won't accumulate. Then, when it's time to elect the Fourth Hokage upon his retirement, his name can legitimately be omitted.
Danzo snorted, remained silent, and didn't object, implicitly accepting the proposal.
At this moment, Koharu Utatane, who was nearby, raised a new question:
"Even so, it still won't work, will it? Don't forget Tōshirō's relationship with Tsunade."
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. Tsunade's relationship with Tōshirō was indeed a very thorny issue.
This wasn't just because of their teacher-student bond, but also because Tsunade seemed to have a strong desire to become Hokage.
If she were to be elected then, it would essentially be no different from Tōshirō being elected.
After all, if it came to that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the two would have already been married, and perhaps even had children several years old.
An Uchiha constantly whispering in the Hokage's ear is fundamentally no different from an Uchiha directly becoming Hokage.
Thinking this, Hiruzen Sarutobi even felt some regret.
If only he had been more decisive in the past, without hesitating, and dealt with Tōshirō directly, then there wouldn't be this seemingly inextricable trouble now.
However, what was done was done. Dwelling on chaotic thoughts wouldn't help anymore.
"All in all, until we find a proper way to handle this, we'll take it one step at a time."
When saying this, Hiruzen Sarutobi harbored a glimmer of hope.
He hoped that Tōshirō might accidentally be killed by an enemy ninja on the battlefield. This wasn't impossible, just a low probability.
Danzo was not very satisfied with Hiruzen Sarutobi's evasive answer: "Hiruzen, aren't you forgetting a rather important matter?"
"Important matter?"
Upon being reminded, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly seemed to recall something, and his face darkened.
Danzo continued: "During the Five-Tails' night, we thought it was done by Iwagakure.
"But when we confronted the Tsuchikage, Onoki denied it, stating that they weren't responsible.
"That Onoki fellow believed that someone had used their village, intending to escalate the conflict between Iwagakure and Konoha. That's why Iwagakure didn't choose to engage in war with us afterward, but instead opted for an alliance."
"And at that time, he made a demand. I wonder if you still remember it."
Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled wryly: "Of course I remember. How could I forget?"
When they formed the alliance, Onoki's condition for the alliance was that Konoha return the Five-Tails.
Naturally, Hiruzen Sarutobi refused such a demand.
After all, who knew if what Onoki said was true.
Having just used the Five-Tails to cause destruction in Konoha, and with Konoha having just managed to seal the Five-Tails, they brazenly demanded its return. There was no such good thing. Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally refused righteously.
Onoki seemed unwilling to be used as a pawn but still wanted the Five-Tails back.
So, the two sides remained in a stalemate, and finally, both parties took a step back.
That was, if the Five-Tails' jinchūriki couldn't endure the Tailed Beast and died, Konoha would have to return the Five-Tails.
Because it was a mutual concession, Iwagakure wouldn't directly ally with Konoha but would adopt a neutral stance.
This was the deal they struck.
However, a prerequisite for this was that Tōshirō did not possess a Sharingan.
Everyone knew that the Uchiha clan's Sharingan could control Tailed Beasts. With a Sharingan, controlling a Tailed Beast would be effortless.
Iwagakure probably thought that Tōshirō, without a Sharingan, would quickly lose control due to the Five-Tails, and thus agreed to the demand.
However, now that Tōshirō possessed a Sharingan, that deal naturally became null and void.
Iwagakure, fearing Tōshirō's limitless growth in strength, might, even knowing they were being manipulated, join hostile forces and try every means to weaken Konoha's power.
And at that point, Konoha would have made an enemy of another Great Nation-level ninja village, an outcome Konoha absolutely did not want to see.
A Sharingan was tied to so many important matters. Just thinking about these things made Hiruzen Sarutobi's head ache. He wanted to lie down: "Let's end our discussion here for today. We'll hold another meeting in a couple of days."
With that, he stood up, intending to leave, as if fleeing from the problem.
Danzo also stood up tightly: "Hiruzen, you must give a satisfactory answer regarding Tōshirō having the Sharingan. Otherwise, I will use my own methods."
Hiruzen Sarutobi gazed deeply at Danzo: "I will…"
(End of Chapter)
────────────────────────────────────
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [One Piece: General Blue]."
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Battle Through the Heavens: Heavenly comprehension]."
"If you're interested, please support me in my other novel [Soul Land 2: Golden Dragon King]."
"If you want early access to nearly 35+ chapters , join my patreon:- patreon.com/BaDwYGaMeR"