Was Tsunade afraid of him and just wanted him as far away as possible (or maybe just wanted him to disappear)?

That was fine too. Ethan could do whatever he wanted, keep his status as a Konoha ninja, and continue living in the village. After all, most towns in this world didn't have great living conditions, and even within the Land of Fire, which had the best overall environment, Konoha Village was still the most comfortable place to live. He had no intention of moving.

From that perspective, Tsunade's appointment actually suited him perfectly.

The truth was, Tsunade had no idea how to arrange things for Ethan, so she just casually gave him the title of Advisor.

As for the Jonin rank? That was just given to meet the qualifications needed to be an Advisor. In any case, with Ethan's current strength, promoting him to Jonin wouldn't cause any dissatisfaction in the village. After all, he was someone who could single-handedly take down the entire Konoha Village. While ordinary villagers didn't know what really happened that day, the ninjas in the village were mostly aware of the situation.

Such terrifying combat power was practically on par with the deterrence of a Tailed Beast or a Jinchuriki. In that case, what's the big deal about a Jonin promotion?

Besides, Ethan had both power and achievements.

This time, he had destroyed several of Orochimaru's hideouts, helped suppress the rebellion in the village, and eliminated the greatest traitor within Konoha. Considering all these merits, even if they didn't fully meet the usual standards for a Jonin promotion, it was close enough.

Therefore, Ethan's promotion didn't face any opposition. For ninjas who lived on the edge every day, they were just happy that the village had gained another powerful genius. It meant Konoha's position in the ninja world remained secure.

"After becoming an Advisor, you won't have to go on missions anymore, right?"

Itachi left after relaying Hokage-sama's appointment. His current identity was that of Hokage Guard, and his status was extremely mysterious. No one in the Anbu knew his true identity.

This situation made the Anbu Commander very unhappy. But after the Danzo incident exposed how thoroughly the Anbu had been infiltrated, the Commander had no room to argue with the Hokage. He could only reluctantly accept her decision. From then on, any Anbu guard responsible for the Hokage's safety, regardless of rank or name, had to follow that mysterious man's command.

It wasn't that no one tried to investigate Itachi's identity, but all their efforts failed, especially since Itachi didn't even live in the Uchiha main residence. For him, the Uchiha district was a place of sorrow, and he wouldn't go there unless absolutely necessary.

So, the Uchiha residence still only had Ethan and Sasuke living there, though Ethan was already considering moving out.

Being an Advisor had its perks: high salary and generous subsidies. He didn't need to take missions and still had a steady income each month, enough to buy a new house.

"I probably won't have to."

Of course, if Tsunade gave him a special direct order, he would still carry it out.

For the current Ethan, regular missions posed no challenge. Tsunade was probably more worried he'd stir up more trouble.

"What? Jealous?"

"No."

Sasuke shook his head. Thanks to Ethan's influence, he no longer saw ninja missions the same way. Though he still disliked some low-level tasks, he had already proven his strength and gained significant experience. He was now able to take on mid-level missions.

While those missions still didn't challenge him much, at least they weren't boring.

He was also considering whether to join the Anbu for training. Anbu missions should be more difficult, right? But he hadn't decided yet and wanted Ethan's opinion.

"Anbu?"

Ethan looked at Sasuke. The current Sasuke was completely different from the one in the original storyline. His strength had steadily grown, he knew the truth early on, and he had personally killed Danzo, making him less filled with hatred.

With Ethan's guidance and ideological influence, this Sasuke wasn't exactly cheerful, but he didn't have that usual grim look either. He still wore the expression of someone owed eight million, though, like he was constantly looking for a fight.

Even so, his presence was still overwhelming. Honestly, the guy just didn't know how to keep a low profile.

"Anbu doesn't suit you..."

Whether in the original story or now, Sasuke's fighting style had always reflected his personality: Get out of the way, I'm going straight through.

This kind of personality wasn't suited for Anbu at all. And Sasuke was naturally disobedient. Anbu wouldn't tolerate someone acting however they pleased.

After Ethan explained some of the Anbu's internal rules and systems, Sasuke quickly lost interest. Keeping a low profile meant no showing off. The work schedule wasn't flexible either, requiring him to be on standby at any time. That kind of life was unbearable for him.

Having dropped the idea of joining the Anbu, Sasuke's next goal was to qualify as a Chunin in the upcoming exams.

Ethan was already a Jonin, while he was still a Genin. Although he understood the vast gap in strength between them, he still wanted to close that gap, not let it grow wider.

Danzo was dead, so why was he still so determined to grow stronger?

Because Danzo wasn't the only one Sasuke hated.

He still remembered Ethan saying that, apart from that old man Danzo, there had also been an 'outsider' involved in the Uchiha clan massacre.

According to Itachi, that person was the mastermind behind the Akatsuki organization, a man claiming to be Uchiha Madara. Of course, both Itachi and Sasuke doubted that identity.

But one thing was certain: this man possessed terrifying strength.

Sasuke had to defeat him. So he needed to get stronger.

Moreover, one of his dreams was to restore the Uchiha clan to its former glory.

"If you want to revive the Uchiha clan, what you need to improve isn't just your strength as a ninja."

"Then what should I work on?"

Sasuke was puzzled, unsure what advice Ethan would give. He had found that while Ethan's words often sounded unreliable, they usually turned out to be right. For example, Ethan had advised Tsunade to kill Danzo early on.

So... maybe Ethan could offer some helpful advice for rebuilding the Uchiha clan?

"Improve your charm, then... marry as many wives as possible."

Sasuke's face instantly filled with dark lines. He might have been wrong after all. Ethan was mostly unreliable.

"What kind of advice is that?"

"Am I wrong? What do you think is the most important thing for a clan to prosper?"

Seeing that Ethan didn't look like he was joking, Sasuke seriously considered the question.

"Powerful strength?"

"People!"

Ethan spread his hands. "Every powerful noble clan has dozens, even hundreds of members. Look how many are left in the Uchiha clan now. And the only way to grow your numbers is for you... or your brother to have more children."

Sasuke's face turned bright red. He had to admit that Ethan's logic kind of made sense, but the idea of marrying a bunch of women was still hard to accept. Sasuke, after all, was still a pure-hearted young boy.

However, Sasuke then made a suggestion that genuinely surprised Ethan.

"Actually, have you considered joining the Uchiha clan?"

"...?"

Ethan turned to look at him and realized Sasuke wasn't joking. At the same time, he could guess why Sasuke would bring this up.

"Me? Just because I can use the Sharingan?"

Ethan was a commoner with no surname. Joining the Uchiha clan would be like stepping into nobility. Moreover, Ethan could use the Sharingan, and if he claimed Uchiha bloodline, no one would question it. Changing his surname to Uchiha wouldn't even raise suspicion.

Unfortunately, Ethan had no interest.

"No thanks."

His blunt refusal didn't disappoint Sasuke. Maybe he had already expected this answer before bringing it up.

"Instead of that, you'd better listen to me and go find a few excellent girls."

"...Why don't you?"

There were plenty of beautiful and capable women in the Naruto world. But most of them were already taken.

Ethan had principles. He had never done something low like 'stealing someone's woman.' As for Diana, Ada, and Selene? Taking them early didn't count as stealing.

"Let's drop this topic. If I want to keep getting stronger, besides training the basics, what else should I focus on?"

Young Sasuke was too embarrassed to continue and decisively switched to the topic of training, which he was more interested in. He figured Ethan would be more invested in this anyway, considering how strong he was.

"Just train step by step, strengthen your body, and keep learning ninjutsu. If you feel your progress slowing, you can try developing a new chakra nature to make your abilities more balanced."

But by Ethan's standards, Sasuke was still far from hitting a bottleneck.

"Setting everything else aside, has your physical fitness reached the point where you can use the Three-Stage Blind Thrust and Swallow Return?"

Sasuke shook his head. His body had improved a lot under Ethan's guidance, but he still hadn't mastered those two sword techniques.

"Don't tell me you think that now that you have the Mangekyo, swordsmanship isn't worth investing in anymore?"

Sasuke looked a bit awkward. He had indeed thought that way. After all, Susanoo was so powerful that regular ninjutsu didn't excite him anymore.

"You're getting cocky again. Let's spar. I'll only use basic ninjutsu and taijutsu... you can go all out with any ninjutsu, including your Mangekyo abilities."

"Seriously?"

"Of course."

(To be continued.)