Hiromi looked up, staring at the clan member with deadpan eyes. He could hear a strong sense of opposition in the clan member's voice.
"Believe it or not, I'll beat you up?" His gaze was dangerous.
He wondered if he had been too gentle, making the clan members a bit too arrogant.
The clan member shrank his neck back, feeling a bit afraid. It wasn't an act, he was truly afraid.
Danzo had been burned to ashes right in front of them. With that Flame Emperor Form, he'd be finished if he even touched it.
Fortunately, at this time, the clan members all gathered around, chattering with questions, full of worry and indirect opposition.
"Hiromi, you're leaving the village?"
"It's very inconvenient to leave the village alone."
"Yeah. Leaving the village requires carrying luggage and such, you should at least take a few people with you."
"Besides, Kumogakure and Iwagakure have been keeping an eye on you. I heard they're the ones who put out the bounty."
"Yes, it's not safe right now."
"Exactly, what would we do if something happened?"
The clan members discussed fervently, echoing each other's sentiments.
Not a single sentence explicitly said "no," yet every sentence meant "no."
However, after a wave of heat surged forth, their voices began to quiet down.
Upon seeing the source of the heat—the orange flames on Hiromi's body—their expressions stiffened. They raised their hands with forced smiles and backed away cautiously, signaling for Hiromi not to hold it against them and not to do anything impulsive. Instantly, a large open space cleared around Hiromi.
He swept his gaze over everyone. The forced smiles on the clan members' faces became even more fawning.
Hiromi gave a cold snort, his expression stern as he said, "It's not like I'm going to exterminate the Sarutobi Clan. What use is there in you following behind me?"
The clan members looked indignant and wanted to object. As the saying goes, one more person means one more bit of strength. Who knows, that extra bit of strength might be exactly what's needed at a critical moment?
But feeling the terrifying heat in the air and seeing Hiromi's cold gaze, they ultimately didn't dare to speak out.
Soon, Shisui and Fugaku arrived as well.
After exchanging a glance, Fugaku said, "I'll go with you."
Hiromi asked in return, "Do you think that's appropriate?"
Fugaku: "..."
Should I say it's appropriate or not?
He looked toward Shisui for help.
Shisui: "..."
Don't look at me, I don't know either.
After witnessing Hiromi's political ideology, they both felt somewhat lacking in confidence in front of him.
So, the two looked back at Hiromi, their eyes full of a desire for guidance.
"Figure it out yourselves." Hiromi said irritably, adding, "I have trump cards."
He knew what Fugaku and Shisui were worried about. He was still young, and his Chakra had not yet reached its peak. Fire Release Chakra Mode, Flame Emperor Form, and Susanoo were all very powerful but they also consumed a lot of energy. A war of attrition was his greatest weakness.
However...
He looked at his attribute panel.
[Name: Uchiha Hiromi]
[Attributes: Fire, Yin, Lava]
[Abilities: Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan (Left: Omagatsuhi, Right: Izanagi), Fire Release Chakra Mode, Fire Release Chakra Mode: Flame Emperor Form, Lava Release Chakra Mode]
Omagatsuhi retained the ability of Akumagi, and it also gained the ability to grant others the power of sacrifice.
Furthermore, Hiromi was not someone who liked drawn-out battles. If he encountered an equal opponent, he would get bored after playing for two minutes and would then decisively use sacrifice. And if anything went wrong, his Izanagi would activate automatically.
Although he only had one chance per day, once he had 'died' once, he would definitely kill the opponent at any cost.
So, while a war of attrition was his weakness, if Iwagakure really wanted to deal with him the way they dealt with the Third Raikage, he would absolutely destroy Iwagakure regardless of the cost if pushed too far.
Unless the Five Kage assembled, it would be impossible to kill him.
And would Iwagakure kill him? He felt Ōnoki wasn't that stupid.
But the clan members didn't know this.
Itachi hurried over and also firmly opposed the idea. Unfortunately, the opposition remained ineffective.
Under Hiromi's firm will, they could only compromise, letting a few members of Root follow Hiromi to help take care of his daily life.
Thus, with Shisui, Fugaku, and Itachi leading the Uchiha Clan Members, they saw Hiromi off at the village gate.
In their view, this was a form of deterrence. They were issuing a warning to the Ninja World—whoever dared to touch Hiromi would face an unending feud with the Uchiha clan.
But in Hiromi's view, wasn't this also just telling everyone how important he was to the Uchiha clan?
It would only make people more tempted.
The Uchiha clan's revenge?
Don't make me laugh, wouldn't it be enough to just hide in the shadows and let someone else be the blade?
—
Hokage Building.
Hiruzen looked at the young man walking further and further away from the Konoha gate, his eyes narrowed, showing no emotion.
In his mind, he recalled Root's recent actions—searching for Orochimaru of the Akatsuki.
He heard this order was given by Hiromi.
Now, they should have found Orochimaru but...
"Hiromi, what do you want to do with Orochimaru?"
Capture him? Win over the villagers with the achievement?
Although Hiruzen felt this guess was the most logical, it clearly didn't align with Hiromi's interests. It was impossible for Hiromi to do such a thing just to please the villagers.
"Then what exactly does he want to do by finding Orochimaru?"
Hiruzen felt a bit uneasy and wanted to dispatch the Anbu to investigate. But compared to Uchiha's Root, the Anbu were lacking by more than just a little bit. Recently, blocking Root's missions had caused the Anbu's mortality rate to more than double.
He originally thought Root would run out of money and choose to back down, but he didn't expect the Uchiha Clan Members not to worry at all, acting happy every day. He even began to wonder if something had gone wrong somewhere.
"Why is everything going so poorly?"
He thought it over and over, and the root cause was still a lack of intelligence. This made him involuntarily think of a silver-haired man who had perfectly completed many S-rank missions.
"If only Sakumo were still here." He couldn't help but sigh.