Hokage Building.
"Hokage-sama, please say a word for the Shimura clan." The head of the Shimura clan looked aggrieved.
Hiruzen looked at him, took a puff from his pipe, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and asked, "Say what?"
The Shimura Clan Head said hurriedly, "That the Shimura clan did not block the Uchiha clan on the night of the Nine-Tails incident."
Hiruzen put down his pipe, his expression serious. "Then where were you at that time?"
"This..."
The Shimura Clan Head couldn't possibly say they were in the shelter within their clan grounds, so he smiled obsequiously and said, "The Shimura clan was, of course, fighting against Nine-Tails."
He believed that the Sarutobi clan, which had been allied with the Shimura clan since the Sengoku era, would surely help him. This was the special treatment of the Shimura clan.
"You are asking me to help you lie?" Hiruzen's gaze turned cold.
The Shimura Clan Head broke into a cold sweat and smiled obsequiously. "No, just say that the Shimura clan did not block the Uchiha at that time."
Hiruzen's expression softened slightly, but remained serious. "Since the Shimura clan didn't block the Uchiha, then who did block the Uchiha?"
The Shimura Clan Head said awkwardly, "Anyone will do."
Hiruzen glanced at him and said, "Do not bring this matter up again."
The Shimura Clan Head was stunned.
This... was this a rejection?
That won't do!
If things go on like this, the villagers' opinions of the Shimura clan will only get worse. The villagers didn't want to sell things to them anymore, and prices were getting higher and higher, and the money in the clan was getting less and less.
The Shimura Clan Head was anxious. "You can just say it was the Root, it was the Root that blocked the Uchiha back then."
A flash of disappointment appeared in Hiruzen's eyes, and his voice turned cold. "The Root is a secret organization of Konoha. Do you know that spreading information about important organizations in the village is a serious crime?"
"This... this..."
The Shimura clan head felt his scalp tingle.
Hiruzen finally softened his heart and offered a reminder, "If it really doesn't work out, then just step down from the Police Force."
"That won't do!"
Hiruzen's words were like stepping on the tail of the Shimura Clan Head. Without Danzo, the Shimura clan now placed everything on the Police Force. This was their chance to enter the Konoha High Command, and he would absolutely not let go.
"Then do your job properly. The Uchiha could do it, why can't your Shimura clan?" Hiruzen rebuked coldly.
The Shimura Clan Head's expression was ugly, but he still nodded and left.
Hiruzen looked at his back, and for some reason, he saw Fugaku's back.
And now, the Shimura clan... were they not just like the Uchiha clan before?
He closed his eyes, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and muttered to himself, "Hiromi, what on earth do you want to do?"
—
"Of course, it's to eliminate the Shimura clan." Hiromi said while doing push-ups with one finger.
"You are depleting Konoha's combat strength." Itachi, as the head of the Root, objected.
"Combat strength?" Hiromi laughed, "Then tell me, what useful things have they done?"
"This..." Itachi's mind went blank for a moment.
The Shimura clan must be useful, but what useful things had they done?
His brain spun wildly, but he couldn't find a single reliable accomplishment.
"Come back to me when you've thought it through. You come to me without even thinking clearly—are you just bored?" Hiromi began to shoo him away.
"I..." Itachi's expression was somewhat aggrieved.
But what was even more aggrieved was that he actually felt Hiromi made sense.
Itachi left with a slightly gloomy, calm face.
Shisui, seeing this, couldn't help but shake his head slightly. "Hiromi, can you be a little nicer to Itachi?"
"I can, but I don't want to."
"..."
Shisui knew he couldn't persuade Hiromi, so he shook his head slightly and didn't bring it up again. Instead, he was somewhat worried about another matter.
"Recently, Kumogakure and Iwagakure haven't been very stable. They might be planning to make a move against you."
"Be confident, remove the 'might'."
Three days after Hiromi killed Danzo, the system kept issuing missions outside the village.
[Mission Name: You Want to Occupy Konoha?]
[Mission Content: Kill A!]
[Mission Reward: Lava Release Chakra Mode]
[Mission Name: You're Capable, but Others Aren't?]
[Mission Content: Kill Ōnoki!]
[Mission Reward: Senjutsu Susanoo]
[Mission Name: You can't even win, yet you order others to come?]
[Mission Content: Kill Uchiha Obito!]
[Mission Reward...]
[Mission Name: You think you can make the world feel pain?]
[Mission Content: Kill...]
...
Besides this, Hiromi had another ongoing mission.
[Mission Name: Everyone named Shimura must die!]
[Mission Content: Kill the Shimura Clan!]
[Mission Reward: Lava Release]
The reward was average, but he wasn't mainly doing it for the mission, he just wanted to eliminate the Shimura clan. It was all for the sake of his own peace of mind.
"What do you plan to do about Kumogakure and Iwagakure?" Shisui asked, but he was actually asking if they should strike first.
Kumogakure and Iwagakure knew that the man hailed as the Darkness of the Shinobi, Danzo, had died at the hands of Hiromi, and they were very wary of him. They were currently looking for an opportunity to kill Hiromi.
"No need, they are just testing the waters. First, stabilize Konoha to avoid being attacked from both sides." Hiromi said.
"Mm." Shisui nodded.
He didn't ask further, he trusted Hiromi even more than the village. In his view, as long as Hiromi was safe, everything was fine.
'Uncle Kazuto, Aunt Shizuka, rest assured.' Shisui thought firmly to himself.