Showing Off Before an Expert

After Fugaku finished explaining, his mother finally brought dinner over with a worried look on her face. Clearly, she knew that the clan's relocation had not gone smoothly at the clan meeting.

Especially her husband's decision to place such immense pressure on their six-year-old son—she did not know whether it was right or wrong.

After dinner, under Mikoto's worried gaze, Fugaku took Hane and Itachi toward the place where the clan meeting was being held.

The three of them were silent. The clan meeting hall was still some distance from their current clan grounds, built atop a hill in Naka. By the time Hane followed Fugaku there, a large number of clan members had already gathered beneath the plaque of the clan meeting hall.

As Fugaku approached with Hane and Itachi, the clan members parted to make way for them. They looked at Fugaku in confusion, unable to understand why he had brought two children along.

But seeing that Fugaku offered no explanation, none of the clan members asked.

At the entrance, Fugaku looked at Itachi. "Itachi! Stay at the door and direct the clan members into the meeting hall!"

"Yes, Father." Itachi clenched his little fists, feeling slightly unwilling. He knew he was not as outstanding as his brother, but he still wanted to stay by his brother's side!

Fugaku patted Itachi on the shoulder. "Itachi, don't rush. You are also Father's outstanding son."

"Mm! Father, I understand!" Itachi nodded.

As they neared the meeting hall, Hane gave the somewhat dejected Itachi a look that said, I'm counting on you, then hurried after Fugaku.

He had not come here merely to attend a gathering today. This was a huge crop of Malice Points for him.

When Fugaku entered the hall, the clan members also filed into the meeting room according to their ninja strength.

Fugaku sat high on the platform. Directly below him, seated facing each other, were Uchiha Yashiro, who had assisted two generations of clan heads, and Uchiha Liehuo, the current leader of the hardliners. Behind them sat elderly elders, and behind the elders stood the many clan members, arranged according to their ninja strength.

Uchiha Yashiro glanced at Hane standing before Fugaku in surprise, unable to understand why the clan head had brought his eldest son. But with the clan meeting about to begin, he did not ask further.

Soon, the clan members gradually arrived. As the doors to the meeting room closed, the clan meeting officially began.

"Clan Head, after discussing this with the elders at noon, we still decided not to agree to the relocation. Although the village says it will handle everything concerning the new clan grounds, how can the riverside of Naka compare to the center of Konoha!

"Not to mention anything else, it would take half an hour just to go buy vegetables and return. How are we supposed to explain that to the clan members? Our Uchiha ancestral grounds have been here for generations. The village cannot just redraw its plans whenever it wishes."

As expected, the first to speak was Elder Liehuo, who sat at the head of the radicals. The old man looked like an enraged cat, his expression filled with fury.

"That's right, we absolutely will not agree!" The clan members below immediately echoed him. Seeing this, Fugaku, with Nothingness, turned his gaze toward the elders of the former moderates.

Yet at this moment, even Uchiha Yashiro, Fugaku's confidant who had once supported him to a Nothingness-defying degree in becoming clan head, chose silence. They advocated peaceful coexistence with the village, but that did not mean they were all selfless people willing to sacrifice for it.

Fugaku closed his eyes with Nothingness, then slowly opened them and looked at the restless clan members below.

"Shut up, all of you. This is a clan meeting, not a marketplace. Does whoever shouts the loudest get to be right?"

The clan members gradually quieted down, all looking silently at Fugaku as they waited for his decision.

Fugaku swept his gaze around the room before finally stopping on Hane, who still wore a relaxed expression.

"Hane, what do you think?" Hane's body stiffened. What did he think? He thought with his eyes, of course! But remembering why his father had brought him here today, he straightened himself and prepared to voice his opinion.

Before Hane could speak, however, old Liehuo sitting below could no longer stand it. "Clan Head, have you forgotten the rules of the clan meeting? How can a child who is not even a Genin speak at the clan meeting?"

Hane's face darkened, but he did not rush to refute him. Instead, he waited for his father to explain.

Fugaku revealed his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and looked at Uchiha Liehuo. "Elder, of course I know the clan's rules. Hane, my eldest son, already possesses strength close to that of a Jonin." Fugaku was not speaking carelessly. He had judged that from their previous spar.

Though Fugaku had not used his full strength either, an ordinary Jonin truly might not have been able to withstand those five swords. But seeing how greatly his son had been exhausted afterward, he had only said Hane was close to Jonin level. That was a conservative estimate.

"Whoa!"

The many Uchiha clan members below began whispering among themselves.

"Ha ha!" Elder Liehuo suddenly burst into laughter. "Clan Head, are you joking? A mere child who has not even awakened a one-tomoe Sharingan, and you say he possesses strength close to that of a Jonin? Clan Head, have you gone mad fantasizing about your genius son?"

"You old bastard, is your tolerance no greater than those eyes of yours? Without those eyes, would you even have the strength of a Jonin?" Before Fugaku could grow angry, Hane calmly looked at the rough-faced old man.

"What! You brat who knows Nothingness, don't think that being the clan head's son makes you the next clan head of the Uchiha. You have no respect for seniority. Today, I'll discipline you on your father's behalf."

With that, Liehuo rapidly formed several hand seals. "Fire Release: Fire Dragon Technique!"

In an instant, a massive fire dragon coiled throughout the meeting hall, baring its fangs and claws as it pounced toward Hane. Clearly, the old man had struck without restraint. He had fiercely opposed Fugaku taking office back then, so naturally he had no intention of giving Fugaku any face.

"Heh, such a paltry trick, and you dare show off before an expert!" Hane slapped the table and stretched out his tender little hand amid the tense gazes of the clan members.

Just as the fire dragon was about to touch Hane's little hand, an orange-red flame suddenly ignited in his palm.

With a beckon of Hane's hand, the charging flames abruptly stopped one centimeter from his palm, as though Hane had caught the blazing fire dragon with his bare hand.

This shocking sight made the Uchiha clan members suck in cold breaths.

"How is that possible? That's a blazing Fire Dragon Technique! How could a mortal body do that?"

Disbelief and incomprehension flashed through the eyes of the clan members.

At the same time, notifications for Gratitude Points and Malice Points kept ringing in Hane's mind.

Malice Points +1000, +10, +100, +1000...

Gratitude Points +10, +100, +1000...

Hane felt absolutely delighted!

"Old man, watch your mouth next time. As for your attack..." Hane stroked the fire dragon's head with his little hand, then revealed a look of disdain. "It's pretty ugly! It has neither the shape of a dragon nor the shape of a snake. Go back and study for a few more years before you bring it out and embarrass yourself."

With a wave of his hand, Hane sent the fire dragon turning through the air before it shot toward old Liehuo at an even faster speed.

Old Liehuo's gaze turned cold as his hands rapidly formed seals. "Earth Release: Earth Wall!"

A semicircular earthen wall enveloped Huo Lie's entire body.

Seeing this, Hane sneered. "Heh!"

With a flick of his hand, the orange-red flames surrounding Hane flew toward the diving fire dragon. In an instant, the originally yellow fire dragon was dyed orange-red. Its once blurry form became lifelike, resembling a living crimson crystal divine dragon.

The scorching heat was like a descending sun, and the Uchiha clan members who could not endure such temperatures retreated one after another.

When the red dragon neared the Earth Wall Huo Lie had summoned, the earthen wall could visibly be seen burning red.

Hiding inside, Liehuo caught the scent of roasting flesh. Then a miserable scream rang throughout the meeting hall.

"Aah!"

Liehuo quickly dismissed the Earth Wall, intending to use the Body Flicker Technique to leave the area of attack.

But he was too late. The fire dragon had not rammed into the Earth Wall. Instead, it had coiled into a circle around it.

That was why Hane had laughed just now. If the old man had dodged from the start, Hane truly would not have taken him down so easily. But he had insisted on taking it head-on.

So Hane could only let him experience the taste of being roasted by fire.

Still, Hane did not want to take things too far, so he restrained the flames on the fire dragon within a certain range.

Otherwise, with Hane's current master-level Fire Release, the old man would already have been roasted black.

After burning off the old man's beard and hair, Hane dispelled the fire dragon. He glanced at old Liehuo, who was drenched in sweat, covered in ash, clutching one hand, and glaring at him fiercely.

"Do I have the right to speak now?" Hane spread his hands and calmly looked at the many Uchiha clan members.