Asuma Sarutobi stared at Kagami, his face a mask of pure fury. "I will never agree to a murderer like you becoming Hokage!"
The words hung in the air, and the atmosphere in the room instantly froze. Every clan head looked at Asuma in shock, swallowing hard, terrified of being caught in the blast radius of his suicidal defiance.
Fear sent the Sarutobi clan leader to his knees. He scrambled to distance himself from his kin, his voice a desperate plea. "Kagami-dono, that is his personal opinion! We, the Sarutobi clan, fully and wholeheartedly agree that you should become Hokage!"
He silently cursed Asuma for his ignorance. Your father ordered the annihilation of an entire clan, and they retaliated. Now you stand here, playing the victim? Are you trying to get us all killed? The most infuriating part was that Asuma's noble sacrifice would take them all with him.
"You damn fool, Asuma!" the patriarch raged internally. First, he was nearly killed because of Hiruzen. Then, he had to spend a fortune to buy back his life, and now Hiruzen's own son was trying to get him killed again. He was about to have a complete breakdown. Disaster truly did fall from the heavens. Was it so much to ask just to survive? At this point, he loathed Hiruzen's entire family.
Hearing the Sarutobi clan head's frantic pledge, the other leaders immediately chimed in. "Yes, yes, we also fully agree! You should be the Hokage!"
They weren't idiots. They knew that if they didn't voice their support now, Kagami might decide to simply wipe the slate clean. As for Asuma's righteous anger, it struck them as utterly absurd. The Uchiha had been living their lives, and his father, out of paranoia, had pushed them to the brink and then ordered their extermination. Now that he had paid the price, did he not deserve it? Was it only permissible for his father to kill, but not for others to retaliate? The hypocrisy was staggering.
When Asuma saw that no one, not even his own clan, would stand with him, he was filled with a bitter disappointment and rage. In his eyes, they were all the same—cowards, terrified of death.
His face hardened into a grim mask. He stared at Kagami, gritting his teeth. "Kagami, today, I will avenge my father! Prepare to die!"
"Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning!"
He flew through a series of hand signs, spewing a cloud of superheated ash from his mouth that instantly filled the entire conference room. He planned to detonate it with all his strength, dying along with the man who killed his father and all the traitors who supported him.
Seeing this, the expressions of the other clan heads twisted in terror. "Asuma, you're insane!" they screamed. In such a confined space, the explosive power of the jutsu would be magnified enormously. An explosion of this magnitude would kill them all. They scrambled to erect defensive shields, praying it would be enough.
Only Kagami remained seated, a calm, disdainful smile on his lips, not moving a muscle.
Asuma, his heart filled with despair, saw them all as his enemies now. Without a moment's hesitation, he ignited the ash.
BOOM—
A massive explosion ripped through the sky, blowing a gaping hole in the side of the Hokage tower.
When the smoke finally cleared, the patriarchs of the major clans, their clothes in tatters, struggled to rise from the rubble. The blast had left them all with serious injuries; several of the weaker clan leaders had been killed instantly.
But Kagami was still sitting in his original seat, completely untouched. Not only was he unharmed, but there wasn't even a speck of dust on his clothes. At the moment of the explosion, he had simply activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, using his Mugen to create an infinite distance between himself and the blast. Asuma's final, desperate attack had been utterly useless against him. However, using the Mangekyo's power, even for an instant, sent a dull ache through his eyes, a subtle reminder of the price of such power—a step closer to blindness.
Looking at Asuma's body, which had been blown to pieces by his own attack, the surviving clan leaders were filled with a burning rage, wishing they could resurrect him just to kill him again. Many of them had lost limbs, their bodies mangled by the explosion. They never imagined Asuma would resort to such a self-destructive tactic. But now he was dead, and there was no one to punish.
Their gazes then fell upon Kagami, who had remained serene throughout the ordeal. Seeing him completely unaffected by the blast filled them with an even deeper, more profound sense of awe and terror.
Kagami looked at the battered and broken shinobi and nodded slightly, as if assessing them. "If you can't even survive an explosion of this caliber, then you have no right to serve me."
Then, he slowly stood up, a faint smile on his lips. "But, you did survive. For that, I acknowledge your strength. Come, I will treat your wounds."
Hearing his words, everyone stared in shock. "You know medical ninjutsu?" one of them stammered.
Though his reversal technique was not ninjutsu, Kagami simply nodded. "I do."
After a moment's hesitation, the injured clan heads limped towards him. Their injuries were severe; if they didn't stop the bleeding soon, they would die. They didn't think for a moment that Kagami could heal their severed limbs, but any treatment was better than none.
But Kagami had other plans. He walked over to Hyuga Hiashi, whose right arm had been blown off at the shoulder. He placed a hand on the mangled wound and activated his reversal technique.
Hiashi's wound began to heal at a rate that defied belief. Flesh and sinew knitted themselves back together, and in a matter of seconds, the wound was completely closed. Then, to the absolute shock of everyone watching, a new arm began to grow from the stump, perfectly formed.
The others stared, their mouths agape, as if witnessing a miracle. In all their experience, there was no medical ninjutsu in the world that could regenerate a lost limb. They had all resigned themselves to a life of disability, but now, this man was rewriting the laws of nature before their very eyes.
In that moment, Kagami transcended the level of a powerful shinobi. In their eyes, he had become a god.
Hiashi's face was a mask of horrified awe. He flexed his newly grown hand, finding it no different from his original. This level of complete restoration should have been impossible. But the undeniable proof was right before him.
Kagami, however, paid no mind to their stunned expressions. After treating Hiashi, he moved on to the next person. For him, this was a simple calculation. Until his family rose to true prominence, these people were useful tools. It would be a waste to let them be discarded so easily. Moreover, by healing them, he would earn their absolute, unwavering loyalty, making them far easier to control—and exploit.
So, he chose to heal them. After all, for him, the cost was negligible.