Under the bright sunlight of the street, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.
Facing the public questioning from Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, which was filled with the oppressive aura of a superior, Uchiha Akahiro, at the center of the storm, showed not a trace of panic on his face.
He did not even lift an eyelid; his casual and composed posture made it seem as if the person standing opposite him was not the “Hokage” who held the power of life and death in Konoha, but merely an insignificant passerby.
“Reporting to Hokage-sama.”
Akahiro spoke slowly, his expression as calm as an ancient well without ripples, yet his tone was righteous and stern.
“Our Konoha Military Police Force is merely fulfilling its legitimate duties.”
“Fulfilling duties?”
Hiruzen Sarutobi suppressed the surging anger in his heart, his graying eyebrows knitted into a tight knot, his voice cold enough to drip icicles.
He raised a hand to point at the villagers groaning in pools of blood and rotting vegetable leaves, asking back with heartbroken indignation.
“Is it the duty of the Konoha Military Police Force to bully these defenseless Konoha Village villagers in broad daylight, under the clear sky?!”
However, beneath this appearance of extreme anger, a trace of almost imperceptible joy flashed in Hiruzen Sarutobi’s deep eyes.
Good, Uchiha Akahiro.
This kid is indeed still too young, sharp-edged, and unable to keep his cool.
He has so quickly handed over a massive handle of “violent law enforcement and beating civilians” into my own hands.
Now that both witnesses and physical evidence are present, the onlookers are the best public voice.
I probably don’t even need to take action myself as Hokage; the public opinion and criticism within the Village alone would be enough to completely drown this arrogant Konoha Military Police Force.
As long as I seize this moral stain, I can logically and naturally reclaim the enforcement power of the Konoha Military Police Force.
Hiruzen calculated quickly in his heart, waiting for Akahiro to panic and defend himself, so he could fully implement this “playing hard to get” strike.
But Akahiro did not jump out to prove his innocence as Hiruzen had wished.
Instead, he followed Hiruzen’s lead and began to methodically lay out his own logic layer by layer.
“Hokage-sama, how can you say that?”
Akahiro spread his hands, a hint of innocence on his face.
“The duty of the Konoha Military Police Force is, by nature, to protect the safety of the entire Konoha Village and maintain order on the streets.”
He looked around at the surrounding villagers, his tone leisurely.
“Our Konoha Military Police Force patrols day and night, guarding this peace. Even if these villagers don’t thank us for our hard work, at the very least… they should show some basic respect for the status of the Konoha Military Police Force members, right?” This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Having said this, Akahiro paused deliberately.
It was this very pause that made the shrewd Hiruzen Sarutobi instantly smell an extremely dangerous aura.
This is bad.
As Hokage, he knew better than anyone the arrogant and discriminatory attitude the Konoha Village villagers held toward the Uchiha, these so-called “sinful clans.”
Akahiro was clearly laying the groundwork, digging a big pit, specifically waiting for him, the Hokage, to jump into it.
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s heart sank, and he wanted to preemptively interrupt the other’s rhythm.
Unfortunately, Akahiro did not give him a chance to interject at all.
Akahiro’s tone shifted abruptly, revealing his true intent, and a bone-chilling sharpness flashed in his deep eyes.
“However, Hokage-sama.”
Akahiro’s voice suddenly rose, carrying a kind of righteous “grief.”
“These Konoha Village villagers not only show absolutely no respect for the law enforcement of our Konoha Military Police Force, but on the contrary, they speak rudely to the officers, use abusive language, and even curse the protectors of the Village with filthy words!”
“Therefore, our Konoha Military Police Force highly suspects!”
He said each word clearly and emphatically.
“These fellows who cause trouble in the streets, disrupt morale, and attempt to incite conflict between the Konoha Military Police Force and the villagers are very likely spies from other Villages lurking inside our Konoha! For the absolute safety of Konoha, isn’t it our justified duty to take these suspicious individuals back to the Konoha Military Police Force for strict interrogation?!”
Spies!
Hearing these two words, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a rush of hot blood surge to his head, the veins on his forehead instantly bulging and throbbing wildly.
What a Uchiha Akahiro!
He was trembling with anger, and the old blood congested in his chest almost sprayed out directly.
Because this excuse of “spies from other Villages” was simply too familiar, familiar enough to make one grit their teeth!
It was just last night.
It was this Uchiha Akahiro who used this exact same, airtight “spy theory” to forcefully, right in front of him, the Hokage, legally cripple and throw into prison the three elite Anbu members he had carefully dispatched to monitor the Uchiha, under the charge of “suspicious behavior, suspected spies.”
He had suffered this silent loss back then, and now this process was being replicated exactly by Akahiro and used on these ordinary Konoha Village villagers.
This boomerang had landed solidly on his, Hiruzen Sarutobi’s, own face.
In an instant, Hiruzen realized he had fallen into a political deadlock where he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. New chapters come out on g.com first.
If he forcibly intervened now and ordered the Konoha Military Police Force to release the people, it would be equivalent to openly condoning “spies from other Villages” and ignoring the safety of the Village; this was a heavy accusation that he, as Hokage, could not bear.
But if he tacitly approved, the Uchiha would be able to legitimately and openly take all these villagers away.
No matter what choice he made, he could not shut the mouth of the Uchiha, which used “rules” to argue airtightly.
“You… you are making false accusations!”
The Konoha Village villagers, tightly bound by ropes, were terrified out of their wits upon hearing that they had been labeled with the capital crime of being “traitors to the Village” and spies.
This was a major crime!
The ringleader, the vegetable vendor Oshima Kenta, struggled and crawled forward on his knees, tears and snot streaming down his face, trying to grasp the last straw of hope, crying out at the top of his lungs to the Hokage-sama to plead his innocence and complain of the injustice.
“Hokage-sama, we are wronged! We are not spies, we are…”
However, the sharp-eyed and quick-handed Uchiha Tekka did not give them any chance to speak up and turn the tables.
Slap!
A crisp and loud slap exploded.
Tekka lunged forward and slapped Oshima Kenta, who was trying to plead his innocence, hard across the mouth, forcefully stuffing the second half of his sentence, along with a few strands of blood foam, back into his pale face.
“Shut up.”
Uchiha Tekka was expressionless, looking down at the shivering villagers on the ground from above, his voice cold without a trace of warmth.
“Whatever grievances you have, whatever you have to say, save it for me and go to the interrogation room of the Konoha Military Police Force to say it slowly.”
Physical silence was more deterrent than any words.
Looking at Tekka’s scarlet and icy Sharingan, the villagers dared not make another sound, only looking at the Hokage in despair.
Meanwhile, Uzumaki Naruto, standing on the periphery of the crowd, took in this entire absurd game of chess.
He stared blankly at Akahiro, who had used the Village’s rules to leave the Hokage speechless, and then looked at Sandaime-grandfather, who had been countered by the “spy theory” and was so angry his face had turned blue, yet had no way to vent.
Although seven-year-old Naruto could not understand the intricate political maneuvering involved, his beast-like intuition clearly felt—
The Hokage-grandfather, who had always covered the sky with one hand in Konoha and was regarded as a god by the villagers, was actually suffering a huge, silent loss right now in front of this Uchiha who had “no malice” toward him.
A cool breeze swept through the street, whipping up the fallen leaves on the ground.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared fixedly at that calm and indifferent young face, his chest heaving violently, and the pipe that symbolized supreme authority was now being gripped by him so hard it rattled.