Shinya wasn’t finished.
“I looked through the clan’s shinobi records from the past decade or so.
Setting aside our top-level combat strength, even without counting wartime casualties, the Uchiha’s middle and lower ranks have been steadily declining over the years.”
“If it weren’t for the assets accumulated by our ancestors, the clan might already be facing a serious generational gap in strength.”
Fugaku couldn’t help asking,
“So according to you, the Military Police is actually a burden on the clan?”
“Yes.”
Shinya paused.
“And no.”
There was no denying it.
Tobirama Senju placing the Military Police Force entirely in the Uchiha’s hands had been an extremely clever move.
The Military Police’s responsibilities kept most Uchiha shinobi patrolling inside Konoha, where the outside commissions they could accept were usually low-value jobs like catching cats or handling minor errands.
Then, whenever a Shinobi World War broke out, the Uchiha would be sent to the front lines and used as cannon fodder.
Konoha gained full use of the clan’s formidable combat strength while simultaneously bleeding away its fighting population.
And there was no mission commission to earn during wartime.
At most, the families of the dead received some compensation.
During peacetime, they couldn’t earn much.
During wartime, they were sent off to risk their lives.
On top of that, law enforcement was inherently a job that made enemies.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine why the Uchiha’s position within the village had deteriorated so badly.
In theory, an enforcement organization like the Military Police should never be monopolized by a single clan.
Concentrating that much authority in one bloodline could create an extremely dangerous situation.
And yet Tobirama had done exactly that.
The brilliance of the arrangement lay in keeping the Uchiha in a prolonged state of gradual decline.
They would never starve to death.
But they would never be allowed to truly flourish either.
Naturally, such a clan would pose little threat to Konoha.
Unfortunately, Tobirama’s disciples had misunderstood the lesson.
Instead of merely containing the Uchiha, they had pushed the clan harder and harder toward rebellion.
It was only because the Uchiha had shown remarkable restraint that things hadn’t exploded already.
Put a truly hardline elder in charge and see how long a clan full of red-eyed lunatics tolerated decades of suppression before rebelling.
The reason Shinya had said the Military Police was both a burden and not a burden was simple.
With the authority the organization possessed, extracting benefits from it was ridiculously easy.
They didn’t even need corruption or bribery.
Simply exercising the Uchiha’s legitimate law-enforcement authority properly could bring in enormous amounts of perfectly legal money.
With Shinya around, Konoha’s troublesome civilians would soon learn exactly what it meant for the authority of the Military Police to be practically limitless.
Fugaku saw Shinya speaking in riddles again and barely resisted the urge to knock him over the head.
“Speak properly.
What do you mean by ‘yes and no’?”
“Because the boundaries of the Military Police’s authority are extremely vague.”
Shinya smiled.
“If I had to summarize it in one sentence…”
Fugaku’s curiosity was thoroughly aroused.
“What sentence?”
Shinya calmly replied,
“Act first, report later—by special authorization of the Second Hokage.”
Fugaku froze.
It was as though someone had suddenly opened an entirely new door inside his mind.
He didn’t completely understand what Shinya meant at first.
But the more he thought about it…
The more reasonable—and strangely imposing—it sounded.
Shinya continued leisurely.
“The Military Police is the Military Police.”
“The Uchiha is the Uchiha.”
“Since the Military Police was personally established under the Second Hokage, theoretically, whenever something goes wrong, we can push the responsibility back onto Lord Second.”
“What are they going to do?”
“Dig Tobirama Senju out of his grave and make him explain himself?”
There was, technically, a jutsu capable of doing something like that.
But Orochimaru probably hadn’t perfected it yet.
And even if he had, and Hiruzen actually dug Tobirama out of the ground…
Shinya could still seize the moral high ground and attack Hiruzen instead.
You dug up your own teacher’s grave?
Are you even human?!
The conclusion was simple.
If Shinya refused to have any moral standards, no one could stand on the moral high ground and lecture him.
After a brief pause, Shinya continued,
“We don’t need the villagers to accept the Uchiha.”
“We only need them to hate the Military Police even more.”
Fugaku carefully considered those words.
After a moment, his eyes narrowed.
“You want to separate the Uchiha clan from the Military Police.”
Shinya nodded.
“But not yet.”
“I have a plan, but it’ll take time to implement.”
“An organization as hated as the Military Police shouldn’t be carried by the Uchiha alone.”
“It would be better to drag a few other clans into it with us.”
“The Inuzuka clan would be a good choice.”
“The next time someone causes trouble, we can just let the dogs bite them.”
“If anyone complains afterward, we’ll say the ninken hasn’t developed enough intelligence yet.”
“Or better yet, say it’s a newly recruited ninken still undergoing training.”
“Let’s see whether they dare cause trouble again.”
Fugaku fell silent.
Whether Shinya’s final suggestion about recruiting the Inuzuka had been a joke or not, Fugaku clearly understood the larger point.
“You want control of the Military Police.”
Fugaku wasn’t someone obsessed with authority.
If giving up his position as commander could help free the Uchiha from their current predicament, he was willing to let it go.
Shinya nodded.
Honestly, Fugaku had somehow managed to control Konoha’s dominant internal police organization while still allowing the Uchiha to become universally hated.
That was an accomplishment in itself.
Under Shinya’s leadership, he absolutely refused to allow Konoha’s troublesome civilians to continue behaving however they pleased.
“Fine.”
Fugaku finally made his decision.
“I can transfer full operational authority over the Military Police to you.”
“But your formal appointment as commander will probably have to wait until the next jōnin assembly.”
Fugaku still had no idea what Shinya truly intended to do.
If he had guessed the full extent of Shinya’s plans, perhaps he wouldn’t have surrendered the Military Police’s authority so easily.
Although the position of Military Police commander had historically always belonged to an Uchiha, there were still procedures that had to be followed.
Fugaku couldn’t simply announce a replacement and consider the matter finished.
But Shinya shook his head.
“They won’t approve it.”
“The excuses will be the same predictable ones as always.”
“But that doesn’t matter.”
“I only need the actual authority.”
“Whether they officially appoint me or not is irrelevant.”
Shinya smiled.
“Lord Second personally entrusted the Konoha Military Police Force entirely to the Uchiha clan.”
“His disciples don’t get to tell us who can and cannot manage it.”
Shinya and Fugaku looked at each other.
A knowing smile appeared on both their faces.
…
When Hiruzen returned to the Hokage’s office, he did something exceptionally rare.
He lost his temper.
Minato Namikaze watched as Hiruzen entered and immediately hurled a cup onto the floor.
He couldn’t help rolling his eyes.
“What happened, Lord Third?”
“Why are you so angry?”
Hiruzen opened his mouth to answer.
Then embarrassment suddenly rose across his face.
Minato was the student of his own student.
How could Hiruzen lose control like this in front of someone from the younger generation?
More importantly…
There was no way he was going to tell everyone how badly he had been humiliated at the Military Police headquarters.
Unfortunately, people had a strange tendency to attract exactly what they least wanted.
BANG!
The Hokage office door was kicked open yet again.
Danzō Shimura strode inside with the swagger of a man who believed the building belonged to him.
The moment Minato saw him, helplessness appeared on his face.
He immediately buried himself in his stack of paperwork and pretended to be extremely busy.
It wasn’t that Minato was afraid of Danzō.
The problem was that Danzō simply ignored whatever he said.
At that point, why bother wasting his breath?
The more Minato thought about it, the more suffocating his position as Hokage felt.
Having Hiruzen standing above him was already frustrating enough.
But sometimes even Danzō, supposedly only the Hokage’s advisor, didn’t give him the slightest respect.
If the Hokage couldn’t even give orders to his own advisor…
What kind of damn Hokage was he supposed to be?