“…Fine.
Shinya, from now on, you will serve as Chief of the Konoha Police Force.”
“I hope you’ll make good use of your talents in this position.”
In the end, Hiruzen Sarutobi compromised.
After all, this wasn’t exactly some earth-shattering concession.
Shinya immediately straightened his posture and declared with righteous conviction,
“Of course.
Protecting Konoha’s peace and justice is the duty of every shinobi.”
“Where the leaves dance, the fire will burn!”
Hiruzen often used words like these to inspire the people beneath him.
But hearing them come from an Uchiha—
Especially from an Uchiha who had just threatened him— somehow made Hiruzen feel that something was very wrong.
Only after Hiruzen signed and stamped the appointment document, officially putting it into effect, did Shinya finally tuck it away with satisfaction.
Then he produced another document and gestured for Hiruzen to sign that one as well.
“What is this?”
“Nothing much.
Now that I’m the Chief of the Konoha Police Force, this is simply my proposed reform plan for the department.”
“First, I want to triple its scale and allow the Police Force to recruit civilian shinobi as well as members of other shinobi clans.”
“Naturally, we will uphold the principles of fairness and justice.
Every recruit will join the Police Force of their own free will.”
“There will absolutely be no coercion…
or abductions.”
When he said the word coercion, Shinya deliberately looked straight at Danzō.
The meaning couldn’t have been more obvious.
Danzō nearly exploded with rage.
What could an evil little Uchiha brat like you possibly understand?!
Everything this old man has done has been for the village!
“Hmph!”
But the moment Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan turned toward him, Danzō obediently lowered his head and started pretending to be an ostrich.
He wasn’t afraid of Fugaku.
Absolutely not.
It was simply that Konoha couldn’t afford to lose someone as indispensable as himself right now!
This time, Hiruzen didn’t immediately voice his opinion.
Instead, he carefully read through every page Shinya had handed him.
The entire report could essentially be summarized with one demand.
More money.
Recruiting shinobi cost money.
Paying their salaries cost money.
Maintaining justice and public order throughout Konoha cost money.
Training facilities and other basic infrastructure for Police Force members also cost money.
When Shinya said he wanted to triple the size of the Police Force, he wasn’t merely asking to triple its manpower.
He wanted three times the original operating budget as well.
And that wasn’t all.
There were also maintenance expenses for facilities, training costs for shinobi, replacement fees for worn-out ninja tools, and all sorts of other expenditures.
Every last one of them was to be reimbursed by the village.
Altogether, Shinya was asking for roughly four to five times the Police Force’s previous budget.
Hiruzen instinctively reached for his pipe.
But after glancing at Shinya, he stopped and instead put on a kindly smile.
“Shinya, you’re a good young man.
You should understand that the Third Shinobi World War has only just ended.
Every department in the village needs funding right now.”
“You want triple the budget, but Konoha simply can’t afford that.”
“How about this?
I’ll approve the expansion in manpower, but as for the funding, the village can make up for it later when our finances improve.”
Shinya sneered inwardly.
Not enough money?
Excuses.
Every word of it was an excuse.
Hiruzen clearly wanted to continue draining the Uchiha clan’s resources.
Ideally, the Uchiha would be forced to pay the additional expenses themselves.
Triple the budget was no small amount.
And unlike the Uchiha, the other shinobi clans might not be nearly as cooperative.
Recruiting their members into the Police Force would probably require even higher compensation.
After all, the Police Force wasn’t exactly a department that made you popular.
Some sort of hazard pay for all the resentment they would attract was only reasonable.
Fortunately, Shinya had anticipated this response long ago.
He calmly pulled out yet another document.
Hiruzen’s eyelid twitched.
“And what is this?”
For some reason, he suddenly had a very bad feeling.
Why did it feel as though Shinya had been waiting for him to say exactly that?
Shinya smiled brightly.
“If Konoha is facing financial difficulties, then of course we can understand.”
“As it happens, I’ve already collected the signatures of every member of the Konoha Police Force.”
“All that’s missing is my signature as Chief.”
“The moment I sign this, the resignation letter officially takes effect.”
“After all, the Police Force should do its part to help Konoha save money.”
“A resignation letter?”
Hiruzen froze.
For a moment, he couldn’t understand what Shinya was trying to pull.
He had only just become Chief of the Police Force, and now he wanted to resign?
Was he deliberately making a fool out of him?
But Hiruzen quickly realized what Shinya had actually said.
Not his resignation.
The resignation of every member of the Konoha Police Force.
What was this supposed to be?
Was Shinya openly forcing the Hokage’s hand right in front of him?
If you don’t agree to my demands, the entire Police Force resigns.
No matter what, the Police Force had originally been a trap dug for the Uchiha by the Second Hokage—Hiruzen’s own teacher.
There was no way Hiruzen could allow the Uchiha clan to simply climb out of it.
And Hiruzen had another concern.
The Uchiha clan’s combat strength was simply too high.
Even if they did nothing special and merely started taking ordinary missions like everyone else, they could easily overwhelm the mission market.
Other major clans— including the Sarutobi clan— might find their missions swallowed up by the Uchiha.
The Uchiha were famous for their combat ability.
Anyone who had hired them knew they delivered results.
Meanwhile, the Senju clan, which had once stood alongside the Uchiha as its equal, now practically existed in name alone.
Hiruzen looked at the two documents on the desk and fell into a dilemma.
His first option was to agree to Shinya’s demands, reduce the benefits going to the clans of several of his old comrades, and use that money to satisfy the Uchiha.
His second option was to let the Uchiha completely climb out of the quagmire known as the Police Force.
If that happened, Uchiha shinobi would no longer be under his control at all.
Granted, they weren’t exactly easy to control even now.
But at least this young man was still willing to negotiate.
When faced with two harmful options, naturally one chose the lesser evil.
Shinya’s first demand put Hiruzen in an extremely difficult position.
Fortunately, Shinya had also offered him an alternative that Hiruzen absolutely could not accept.
Compared to that, increasing the Police Force’s funding and expanding its size suddenly didn’t seem nearly as unreasonable.
And perhaps he could even slip a few of his own people into the expanded Police Force.
That would make it easier to keep tabs on Fugaku and Shinya Uchiha.
What Hiruzen never realized was that he had just been manipulated by one of his own favorite tactics.
Fugaku played the bad cop.
Shinya played the good cop.
Together, they had Hiruzen completely in the palm of their hands.
Having made up his mind, Hiruzen immediately put on a kindly smile.
“Since the Uchiha are so willing to help shoulder Konoha’s burdens, I’ll approve the expansion of the Police Force.”
The moment Danzō heard this, he nearly jumped out of his seat.
Have you really grown that senile?!
You’re actually loosening the restraints on the Uchiha?!
But beneath the gaze of those blood-red Mangekyō Sharingan, Danzō ultimately remained silent.
It wasn’t that he was cowardly.
The distance was simply far too dangerous.
Konoha might survive without Hiruzen Sarutobi.
But it absolutely could not survive without him— the Darkness of the Shinobi World!
Shinya watched Hiruzen sign his name, then happily tucked the approved document away.
He was already planning to head straight to the finance department and collect the money.
Hiruzen still cared about saving face, after all.
There was no way he could deny a document he had only just signed.
As for what might happen after some time had passed…
Well, that was a different matter.