Danzo Makes Trouble

"Step back! Make way for Lord Danzo, now!"

Several masked Root ninja forced the villagers aside, clearing a path through the crowd.

"Lord Danzo, the way has been cleared for you."

Danzo nodded at the Root ninja, approval glinting in his eyes.

The men took their places behind Danzo.

Leaning on his cane, Danzo slowly made his way to the front and looked up at Fugaku Uchiha on the stage.

"Director Fugaku, so many villagers just voiced objections to your Police Force reforms. As the director, shouldn't you give them an explanation?"

Seeing Danzo's smug, conspiratorial expression, Fugaku was furious. He wanted nothing more than to rush down and beat that old bastard until he could not even use a cane, leaving him to spend the rest of his days in a wheelchair!

But Fugaku still restrained his emotions.

"Lord Hokage's Assistant, we have not finished explaining the Police Force reforms yet. What are you in such a hurry for? Surely you can spare a little more time."

Seeing Fugaku's confident expression, Danzo slammed his cane heavily against the ground, though his face remained unchanged.

"Fine. Then let the director of the Police Force finish speaking. Let us see whether you can satisfy the villagers."

Though he said that, Danzo was thinking otherwise. He had long since planted quite a few operatives among the villagers below the celebration stage. No matter how well Fugaku spoke, they would pick faults in his words and stir the villagers' dissatisfaction.

Let's see how spirited you can remain after this!

Danzo plotted inwardly, practically ready to declare his plan a success.

As for failure, how could that be possible? Even the White Fang of the Leaf, once renowned throughout the ninja world, had been driven to suicide by the power of public opinion among the villagers. What could this mere Uchiha clan head possibly do to stop Danzo's plan?

He was not expecting Fugaku to kill himself, but tarnishing the Police Force's image would be an easily achieved goal, wouldn't it?

However, Senya had informed Fugaku the day before that Danzo would come to cause trouble.

Senya had already arranged every step of today's celebration perfectly. If Danzo had not come out to make trouble now, Fugaku would have found it a pity. It was not easy to get an opportunity to make Danzo suffer a setback. If he missed it, Fugaku would lose his appetite for dinner tonight.

"Although the Police Force squads only have fifty civilian ninja, half of the Police Force's administrative staff are already civilian ninja!"

The moment Fugaku's words fell, cheers erupted from the villagers below once again!

"Seriously? Half the clerical positions have been given to civilian ninja?"

"I know, I know! It's true! My mom joined the Police Force's clerical staff just a few days ago! She's even been giving me more allowance these past few days!"

"Really? Brother, I have an idea. I'm eighteen this year, so how about—"

"Get lost! My mom is already over thirty! My dad didn't join the Police Force, but he's a Special Jonin!"

"Ah... what a shame."

Even Danzo was stunned by the Police Force's decision.

They might be clerical positions, but this was half of all such posts. They had actually been handed over to civilian ninja. It seemed the Uchiha had truly made up their minds to bleed heavily this time, giving away so many positions.

One had to know that clerical staff could influence the direction of the Police Force's internal decisions. Giving up some positions would have been manageable, but handing half to civilian ninja, then taking another portion of the remaining half for the other ninja clans to divide... the Uchiha Police Force had practically changed its surname entirely.

Still, that was fine. Although his plan to make things difficult for the Uchiha Police Force had fallen through, making the Uchiha lose so much authority over the Police Force was still a worthwhile gain.

His face remained sour. He was somewhat annoyed that his plan had failed and his efforts had been wasted, but the outcome was still fairly pleasing.

"Hmph. It seems the Police Force reforms are not bad after all. I am quite satisfied. I'll be leaving first."

After throwing out those words, Danzo left with the Root ninja. A small number of villagers scattered throughout the crowd also departed at this moment.

Obviously, those villagers who followed him were pieces Danzo had planted in the crowd. With Danzo, their backbone, gone, they chose to follow him away as well.

Standing on the stage, Fugaku's admiration for Senya deepened yet again. He truly had foreseen everything. Fugaku had never expected Senya to have predicted all of this.

When he had first heard that Senya intended to open up so many positions to outsiders, his blood pressure had shot through the roof—until Senya showed him those regulations.

The director of the Police Force shall be selected by the Uchiha clan head.

The director of the Police Force possesses veto power in internal meetings.

At first, Fugaku had only understood the purpose of the first rule. It was not until he heard Senya's explanation that he understood: as long as the Uchiha clan continued to exist, no matter how much authority the Police Force opened to outsiders, as long as the director remained an Uchiha, everything in the Police Force would still be decided by the Uchiha!

Even the village's Hokage had no authority to interfere. Unless the Jonin Council collectively removed the director, the Police Force would forever belong to the Uchiha. But clearly, no one capable of becoming a Jonin would do something so foolish. The civilian ninja had not even finished thanking the Uchiha yet. Why would they oppose them?

The Jonin from the ninja clans were even less likely to do so. The Hyuga and Ino-Shika-Cho were allies, after all!

As for the Jonin from the families behind the Konoha F4, those four families had embezzled so much of the village's funds that they had raised countless unregistered ninja. Would they dare let those Jonin attend a Jonin Council meeting? They must be tired of their village positions and eager to retire early.

Furthermore, Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer intended to make things difficult for the Uchiha clan. Fugaku had already noticed that when the Third Hokage approved this celebration, even without Senya's reminder.

All things considered, Danzo's attempt to cause trouble was destined to end in failure! That old bastard would probably even smugly believe that he had dealt the Uchiha clan a heavy blow, and go home feeling quite pleased with himself.

"Everyone, the report on the Police Force reforms has now concluded!"

"But tonight's celebration is far from over. Even more exciting performances are yet to come!"

"Please enjoy a performance brought to you by the Police Force's deputy director, Senya Uchiha, and the members of his squad!"