Speak Up, I Can't Hear You!

Unless he fully activated an entire unit, but that wouldn't work. It would alert the enemy.

So, what was he supposed to do?

If he kept going at this pace, when would these Military Police Force members become loyal to him from the bottom of their hearts?

When would he be able to kick that old geezer, Hiruzen Sarutobi, out and become the new Hokage?

When would he be able to lead the village to greater strength? Every day Hiruzen remained in office, Uchiha Kazuto felt like he was losing money—and he really was. Only if he became the leader of Konoha could the laws he established be enforced to their fullest effect.

So what, exactly, should he do? Uchiha Kazuto began looking for a solution.

After experimenting for a while, Uchiha Kazuto found one: obedience training. It could quickly turn unit members who only paid lip service to loyalty into truly loyal subordinates, without having to slowly grind them down as before.

"Loyalty! Gratitude! As members of Konoha's Military Police Force, we must hold ourselves to the strictest standards. Swing your batons with force, kick with precision. Only then can we do right by the village, live up to Lord Hokage's expectations, honor our identities, and uphold the great Will of Fire!"

Uchiha Kazuto walked among the First Unit, holding a baton.

"Stand up straight! Don't slouch! Don't fidget!"

The next moment, his hard baton struck a ninja who wasn't standing properly and kept glancing around.

"If you can't even stand properly, if you can't handle this little thing, how can you protect the village? How can you catch criminals? How can you call yourself a ninja?"

Uchiha Kazuto brandished his baton and shouted sternly.

Hearing Uchiha Kazuto's words, the ninja who had been standing poorly looked ashamed. That was right. If he couldn't even stand properly, if he couldn't manage such a simple thing, what business did he have talking about protecting the village?

He wasn't an ordinary Genin anymore. He was a member of the Military Police Force now. It was his job to protect the village!

"Yes, sir!"

The ninja's expression immediately turned serious. He straightened his back and placed his hands at his sides.

"Too quiet! I can't hear you!"

Uchiha Kazuto tilted his head and shouted.

"Yes, sir!"

The ninja shouted again, louder than before.

"I can't hear you! I can't hear you! With a voice that quiet, how do you expect to protect the village? How can you call yourself a member of the Military Police Force?"

Uchiha Kazuto frowned. The voice wasn't loud enough, wasn't spirited enough!

"Yes, sir!!!"

The ninja took a deep breath, then raised his head and roared like a beast.

"Good! That's the spirit! That's how members of the Military Police Force should act—with spirit and force!"

Uchiha Kazuto looked satisfied. He slapped the ninja on the shoulder and gave him a hearty show of encouragement.

After that little episode, the ninjas standing at attention put aside their private thoughts and concentrated on standing properly.

That was right. If they couldn't even stand properly, if they couldn't handle such a simple thing, what right did they have to call themselves ninjas?

Seeing this, Uchiha Kazuto nodded. As expected, as long as he used slogans about serving the village, serving the Hokage, and upholding the Will of Fire, these ninjas would obediently do as they were told. As for whether it was really for the village or the Hokage—well... couldn't he, Uchiha Kazuto, become Hokage? Couldn't he represent the village?

Did Konoha really have to treat Hiruzen Sarutobi, a mere acting Hokage, as the only one who mattered?

Time passed quietly. The sun climbed higher, and sweat began pouring off the ninjas. They looked as if they'd been dragged out of a river. Standing at attention might seem simple, but in practice it was agonizing. Their legs had gone numb.

Especially since Uchiha Kazuto had forbidden them from using Chakra to strengthen their bodies.

Without Chakra to help them, the ninjas were still stronger than ordinary people, but they were still made of flesh and blood. They could get tired, they could die, and their bodies weren't impervious to blades and bullets.

"All right, stop."

Uchiha Kazuto checked the time. They'd been standing for three hours. Good. It was time to move on to the next exercise.

At his words, all the ninjas breathed a sigh of relief.

After giving them a little time to recover,

"Everyone, attention! Stand at attention!"

Uchiha Kazuto called out through a megaphone.

Were they starting again?

Next, Uchiha Kazuto had the ninjas do push-ups, run, and frog jumps, while making them shout slogans throughout the training.

Of course, they couldn't shout anything like "For Lord Kazuto!" or "Loyalty!" yet, or it would look like he was training a private army.

"For Konoha!"

"For Lord Hokage!"

"Loyalty!"

"Loyalty!"

"For the Will of Fire! Loyalty!"

The ninjas of the First Unit left the Death Forest without using Chakra and ran along the roads around Konoha, shouting slogans that were thoroughly politically correct.

Uchiha Kazuto joined in, too.

The First Unit had been trained to obey their superiors without question, and its superior was Uchiha Kazuto. So what they said didn't matter, and what they thought didn't matter. None of that mattered. What mattered was the loyalty built through obedience training.

Everything happening now was meant to let Hiruzen Sarutobi's guard down.

Besides, shouting slogans didn't cost anything.

While Uchiha Kazuto was training the First Unit, the other units were training as well, led by his Shadow Clones.

In the Hokage's Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the Crystal Ball in front of him.

Inside it, Uchiha Kazuto was leading his unit in training.

"Uchiha Kazuto..."

He took a drag on his pipe as he watched the scene before him. His doubts grew stronger. No—he had only suspected Uchiha Kazuto might be up to something. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't.

At first, the Military Police Force's recruitment drive under Uchiha Kazuto's orders had made him uneasy. Why recruit new members for no reason? And in the village, of all places? Something was off!

But now, watching the scene and hearing the slogans, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally let out the breath he'd been holding.