"Lord Hokage..."
Uchiha Itachi raised his head, looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi in disbelief.
"Enough, Itachi. Stand down. Kazuto couldn't possibly be up to anything!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised a hand, cutting Uchiha Itachi off.
"Lord Hokage!"
Uchiha Itachi looked up at the Hokage he revered so deeply. At that moment, he seemed to have been possessed by Shimura Danzō.
"You'll regret this!"
Danzō?
Hiruzen Sarutobi paused, then shook his head.
"That's enough, Itachi. Know your place. I'm the Hokage! Get out!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi slapped the desk, then pointed at the door.
"I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. I lost my temper!"
At the look on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face, Uchiha Itachi calmed down, bowed, and left the Hokage's Office.
Time passed quietly.
"Good! That's the spirit!"
Uchiha Kazuto looked at the members of the First Unit and nodded. After today's obedience training, these shinobi might have been saying they were doing it for the Hokage and the village, but in their hearts, they had already begun to accept him and obey him. As time went on, they would follow his orders completely and accept his ideals wholeheartedly. They'd even dare to assassinate the Hokage if he told them to.
Without obedience training, it would take God knew how long for a unit running at the lowest possible efficiency to turn its members into his loyal subordinates. He couldn't have those damn aliens showing up before he was done.
He was going to train his private army right under Hiruzen Sarutobi's nose—and make him praise how well he'd trained them.
"Alright, you've all worked hard today. We're going out for barbecue!"
Uchiha Kazuto waved and led the First Unit toward the barbecue restaurant. At the same time, the other units headed there under the guidance of Uchiha Kazuto's Shadow Clones.
The shinobi cheered. It was called obedience training, but given how physically tough shinobi were, Uchiha Kazuto had pushed them to the brink of death. He'd wrung out every last bit of their strength and crushed their will, numbing them until their loyalty burned ever brighter in their dulled hearts.
In short, the shinobi were exhausted and starving. Naturally, they were all thrilled to hear they could eat barbecue. Their hearts, numb until then, sprang back to life.
Feeling the loyalty growing in the shinobi, Uchiha Kazuto nodded.
As expected, this approach worked. Push them to their limits, feed them well, and pay them generously—that was the fastest way to raise their loyalty.
"Lord Kazuto!"
At the barbecue restaurant, Uchiha Setsuna sat beside Uchiha Kazuto.
"Yes, Elder Setsuna? What is it?"
Uchiha Kazuto ate his barbecue as he asked.
"Clan head, the salaries you've set for the Military Police Force are too high. They've already exceeded the department's budget. To make up the shortfall, I had to use the clan's funds. But even so, our clan's finances won't be able to sustain this for long!"
Uchiha Setsuna said, feeling deeply ashamed. Lord Kazuto was working so hard for the clan; this should have been the time for the clan to help him. Yet, because the clan was useless, he had to trouble Lord Kazuto instead. He felt so guilty—terribly guilty.
"Oh, we're out of money? Elder Setsuna, you're being foolish."
After hearing Uchiha Setsuna out, Uchiha Kazuto frowned, slapped the table, and shook his head.
"Clan head?"
Uchiha Setsuna was at a loss.
"Elder Setsuna, the Military Police Force is Konoha's Military Police Force, not the Uchiha Clan's. How can we use our own money to pay their salaries? Wouldn't that make us no different from that naturally evil Shimura Danzō, keeping a private army? We can't do that! If the Military Police Force is out of money, we should apply to our great Lord Hokage for more funds. After all, we're doing it for the village!"
Uchiha Kazuto spoke with an expression of utter loyalty.
After all, the Military Police Force was his, and the Uchiha Clan was his. How could he use his own money to support himself?
Lord Hokage, surely you wouldn't want to see your loyal Military Police Force disband because it ran out of money!
"Ah!"
Just then, a scream rang out from outside.
Uchiha Kazuto put down his barbecue.
He soon found out what had happened: two drunks were causing trouble.
"I see. If someone's causing trouble, then what are you all doing?"
Uchiha Kazuto nodded. In the next moment, he grabbed a baton and began beating the shinobi in front of him.
"Ah!"
The shinobi fell to the ground, clutching their heads and screaming.
"What are you looking at? Don't forget who you are now. You're members of the Military Police Force. I'm paying you—not so you can stand around watching! Now get over there and arrest them!"
Uchiha Kazuto lowered his baton and shouted.
The shinobi scrambled to their feet, hurriedly picked up the batons on the ground, and rushed toward the two drunks.
"Damn it!"
The shinobi glared angrily at the two troublemakers and charged in, swinging their batons at them.
Six strikes a second—they beat the drunks until they sobered up.
"Hit them! Hit them hard! As long as you don't kill them, beat them as hard as you want! They dare cause trouble in Konoha—that means they don't respect our great Lord Hokage and want to destroy the village's unity! The First Hokage once said that even if his own family harmed the village's interests, he'd kill them without hesitation! Hit them! Beat them hard!"
Watching the scene, Uchiha Kazuto nodded and invoked Hiruzen Sarutobi's name. It was all for the village, for the Hokage.
By then, the Military Police Force members who'd been eating had also come over.
They watched the scene, a trace of reluctance in their eyes. After all, not long ago, they'd been the ones getting beaten by the Military Police Force. But after hearing Uchiha Kazuto's words, their expressions changed.
That was right. It was all for the Hokage, for the village, for Kazuto... In any case, causing trouble in the village meant breaking its unity, didn't it?
People like that deserved a good beating!
If you were loyal to the village, why cause trouble? Why undermine the village's unity?
Were you a spy? Did you lack the Will of Fire?
Before you continue