At the Police Force training grounds, two clearly distinct groups stood in two rows.
On the left stood a row of people wearing identical dark blue, high-collared uniforms, with the Uchiha Clan Crest printed on their backs. Their chins were raised and their expressions arrogant. They were the Uchiha elites who had remained after the purge.
The row on the right looked far more disorderly. There were civilian ninja wearing green flak jackets, members of the Hyuga Branch Family in mesh undershirts, and even a few people from other clans munching on potato chips and looking like they couldn't be bothered.
In the decades since the Police Force was founded, this was the first time such a hodgepodge had assembled.
"These are the new recruits? They look like they couldn't hurt a fly."
A young Uchiha member crossed his arms and sneered, sweeping his eyes challengingly over the group opposite.
"The Police Force catches criminals. It's not a daycare. Especially that one with the cataracts. What are you Hyuga doing here? Come to get pushed around?"
"Cataracts?"
Across from him, a young man from the Hyuga Branch Family had veins bulging on his forehead. His Byakugan activated in an instant, and he assumed a Gentle Fist stance. "Red-eye, you Uchiha want to find out what the Gentle Fist feels like?"
"Bring it on! You think I'm scared?"
The two sides were about to come to blows the moment they met, and the air grew thick with hostility.
"Quiet."
There was no shout, no burst of Chakra.
A calm voice rang out, accompanied by a flash of golden light.
Namikaze Minato appeared between the two groups in an instant. He held a thick copy of the New Police Force Regulations and wore the kind of gentle smile no one could find fault with.
"According to Chapter Three, Article Five of the new regulations: anyone who fights with a colleague will forfeit their entire month's performance pay and be responsible for cleaning every toilet in the Police Force for one month."
Minato smiled with narrowed eyes. "I don't think any of you want the whole village to know that the Police Force's elite ninja are scrubbing toilets, do you?"
"..."
"Tch." The Uchiha member turned his head away.
The Hyuga youth also snorted and lowered his stance.
If anyone else had said that, they might have argued back. But facing the man who had wiped out the entire Third Squad, both the Uchiha and the Hyuga chose to keep quiet and stay sensible.
By the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor,
Uchiha Fugaku stood with his hands behind his back, watching the scene below. A complicated look flashed in his eyes.
"Can they really work together?" Fugaku asked the boy behind him. "A wolf and a sheep, or a wolf and another pack of wolves."
"They don't need to blend together. They just need to learn to work together."
Nishikawa Tetsu was looking over that day's financial reports. "As long as they share interests and follow the same rules, they can work together even if they can't stand each other. That's the workplace."
He pointed to the Hyuga below.
"The Hyuga Branch Family has little chance to distinguish themselves under the Main Family's suppression. The Police Force gives them a platform to rise through the ranks and demonstrate their strength. The Nara Clan wants to slack off, but the Police Force's generous pay makes it hard to turn down. As for the Uchiha..."
Nishikawa Tetsu smiled. "They need to learn that the world isn't all Sharingan."
During the first week of the reform, the people of Konoha noticed that the fearsome Police Force had changed.
On Commercial Street, outside a dango shop,
"My cat! My Xiaolong is missing!" A distant relative of the current Daimyo's Wife, a plump noblewoman, wailed in despair.
In the past, the security force would most likely have coldly replied, "For something this minor, file a mission request," before turning and leaving.
But today—
"Could you describe your cat, ma'am?"
An Uchiha member still looked a little impatient, but he took out a notebook.
Beside him, a member of the Hyuga Branch Family had already activated his Byakugan, his gaze piercing through the surrounding buildings.
"Two o'clock, three streets away, behind the chimney on a rooftop. There's an orange cat sleeping there," the Hyuga member reported precisely.
"Understood."
A flash of golden light.
In less than ten seconds, Namikaze Minato returned, holding the bewildered orange cat. He gently placed it in the noblewoman's arms.
"Is this the one?" Minato asked with a smile.
"Ah! My Xiaolong! Thank you so much! Sob, the security force is so reliable!" The noblewoman excitedly tried to hug Minato, but he politely dodged her with the Body Flicker Technique.
Watching this, the Uchiha member pursed his lips. But when he heard the applause from the people around them, he unconsciously straightened his back and adjusted his collar.
This feeling of being thanked... Maybe it wasn't so bad?
Meanwhile, in the Police Force archive room,
the space had been converted into a temporary "intelligence analysis center."
Nara Shikahisa stared at the mountain of scrolls piled up in front of him and clutched his hair in despair. "I knew it... I knew it was a huge pain in the neck! Why were there so many cases left unresolved?! Why did the old man have to send me here?!"
"Because in the past, they only arrested people. They never closed the cases."
Nishikawa Tetsu brought over another stack of documents and set them on the desk. "The more capable you are, the more work you get. While organizing the case files, I found some interesting data."
"What?" Shikahisa asked weakly.
"Over the past six months, the number of missing people in Konoha has increased by fifteen percent. Most of them were outsiders, refugees, or orphans with no connections."
Nishikawa Tetsu pulled out a map dotted with red marks.
"These disappearances seem scattered and unrelated, but if we compare them with the routes of the underground waterways..."
Nishikawa Tetsu drew several lines on the map in red. In the end, they all led to an abandoned laboratory on the outskirts of the village.
Shikahisa's eyes sharpened in an instant, all trace of laziness gone.
"Are you saying... someone's trafficking people in the village?"
"Trafficking requires connections and a way out of the village. But the borders are so heavily guarded right now that no one can get out."
A cold glint flashed in Nishikawa Tetsu's eyes. "They can't get out, and no bodies have been found. That leaves only one possibility—they're being 'used up' inside the village."
"Human experimentation?" Shikahisa lowered his voice.
Nishikawa Tetsu calmly analyzed the situation. "The war has just ended, but the Sannin and Konoha White Fang still haven't returned. The village's defenses may seem weak, but that's exactly when certain rats are most active."
White Fang had returned to the village not long ago, only to head back to the battlefield. Fortunately, the war had finally ended some time ago.
Shikahisa fell silent.
Setting Orochimaru aside, only one person in Konoha had the ability to do this—and operate in such darkness.
"Danzo..." Shikahisa murmured.
"Root has recently been recruiting large numbers of orphans for training, but the number of missing people far exceeds what they'd lose during training."
Nishikawa Tetsu handed Shikahisa a prepared document titled Joint Raid and Inspection Operation Plan.
"This is an opportunity, Shikahisa."
"Captain Fugaku needs a major case to establish his authority and secure the gains of the Police Force reforms. And Hokage-sama... I think he also needs someone to rein in that old friend of his, to remind him that if he reaches too far, his hand will get cut off."
"If, while we're 'investigating the missing people,' we happen to stumble upon one of Root's hideouts..."
Shikahisa looked at Nishikawa Tetsu. For the first time, those perpetually sleepy eyes showed a trace of deep wariness.
This boy, a little younger than him, wasn't just scheming against the Uchiha. Now he was aiming his blade at Root.
"...What a terrifying kid."
Shikahisa sighed, picked up his pen, and signed the plan.
"We have to report this to the Third Hokage. If we're going to move against them, the Police Force can't do it alone. Anbu must be there to witness it."
"Of course."
Nishikawa Tetsu put away the documents and turned to leave.
"Minato is already waiting outside. Konoha's sewers might get lively tonight."
When he left the archive room, the sun was shining brightly.
Nishikawa Tetsu glanced back at the Kage Rock.
Developing Scientific Ninja Tools required plenty of funds and materials. Root's storehouses should have quite a few useful things, shouldn't they?
After all, as the Police Force, confiscating "illicit goods" was perfectly reasonable.
Before you continue