One Word Is Final

"What do you mean, we're bullying you? Make yourself clear! We ate one skewer of dango and paid for it. You're slandering us with nothing to back it up! What kind of nonsense is this?" Uchiha Liu shouted at the vendor, pointing at him.

"Ah! I understand now." A middle-aged man in neat, clean clothes suddenly stepped out of the crowd.

"You ate two servings of dango but only wanted to pay for one."

"You're members of the Uchiha Clan, the Konoha Security Force, but you can't bully ordinary villagers just because you hold public office, can you?"

The middle-aged man spoke earnestly, wearing an innocent expression.

"What do you all think?"

"Exactly! What kind of nonsense is this?" "I'd heard the Uchiha Clan was unreasonable, but I didn't think they'd stoop to something like this."

"No way... The Uchiha are one of the most powerful clans. Surely they wouldn't do this over two skewers of dango."

"Please, what do you know? That's exactly why they dare to do it! Would they dare steal from Lord Hokage?"

Voices like these kept rising from the crowd. Every speaker sounded so convincing, as if they'd witnessed these things firsthand. Whether it was true or not?

Who cared?

"Bullshit! You're making things up to smear the Uchiha Clan! What's your motive?" Uchiha Liu stepped forward, raising his arm as if he were about to swing.

The next moment, Uchiha Huohuo, who had come with him, stopped him.

"Calm down, Liu. Can't you tell? Something about this whole situation is suspicious. That vendor hasn't looked us in the eye once, but ever since this guy showed up, he keeps glancing over at him."

Uchiha Huohuo lowered his voice and spoke into Uchiha Liu's ear, keeping his eyes on the middle-aged man who had just stepped out.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man became even more brazen. When he saw Uchiha Liu still hadn't dared to make a move, he pretended to stumble backward.

"Oh, my! What are you doing? In broad daylight! You can't win an argument, so now you're going to hit me? The Uchiha are bullying people! Everyone, tell me who's right!"

"I..." Uchiha Liu began, then stopped. He forced down his temper. He had served in the Security Force for a long time; anger had clouded his judgment, and he hadn't thought things through.

Now, prompted by Uchiha Huohuo, he had calmed down and noticed how suspicious the whole situation was.

It was all too convenient. Far too convenient.

Uchiha Liu turned to look at the middle-aged man's smug face and immediately spotted something off.

"Huohuo, did you notice?" Liu lowered his voice and spoke to Huohuo.

"What?"

"That man's hands. His thumbs are covered in calluses and abrasions. Even if an ordinary villager did dirty, heavy work, his hands wouldn't look like that."

At that, Huohuo turned and examined the man more closely. Sure enough, his hands were exactly as Uchiha Liu had described.

"And his stance is unusual, too. He walks lightly and silently. He's probably a ninja who specializes in infiltration and intelligence gathering," Huohuo said.

"No way... Could he be with the Anbu?" Uchiha Liu tensed, already imagining the worst.

"No. It doesn't look that way. Anbu wouldn't be this brazen. Besides, the Third Generation isn't that kind of person. Given the current situation, he wouldn't make things difficult for us—and even if he wanted to suppress the Uchiha Clan, he wouldn't do it this way," Uchiha Huohuo said, shaking his head.

"Then it must be..." "That's right... There's only one possibility."

They looked at each other. They already knew the answer.

"Root... Danzo!" Their jaws clenched, fury spilling from their eyes.

"What's the matter?! You two Uchiha Security Force officers! What exactly are you trying to do? You can't just refuse to pay, bully people, and then stay silent!" Seeing the two whispering, the middle-aged man couldn't hold back and spoke up again.

"If you won't say anything, what are ordinary villagers like us supposed to do?" The man's voice rose several pitches.

"You're bully—ing honest peo—ple!" He flailed his arms, gesturing wildly as he spat out words.

"We—we didn't!" Uchiha Liu protested, his neck stiff.

"Exactly! They're members of the famous Uchiha Clan, elite members of the Security Force. Why would they bully you? Do they really care about that little bit of money?"

A sudden voice cut in. A short-haired man pushed through the crowd and spoke with absolute conviction.

"?" The two stared at the stranger who had suddenly appeared, completely baffled.

"What do you mean, 'which side'? Why are you speaking up for public-duty ninja from a powerful clan like them?" the middle-aged man said mockingly.

"What do you mean, 'which side'? I don't take sides. I only stand on the side of fairness!" the short-haired man said. The two began trading lines, one after the other.

"Then tell me, what is fairness?" The middle-aged man tilted his head.

"One is one, two is two. Calling a spade a spade, without any ambiguity—that's fairness!" The short-haired man held up his fingers as he spoke.

"That doesn't make sense! They ate two skewers of dango but only paid for one. That's unfair!" The middle-aged man counted on his fingers.

"What? Something like that happened?" The short-haired man suddenly turned and grabbed the vendor by the collar.

"Y-yes, they ate two skewers." The vendor, still held by the collar, had gone pale, his face rigid. He managed a small smile and spoke in a trembling voice.

"Oh, no, no, this is bad. Why would you bully a little vendor like this? Not paying really is unfair!" The short-haired man's expression changed, as if he'd just heard about some terrible predicament.

"Liar! I only ate one skewer. I still have the stick in my hand, and he took my money!" Uchiha Liu panicked and tried to explain, but his voice sounded unsteady.

"Ah, I see. You don't have any money, do you?" The middle-aged man's lips curled into a smirk.

"No problem. I'll pay for you." As he spoke, the man made a show of reaching for his wallet.

"Bullshit, I have money. How much—" Uchiha Liu was about to argue when another voice interrupted him.

"Where's the evidence?" The voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to everyone present.

"What evidence? Who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter. But you keep going on about fairness and yet you don't care about evidence. Is that fair? No—it's just shamelessly muddying the waters." From within the crowd, Uchiha Kai spoke up clearly.

"Kai? What are you doing here?" Uchiha Liu and Uchiha Huohuo turned around, startled.

"Leave the rest to me." Uchiha Kai raised a hand, signaling that they didn't need to say anything.

"Huh? So you know each other? Why are you asking us, then? Where's your evidence?" the middle-aged man retorted.

"What a joke. You're accusing these two customers. Shouldn't you be the ones providing evidence that they ate without paying? Why are you demanding evidence from them instead? That's completely backwards."

"The one who makes the accusation has to prove it—that's common knowledge. You keep claiming you've been treated unfairly, yet you still haven't produced any evidence. You're just slandering a customer who paid for his food here with nothing to back it up."

The young man paused, his tone edged with sarcasm.

"What kind of logic is that? These two Security Force members work diligently and tirelessly, patrolling every day to keep the village safe. They simply stopped by this gentleman's dango shop to buy something in their spare time, and now you've pinned this baseless accusation on them. Does that make any sense?"

"That's no way to run a shop! If even Security Force members can be slandered and framed like this, what would happen to ordinary people who walked into your store? You'd bleed them dry—and they might not even make it out alive!"

The young man spoke passionately, shouting to the villagers watching.