"Captain, everyone's here."
Behind Uchiha Tekka stood more than a dozen Uchiha clansmen. They were all the ninjas on duty with the Konoha Military Police Force today.
At this time on an ordinary day, most of them would still be patrolling Konoha's shopping streets, food streets, and other areas.
Even though the war between the ninja villages had been raging for eight years, the lives of Konoha's ordinary people hadn't been greatly affected.
Fighting and dying was the business of the ninja, after all. What did it have to do with ordinary civilians? The Five Great Shinobi Villages had an unspoken understanding on that point.
But the smaller ninja villages weren't so particular about following the rules. When times got tough, they'd seize the property of civilians in their villages.
Some ninjas from smaller villages even defected to avoid being sent on missions, choosing instead to become Missing-nin. They did so because they knew those villages didn't have the means to hunt them down.
As a result, civilians from smaller villages began fleeing in droves to the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Konoha was naturally the best place to settle down.
While the number of Konoha ninjas had decreased, the population of ordinary civilians in Konoha had actually risen after the First Shinobi World War.
This had made business in Konoha even more prosperous, keeping the Military Police Force constantly swamped with work.
With more people came all kinds of oddballs, and petty thefts were happening one after another. It was all up to the Military Police Force to deal with them.
And civilians weren't the only ones coming to Konoha. There were also spies from the major ninja villages hiding among them. The Uchiha Military Police Force worked with the Anbu under the Hokage to deal with the spies in secret.
"Captain, what's going on? Why call in everyone on duty? We've been swamped these past few days."
"Yeah, Captain, what's happening with the expansion of our Military Police Force? Lord Hokage still hasn't given us an answer. We don't have enough people as it is. We should bring in some ordinary folks from the clan. We're just managing civilians, after all. They don't have to be ninjas."
"..."
Uchiha Inabi stood behind Uchiha Tekka, grumbling. He and Tekka were twins, and they'd served on the same battlefield squad as Uchiha Nan.
The two of them weren't ninjas registered with Konoha. Their names weren't on the village's roster.
They were ninjas trained by the clan, part of the Uchiha's private forces. The war had already lasted eight years, and even the clan's private forces had to send some of their people to the battlefield.
The brothers were close to Uchiha Nan. They'd fought together, after all, and Nan had even saved Inabi's life.
The moment Inabi stepped inside, he'd started loudly complaining about all the mess they'd been dealing with lately.
"Captain, I really don't want to be pulled off the front lines. Dealing with these petty little things every day is worse than fighting on the battlefield."
"Captain?"
Uchiha Nan said nothing, simply fixing his gaze on Inabi. His stare made Inabi uneasy.
The last time their captain had looked this serious, they'd been trapped in a cave by more than a dozen Kumogakure jōnin. If their captain hadn't suddenly gone on a rampage and slaughtered them all, they would've died there.
"Captain, I didn't say anything wrong, did I?"
Inabi gave an awkward laugh and shot his brother Tekka a pleading look.
"Inabi, shut your mouth. The captain hasn't said a word, and you're the only one going on and on."
Tekka tapped Inabi on the head, then turned to Uchiha Nan, waiting for him to speak.
The other Uchiha clansmen saw Inabi fall silent and wisely kept quiet, too.
Uchiha Nan had always been friendly and warm toward everyone in the clan. After all, he'd received nine years of compulsory education under the red flag before crossing over. He'd spent his days quietly building up good karma and spinning the wheel to grow stronger. But none of them dared to get on his bad side.
Uchiha Nan was a beast on the battlefield, lightning crackling all around him. Hidden in its dazzling radiance were flashes of his blade; in an instant, his enemies would be beheaded. He hadn't become captain of the Military Police Force through connections. He'd earned the position through his battlefield achievements.
It was clear that all the Uchiha present could sense that something about their captain, Uchiha Nan, was different today.
"Inabi, you were just complaining that Lord Hokage still hadn't agreed to expand the Military Police Force?"
Uchiha Nan released Manji, who was in his hands, stood up, and stretched before looking at Inabi.
"What's wrong with what I said?"
Inabi rubbed his head. His brother Tekka's tap had hurt more than he'd expected.
"Hmph."
Uchiha Nan let out a cold laugh.
"The expansion of the Uchiha Military Police Force will probably be delayed for a while. Lord Hokage won't have the chance to approve it, either."
"I just received word that Lord Hokage was killed during negotiations with the Raikage."
Nan's words struck the Uchiha present like a heavy hammer, leaving every one of them reeling.
"Captain?"
"You're not joking, are you? Lord Hokage is dead?"
"And he died during negotiations?"
Uchiha Tekka's voice was full of disbelief. Tobirama Senju's death seemed absurd to him.
The man was famous for his cunning. The old clan members who'd lived through the Warring States Period would call him things like "a sly, black-hearted bastard full of schemes" whenever they cursed him.
Some pessimistic old-timers had even declared, "That crafty Tobirama will probably outlive me. The Uchiha won't get a chance for decades. Is there anyone in our clan who can outwit that black-hearted bastard? Heaven doesn't favor the Uchiha!"
Tekka had heard those words countless times growing up, taught by his elders.
Among the old clan members who'd survived the Warring States Period, some harbored a deep-seated hatred for Tobirama. Circumstances had forced them to limit themselves to cursing him, but even while cursing him, they'd all agreed on one thing: Tobirama was bound to live a long time.
"Is this the sort of thing I'd joke about?"
Uchiha Nan looked at Uchiha Tekka and spoke seriously.
"According to the information I received, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, under the Second Raikage, staged a coup and ambushed the Second Raikage and Lord Tobirama at the negotiating table."
"The Second Raikage was killed. Lord Tobirama was gravely wounded and fled with the Shadow Guard Squad, pursued by Kinkaku and Ginkaku's elite forces. In the end, he drew the pursuers away by himself so the Shadow Guard Squad could escape, and fought until he was killed."
Uchiha Nan briefly explained what had happened. Uchiha Tekka felt his head throb. If the man in front of him hadn't been Uchiha Nan, Tekka would've wanted to slap him.
What kind of nonsense was this? The Hokage had covered the Shadow Guard Squad's retreat?
What kind of Shadow Guard Squad would need the leader of an entire village to cover their escape?
Surviving like that would be humiliating enough!
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