Danzo Makes Trouble

"Step back! Hurry up and make way for Lord Danzo!"

Several masked Root ninjas forced the villagers apart, clearing a path through the middle of the crowd.

"Lord Danzo, the path has been cleared for you."

Danzo nodded at the Root ninjas, approval in his eyes.

The men took their places behind Danzo.

Leaning on his cane, Danzo slowly made his way to the front and looked up at Uchiha Fugaku on the stage.

"Chief Fugaku, so many villagers just voiced objections to your Police Force reforms. As the chief, shouldn't you give them an explanation?"

Seeing Danzo looking as though his scheme had succeeded made Fugaku furious. He wanted nothing more than to rush down and beat the old bastard until he could no longer use his cane and had to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair!

But Fugaku still managed to control his emotions.

"Lord Hokage Advisor, we haven't finished explaining the details of the Police Force reforms yet. Why are you in such a hurry? Surely you can spare a little more time."

Seeing Fugaku's confident expression, Danzo slammed his cane heavily against the ground, though his face remained unchanged.

"Fine. Let this chief of the Police Force finish speaking. Let's see whether you can satisfy the villagers."

Though that was what Danzo said, it was not what he thought. He had long arranged for plenty of planted agents among the villagers beneath the celebration stage. No matter how well Fugaku spoke, they would find fault with his words and stir up the villagers' dissatisfaction.

Let's see how you can keep looking so high-spirited after this!

Danzo calculated silently, practically ready to declare his plan a success.

As for failure, how could that be possible? Even the White Fang of the Leaf, once renowned throughout the Ninja World, had been forced to commit suicide by the power of public opinion. What could a mere Uchiha clan head possibly do against Danzo's plan?

He did not expect to drive Fugaku to suicide, but tarnishing the Police Force's image would be an easy goal to achieve, wouldn't it?

However, Fugaku had been informed by Senya the day before that Danzo would come to cause trouble.

Senya had long since arranged every step of today's celebration perfectly. If Danzo had not come out to make trouble now, Fugaku would have found it a pity. Such a rare chance to make Danzo suffer a setback—if he missed it, he would lose his appetite for dinner that night.

"Although the Police Force squads have only fifty civilian ninjas, half of the Police Force's office staff are already civilian ninjas!"

The moment Fugaku spoke, the villagers below erupted in cheers again!

"Really? Half the clerical positions have been given to civilian ninjas?"

"I know! It's true! My mom joined the Police Force's clerical staff just a few days ago! She's even been giving me more allowance lately!"

"Really? Brother, I have an idea. I'm eighteen this year, you see..."

"Get lost! My mom is already over thirty! My dad didn't join the Police Force, but he's a special jonin!"

"Ah... what a pity."

Even Danzo was stunned by the Police Force's decision.

They might be clerical positions, but that was half of all the posts! They had actually been handed over to civilian ninjas. It seemed the Uchiha had truly made a ruthless decision this time and bled heavily, giving away so many positions.

One had to know that clerical staff were the ones who influenced the Police Force's internal policy direction. Giving away some positions would have been acceptable, but handing half to civilian ninjas, then taking another portion from the remaining half for other ninja clans to divide up—the Uchiha Police Force had practically changed its surname entirely.

Still, that was fine. Though his plan to make things difficult for the Uchiha Police Force had failed, making the Uchiha lose so much authority over the Police Force was still a decent gain.

His face remained sour. He was somewhat displeased that his plan had failed and his efforts had been wasted, but the outcome was still satisfactory.

"Hmph. It seems the Police Force reforms are fairly good this time. I am satisfied. I'll be leaving first."

After throwing down those words, Danzo left with the Root ninjas. A small number of villagers scattered through the crowd also departed at that moment.

Obviously, those villagers who left with him were the pawns Danzo had planted. With their backbone, Danzo, gone, they naturally chose to follow him.

Standing on the stage, Fugaku's admiration for Senya deepened once more. He truly had predicted everything like a god. Senya had actually anticipated all of this.

When Fugaku had first heard that Senya intended to open up so many positions to outsiders, his blood pressure had shot through the roof—until Senya brought out those regulations.

[The chief of the Police Force shall be chosen by the Uchiha clan head]

[The chief of the Police Force shall possess veto power in internal meetings]

At first, Fugaku had understood only the purpose of the first rule. It was not until he heard Senya's explanation that he realized that as long as the Uchiha clan continued to exist, no matter how much Police Force authority was opened to outsiders, as long as the chief remained an Uchiha, everything in the Police Force would still be decided by the Uchiha!

Even the village's Hokage had no authority to interfere. Unless the Jonin Council collectively removed the chief, the Police Force would forever belong to the Uchiha. But clearly, no one capable of becoming a jonin would do something so foolish. The civilian ninjas were still busy being grateful to the Uchiha—why would they oppose them?

The jonin from the ninja clans were even less likely to do so. The Hyuga and Ino-Shika-Cho were allies!

As for the jonin from the families behind the Konoha F4, those four families had embezzled who knew how much of the village's finances and trained countless unregistered ninjas. Would they dare let those jonin attend the Jonin Council? Had they grown tired of their village positions and wanted to retire early?

Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer intended to make things difficult for the Uchiha clan. Fugaku had already sensed this when Third approved this celebration, even without Senya's reminder.

All things considered, Danzo's challenge this time was destined to end in failure! That old bastard would even smugly believe that he had dealt the Uchiha clan a severe blow. He would probably go back feeling pleased with himself.

"Everyone, the Police Force's reform report has now concluded!"

"But tonight's celebration is far from over. Even more exciting performances are yet to come!"

"Please enjoy a performance brought to you by the Police Force's deputy chief, Uchiha Senya, and his squad members!"