Let the Kunai Fly for a Bit

To his surprise, Shisui waited for a long time, but Uchiha Shingen did not even lift his eyelids, continuing to flip through the magazine as if he were alone.

He seemed to have no intention of making a move at all...

Why?!

In the distance.

The thief in the crowd became increasingly arrogant, even frequently casting glances toward Shisui's direction.

This was practically an open provocation!

Shisui could no longer hold back; with a flash, he moved to pin the thief from the crowd to the ground.

He had just opened his mouth to speak.

The thief beneath him coughed up a large mouthful of blood, his complexion turning deathly pale in an instant, looking utterly miserable.

"Uchiha is killing people!"

A cry of alarm exploded from the surrounding crowd.

"The Military Police Force is bullying a terminally ill man; what has happened to Konoha..."

In an instant, the surrounding civilians swarmed over.

No one dared to take the initiative to attack an Uchiha ninja.

But those pairs of eyes, filled with anger and disgust, felt like knives stabbing into Shisui.

"I didn't! This guy was stealing!"

Desperate to prove his innocence, Shisui roughly pulled open the man's clothes.

Yet, he saw only a gaunt, scar-covered body, and the money the man had just stolen had vanished without a trace.

Summoning Jutsu?

He had an accomplice!

Shisui cursed inwardly, realizing things were going south.

There were countless ninjas in Konoha who had retired from the front lines due to injuries, and many turned to such paths after losing their source of income.

People like this were incredibly troublesome for the Military Police Force to handle.

Just because Shisui could react to this didn't mean the ordinary people around him could grasp this layer of reality.

Or rather, they were more willing to believe a story about an Uchiha bullying the weak; after all, such scripts had played out countless times in Konoha.

This would only deepen the conflict between the village and the Uchiha!

Before Shisui could even begin to explain, the man he had pinned down began to let out shrill, heart-wrenching accusations.

"I would steal?!"

"I went to the battlefield for Konoha, fought enemies between life and death countless times, and was left with these scars, only to be slandered by you in the end..."

"I would have been better off dying under the enemy's blade back then!"

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became.

Every word was stained with blood, every sound filled with tears.

He appeared perfectly as a man who had given everything for Konoha, only to be persecuted by the Konoha Military Police Force.

Only the sliver of cunning in the depths of his eyes betrayed his true thoughts.

Clearly, they had planned this long ago, or rather, this was a setup specifically targeting the Uchiha.

"I..."

Shisui stood in the crowd, feeling as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Someone noticed the loss of money, but they were swept away by the surrounding condemnation, and not a single ripple of doubt was raised.

The commotion grew larger, and more people gathered from all directions.

If this were allowed to continue and reached the ears of the Konoha high-ups, or even the Third Hokage, there would be no way to clean up this mess!

Just as Shisui was panicking, a familiar voice came from behind him.

"My apologies."

"This is our negligence, and the Konoha Military Police Force will take full responsibility."

Uchiha Shingen squeezed in from outside the crowd. He first looked at Shisui with a glare of suppressed anger:

"I told you before, you cannot be rash when doing things, you cannot be rash!"

"You can't even distinguish the most basic right from wrong; your impulsiveness only smears the reputation of the Military Police Force!"

"Go back and serve three days in confinement!"

Just as Shisui wanted to say something, he was held back by Tezaku, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

Tezaku gave him a look, and Shisui immediately fell silent.

Seeing the situation was under control.

Uchiha Shingen took another stack of banknotes from his pocket, stuffed them into the thief's hand in front of everyone, and comforted him:

"Consider this my personal compensation to you. If you encounter anything similar in the future, you can come find me."

Having said that, Uchiha Shingen turned to face the crowd, his voice calm and firm:

"The Police Force will not let a single bad person go, but we will never wrongly accuse a good person either."

"If it is our mistake, we will never deny it!"

The thief cast a provocative glance at Shisui, gripped the banknotes tightly, stood up with a look of resentment, pushed through the crowd, and walked away quickly.

He shook the banknotes in his hand, unable to hide the smugness in his eyes.

So what if he was an Uchiha? When faced with a situation like this, didn't he still have to choose to compromise!

Seeing Uchiha Shingen appear, many who had seen him before immediately felt relieved, and words of praise began to spread.

"As expected, only Shingen-kun can truly understand our difficulties!"

"He is different from other Uchihas; he doesn't have that arrogance and can empathize with the pain of others."

"If everyone in the Konoha Police Force were like Shingen-kun, that would be great!"

"At the end of the day, he's still an Uchiha. No matter how well he pretends, it's all fake!"

The crowd gradually dispersed, the noise of their discussions loud, yet every word was crystal clear to Shisui.

He finally understood why Uchiha Shingen topped the Konoha Police Force's approval ratings; his quick thinking and methods of handling situations were far superior to those of his other clansmen.

But he found it hard to understand this world.

Why was it that he worked with all his heart, only to become a thorn in everyone's eyes, while Uchiha Shingen, who wasn't even willing to take initiative, ended up being the object of everyone's gratitude?

This was not what they taught at the Konoha Ninja Academy!

"Don't understand?"

Tezaku glanced at him and saw right through his thoughts.

Shisui nodded, unable to help but look ahead.

Uchiha Shingen had returned to his lazy demeanor.

He flipped through the magazine in his hands, his body loose and relaxed, showing no sign of the tension one might expect after handling an emergency.

His entire being was terrifyingly relaxed.

Shisui took a deep breath, recalling everything that had just happened. While setting aside his contempt, he also felt a bit more gratitude toward Uchiha Shingen:

"Captain, thank you."

Uchiha Shingen didn't even lift his eyelids, simply nodding in response as he instructed:

"Forget about the confinement; that was just for show for the outsiders. Next time, before you act, think about the consequences and the impact."

"Yes."

Shisui replied, then couldn't help but ask:

"Captain, I don't understand why it turned out this way. I was clearly helping him."

"I will go accept my punishment later, but I want to know why."

Uchiha Shingen closed the magazine in his hands and looked at Shisui with some surprise.

Most Uchiha clansmen were proud and arrogant; even if they knew they were wrong, they weren't necessarily willing to bow their heads, and being stubborn to the end was common.

Shisui was clearly different from those people; at least his attitude was decent enough.

This further convinced Uchiha Shingen that Shisui was an indispensable key figure in the plot, and very likely the protagonist.

Besides, since a team member was asking for guidance so humbly, it would seem rather heartless of Uchiha Shingen not to offer some pointers as his captain.

Uchiha Shingen paused and asked in return:

"You took action just now; was the problem solved?"

Seeing Shisui shake his head, Uchiha Shingen asked again:

"Was the impact on the relationship between the village and the Uchiha positive or negative?"

"Negative."

"Was the pride of the Uchiha protected?"

"No."

"Was the criminal punished?"

"No."

"Is the order of Konoha better or worse?"

"Worse..."

Shisui's head sank lower and lower, his voice becoming as low as a mosquito's hum, finally showing the shame of a child who had made a mistake.

Uchiha Shingen saw that the timing was right and said:

"So you see."

"You tried your best but solved nothing, and things only developed in the worst direction. It would have been better to do nothing from the start."

"But..."

Shisui looked up, instinctively wanting to argue.

But when he met Uchiha Shingen's calm gaze, he found himself unable to say anything.

Uchiha Shingen finished his sentence for him:

"Are you going to say this is dereliction of duty?"

"Yes!"

Shisui said stubbornly.

Uchiha Shingen shook his head and continued to indoctrinate him with his own ideas:

"Whether it's dereliction of duty or not isn't judged by us, but by your superiors, by the common people of Konoha, by the Hokage."

"What matters isn't how much you did, but how much they think you did."

"So, from this perspective, do you think we were derelict in our duty, or did we defuse a serious incident that could have escalated all the way to the Hokage?"

Shisui lowered his head and became silent, his mind in turmoil.

The education he had always received told him Uchiha Shingen was wrong, yet the outcome of events only corroborated Shingen's words.

Moreover, this approach was not at all "Uchiha-like."

The awkward feeling was like a thorn stuck in Shisui's throat, and he stiffened his neck to retort:

"Is this how the Konoha Military Police Force operates?!"

Uchiha Shingen shook his head:

"This is how I operate."

Shisui pressed on:

"So we're just not going to deal with those petty thieves?"

"Who said that?!"

Uchiha Shingen's lips curled into a smile:

"The hard-earned money I saved up from working isn't so easily taken."

"Let the kunai fly for a while first!"