Xuanye had not finished.
"I've looked into the family's shinobi over the past decade or so. Leaving our strongest members aside, even without the war, the strength of the Uchiha's middle and lower ranks has been declining for years."
"If we didn't still have our ancestral wealth to support us, we might even face a serious gap in our ranks and a sharp drop in strength."
"So you're saying the Security Division is a burden?" Fugaku couldn't help asking.
"Yes," Xuanye said, then changed tack. "And no."
He had to admit that Senju Tobirama's decision to hand the Security Division to the Uchiha had been a clever move.
Its duties kept the Uchiha patrolling Konoha and taking low-value jobs like catching cats and walking dogs.
When a Ninja World War broke out, they were sent to the front as cannon fodder. That made full use of their formidable fighting strength while depleting their numbers.
But wartime service brought no commissions. At most, the families of the dead received a little compensation.
They could not earn much in peacetime, and when war came, they could only risk their lives on the front lines.
Besides, the Security Division's work was bound to make enemies. It was easy to imagine where that left the Uchiha's standing in the village.
In theory, no single family should monopolize an armed organization like the Security Division. That could lead to a very dangerous situation.
Yet Senju Tobirama had done exactly that.
His aim had been to keep the Uchiha in a prolonged state of decline.
They would never starve, but they would never grow strong enough to threaten Konoha, either.
His disciples had misunderstood what he meant, though, and driven the entire Uchiha Family toward defection.
The Uchiha had shown remarkable restraint. Put a hard-line elder in charge instead, and see whether those red-eyed people rebelled after being suppressed for so long!
Xuanye had said yes and no because, given the Security Division's authority, profiting from it would be ridiculously easy.
They would not even need to embezzle funds or take bribes. The Uchiha's law-enforcement powers alone could bring in plenty of money through entirely legitimate channels.
With Xuanye around, Konoha's troublesome residents would soon learn just how far the Security Division's authority could reach.
Fugaku saw Xuanye speaking in riddles again and resisted the urge to smack him.
"Speak plainly. What do you mean, 'yes and no'?"
"The limits of the Security Division's authority are vague. You can sum it up in one sentence."
"What sentence?" Fugaku's curiosity had been piqued.
"Act first, report later. Special permission from the Second Hokage."
At those words, Fugaku froze, as though a door had opened in his mind.
He did not quite understand it, but the more he thought about it, the more sense Xuanye's words seemed to make. They had a certain force to them, too.
"The Security Division is the Security Division," Xuanye said quietly. "The Uchiha are the Uchiha."
"The Second Hokage established the Security Division. Whatever happens, we can, in theory, put the blame on him."
"What are they going to do, dig up the dead Second Hokage and make him speak?"
There was, in fact, a jutsu that could do that, but Orochimaru probably had not perfected it yet.
Even if he had, and they dug up Senju Tobirama, Xuanye could still claim the moral high ground and attack Sarutobi Hiruzen.
You dug up your own teacher's grave? What kind of person does that!?
In short, if Xuanye had no scruples, no one else could take the moral high ground and lecture him.
After a pause, Xuanye continued. "We don't need the villagers to accept the Uchiha. We just need Konoha to hate the Security Division even more."
Fugaku considered his words carefully. After a moment, he said, "You want to separate the Uchiha from the Security Division."
Xuanye nodded. "But not yet. I have a plan, and it'll take time to carry out. Since the Security Division is the kind of organization everyone hates, we should bring a few other families in to share the blame."
"The Inuzuka Clan would do nicely. Next time someone comes looking for trouble, we can let the dogs bite them. Afterward, we'll say the Ninja Dogs don't know any better, or that they're new recruits. Let's see if anyone dares try it again."
Fugaku fell silent.
Joke or not, Fugaku understood what Xuanye was getting at with that last remark about bringing in the Inuzuka Clan.
"You want control of the Security Division?"
Fugaku was not a man who clung to power.
If giving up the post of Captain of the Security Division could free the Uchiha from their current predicament, he would do it.
Xuanye nodded.
Frankly, it was almost impressive that Fugaku had managed to make the Uchiha so hated in Konoha while running the village's sole police organization.
Xuanye would never allow Konoha's troublemakers to keep acting as they pleased.
"All right. I can hand full control of the Security Division over to you. But the official appointment will probably have to wait until the Jonin Conference."
Fugaku still had no idea what Xuanye intended. If he had guessed, he surely would not have handed over that authority so readily.
The captain had always been a member of the Uchiha Family, but an appointment still required procedure. Fugaku could not simply decide it himself.
Xuanye shook his head. "They won't agree. Their objections will be the usual ones."
"But that doesn't matter. I only need actual authority. Whether they appoint me is irrelevant."
"The Second Hokage entrusted the Security Division entirely to the Uchiha. His disciples don't get a say."
Xuanye and Fugaku exchanged a look and smiled in understanding.
When Sarutobi Hiruzen returned to the Hokage Office, he lost his temper—an unusual sight.
Namikaze Minato watched him throw a cup to the floor as soon as he entered and could not help rolling his eyes.
"What happened, Lord Third? Why are you so angry?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen was about to answer, but his face suddenly burned with embarrassment.
Namikaze Minato was his student's student. How could he let someone so much younger see him raging helplessly like this?
And he certainly could not go around telling people how he had embarrassed himself at the Security Division.
But the thing people feared most always seemed to happen.
The door to the Hokage Office was kicked open again, and Shimura Danzō strode in as if he owned the place.
At the sight of him, Namikaze Minato could only bury himself in his paperwork and pretend to be busy.
It was not that he feared Shimura Danzō. Danzō never listened to him, so why bother speaking?
Being Hokage was miserable enough with Sarutobi Hiruzen above him. Now even Shimura Danzō, the Hokage Assistant, ignored him at times.
What kind of Hokage can't even give orders to his own assistant?