The next day, dawn had not yet fully driven away the night when the gates of the Konoha Military Police Force burst open.
Figures in dark green uniforms, their backs bearing the stark crest of the Gunbai, shot out like arrows loosed from a bow, silently and swiftly merging into the streets of Konoha as the village began to stir.
Their movements were as precise as a surgeon's scalpel, their targets clear: the "loose tongues" who had shouted the loudest and spread rumors most fervently over the past few days.
"Bang!" The door of an izakaya flew open, shattering the early morning quiet.
A middle-aged ninja had been loudly repeating the claim that "the White Fang put personal matters before his duty." His words cut off abruptly as he stared in shock at the grim-faced members of the Military Police Force in the doorway.
"The Military Police Force is investigating those who have spread false information and disrupted public order. You'll come with us."
The squad leader's voice was utterly flat. His icy gaze made the middle-aged ninja feel as if he had fallen into an ice cavern, while the surrounding patrons fell silent in fear.
There was no resistance and no fuss.
Similar scenes unfolded simultaneously in several corners of the village.
It was fast—too fast!
Before the hands behind the rumors could even react, their conspicuous "sources of noise" had already been swiftly silenced.
At the same time, notices stamped with the Military Police Force's bright red seal were posted on bulletin boards and at major street corners throughout the village.
Their message was concise: malicious slander against the village hero, Hatake Sakumo, was strongly condemned; "protecting one's comrades" was reaffirmed as the core of the Will of Fire; and all rumor-mongers would be punished without mercy!
Beside