Beat You Until You Submit!

"Military Police Force on duty. Now, tell me, what exactly is going on here?" Li frowned as he looked at the two middle-aged drunks. They were wearing simple kimonos, their eyes were glazed, and they reeked of strong alcohol.

The two drunks, who had been arguing, showed immediate dissatisfaction upon hearing the words "Military Police Force." They turned to look, and seeing only a brat half their height, they both burst into laughter.

"Kid, you say you're with the Military Police Force? What, is the Uchiha Clan so short-handed that they're sending out a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you?" The speaker was a middle-aged man with a black handlebar mustache. He pointed at Li, laughing boisterously through bleary, drunken eyes. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have dared to be so rude—not just because of the boy's age, but because the name Uchiha Clan alone would have silenced him. But in his drunken state, he spoke without restraint.

"Exactly! If you're just a kid, go home and get some sleep. Otherwise, this uncle doesn't care if you're an Uchiha or not—I'll string you up and beat you! Hahaha!" Seemingly pleased by the thought, the other drunkard roared with laughter. Perhaps, in his heart, he had always wanted to string up a member of the Uchiha Clan and beat them.

The onlookers pointed and whispered, smiles on their faces. While they didn't dare speak up, there was no denying that a kid trying to subdue two drunks sounded like a fantasy. Some knew that one of these drunks was an elite genin and the other a chunin; either one of them could crush this child with a single move.

"I'll say it again: Military Police Force on duty. Are you coming with me quietly, or do you want me to beat you into the ground and drag you away?" Li frowned, enduring the foul stench of alcohol. As for the drunks' babbling, Li didn't take it to heart; arguing with two drunks would be a waste of time.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp, won't you shut up? Don't think that just because you're from the Uchiha Clan you can interfere in other people's business. I'm going to teach you arrogant brats a lesson!" The handlebar-mustached drunk suddenly shook his head violently, glared at Li, and roared before throwing a punch.

"This kid is in trouble. That guy is a chunin!" The onlookers shook their heads slightly, having no intention of intervening. They were actually hoping to see someone from the Uchiha Clan make a fool of themselves.

"What is Li doing? Fighting someone?" A petite figure squeezed through the crowd and immediately saw Li and the two drunks in the center. It was Kushina Uzumaki, her long red hair standing out clearly among the crowd.

Li didn't notice Kushina. Watching the drunkard throw a punch at him, Li shook his head slightly. Drunk to the point of forgetting the basics of combat, he thought. With that, Li lunged forward, sidestepped the chunin's punch, and bent his knees slightly. With a sudden spring, his body rose half a meter, and he drove his knee into the handlebar-mustached man's lungs. The drunkard's breath hitched, and his sobriety flickered back, but Li didn't give him a chance to react. After striking the lungs, Li braced a hand on the man's shoulder, vaulted over the nearly 1.8-meter-tall man, and landed behind him, kicking him in the back of the knee. This kick was infused with chakra; the man was sent flying, face-planted into the dirt, and knocked unconscious instantly.

"Oh! Nice hit!" Kushina didn't fully understand what was happening, but with her love for chaos, seeing Li take down such a burly man so stylishly made her jump with excitement.

"Brat, even if you are from the Uchiha Clan, you can't just go around hitting people! I don't accept this! I'm going to report you to the Hokage! I want to see if it's you Uchiha or the Hokage who runs Konoha!" The other drunk, perhaps sobering up a bit, pointed at Li with a flushed face and cursed, though he quickly covered his mouth, clearly feeling nauseous.

"You don't accept it?" Li narrowed his eyes. He lunged forward, appearing instantly in front of the drunkard. Before the man could react, Li slammed a fist into his face. The drunk was only an elite genin, weaker than Li to begin with, and now, in his drunken state, he had no room to counter. Li grabbed him and delivered a flurry of blows until he was knocked cold.

"If you don't accept it, I'll beat you until you do!" Li curled his lip. He had given them two chances to resolve this without violence, but they hadn't cherished them. Not only that, but they had kept complaining and even insulted him. If not for their drunken state, they wouldn't have gotten off with just being knocked out.

Suddenly, a figure lunged at Li's back. Hearing the movement, Li turned quickly, and someone latched onto him. Realizing what happened, he looked down to see a flushed Kushina staring at him with excited eyes, hanging off him like a koala.

"Li, you're so cool! I didn't expect you to take down those two scary-looking guys so easily!" Kushina hopped off Li and began gesturing wildly, describing her excitement.

"Kushina!" Looking at the cheering girl, Li smiled helplessly. As a girl, being able to pounce on him in public and having such a penchant for violence—there probably wasn't a second person in all of Konoha like her. Truly worthy of being the future Bloody Habanero!

"By the way, shouldn't you be at home right now? How did you end up here?" After the commotion settled, Kushina calmed down and asked curiously.

"I'm with the Military Police Force now!" Li pointed to the forehead protector on his head and continued, "I passed the genin exam yesterday and became a ninja. The clan assigned me to work at the Military Police Force! My job is to maintain order in Konoha!"

As Li pointed, Kushina's eyes lit up. Only then did she notice the forehead protector, and she grew excited again. She reached out toward it, saying excitedly, "Is this a ninja's forehead protector? It's okay if I wear it for a second, right?"

"You're already reaching for it, why ask?" Li rolled his eyes at Kushina, but he didn't mind, letting her take his protector. To Li, the protector wasn't important; all honors were fleeting, only one's own strength was real.

Kushina happily put the protector on her forehead, put her hands on her hips, and said boldly to Li, "Li, do I look like a ninja?"