"Y-you can't just take it... Could you please give it back? Please, give it back to me. Www CCOM"
The old woman was on the verge of tears as she desperately tried to protect her belongings. But she was old and weak, and her opponents were grown shinobi. How could she possibly match their strength? In no time at all, they had taken everything.
The people nearby whispered among themselves. Their voices brimmed with sympathy for the old woman and hostility and resentment toward the Konoha Police Force. But the Uchiha's authority ran deep. They were the most powerful clan in Konoha, and most of the people present could only seethe in silence.
Seeing that no one in the crowd would help her, the old woman threw herself over her cart and begged through her tears, "Please, don't take it! This cart was made by my late husband with his own hands. It's the most precious thing he left me... Please, I'm begging you."
The Uchiha man in charge had been born into a wealthy clan and couldn't understand the old woman's suffering. In his eyes, the Police Force's duty came first, as did the Uchiha's pride and responsibility. Someone who had never known hardship couldn't understand what others were going through.
He grabbed the old woman by the shoulder with his right hand and flung her aside. She felt a tremendous force hit her and had no chance to resist; she fell heavily to the ground and burst into tears!
"How can they treat an old woman like that? That's too much."
"Honestly! They steal someone's things, and then they even hit her..."
"That poor old woman. The Konoha Police Force is so rough when enforcing the law. Is there really no one who can rein them in?"
The crowd's murmurs grew louder at the sight, and some even began pointing and openly condemning the Uchiha. The man in charge looked increasingly grim. As a shinobi, he was keenly attuned to his surroundings. The bystanders might have lowered their voices, thinking he couldn't hear them, but he heard every word.
"That's enough. We're acting in accordance with the Konoha Police Law. Setting up a stall in the street without permission isn't allowed. If we find someone doing it, everything gets confiscated. We're enforcing the rules set by Konoha. Are you saying you won't obey Konoha's rules?"
The Uchiha squad leader abruptly opened his crimson eyes. Two black tomoe spun rapidly in his blood-red irises as a cold, sinister aura suddenly poured from him. He swept his gaze over the onlookers, and its force was enough to make them avert their eyes.
This was the Uchiha's power and pride!
Sato Hideaka felt the aura, too. It was different from a fearsome killing intent—colder and more ominous, it struck at the mind with tremendous force, as though its owner had been born above everyone else.
"Hmph. Which Konoha rule says you're allowed to throw an old woman to the ground? If there isn't one, then haven't you broken Konoha's rules, too? Hmph... Committing assault in broad daylight carries far greater consequences and harsher penalties than setting up an unauthorized stall...!"
A woman's voice rang out from the crowd. When they saw the Uchiha squad leader's crimson eyes scanning them, the onlookers scattered at once, eager to avoid getting dragged into this. Only one person remained: a girl of about seventeen or eighteen, with long red hair.
She was the one who had spoken. Her face was a little chubby, a black clip pinned to the left side of her hair, and a bracer wrapped around her left wrist. She stared straight into the Uchiha squad leader's crimson eyes without the slightest fear.
"Blood-Red Pepper, Uzumaki Kushina. So it's you... You'd better not stick your nose into this."
Kushina clapped her hands and looked at him. "Hmph, Uchiha Izumiya. You bullied me at school, and now you're bullying an old woman. Doesn't look like you've grown at all."
"Tomato, other people may be afraid of you, but I'm not. Even though you're an elite Chunin now, that doesn't mean you can beat me!" Uchiha Izumiya's expression hardened, and he sneered.
At the familiar nickname, Kushina's cheerful expression instantly darkened. Clearly unhappy with it, she turned to the handsome blond man beside her and loudly ordered, "Minato, help me teach him a lesson!"
The blond man didn't look like anyone's muscle. He had a gentle, sunny face, both hands full of snacks and shopping bags, and he gazed at Uzumaki Kushina with helpless fondness. A hint of warmth shone in his ice-blue eyes.
"Namikaze Minato, what are you doing here, too?"
When Uchiha Izumiya saw the gentle-looking man, his expression changed. He was no longer as casual as he had been with Uzumaki Kushina. Though Minato was only a civilian shinobi, he had been taken on as a student by Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, and was powerful in his own right.
Even Uchiha Fugaku, the deputy head of the Police Force and the strongest of their generation, couldn't be certain he could beat the civilian shinobi standing before him.
Still, with so many people watching, the Uchiha Clan's pride could not be allowed to suffer!
Unlike Uzumaki Kushina, Namikaze Minato wasn't impulsive. Instead, he tried to reason with her. "Kushina, this falls under the Military Police Force's jurisdiction. According to the rules, we shouldn't interfere."
"If we can't interfere, then let the old Third Hokage decide! I refuse to believe that with something like this happening in his village, he won't stand up for the villagers and will just let these people bully them!"
"Even if we go to the Third Hokage, we were just enforcing the law as usual. We have nothing to fear!"
Uchiha Izumiya and Uzumaki Kushina each insisted they were in the right. Both, almost in unison, demanded that the matter be settled by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"If we want to get to the bottom of this, we'll need a few witnesses to come with us. That's the only way we can find out exactly what happened!" Namikaze Minato carefully explained, looking at the two furious people glaring at each other.
The moment Namikaze Minato said this, everyone froze. The crowd immediately broke into a commotion and scattered in all directions, as if they suddenly remembered urgent business elsewhere. In the blink of an eye, they were gone.
Well, that figures...!
Namikaze Minato watched with a wry smile. He had just been about to grab someone from the crowd, but when he saw how terrified they looked—as if they'd seen a ghost—he couldn't bring himself to stop them and let them go.
Uchiha Izumiya and Uzumaki Kushina were both stunned. Now that everyone who'd seen what happened had left, how were they supposed to get to the bottom of it?
In fact, not everyone had left.
Yuhi Kurenai was staring at Uzumaki Kushina, facing off against Uchiha Izumiya, with open admiration. Sato Hideaka had even tried to take her by the hand and lead her away, but failed. The two were still standing right where they'd been.
"Hello there. You're Shinku's daughter, aren't you?"
Namikaze Minato looked at Yuhi Kurenai, who was gazing blankly at Kushina, and asked in a gentle voice.
"Mm-hmm! My name's Yuhi Kurenai. How do you know me, big brother?" When someone spoke to her, Kurenai finally snapped out of it and asked, puzzled.
"I work with Shinku. Since everyone who saw what happened has left, I was hoping you could help me out. Kurenai, would you be willing to be a witness for me?"
"Sure... Mm... Mm!"
As soon as Yuhi Kurenai opened her mouth, Sato Hideaka hurriedly covered it and said to Namikaze Minato, "Big brother, we haven't had lunch yet. Could we come be witnesses after we've eaten...?"
With that, Sato Hideaka took Yuhi Kurenai by the hand and started to leave. But then someone grabbed the back of his collar and lifted him clean off the ground. A woman's voice, warm with her breath, sounded beside his ear. "Friend, are you really going to watch an old woman get bullied and do nothing?"
"As a boy, you should have at least a little sense of justice and responsibility. Look at the girl beside you—she has a stronger sense of justice than you do!"
The woman holding Sato Hideaka by the collar was none other than Uzumaki Kushina. Yuhi Kurenai stood below, looking up at him with eyes full of hope and encouragement. Clearly, she wanted him to be like her, "overcome his fear," hold on to his "sense of justice," and help the old woman get the fairness she deserved.
Honestly, every time I stepped out, I ran into trouble!