The Hokage Building...
Namikaze Minato led Uchiha Izumiya, Uzumaki Kushina, Yuhi Kurenai, and the unwilling Sato Hideaka up to the Hokage Building and into the office.
Kushina shoved the door open and strode forward. "Lord Third, Uchiha Izumiya and the others bullying people in class was bad enough, but now they're picking on old ladies in the street, too. They're making ninjas look terrible. You have to punish them properly..."
The Lord Third stared in confusion at the furious Kushina. "Who's made our Kushina angry this time? What did Uchiha Izumiya do...?"
"Lord Third, during the Military Police Force's enforcement, Kushina interfered with us and then blamed us instead. I ask you to judge this matter!"
Uchiha Izumiya stood his ground. Konoha had made the rules, and he was merely enforcing them. He had strictly followed Konoha's regulations and the Military Police Force's rules. None of this was his fault.
"Do Konoha's rules say you can hit an old lady? By that logic, hurting someone in the street is worse than an old lady selling things without a permit, isn't it?"
"What's more, I often eat wonton noodles at her place, so I know her situation. Her husband and son were both Konoha ninjas. They died on the battlefield during the Second Shinobi World War, and their names are still carved into the Memorial Stone. Her grandson is only twelve. The family gets by on Konoha's compensation and the money from her noodle stand. Are you trying to drive them to their deaths?"
Kushina's face flushed as she shouted at Izumiya, clearly disgusted by his actions.
"W-Well, so what if they were war heroes? Does that mean they get special treatment under Konoha's laws and regulations? If someone's a war hero, does the Konoha Military Police Force have to stop doing its job?"
Kushina's anger made Uchiha Izumiya take half a step back. Embarrassed that he, a proud Uchiha, had been forced back by her, he retorted furiously.
The Lord Third was completely lost. He looked at Namikaze Minato, who stood silently to one side, and asked with a frown, "Minato, what exactly happened? You tell me..."
"I was involved, too, so I think it would be more appropriate to have Yuhi Shinku's daughter, Kurenai, explain it as a neutral witness."
Minato brought Kurenai before the Lord Third and gave her a sunny smile, as if encouraging her to be brave. Then he gestured for her to explain what had happened.
"T-They did it. They knocked the old lady down. I saw him do it."
Kurenai pointed at Uchiha Izumiya, her expression firm. Children often saw the world in terms of good and evil rather than right and wrong. In her eyes, Izumiya was clearly a bad person.
"What? What did I do wrong? Are you really going to let a seven-year-old testify? I was enforcing the rules properly!"
Uchiha Izumiya hurried to defend himself. He was unhappy that Minato had asked a child to testify, since her account was obviously one-sided and not at all objective.
Sato Hideaka rubbed his nose. He hadn't expected Kurenai to be so blunt. The other party belonged to Konoha's most prominent clan; even her father wouldn't have spoken about them so casually. Seeing the awkwardness in the room, Hideaka had no choice but to step forward and speak in a "childish" voice.
"Here's what happened. An old lady had set up a wonton noodle stand in the street. There weren't many people around, but the stand took up part of the road. From what this big brother said, that seemed to violate Konoha's regulations."
"During the enforcement, the old lady tried to protect the cart her husband had made for her. She was trying to pull it away from this big brother, and he accidentally pushed her to the ground..."
"So it was Hideaka. Oh... I see what happened."
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned to look at the blond Minato beside him. Minato gave an almost imperceptible nod. Hiruzen took a deep puff on his pipe and said to Uchiha Izumiya, "I understand. The old lady was indeed violating the rules. Return her stand to her, and I'll cover the compensation. How does that sound?"
"W-Well... Never mind. We'll just return her things. She didn't commit a serious offense, and the stand isn't worth much. There's no need for the Lord Third to..." Uchiha Izumiya was startled.
The Lord Third was going to pay the compensation? Was he serious?
"Compensation is necessary. And you did your job well. If we let this old lady off today, more people will start taking up space to sell their goods. We can't set that precedent."
"I'm paying for her compensation because her husband and son fought on the battlefield. They may well have been the comrades behind us, shielding us from enemy kunai and jutsu. Konoha's peace is thanks to people like them. How could we treat their families poorly?"
At the Lord Third's words, Uchiha Izumiya looked even more awkward. The Lord Third would pay the fine, and an old lady from a family of Konoha war heroes had been knocked down and had her belongings confiscated. Yet he and his men were the ones being praised. Why did the praise feel so wrong, as if they were the villains?
"Izumiya, you and your men did a good job. But the old lady fell, and you bear some responsibility for that. Apologize to her, and explain the matter so she understands she can't block the road anymore..."
Hearing this, Uchiha Izumiya seemed relieved. In a daze, he went back to carry out the order...
Sato Hideaka was at a loss for words. He hadn't wanted to get involved, and he had described the facts objectively, without adding anything. But he hadn't expected Uchiha Izumiya to be so politically inept. The Lord Third had talked him around in no time.
The Uchiha Police Force had followed the rules, but the outcome had been hostility from Konoha's villagers. Then they had come to the Lord Third to complain, only to be talked into leaving without any resolution or solution—and with an order to apologize?
Honestly, that was far too humiliating!
After Uchiha Izumiya led his men away, Minato glanced at Hideaka, then stood before Sarutobi Hiruzen and said solemnly, "Lord Third, I think we share some responsibility for this."
"Our responsibility? Why do you say that, Minato?"
The Lord Third's cloudy eyes brightened slightly as he regarded Minato and asked curiously.
"This seems like a conflict between street vendors and the Military Police Force, but it's really a conflict between villagers' right to use public roads and vendors taking up that space for their own use. It's also a conflict between villagers' everyday needs and the lack of public facilities."
"For the first problem, we should inform the vendors of the rules, guide them, and warn them. The second calls for proper regulation: we need to designate locations for vendors, define the area each stand can occupy, and set standards for safety, sanitation, and the goods they can sell. Only then can we truly ease the conflict between the Military Police Force and these vendors."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the earnest Minato and asked, "Is that so? How long have you been thinking about this, Minato?"
"Haha, not that long. I came across a similar situation last month. I wanted to help, but I felt conflicted, so I gave it some thought over the past few days. Then I happened to run into something similar today, so I shared my thoughts..."
Minato rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, his eyes crinkling in a sunny smile that seemed to sweep away the gloom in people's hearts.
"In that case, Minato, I'll put you in charge of this."
"Ah, do you think I can handle it?"
"Young people have to give it a try before they know whether they can."
"..."
Listening to the two of them, Sato Hideaka felt as if he'd swallowed a fly. He'd realized someone had used him as a pawn, and that someone was the seemingly harmless, sunny-smiling Namikaze Minato.
It wasn't just him. Kushina, Uchiha Izumiya, and Kurenai had all been used by this guy, too. What had started as a minor matter of the Military Police Force regulating vendors who blocked the road—a matter that could have been handled in any number of ways, or even ignored—had been pushed all the way to the Lord Third by this "scheming" guy.
Clearly, he'd been observing this kind of problem for a long time and had already come up with his own ideas and solutions. And even though he'd noticed the issue, he'd waited until Uchiha Izumiya had left before discussing it privately with the Lord Third.
That way, the Lord Third wouldn't lose face over an "administrative failure" in front of everyone. More importantly, Minato's proposal had earned the Lord Third's appointment and support.
The person who'd benefited most from the whole affair was the seemingly harmless Namikaze Minato standing right there.
Honestly, what a masterful play. No wonder he had what it took to become Hokage!