But I Was the One Who Had to Patrol

Three days later

Konoha Military Police Force

"Teacher, I'm here to report for duty!"

Suifeng walked up to Fushan and respectfully greeted him.

"Mm. The Great Elder has already told me about your situation!" Fushan nodded, as stern as ever. "Are you still wearing your weights?"

"My weights?"

Suifeng looked up in confusion, mouth hanging open as he stared blankly.

"The weights you had on when you fought Kakashi!"

Fushan said expressionlessly, "Since you wore them to school, you might as well keep wearing them from now on!"

As if he'd been prepared for this, he pulled out a bag of iron weights from behind him and tossed it at Suifeng's feet.

"I...!"

Suifeng was left speechless, unable to get a word out.

Come on, I wore those weights to mess with Kakashi, not to mess with myself!

When he fought Kakashi three days ago, he'd been wearing iron weights, but there had only been two—one strapped to each side of his waist. During the second exchange, he really hadn't been able to keep up with Kakashi's speed, but he'd also deliberately exposed the weakness at his waist to bait Kakashi into kicking him.

Think about it: Kakashi had been trying to end the fight by taking Suifeng out with a single kick. Just imagining how powerful and fast that kick had been—and what it must have felt like to kick an iron plate—made Suifeng wince. Kakashi was still lying in a hospital bed at Konoha Hospital, after all!

But that had just been a little trick he'd used against Kakashi. He'd never planned on strapping weights to himself every day like the Green-Clad Kappa Ghost!

As the weights hit the ground with a heavy clank, Suifeng's expression darkened.

"What are you waiting for? Put the weights on, quick. It's your first day in the Military Police Force, and there's a lot of paperwork to do!" Fushan's tone remained stern and stiff, but for some reason, Suifeng thought he could hear a hint of delight in it.

By the time Suifeng had hurriedly strapped all the weights onto himself, several minutes had passed.

He trudged along behind Fushan toward the police office, looking utterly broken.

The Konoha Military Police Force, also known as the Uchiha Military Police Force, was essentially an internal law-enforcement agency, much like a police department. But it also handled counterintelligence. In practice, it combined the functions of a police department, a national security bureau, and even a city management bureau, and enjoyed considerable independence.

Its internal organization, however, was just like that of the shinobi forces: it was made up of squads.

Each squad had one Jonin or Special Jonin in charge, along with three other members.

Their regular duty was to patrol and maintain security within Konoha.

Whether in peacetime or wartime, catching spies wasn't an everyday occurrence. Most of the time, they dealt with public-order incidents inside Konoha—usually trivial matters.

The Uchiha Clan were naturally proud, always acting as if they were better than everyone else. And this was a job that made enemies. As time passed, with certain people secretly stirring things up, the Uchiha Clan's reputation in Konoha worsened, and their relationship with the civilians grew increasingly strained. To put it vividly, they were like the city management officers in China in the 1990s—not exactly easy to like.

What's more, most of their assignments took place inside Konoha. Their contributions during wartime didn't match their reputation as the Ninja World's foremost clan. Without enough achievements to their name, they were naturally becoming more and more isolated.

If this didn't change, then even if the Uchiha Clan weren't wiped out, their fate in Konoha wouldn't be much better.

He wanted to change things, but right now he was only a seven-year-old child. Even as a shinobi, other people still saw him as a child, a tool. He had no say in the clan, and he wasn't so childish as to run around offering advice to this person or that. This was reality, not a novel, and he didn't want people thinking he was a weirdo.

So he'd just have to keep his head down!

Only when he was strong enough would he have the right to speak.

"White, Hideki, this is Suifeng. Starting today, you're all in the same squad!"

"Hello, everyone. I'm Suifeng. I hope you'll look after me!"

"Wow, you're Suifeng! I've heard your name so many times!" Uchiha White was a fair-skinned girl who lived up to her name. Her eyes lit up as soon as she saw Suifeng, and she walked over with a bright smile. "I heard you defeated Kakashi. You're the undisputed number-one genius in Konoha now!"

"Uh..." Suifeng's mouth twitched. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Hideki was a proud, tsundere sort of boy, but he still nodded amicably to Suifeng, the clan's renowned genius.

Uchiha White was fourteen, a Genin, and had awakened a One-Tomoe Sharingan. She specialized in genjutsu and sensory techniques, and paired with her Sharingan, she made a capable scout. She was also skilled at throwing Kunai, making her an elite Genin. She planned to take the Chunin Ninja Exams the following year.

Uchiha Hideki was sixteen, a Chunin with a Two-Tomoe Sharingan. He specialized in Fire Release and Body Techniques.

When they said someone was good at something, they meant it was one of their specialties. Their actual abilities remained to be seen.

The Military Police Force's work wasn't tiring, and it wasn't especially dangerous either. Its most basic duty was patrolling Konoha and settling disputes.

Konoha was called a village, but in reality, it was much larger than one. Its central area was about the size of a county-level city and was divided into nine districts. Nine squads went out on patrol each shift. Each squad patrolled for half a day before handing over to the next one.

Half a day on patrol and half a day off—that was the regular schedule for an ordinary Military Police Force squad.

Suifeng's squad was an ordinary one, and the area it patrolled included Konoha Orphanage.

The orphanage mainly cared for orphans of war, mostly those from Konoha. Orphans from other villages, or those of unknown origin, weren't accepted. Otherwise, Jiraiya wouldn't have left Nagato and the others out on their own.

During the Ninja World Wars, every village kept its defenses extremely tight.

The area was somewhat remote, but the conditions there were quite good. The orphanage had reliable funding. Many of the war orphans had civilian shinobi for parents, and the village's civilian shinobi were watching closely. If even the basic funding couldn't be guaranteed, why would civilian shinobi risk their lives for Konoha in the future?

The current Hokage faction was working hard to win over the civilians, so they naturally wouldn't give anyone an excuse to attack them.

Of course, that was only how things appeared on the surface. What the orphanage was really like—or whether there was anything sinister going on there—was another matter. After all, the orphanage's director, Yakushi Nonō, was Danzo's spy, and Kabuto had come from there as well.

If he did the math, Kabuto hadn't been born yet, had he?

As they passed the orphanage, Suifeng listened to the children's chattering inside and fell into thought.

Kabuto was a talent, with potential far beyond what Danzo could imagine. Rather than let Orochimaru get his hands on someone like that, Suifeng would be better off bringing him under his own wing. Then he could have Kabuto deal with that old schemer Danzo. It couldn't be more fitting.

Of course, it wasn't the right time yet. If Kabuto had already been born, he was still far too young, and Suifeng lacked the resources and ability to train him. He'd just leave Kabuto with Danzo for now. When Danzo killed Yakushi Nonō, that would be the moment for Suifeng to reap the rewards.