Naraku's Plan

The village management department is the most thankless job of all; regulate the vendors, and you offend the vendors—along with the ninja families backing them.

If you don't regulate the vendors, the residents and villagers living near the stalls will file complaints, claiming the vendors' constant shouting and noise pollution are ruining their rest.

In the end, everyone directs their resentment toward the village management. The Uchiha Military Police Force is left to hold the bag.

The current adjustments are merely Uchiha Nara's preliminary test. In the future, he intends to strip the village management functions away from the Military Police Force and recruit ordinary villagers to handle them instead.

Not only would this offload the thankless tasks, but it would also lower the payroll. There would be no need to pay a 400,000-ryo annual salary; perhaps 100,000 ryo would be enough to recruit plenty of villagers.

A secondary plan involves having the ninjas of the Third Squadron recruit villagers to assist with management, allowing them to distribute a portion of their own wages to hire assistants.

The vendors are all ordinary villagers without chakra or official ninja status, so management by fellow villagers should be more than enough to handle them.

However, Nara has just cut the salaries of these ninjas, which has already caused dissatisfaction among some members of the Military Police Force. Making them spend their own money to hire help might prove counterproductive.

After all, most Uchiha ninjas are just ordinary people; they cannot see that far ahead. They only know that their pay has been reduced.

Nara's proposal would only make them feel that, having just had their wages cut, he is now finding ways to further reduce their income.

I fear that if that happens, the public outcry will be immense, which would be detrimental to Nara's efforts to strengthen his authority and consolidate control over the Military Police Force.

Currently, with the prestige of the Clan Head backing him, they might complain at most. But if this happens repeatedly, it will inevitably trigger a backlash.

However, the optimal solution in Nara's mind—and the safest one—is to strip away these village management duties entirely.

Other departments that could be appropriately opened up include the Public Security Squadron. Mediating disputes is another job that easily leaves you hated by both sides.

When two parties are in a dispute and the Military Police Force makes a ruling, they are bound to offend one of them. Furthermore, the one who receives the help of the Military Police Force will never remember the favor.

They will only believe they were in the right or attribute the outcome to other factors. Meanwhile, the one being penalized will surely hold a deep grudge against the Uchiha Military Police Force.

Such public security departments could appropriately allow other ninja clans or ninjas to join. By doing so, the villagers' dissatisfaction with dispute mediation could be significantly reduced.

If other surnames or public security officers handle these matters, the resentment can be directed at the Military Police Force without it extending to the Uchiha clan itself.

The Criminal Investigation Division within the Military Police Force, however, must be kept firmly in their own hands; these are the positions that allow the Uchiha elite to establish themselves and thrive.

They cannot allow powerful Uchiha ninjas, or their outstanding and talented youth, to be consumed by the Great Ninja War.

The same logic applies to the Special Police Force. Such important or relatively easy positions must be held tightly. The same goes for the staff positions at the prison.

As for those positions like public security or village management that involve throwing one's weight around in front of the villagers, let other ninja clans or ninjas take them on.

Nara understands very well that these changes will surely cause dissatisfaction among the Uchiha clansmen, as offloading these Military Police positions means reducing employment opportunities for Uchiha ninjas.

This plan to strip away public security and village management is currently only in Nara's mind; he has not mentioned it to anyone yet.

Nara knows that for such matters, the best strategy is to wait until he successfully assumes the role of leader of the Military Police Force, then slowly exert pressure and use his authority to push it through.

The Uchiha ninjas have been comfortable for too long. At the same time, they need some clansmen to integrate into Konoha Village, form squads, and serve the village.

He must make the clansmen understand that while the Military Police Force is a good place, it is a place for the elite.

It should only be open to powerful Uchiha ninjas, those with potential, or those who require special care.

As for the other ordinary clansmen, they should first weigh for themselves whether they are qualified to apply.

Uchiha Nara sat in the office of the First Squad of the Military Police Force building, his brows furrowed; clearly, his thoughts had drifted far away.

It has been a week of personnel changes, and today is the first day of the new job responsibility assignments.

In the First Squad of the Military Police Force, only two teams of the Criminal Investigation Detachment are in the office; the other two teams are out on patrol.

They are scouting for suspicious signs or individuals, while also remaining ready to provide rapid support to other departments.

As for the Fourth Special Mobile Squadron, two teams have headed east and west to patrol the streets.

The other two teams are resting in the lounge. Their primary duty is to provide support and prevent emergencies.

In the third alley of Konoha Village, various vendors have set up stalls, hawking candies, ramen, sushi, three-color dango, grilled skewers, and flatbreads.

Yamashita Matsumaru is a descendant of the first villagers to join Konoha Village. His family fell on hard times and was so poor they couldn't even afford a meal, but fortunately, Yamashita Matsumaru possessed the skill to make signature three-color dango.

The three-color dango he made were sweet and fragrant, and at the urging of his neighbors, he set up a stall here to sell them.

He never expected that so many people in Konoha Village would love dango. Business was booming, and the income of several thousand ryo a day made Yamashita Matsumaru beam with joy.

"Oh no! The Military Police are here, run!"

A villager carrying a stick of candied haws grabbed his pole, which was covered in treats, and bolted. Hearing the commotion, the others hurriedly packed up their stalls, preparing to flee.

The ninjas of the Military Police Force were incredibly fast; within seconds, they reached the crowded vendors.

The vendors looked on in terror, expecting to be beaten again.

Uchiha Mokuhi, 23 years old, a Konoha chunin with a two-tomoe Sharingan.

As a member of the Second Squadron of the First Squad, he and three other members were assigned to public security. At this moment, matters like vendor stalls no longer fell under their jurisdiction.

Their patrol area had increased; they used to patrol one sector, but now they patrol all areas under the jurisdiction of the First Squad. Yet, the workload did not feel any heavier.

In the past, when they walked down the street, they felt compelled to regulate everything, making them hated by everyone—even the dogs—and leaving them physically and mentally exhausted.

Uchiha Mokuhi often wondered, We are clearly contributing to Konoha, doing this for everyone, so why do these villagers hate us so much?

Today, Uchiha Mokuhi was on patrol, regulating nothing, simply observing. On the road, he saw two large villagers bullying a smaller one; Mokuhi stepped forward to shout, stopping the large villagers from their harassment.

The surrounding villagers cheered one after another, giving Uchiha Mokuhi a rather strange feeling.

Looking at these merchants and the like whom he had previously detested, Uchiha Mokuhi shook his head and walked past them, ignoring them entirely. This left the merchants, who hadn't been able to pack up in time, in a state of bewilderment.

For once, the squad did not receive any eye-rolls or hostile glares from the merchants.

Uchiha Mokuhi quietly observed these people, unable to help but feel an indescribable sensation at this moment.

The street, which had been thrown into chaos by Uchiha Mokuhi's arrival, slowly returned to order because of his indifference toward the merchants.

The small-time vendors, who had originally been packing up their stalls in preparation to flee, stared at one another in confusion.

"Have the lords of the Uchiha changed their ways today?" an old woman asked the middle-aged man beside her.

"Who knows? Heh, they didn't bother us. Usually, they don't look back once they finish their patrol, so we can keep setting up shop!"

The middle-aged man chuckled, stopped packing his things, and sat back down with a sigh of relief.

"What's going on?"

"Could it be a trap?"

The merchants whispered among themselves, and in an instant, the area was filled with a noisy clamor.

Yamashita Matsumaru scratched his head. He had originally been prepared to follow the crowd and run, but seeing that the Military Police Force's conduct was not as the rumors suggested, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

I knew those messy rumors were fake. How could the honorable lords of the Uchiha bully us?

Yamashita Matsumaru shook his head, thinking to himself as he continued to prepare the Three-Color Dango.