The village management department was the most, most, most unpopular department. It managed the vendors, which meant offending the vendors and the ninja families behind them.
If it didn't manage the vendors, the residents and villagers around their stalls would complain about the vendors' loud hawking, which disturbed their rest.
In the end, everyone blamed the village management department. The Uchiha Military Police Force got stuck with the blame.
For now, the adjustments were just Uchiha Nara's initial experiment. In the future, he would separate departments like village management from the Military Police Force and hire ordinary villagers to run them.
That would not only separate out the thankless work, but also reduce payroll. There was no need to pay an annual salary of 400,000 ryo; perhaps they could hire plenty of villagers for just 100,000.
The second backup plan was to have the Third Squadron's ninjas recruit villagers to help with management, using part of their pay to hire assistants.
The vendors were ordinary villagers without chakra and were not ninja on the payroll. Villagers could manage them just fine.
But Nara had just cut these ninjas' pay, already making some members of the Police Force unhappy. Asking them to spend money on hiring people now might backfire.
After all, most Uchiha ninjas were ordinary people too. They couldn't think that far ahead; all they knew was that their pay had been cut.
So Nara's proposal would only make them think, We just had our pay cut, and now he's trying to reduce our income even further?
There would probably be an uproar, which would make it harder for Nara to build his authority and take charge of the Police Force.
For now, the clan leader's prestige lent weight to the decision. They would grumble about the pay cuts, at most, but if it happened again and again, there would certainly be a backlash.
But in Nara's mind, the best solution—and the safest one—was to separate these village management duties from the force.
Other duties that could be handed off included those of the Public Security Squadron. Mediating disputes was another thankless job that was bound to offend people on both sides.
Whenever two people had a dispute, the Police Force's ruling was sure to offend one of them. And the one who received help from the Police Force would never remember its kindness.
They would only think they had been in the right or something along those lines. The one who was penalized, meanwhile, would be deeply offended and come to resent the Uchiha Police Force.
Other ninja clans or ninjas could be allowed to join this kind of public security department. Then, handing disputes like these would greatly reduce villagers' resentment.
The same applied to members of other clans and public security officers. Villagers could resent the Police Force, but that resentment wouldn't spread to the Uchiha Clan.
The Criminal Investigation Division within the Military Police Force, however, had to remain firmly in Uchiha hands. It was a vital position that allowed Uchiha elites to make their living.
Powerful Uchiha ninjas, promising young people, prodigies, and the like couldn't be allowed to waste away in the Shinobi World War.
The same went for the Special Police Force. Important or less strenuous positions like these had to remain firmly in their hands. The same applied to jobs in the prison.
As for positions like public security and village management, where people threw their weight around over the villagers, other clans or ninjas could take them.
Nara knew perfectly well that these changes would upset the Uchiha. Handing Police Force jobs to outsiders would mean fewer jobs for Uchiha ninjas.
For now, the plan to separate public security and village management existed only in Nara's mind. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone.
Nara understood that the best course was to wait until he had successfully become the head of the Military Police Force. Only then could he gradually impose his will and use his authority to push the changes through.
The Uchiha ninjas had enjoyed an easy life for too long. Some of the clan members also needed to integrate into Konoha, form squads, and serve the village.
He had to make them understand that although the Military Police Force was a good place to work, it was for recruiting elites.
Its positions were open only to powerful Uchiha ninjas, Uchiha ninjas with potential, or Uchiha ninjas who needed special care.
As for the other ordinary clan members, they could first consider whether they were qualified to apply.
Uchiha Nara sat in the First Squadron office in the Military Police Force building, his brow furrowed as his thoughts wandered far away.
Today marked the first day of assigning job responsibilities after a week of personnel changes.
In the First Squadron of the Police Force, only two teams from the First Squad's Criminal Investigation Detachment were in the office. The other two teams were out on patrol.
They were on the lookout for anything or anyone suspicious, and ready to provide quick support to other departments.
As for the Fourth Special Mobile Squadron, its two teams had headed east and west to patrol the streets.
Two teams were resting in the break room. Their main duties were providing support and preventing emergencies.
On Konoha's Third Side Street, all kinds of vendors had set up their stalls, hawking sweets, ramen, sushi, dango, grilled food, flatbreads, and more.
Yamashita Matsumaru was descended from one of the earliest families of villagers to settle in Konoha. His family had fallen on hard times and was so poor they could barely feed themselves. Luckily, Yamashita Matsumaru had a knack for making a distinctive kind of dango.
His dango were sweet and delicious. At his neighbors' urging, he had set up a stall here to sell them.
To his surprise, plenty of people in Konoha loved dango, and business was booming. Making several thousand ryo a day left Yamashita Matsumaru beaming with joy.
"Oh no! The Police Force is here! Run!"
A villager holding candied hawthorn skewers grabbed the pole they were stuck on and took off running. Hearing him, everyone else hurriedly packed up their stalls and prepared to flee.
The Police Force ninjas moved fast. In just a few seconds, they reached the crowded stalls.
The vendors looked terrified, thinking they were about to be beaten again.
Uchiha Mokuhi was twenty-three years old, a Konoha Chunin with a two-tomoe Sharingan.
He was a member of the Second Squadron of the First Squadron. He and three other squad members had been assigned to public security. Things like managing street vendors were no longer their responsibility.
Their patrol area had grown. Before, they had patrolled a single area; now, they patrolled every area under the First Squadron's jurisdiction. But it didn't feel like they had more work to do.
In the past, whenever they walked down a street, they meddled in everything. Everyone hated them, and the work was exhausting, both physically and mentally.
Uchiha Mokuhi often wondered, We're doing this for Konoha, for everyone's sake. Why do these villagers hate us so much?
Today, Uchiha Mokuhi was on patrol, but he wasn't doing anything except patrolling. When he saw two burly villagers bullying someone smaller, Mokuhi stepped in and scolded them, stopping them from picking on the weaker person.
The villagers nearby cheered, giving Uchiha Mokuhi a strange feeling.
Looking at the vendors he had once despised, Uchiha Mokuhi shook his head and walked straight past without a glance. The vendors who hadn't finished packing were all taken aback.
For once, the squad wasn't met with the vendors' glares and hostility.
Uchiha Mokuhi quietly watched the people around him, unable to describe the feeling that came over him.
The street had fallen into chaos when Uchiha Mokuhi arrived. Now, because he ignored the vendors, order was slowly returning.
The small-time vendors who had started packing up to flee stared at one another, wide-eyed.
"Have the Uchiha gentlemen changed their ways today?" an old woman asked the middle-aged man beside her.
"I don't know. Heh, they didn't bother us. They never double back once they've finished their patrol, so we can keep our stalls open!"
The middle-aged man chuckled, stopped packing, and sat down with a sigh of relief.
"What's going on?"
"Could this be a trap?"
The vendors whispered among themselves, and for a moment the area was noisy with chatter.
Yamashita Matsumaru scratched his head. He had been ready to follow the others and run, but the Police Force didn't act the way the rumors said they did. He couldn't help but feel relieved.
"I knew all those ridiculous rumors were false. Why would the mighty Uchiha gentlemen bully us?"
Yamashita Matsumaru shook his head, thinking this to himself, then continued making his dango.
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