Konoha Military Police Force Captain

Hearing this, the crowd below was somewhat shocked, yet no one dared to ask for the reason, waiting instead for what Uchiha Sanzang had to say next.

Sanzang scanned the room and let out a faint sigh.

"The position of Captain of the Military Police Force will be succeeded by Uchiha Nara. I have already notified the Third Hokage of this matter, and the official appointment will be issued shortly. Does anyone have any objections?"

The people below looked at one another.

Everything had already been decided and reported upward; what use would an objection be? Voicing one would only offend the new boss, who also happened to be the head of their own clan. The crowd fell silent, and not a single person raised an objection.

The change of the Military Police Force captain was, in reality, a matter for the Uchiha to handle themselves; the so-called reporting upward was merely a formality. Since taking office, the Third Hokage had never interfered with the Military Police Force.

Seeing that everyone remained silent, Nara could not keep quiet himself. He gave a light cough and said indifferently:

"It would be better for the Captain of the Military Police Force to be chosen through a fair and open election. If anyone with the ability aspires to lead the force, they may participate. The development of the Konoha Police Force, much like our Uchiha clan, is based on the principle that those with ability are welcome to compete."

Nara offered this show of humility; even though the position was already in his pocket, he still had to put on a facade. Otherwise, it would look too naked, and it wouldn't be good if rifts were to form within the Uchiha.

"No objections!"

"I support Lord Nara!"

"Only with the Clan Head leading us will we not lose our way."

Nara's humble gesture backfired. The crowd below vied to express their support for Uchiha Nara, with some even resorting to flattery.

"Truly, people leave and the tea goes cold. This precious son of mine is certainly not humble," Uchiha Sanzang sighed.

Nara's original words of humility had been misinterpreted by everyone as a signal of which side he was taking.

Nara realized this, but it was too late to offer an explanation.

"Nara, come sit up here. From now on, this is where you will sit."

Sanzang pointed to the seat beside him. When Sanzang had succeeded to the position, he had also sat next to the previous captain, with both men listening to the reports—one finishing their final shift, the other learning the ropes in preparation for taking over.

"Yes!" Nara responded respectfully, sitting down beside his convenient father, Uchiha Sanzang.

"Next, report on the work." Although Sanzang was on his final shift, he remained serious and rigorous, listening to the affairs of each squadron.

Nara, on the other hand, listened to the trivial matters for a while and couldn't help but start to doze off.

The affairs of the First Squadron were well-known to Nara since he directed them personally. Because the posts for public security, village management, and guard duties had gradually become standardized, there were rarely any conflicts with the villagers.

As for the trivialities of the Second and Third Squadrons, Nara really didn't want to hear them anymore.

Although the Second and Third Squadrons had tried to copy the methods of the First, their capabilities were limited, and in many cases, they couldn't even define their own responsibilities clearly.

Without strong leadership to manage and suppress, they couldn't even handle something as simple as adjusting salaries, let alone implement the same division of duties as the First Squadron.

It was his first day taking over, and with the old leader still present, Nara couldn't make any major adjustments yet.

I'll start adjusting the squadrons tomorrow when I organize the meeting.

While the members of the Police Force below continued their reports, Nara was already thinking about the restructuring of the Second and Third Squadrons.

Regarding the Criminal Investigation Division, the seventeen-man squadron of the First Squadron was, for the most part, idle.

Nara planned to set the Criminal Investigation Division to exactly one seventeen-man squadron to handle major cases in Konoha, specifically under the First Division.

The Public Security Division would need more personnel, as it involved many matters concerning ordinary villagers.

In the three previous jurisdictions, he would leave one seventeen-man squadron in each. Compared to the previous seventy men, this would greatly reduce personnel and expenses.

For the Village Management Squadron, Nara planned to assign one small team of four to each of the three jurisdictions. Four people would manage the areas previously handled by seventy; he would raise their salaries slightly and have them recruit villagers or non-ninja personnel to assist in the management.

Village management was a thankless task that offended people, so the less the Uchiha were involved, the better. However, he wouldn't relinquish the power; he would simply have villagers or civilian genin do the work.

As for the guards at the weak points of the barrier, he could not give up that power. It involved Nara and his clansmen sneaking out of the village. Shimura Danzo often slipped out of the barrier to stay at a base outside the village, and Nara planned to learn from that old man's style.

The Military Police Force had three jurisdictions, each with a squadron of seventy, totaling two hundred and ten men.

Including the guards at the weak points of the barrier, there were fifteen such weak points.

Fifteen teams would rotate shifts, with four people per weak point working three shifts; one person per time slot, with the squad leader occasionally participating in the rotation, sometimes leaving two people on duty. That made sixty men in total.

The Konoha Prison had a staff of sixty, with five squads of twenty per shift, working three shifts.

Plus twenty people for various clerical, secretarial, assistant, consultant, and logistical roles.

The entire Military Police Force totaled over three hundred and fifty people. The annual salary for a police officer managing a jurisdiction was six hundred thousand ryo, which was considered on the higher end within the force.

As for many of the others, their salaries were extremely low. They stayed in the force entirely to avoid leaving the village or going to the battlefield, living off the salary while relying on occasional missions during their time off or handouts from the Great Elder.

A budget of one hundred and fifty million ryo was indeed quite low. With so many ninjas and departments in Konoha, the Military Police Force's funding was arguably the lowest.

The funding for the Anbu, the Medical Corps, and the mission commissions for regular ninjas—where S-rank missions paid at least a million ryo and sometimes as much as ten million—was far higher.

The Uchiha clansmen had indeed become somewhat lazy and averse to work. In the past, the clan elders would distribute secret missions to clan ninjas, usually providing ninja tools, Explosive Tags, Military Ration Pills, and commissions. Thus, the clansmen hadn't worried much about survival.

Now that the Uchiha had been in Konoha for nearly forty years, the purses of those elders were no longer as full as they once were. Everyone's wallets had shriveled.

Because of the Military Police Force, most clansmen fought tooth and nail just to get in, despite the meager salary.

During the ninja wars, they would even cling to a position in the Police Force without pay just to avoid the battlefield.

"Nara, what do you think about this matter?" Uchiha Sanzang suddenly patted Nara, asking for his opinion.

"Ah? What?" Nara had completely zoned out and hadn't heard a word of the trivial matters the others were reporting.

Sanzang looked displeased and said, "What do you think about the fact that some members feel the salary is too low?"

"If the salary is too low, why don't they just go to the Konoha Mission Hall and take on missions?" Nara asked, feeling puzzled.

A ninja below, who looked to be about thirty, frowned upon hearing this and said, "Lord Nara, we of the Uchiha are a prestigious clan in Konoha. Wouldn't performing D-rank missions like weeding or catching cats damage the dignity of our clan?"

Nara's brow furrowed.