The Clan Head Had to Be Sensible and Decisive

When Itachi and Shisui saw that Fugaku Uchiha had personally led the team, they both watched Fugaku Uchiha's every move closely.

They sincerely hoped that Fugaku Uchiha would handle this matter impartially.

However, when they saw the solemn expression on Fugaku Uchiha's face as he looked at the surrounding villagers with a hint of dissatisfaction, they were shocked.

Both of them felt a sudden jolt, and their brows furrowed involuntarily.

Lin Yan's expression held a hint of amusement.

Because he knew more about the situation than Itachi, Shisui, Kakashi, and others.

His Observation Haki allowed him to clearly hear Fugaku Uchiha's thoughts at that moment.

"These troublemakers... are truly beyond redemption!"

"The work of the Konoha Police Force is inherently tedious and arduous, and the Uchiha Clan has not yet fully recovered from the trauma of the Third Great Ninja War."

"The Konoha Police Force are already severely understaffed, which has greatly increased the workload of the team members."

"Why can't they put themselves in our shoes and think about things from our perspective?"

On the surface, Fugaku Uchiha appeared to be perfectly fine.

But at this moment, all sorts of negative thoughts kept popping into his mind.

Lin Yan heard all of these true thoughts clearly using her Observation Haki.

After a while, Fugaku Uchiha finished processing his negative emotions.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and politely stepped forward to untie the merchant who was tied up tightly.

He then said to him, "I'm sorry, my men went too far."

"However, you are indeed suspected of colluding with foreign enemies, and we need you to go back and cooperate with the investigation."

The merchant was somewhat taken aback when Fugaku Uchiha untied him.

I thought this man was reasonable.

He didn't want to escalate the situation, lest the conflict between the two sides further intensify.

I just wanted to complain a bit to vent my frustrations, and then leave.

But when he heard Fugaku Uchiha tell him to go back and be investigated as well, the merchant became anxious again.

"Are you kidding me! How could this be!"

"I am absolutely not a spy! Why are you taking me back without any evidence? I refuse to cooperate!!"

"This is my right!!"

The vendor protested loudly.

He also kept shouting to the surrounding crowd, trying to resonate with them.

As expected, the surrounding crowd erupted into a frenzy once again.

There were reasons why they were so agitated, and even willing to cooperate with the vendor in criticizing Fugaku Uchiha and his team.

One can glean some information from their shouts and criticisms.

"Your Konoha Police Force are acting recklessly!! We have no problems at all; we are all native inhabitants of the village, how could we possibly be spies?"

"Exactly! That's what you always say! You all claim we're suspected of colluding with foreign enemies, taking people back and detaining them for days, subjecting them to torture and even severe interrogation and beatings, only to find nothing in the end, without even an apology!!"

"Get out of here! We no longer believe your lies. You're clearly abusing your power. The Uchiha Clan should all get out of Konoha!!"

"We have many excellent ninjas in our village, and many clans capable of replacing the Uchiha Clan! We don't need you to serve as the Konoha Police Force!"

"You must release them today! We will never compromise again, and we will never allow your oppression to continue!!"

"..."

This was clearly not the first time these villagers had been treated this way.

Therefore, at this moment, the crowd was in an uproar, and everyone was angrily cursing the Uchiha Clan's Konoha Police Force for being unreasonable.

Many people accuse them of frequently arresting villagers arbitrarily on trumped-up charges, then detaining, torturing, and punishing them.

Faced with these accusations, Fugaku Uchiha and his eight subordinates all looked extremely grim.

His subordinate looked like he was about to lose his temper.

However, Fugaku Uchiha remained remarkably restrained.

He continued to try to communicate with the villagers, patiently explaining, "Everyone, there might really be a misunderstanding here."

"Our Konoha Police Force have always operated this way, as you all know. The current environment in the Ninja World is extremely complex, and the situation is very dangerous."

"Although the Third Great Ninja War has ended, other ninja villages are still eyeing Konoha covetously, constantly sending spies to try and steal our intelligence..."

"Faced with external pressure, the Konoha Police Force needed to safeguard the peace of the entire village and had no choice but to take some rather stringent measures."

"I hope everyone can truly understand how difficult our work is. Also..."

Fugaku Uchiha took a deep breath as he finished speaking.

He calmly and earnestly surveyed the villagers around him, and spoke again, "On behalf of all my team members, and on behalf of the entire Uchiha Clan, I apologize to you."

"We sincerely apologize for our previous rude behavior and unreasonable work attitude."

"I'm so sorry."

"I solemnly promise you all that, starting today, our Konoha Police Force will earnestly examine its mistakes and strive to ensure that similar unreasonable handling of affairs will not be repeated in the future..."

At this moment, Fugaku Uchiha completely abandoned his arrogance and the airs of being the head of his clan.

He bowed repeatedly to the villagers who had gathered around him.

As expected, after seeing Fugaku Uchiha's words and actions, the villagers who had been agitated all quieted down.

Although everyone's expressions still showed slight dissatisfaction, they seemed to approve of Fugaku Uchiha's actions.

At this point, everyone stopped criticizing the actions of the Uchiha Police Force and the entire Uchiha Clan.

Even the merchant who had been protesting and shouting just moments before expressed his understanding of the work of Fugaku Uchiha and his team.

Itachi, Kakashi, Shisui, and Lin Yan, who were secretly observing everything from the shadows, were all quite surprised by Fugaku Uchiha's performance.

At the same time, as Itachi watched his father's retreating figure, a hint of understanding and a touch of relief appeared in his dark eyes.

Shisui also expressed his approval of Fugaku Uchiha's approach.

"As expected, Fugaku's approach was more reasonable."

"If every member of the Konoha Police Force had this kind of patience and the decisiveness to handle problems, this conflict probably wouldn't have occurred..."

"That's what Shisui said with a sigh."