On the top floor of the Konoha Military Police Force building, inside the chief's conference room.
No one in the room spoke.
Bang!
Uchiha Yashiro slammed his palm onto the conference table, rattling the teacups. Veins throbbed on his forehead.
"Clan Leader! We can't go on like this!"
Yashiro roared,
"This morning, two civilian vegetable sellers on Konoha's East Street got into a fight over a stall."
"Our people went to settle it. Just because they spoke a little loudly, those two civilians ran to the Hokage Building and filed a joint complaint accusing us of excessive force!"
"Exactly!"
Uchiha Inabi chimed in,
"Every day, members of the Uchiha Clan get sent to find civilians' lost cats and dogs and settle arguments between neighbors."
"If anything doesn't go their way, they point in our faces and curse us out!"
The other senior officers of the Military Police Force nodded.
"These petty disputes drain our men's Chakra and energy, and they're eating into our training time!"
"It's a complete waste of the Uchiha's fighting strength! A disgrace!"
Ren sat calmly at the head of the table as he listened to his subordinates' angry complaints.
He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked around the room.
"Finished complaining?"
"If you know it wastes our fighting strength and stirs up resentment among civilians, why are you still holding on to these duties?" Ren looked straight at Yashiro.
Yashiro froze, bewildered.
"But... Clan Leader, the Second Hokage established these rules. The Military Police Force is responsible for every dispute in the village, big or small."
"The Second Hokage's rules? As of today, those rules are abolished!"
Ren rose from his seat and planted both hands on the conference table.
"I'm announcing a sweeping reform of the Military Police Force!"
"First, Uchiha Ninja will be removed entirely from civilian cases!"
The room erupted in shock.
"Removed? Then who's going to maintain order in the village?" Inabi asked, his eyes wide.
"Ordinary people will handle ordinary people!"
Ren swept his hand through the air, his voice ringing across the room.
"We'll establish a Civilian Police Office and openly recruit young villagers with no talent for ninjutsu."
"We'll pay them, give them basic training, and put them in charge of investigating disputes between civilians!"
"We'll also establish a Civilian Court. When civilians have a dispute, they can argue it out there and let civilian judges decide!"
The radical proposal left Yashiro, Inabi, and the others reeling.
"Shinobi are weapons built to kill. They're combatants!"
Ren pressed on, cutting straight to the heart of it.
"Using the noble Sharingan to settle civilian disputes is a criminal waste."
"And we shinobi act quickly and decisively. It's all too easy for our heavy-handed enforcement to inflame public resentment."
"Hand all these thankless chores to ordinary people. Let civilians manage civilians."
"Then the Hokage Building and those troublesome villagers will have no excuse to accuse the Uchiha of excessive force!"
No one in the room spoke.
Yashiro stared at Ren.
"You've struck at the root of the problem! It's brilliant!"
Inabi trembled with excitement, his fists clenched.
"Not only does it free our men to fight, it gets this blame off our backs! Clan Leader, you're a genius!"
"Clan Leader, you're a genius!"
The senior officers of the Military Police Force shouted in unison.
Ren continued.
"Once civilian matters are separated out, every elite Uchiha Ninja will be assigned to the Criminal Police Office!"
"From now on, we handle only serious cases and crimes committed by shinobi! That's the work the Uchiha should be doing!"
Inabi stepped forward.
"Clan Leader."
"If we handle serious cases, we're bound to run into the village's darker side."
"What do we do if ANBU or Root agents try to stop us during an investigation?"
"That old fox Danzo used to throw his weight around as a member of the Konoha Leadership."
"Even when we caught a criminal red-handed, they'd take him away on the grounds of 'village secrets.' Our men were furious, but they didn't dare say a word!"
At the mention of Danzo, the Uchiha in the room fell silent.
"Danzo? The leadership?"
Ren laughed. The crimson Three Tomoe in his eyes joined together, transforming into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Chakra swept through the room.
"Then let me make this clear!"
Ren pointed at Yashiro, Inabi, and the others.
"I'm bringing together the clan's finest fighters to form an entirely new, independent department—the Konoha Security Bureau!"
"The Konoha Security Bureau?" Everyone held their breath.
"That's right! It will be the Military Police Force's ultimate enforcement arm, answerable to me alone!"
Ren continued,
"I grant the Konoha Security Bureau special authority: suspicion is grounds for a search! Suspicion is grounds for arrest! Anyone who tries to obstruct an investigation and dares to resist can be killed on the spot, without seeking permission!"
Suspicion was grounds for arrest! Resistance meant death!
Yashiro and Inabi were stunned speechless.
"Clan Leader... th-that's too much power!"
Yashiro swallowed, his voice trembling.
"If the Security Bureau's investigations lead to Danzo and the Konoha Leadership..."
"What if they do?!"
Ren cut Yashiro off.
"Danzo and the Konoha Leadership are the Konoha Security Bureau's primary targets!"
"Don't they love abusing their power and pulling rank?"
Ren drove his fist into the conference table, splintering the solid wood.
"Then we'll crush their authority with force."
"Remember this: only force can stand against force! Only an enforcement agency can keep another enforcement agency in check!"
Every Uchiha elite stared at the man standing before the shattered table.
"Only force can stand against force!"
"Take them down! Investigate them all the way! Kill anyone who gets in our way!"
"Long live the Security Bureau! Long live the Clan Leader!"
Word of the upheaval within the Uchiha spread quickly through Konoha.
At the Hyuga Clan Compound, inside a Japanese-style courtyard.
Hyuga Hiashi, the leader of the Hyuga clan, sat on the tatami in his study.
Before him, a ninja from the Hyuga Branch Family knelt on one knee, reporting the news from the Military Police Force.
"Clan Leader, the Uchiha have been shaken to their core!"
Cold sweat beaded on the branch family ninja's forehead.
"Fugaku Uchiha stepped down, and Uchiha Ren took over as the new clan leader."
"Just now, Ren completely reformed the Military Police Force. He established a Civilian Police Office to handle civilians, and..."
The branch family ninja continued,
"He gathered the Uchiha's fighters and formed the Konoha Security Bureau, granting them the authority to arrest on suspicion and kill anyone who resists."
"He even declared that Danzo and the rest of the Konoha Leadership are its primary targets!"
Crack!
The white porcelain teacup in Hiashi's hand shattered.
Tea and porcelain shards spilled across the tatami.
He looked out the window.
"Remove civilian duties and free up his fighters... establish a Security Bureau and aim it at the leadership..."
Hiashi murmured,
"What ruthless methods. What audacity. Uchiha Ren forced Fugaku to step down and made the Konoha Leadership change its stance. This new clan leader is no ordinary man!"
As the head of one of Konoha's two great dōjutsu clans, Hiashi knew all too well how tightly the Konoha Leadership had suppressed the Uchiha.
For Ren to break out of such a desperate position and even turn the tables took extraordinary skill.
"Clan Leader, is this Uchiha Ren really that frightening?" the branch family ninja asked. "He's still so young..."
"Young?"
Hiashi shook his head as a memory surfaced.
"You never experienced the bloodiest battlefields of the Third Shinobi World War. Of course you don't understand what kind of Monster that man is."
Hiashi's voice grew grave.
During the battle on the border of the Land of Earth, when Konoha's survival hung in the balance, its forces had encountered Iwagakure's main army.
The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of Both Scales, had personally taken command, floating high above the battlefield.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
The white beam in Ōnoki's hands broke through Konoha's defensive line. Countless Konoha Ninja fell beneath the light of Dust Release.
Then, at the moment when everyone thought Konoha was doomed,
a young man named Uchiha Ren stepped onto the front line.
Hiashi would never forget that sight.
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and thunder rolled through them.
Ren pointed one hand skyward, his Chakra resonating with the lightning.
"Lightning Release: Kirin!"
At Ren's furious shout, a beast formed from lightning came crashing down!
The thunder shattered Ōnoki's Dust Release defense and struck the Third Tsuchikage, sending him plummeting to the ground.
A single strike had turned the entire battle around!
"He drove back the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, with Lightning Release: Kirin during the Third Shinobi World War. That feat proved how terrifyingly strong he was long ago."
Hiashi pulled himself back from the memory.
"Now he controls the Uchiha Clan... Konoha is about to change."
As Hiashi reflected on this,
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the study door. A Hyuga elder entered, holding a black invitation edged in gold with both hands.
"Clan Leader, the Uchiha Clan sent an invitation."
The Hyuga elder handed it over. "It's an invitation to celebrate the new clan leader Ren's succession."
Hiashi accepted the invitation.
At the same time, across Konoha,
Shikaku Nara examined the invitation in his hand at the Ino-Shika-Cho clans' compound.
The Aburame Clan, the Inuzuka Clan, and even Hiruzen Sarutobi in the Hokage Building received the same invitation.
Not a single clan in Konoha had been overlooked!
The leaders of the Major Clans studied the invitations in their hands.
Each looked forward to seeing what this young genius could truly do at the unprecedented celebration.
Before you continue