Police Department Reform, Konoha Security Bureau!

Inside the ministerial conference room on the top floor of the Konoha Military Police Force headquarters.

No one spoke in the conference room.

Bang!

Uchiha Yashiro slammed a palm onto the conference table, making the teacups rattle. Veins bulged on his forehead.

"Clan Head! We can't go on like this!"

Yashiro roared.

"This morning, two civilians selling vegetables on East Street got into a fight over a stall."

"When Military Police Force officers went to mediate, we only raised our voices a little, and those two civilians ran to the Hokage Building to file a joint complaint accusing us of violent law enforcement!"

"That's right!"

Uchiha Inabi chimed in.

"Every day, the Uchiha Clan gets sent to help civilians find their lost cats and dogs and handle neighborhood disputes."

"If things don't go their way even slightly, they point at our faces and curse us out!"

The other senior officials of the Military Police Force nodded one after another.

"These trivial, irritating matters not only drain our brothers' chakra and energy dry, they even eat into our daily training time!"

"This is simply wasting Uchiha combat strength! It's a disgrace beyond bearing!"

Listening to his subordinates' furious complaints, Lu Ming sat calmly at the head of the table.

He lifted his teacup, took a sip, and looked around the room.

"Are you done complaining?"

"If you know this wastes combat strength, and if you know it stirs up public resentment, then why are you still clinging to these matters?" Lu Ming stared directly at Yashiro.

Yashiro froze, his face full of disbelief.

"But... Clan Head, these were rules laid down by the Second Hokage. The Military Police Force's duty is to handle every dispute in the village, big or small."

"The Second Hokage's rules? As of today, those rules are abolished!"

Lu Ming rose from his seat at the head of the table and planted both hands on the conference table.

"I hereby announce a sweeping, thorough reform of the Military Police Force!"

"The first step is to completely separate Uchiha ninja from civilians' civil cases!"

The entire room was stunned.

"Separate them? Then who will maintain order in the village?" Inabi's eyes widened.

"Ordinary people will manage ordinary people!"

Lu Ming swept out a hand, his voice echoing through the conference room.

"We will establish a dedicated Civilian Police Office and openly recruit young ordinary people in the village who lack talent for ninjutsu."

"We'll pay them salaries, give them basic training, and have them handle civil investigations between civilians!"

"At the same time, we'll establish Civilian Courts. If civilians have disputes, let them argue in court themselves and let civilian judges rule on them!"

Hearing this revolutionary idea, Yashiro, Inabi, and the others felt their minds go blank.

"Ninja are weapons of killing. They are combat units!"

Lu Ming pressed on, striking at the heart of the issue.

"Having the noble Sharingan handle civil disputes is a terrible waste."

"Besides, we ninja act swiftly and decisively. It's all too easy for rough law enforcement to inflame public resentment."

"Throw all these annoying chores to ordinary people and let civilians manage civilians themselves."

"That way, the Hokage Building and those troublesome civilians will never again find an excuse to accuse the Uchiha of violent law enforcement!"

No one spoke in the conference room.

Yashiro looked at Lu Ming.

"Pulling the rug out from under them! This is a stroke of genius!"

Inabi trembled with excitement, fists clenched tight.

"Not only does this completely free up our brothers' combat strength, it also perfectly shifts the blame away! Clan Head, you are wise!"

"Clan Head, you are wise!!!"

All the senior officials of the Military Police Force shouted in unison.

Lu Ming continued.

"After civil matters are separated out, all elite Uchiha ninja will be assigned to the Criminal Police Office!"

"From now on, we will only handle major cases and arrest ninja criminals! That is the core work the Uchiha should be doing!"

Inabi stepped forward.

"Clan Head."

"If we only handle major cases, we will inevitably touch upon the village's darker side."

"What if ANBU or Root personnel interfere with our investigations?"

"In the past, that old fox Danzo often used his status within the Konoha Leadership to throw his weight around."

"Even when we caught criminals with irrefutable evidence, they would forcibly take them away under the pretext of 'village secrets.' The brothers were furious, but none dared speak out!"

At the mention of Danzo, the Uchiha present fell silent.

"Danzo? The leadership?"

Lu Ming smiled. The scarlet Three Tomoe in his eyes connected and transformed into the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Chakra swept across the entire room.

"I'll make this clear today!"

Lu Ming pointed at Yashiro, Inabi, and the others.

"I will gather the finest combat strength in the clan and form a brand-new independent department—the Konoha Security Bureau!"

"The Konoha Security Bureau?" Everyone held their breath.

"That's right! It will serve as the ultimate instrument of violence of our Military Police Force and answer to me alone!"

Lu Ming continued.

"I grant the Konoha Security Bureau special authority: suspicion is grounds for a search! Suspicion is grounds for arrest! Anyone who attempts to obstruct an investigation, if they dare resist, may be killed on the spot without seeking permission!"

Arrest on suspicion! Kill anyone who resisted!

The moment those words were spoken, Yashiro and Inabi were completely dumbfounded.

"Clan Head... th-this authority is far too great!"

Yashiro swallowed, his voice trembling.

"If the Security Bureau's blade reaches Danzo and the Konoha Leadership..."

"So what if it reaches them?!"

Lu Ming cut Yashiro off.

"The Konoha Security Bureau's core target is Danzo and the Konoha Leadership!"

"Don't they love playing with power and using their positions to bully others?"

Lu Ming smashed a fist into the conference table, splitting the solid wood surface into pieces.

"Then we will use violence to crush their power."

"Remember my principle: only violence can fight violence! Only law enforcement agencies can check law enforcement agencies!"

All the Uchiha elites looked at the man standing before the shattered conference table.

"Only violence can fight violence!"

"Kill! Investigate to the end! Kill anyone who dares get in our way!"

"Long live the Security Bureau! Long live the Clan Head!!!"

The Uchiha's drastic changes swiftly spread throughout Konoha.

Within the Hyuga compound, in a Japanese-style courtyard.

The head of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Hiashi, sat upright on the tatami mats in his study.

Before him, a Hyuga branch-family ninja knelt on one knee, reporting intelligence from the Military Police Force.

"Clan Head, the Uchiha side has been hit by an earthquake!"

Cold sweat covered the branch-family ninja's forehead.

"Fugaku Uchiha has stepped down, and Uchiha Lu Ming has succeeded him as the new clan head."

"Just moments ago, Lu Ming carried out a complete reform of the Military Police Force, establishing a Civilian Police Office specifically for dealing with civilians, and..."

The branch-family ninja continued.

"And he gathered Uchiha combat strength to form the Konoha Security Bureau, granting them the special authority to 'arrest on suspicion and kill resisters on the spot.'"

"He even declared that its core target is Danzo and the rest of the Konoha Leadership!"

Crack!

The white porcelain teacup in Hiashi's hand shattered.

Tea and porcelain shards spilled across the tatami.

He looked out the window.

"Separating civil matters and freeing up combat strength... establishing a Security Bureau and pointing its blade at the leadership..."

Hiashi murmured to himself.

"What ruthless methods! What domineering resolve! This new Uchiha clan head, Uchiha Lu Ming, who forced Fugaku to step down and made the Konoha Leadership change its attitude, is no ordinary man!"

As the leader of one of Konoha's two great dojutsu clans, Hiashi knew all too well how tightly the Konoha Leadership suppressed the Uchiha.

To forcibly break open the situation in such desperate circumstances and even seize the initiative in return, Lu Ming's methods were extraordinary.

"Clan Head, is this Uchiha Lu Ming truly that frightening?" the branch-family ninja asked. "He is still so young..."

"Young?"

Hiashi shook his head as a memory surfaced in his mind.

"You did not experience the most brutal battlefields of the Third Shinobi World War, so naturally you do not understand what kind of monster that man truly is."

Hiashi's voice became incomparably solemn.

During the border campaign in the Land of Earth that decided Konoha's survival, Konoha's forces encountered Iwagakure's main army.

The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of Both Scales, personally led them, floating in midair.

"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"

The white beam in Ōnoki's hands shattered Konoha's defensive line. Countless Konoha ninja fell beneath the light of Dust Release.

Just when everyone believed Konoha's defeat was certain, at that life-or-death moment.

The young man named Uchiha Lu Ming stepped onto the front line.

Hiashi would never forget that scene.

Dark clouds filled the sky, and lightning churned within them.

Lu Ming pointed at the heavens with one hand, his chakra resonating with the lightning.

"Lightning Release: Kirin!"

Along with Lu Ming's furious shout, a thunder beast formed from lightning crashed down!

The lightning shattered Ōnoki's Dust Release defenses, driving the Third Tsuchikage back and slamming him into the ground.

With a single strike, he completely turned the tide of the battle!

"His feat of repelling the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki with Lightning Release: Kirin during the Third Shinobi World War had long proven his terrifying strength."

Hiashi pulled his thoughts back from memory to reality.

"Now that he holds the Uchiha Clan's power in his hands... Konoha's skies are about to change."

Just as Hiashi was lost in thought.

Knock, knock, knock.

The study door was knocked upon. A Hyuga elder entered, holding a black invitation with gold trim in both hands.

"Clan Head, the Uchiha Clan has sent an invitation."

The Hyuga elder presented it to him. "It is an invitation to the succession celebration of Lu Ming, the Uchiha's new clan head."

Hiashi accepted the invitation.

At the same time, throughout every corner of Konoha.

Within the compounds of the Ino-Shika-Cho families, Shikaku Nara looked at the invitation in his hand.

The Aburame Clan, the Inuzuka Clan, and even Hiruzen Sarutobi in the Hokage Building all received the invitation at the same time.

Not a single Konoha clan was left out!

The heads of the major clans looked at the invitations in their hands.

One after another, they eagerly anticipated witnessing this young genius's true capabilities firsthand at this unprecedentedly grand celebration.