Daring to Look the Sharingan in the Eye

Konoha, the Uchiha Clan Compound, the Meeting Hall.

Uchiha En sat at the head of the table, a stack of reports spread before him.

They came from the Konoha Military Police Force's five districts—east, south, west, north, and central. Population registries, street-vendor zones, public-security patrol records: he turned through them page by page, everything clearly organized.

A roster lay at the corner of the table, listing the new personnel brought in two days earlier.

He picked it up, flipped through it, then set it down.

"Have you assigned personnel to each district the way I told you?"

"Yes."

Yashiro stood to one side. "We've spread the non-Uchiha recruits across all five districts. The captains are all clan members, and the deputy captains were promoted from among the outsiders."

"Promote the Chunin who arrested Matsumoto Takeshi and his son yesterday to squad leader. He's got courage. It'll also show everyone that hard work can earn them a promotion."

"A brilliant move, Clan Head. It rewards that Chunin while showing the public that the Konoha Military Police Force promotes people on merit."

Uchiha En nodded and was about to speak.

A burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Uchiha Takuma pushed it open and entered, his face grave and a small slip of paper clenched in his hand.

"Clan Head!"

Uchiha En looked up. "What is it?"

"The Ninja Cat intelligence network... found something."

Takuma strode to the table and placed the slip of paper on it. "A Ninja Cat at the southern lookout sent word. Several unfamiliar Chakra signatures have appeared outside the village and are moving toward Konoha."

He paused, then added something else.

"The Ninja Cat also said those Chakra signatures came from the border."

"The border?"

Yashiro frowned. "The border town is a long way from