4:55 p.m.
The Konoha Military Police Force compound.
The group that had gone out to demand their captain's release returned in force.
Uchiha Yashiro was sent to the medical team to have his wounds treated.
Chikage, meanwhile, swaggered back into his vice-captain's office.
He pulled out his chair, sat down, and slapped the Payment Receipt bearing a red handprint onto his desk.
Three hundred and fifty thousand ryo.
Danzo's handwritten signature.
This thing was now the Konoha Military Police Force's prized possession. He had no intention of cashing it in immediately. Instead, he planned to frame it and hang it on their wall.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
Uchiha Hikari leaned halfway into the room, her face brimming with barely contained excitement.
"Vice-captain, word's spread everywhere!"
"The merchants on South Street heard you forced the Hokage Advisor to sign a Compensation Form. They're setting off firecrackers all over the street!"
"Several shopkeepers from other neighborhoods even came all this way to ask whether our Konoha Military Police Force collects protection money."
"They said they'd pay double if we could just drive Root away!"
Chikage picked up his teacup and took a sip.
"Nonsense."
"We're a legitimate law enforcement agency. Why would we collect protection money?"
"It's called a public security management fee."
"Go tell them the Konoha Military Police Force acts according to the law. We don't take so much as a needle or thread from the public."
"But if they voluntarily donate banners of appreciation, we'll gladly accept every one."
Uchiha Hikari nodded repeatedly, then turned and ran off to pass on the message.
Chikage glanced up at the clock on the wall.
4:59 p.m.
He immediately pulled open a drawer and locked the Payment Receipt inside.
Then he stood, put on his coat, and tidied his desk.
He completed the sequence in one smooth motion.
As the hour and minute hands overlapped on the number five.
Ding. Current time detected: 5:00 p.m. Today's on-time clock-out completed. Received 100 daily points.
Listening to the notifications in his head, Chikage felt wonderful.
He pushed open his office door and headed straight for the Konoha Military Police Force's main gate.
Today, he had knocked Danzo down a peg and picked up his perfect-attendance points along the way.
Now this was the kind of daily routine a working man deserved.
As for whether Danzo would be so furious he coughed up blood, that was outside his job description.
By then, Konoha's streets really were in an uproar.
Shimura Ken had been arrested for smashing up shops on South Street.
Root had overstepped its authority and arrested the captain of the Konoha Military Police Force.
The Uchiha vice-captain had led his men to the Hokage Building to demand an explanation.
The Hokage's assistant had been forced to sign a pledge to pay three hundred and fifty thousand ryo on someone else's behalf.
These bombshells quickly spread through every street and alley in Konoha.
Villagers gathered on street corners, whispering among themselves.
"Have you heard? Lord Danzo, the one who's always looking down his nose at everyone, finally met his match today!"
"How could I not have? Several merchants on South Street saw it themselves."
"That newly appointed Uchiha vice-captain stood in the Hokage's Office with a book of regulations, pointing right at Lord Danzo's face and lecturing him about the rules!"
"He even forced Lord Danzo to stamp his red handprint on it!"
"Good grief, since when did the Uchiha have someone like that?"
"They used to do nothing but glare at people. Now they've actually learned to talk about rules."
"Rules are good. As long as they follow the rules, ordinary people like us don't have to fear them."
Almost imperceptibly, public opinion began to shift.
The villagers had feared the Uchiha because they were heavy-handed and rarely bothered to explain themselves when conflicts arose.
Now that Chikage was acting according to regulations written in black and white, some villagers had instead caught a glimpse of another kind of fairness.
Even the Hokage Advisor had to sign when confronted with the regulations.
Wasn't that fairness?
Of course, some people still didn't trust the Uchiha.
They felt Chikage was merely using the South Street case to grab attention, and that the conflict between the Uchiha and the village leadership would erupt again sooner or later.
The top floor of the Hokage Building.
The atmosphere inside the office stood in stark contrast to the bustle outside.
Mitokado Homura paced back and forth in front of the desk.
His soles struck the wooden floor with an impatient rhythm.
Utatane Koharu sat on the sofa, holding a cup of tea that had gone completely cold, unable to drink a single sip.
"Hiruzen, just listen to that racket outside!"
Mitokado Homura stopped pacing and pointed toward the window.
"The whole village is talking about that Payment Receipt Danzo signed!"
"It's a slap in the face to all of us in the leadership!"
"The Hokage Advisor himself, forced by a Genin to pay for his clansman."
"What will the other shinobi clans think of us?"
"No one from the Hyuga Clan even stepped outside this afternoon. They're probably all sitting at home laughing at us!"
Utatane Koharu set down her teacup and let out a heavy sigh.
"Danzo was foolish, too."
"He just had to provoke the Uchiha at a time like this."
"And look what happened. Not only did he fail to keep their man under arrest, he gave the Uchiha an excuse to make a fuss."
"That Uchiha Chikage used the Second's regulations as a weapon."
"We didn't even have room to argue."
"If the Konoha Military Police Force sends Chikage out to recite regulations every time something happens, how are we supposed to run the village?"
The two went back and forth, their words full of anxiety over losing control of the situation.
The methods the Uchiha had displayed today gave them more of a headache than a simple threat of force.
Force could be suppressed.
But how were they supposed to suppress rules?
They couldn't very well publicly declare that Konoha's laws were invalid.
While the two advisers were beside themselves.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, seated behind the desk, seemed unusually calm.
Pipe in hand, he leisurely filled its bowl with tobacco.
He tamped down a small pinch of golden tobacco.
A match rasped across the striking strip with a soft hiss.
Hiruzen brought the flame close and took a draw.
The glow flickered inside the pipe.
He exhaled a thick cloud of bluish smoke, which slowly dispersed in the air.
"You two are getting less patient as you grow older."
Hiruzen tapped his pipe, his tone even.
Mitokado Homura froze for a moment.
"Hiruzen, at a time like this, you still feel like smoking?"
"The Uchiha are practically walking all over us!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi waved a hand, signaling for Mitokado Homura to sit.
"Homura, Koharu."
"You've let that Chikage lead you around by the nose with a few regulations."
"Things aren't as bad as you think."
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, a shrewd gleam flashing in his aged eyes.
"That Uchiha Chikage certainly has a way with words."
"He knows the village's laws inside out, and he's quick on his feet."
"But don't forget what he is."
Hiruzen extended a finger and tapped the desk twice.
"There's no need to panic yet."
"No matter how eloquent he is, no matter how well he knows the rules."
"At the end of the day, he's only a Genin in the Konoha Military Police Force."
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu exchanged a glance.
"What does being a Genin matter?"
Mitokado Homura looked utterly baffled.
"He still forced Danzo to bow his head today, Genin or not."
Hiruzen chuckled.
"That was because we were in the Hokage's Office today."
"In full view of everyone."
"He had case files, testimony, and regulations we ourselves had written."
"He was in the right, so we had to consider the repercussions."
"But in the shinobi world, what truly determines who has a say is ultimately strength."
"A Genin has limited chakra and knows only a few basic Three Body Techniques."
"As long as his actual strength doesn't exceed our intelligence assessment, he won't be able to stir up much trouble."
Hiruzen took another draw from his pipe.
Through the curling smoke, his expression looked inscrutable.
"As long as we leave his precious rules alone and make a few small adjustments to mission assignments and supply allocations."
"There are plenty of ways to make it impossible for him to remain vice-captain."
"And even in the worst-case scenario."
"Even if this Chikage really does have a few tricks hidden up his sleeve."
"The Uchiha Clan isn't a united front, either."
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