I've never heard such a pathetic request in my life

The young police officer looked at the pitch-black steel baton in Chikage's hand.

He swallowed.

"Deputy captain, are we really going just like this?"

"Shouldn't we notify Clan Head Fugaku?"

"The Shimura have plenty of people, and Root is backing them from the shadows."

Chikage headed out, baton in hand.

"What would we notify the clan head for?"

"Does a little street brawl really warrant troubling the clan head to come out himself?"

"Then what would anyone need the Konoha Military Police Force for?"

"If anyone dares stop me from getting off work on time today..."

"I'll make sure they spend the rest of their life in a wheelchair."

South Street.

The once-bustling shopping street was now a wreck.

Stalls on both sides of the street had been overturned.

Fresh fruit and vegetables lay scattered everywhere.

Passing villagers kept their distance, gathering at the street corners to point and whisper.

Outside a Ninja Tool Shop displaying the clan's fan crest.

Several young men in civilian clothes were brazenly throwing Kunai and Shuriken from the shop into the street.

Their leader was a young man with blond hair.

Shimura Ken.

The Shimura Clan's notorious thug.

Relying on Danzo's position in the village, he routinely bullied men and harassed women.

"Smash it!"

"Smash every last bit of it!"

"Aren't the Uchiha supposed to be so cocky?"

"Come arrest me if you've got the guts!"

Shimura Ken kicked over the sign outside the shop.

The wooden sign hit the bluestone paving and broke in two.

The Uchiha shopkeeper was an elderly man.

Clutching his bleeding forehead, he glared furiously at Shimura Ken.

"You pack of bandits!"

"The Konoha Military Police Force won't let you get away with this!"

Shimura Ken burst out laughing.

He walked up to the old man and looked down at him.

"The Konoha Military Police Force?"

"That commander of yours, Yashiro or whatever, is probably having tea in a Root interrogation room right now!"

"You Uchiha are about to get kicked out."

"From now on, our Shimura Clan makes the rules on South Street!"

"If you don't hand over the protection money today, I'll tear your shop apart!"

Just as Shimura Ken reached for the old man's collar.

A lazy voice drifted over from the other end of the street.

"Quite a lively scene."

"Celebrating the move early?"

Shimura Ken turned.

He saw a black-haired youth in a Konoha Military Police Force uniform strolling toward him.

He was dragging a black steel baton in one hand.

The baton scraped against the bluestone paving with an ear-piercing screech.

Several trembling Uchiha police officers who had remained on duty followed behind him.

Shimura Ken looked Chikage up and down.

He couldn't help snorting with laughter.

"And here I was wondering who it was."

"It's that famous useless Uchiha clerk."

"What's wrong? Has your Konoha Military Police Force run out of people?"

"They're even sending out a paper pusher to fill the ranks?"

Chikage stopped five paces away from Shimura Ken.

He planted the steel baton on the ground.

His gaze swept over the wreckage strewn across the street.

Then settled on Shimura Ken's face.

"Shimura Ken, correct?"

"Openly vandalizing a shop and extorting its owner."

"Under Article Three of the Konoha Public Security Administration Regulations."

"You are now formally under arrest."

"Hands on your head. Squat down."

Chikage's tone was perfectly even.

He sounded as though he were reading out a dry patrol report.

Shimura Ken froze for a moment.

Then he erupted into even more brazen laughter.

The Shimura clansmen behind him roared with laughter too.

"Arrest me?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I'll stand right here and let you arrest me. Do you dare lay a finger on me?"

"The moment you touch me, the Root agents watching from the shadows can charge you with police brutality!"

Shimura Ken swaggered two steps forward.

He thrust his face right up to Chikage's.

His finger jabbed hard at the fan crest on Chikage's chest.

"Come on."

"Arrest me."

"Just try laying a hand on me!"

Chikage looked at the arrogant face mere inches from his own.

He sighed.

"I've never heard such a pathetic request in my life."

The moment the words left his mouth.

Chikage flicked his wrist sharply.

The Fine Steel Baton planted on the ground swept up with a piercing whistle.

From below.

It slammed squarely into Shimura Ken's left shin.

Crack!

The sickening sound of breaking bone rang out clearly through the quiet street.

It was so crisp that everyone's scalp prickled.

The smile froze on Shimura Ken's face.

His eyes bulged.

His entire face twisted with excruciating pain.

His left leg snapped backward at the middle.

He lost his balance and toppled straight to the ground.

"Aah!"

"Aah!" His agonized screams echoed over South Street.

Clutching his broken left leg, Shimura Ken rolled back and forth across the bluestone paving.

The noisy street fell deathly silent.

Every villager watching held their breath.

The elderly Uchiha whose shop had been smashed gaped, forgetting even to wipe the blood from his forehead.

The young police officers behind Chikage stared with their eyes wide.

Who would have thought that Deputy Captain Chikage, who usually drank tea and read newspapers in the office and found even raising his voice too tiring.

Could be so ruthless.

Without so much as a perfunctory warning, he had gone straight in and broken Shimura Ken's leg.

Chikage stood where he was and gave his wrist a slight turn.

The baton forged from fine steel spun through a graceful flourish in midair.

A few beads of blood on its tip dripped onto the bluestone paving.

"You... you actually dared to hit him!"

The lackeys behind Shimura Ken finally came to their senses.

They pointed at Chikage, their voices trembling noticeably.

One of the slightly braver ones drew a Kunai from his waist.

"Brothers, get him!"

"Take down this worthless Uchiha who doesn't know his place and hand him over to Lord Danzo!"

Shouting threats, they took a step forward.

Chikage didn't even lift his eyelids. He merely drove his baton hard against the ground.

A sharp clang brought them to an abrupt halt.

"Article Seven of the Konoha Public Security Administration Regulations."

Chikage spoke unhurriedly, his tone as flat as if he were reading from a textbook.

"Gathering a crowd to cause trouble and resisting law enforcement with weapons constitute aggravated offenses."

"Under the regulations, the Konoha Military Police Force is authorized to kill those resisting arrest on the spot."

He raised his head, sweeping his gaze across the lackeys' faces.

"You're a bunch of street punks who aren't even Genin. Are you sure you want to fight an officially appointed deputy captain?"

"Even if I beat every last one of you to death here today."

"The report I submit will say only this: violent resistance to law enforcement, executed on the spot."

"Not only will the village not punish me, it'll have to give me a bonus."

The lackeys exchanged looks, their hands trembling around their Kunai.

The Uchiha name was intimidating enough on its own.

The man before them might have been notoriously useless, but he was wearing a Konoha Military Police Force uniform.

If he really beat them to death in the street, they would die for nothing.

"Get out of the way."

Chikage waved a hand, his voice dripping with impatience.

"Don't interfere with my case. I've still got to get off work."