Toru, a blade isn't for proving you're right

A blank record sheet lay on the table.

Kawahara Takuma did not take it right away.

The watching crowd fell silent too.

For a moment just now, everyone had thought Uchiha Toru would draw his blade.

Some had even taken half a step back, waiting for a clash between the police force and the visiting trading company's guards.

But what Uchiha Gen held out was not a kunai.

It was a pen.

"Well?"

Uchiha Gen looked at Kawahara Takuma.

"You just said our procedures were delaying the distribution of medicinal supplies. The police force is willing to record your accusation and verify it."

Kawahara Takuma smiled.

"It was just an offhand remark."

"Then write that it was an offhand remark."

Uchiha Gen pushed the record sheet an inch closer.

"Your name, trading company of origin, the batches of medicinal supplies you handled, and the times and places where you believe delays occurred."

Kawahara Takuma's smile faded a little.

Uchiha Toru stood beside them, his hand still frozen near his sword hilt.

Uchiha Gen stopped looking at Kawahara Takuma and turned to him instead.

"Toru, you handle this."

Uchiha Toru froze.

"Me?"

"You're the police force member on the scene."

Uchiha Gen said, "Someone has publicly questioned police procedures. Handle it according to procedure."

Uchiha Toru's expression instantly turned even uglier than before.

He could keep a crowd in check, escort medicinal supplies, or stop a clash.

But holding a record sheet and questioning someone felt more awkward than taking a slash.

A trace of amusement flashed in Kawahara Takuma's eyes.

He had figured it out.

Uchiha Toru was not that sort of person.

This Uchiha boy was better suited to drawing a blade than holding a pen.

But Uchiha Gen did not back down.

"Toru."

His voice grew grave.

"A blade isn't for proving you're right."

At those words, Uchiha Toru finally moved his hand away from his sword hilt.

He took a deep breath and picked up the clipboard.

"Name."

Kawahara Takuma raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't I already tell you? Kawahara Takuma."

Uchiha Toru gripped the pen and wrote with heavy strokes.

"Trading company of origin."

"The Kawahara Trading Company, from the western border of the Land of Fire."

"Batches of medicinal supplies handled."

Kawahara Takuma spread his hands. "I'm just a guard. How would I remember that much detail?"

Uchiha Toru nearly looked up to glare at him again.

Beside him, Uchiha Gen said calmly, "If he doesn't remember, write that he doesn't remember."

Uchiha Toru gritted his teeth and wrote it down.

Batches of medicinal supplies handled: claims not to remember.

Someone in the watching crowd gave a quiet chuckle.

They were not laughing at the Uchiha.

They were beginning to feel that Kawahara Takuma's earlier words were not so well-founded.

Uchiha Toru continued, "Which instance of our procedures do you believe delayed the distribution of medicinal supplies?"

Kawahara Takuma said, "There were plenty of delays today."

"Which specific instance?"

"I told you, plenty."

A vein twitched at Uchiha Toru's temple.

He finally understood why Gen always said to make the other person be specific.

Vague statements could do a lot of damage.

But once they went down on paper, they had to come down to a time, a place, and a person.

Kawahara Takuma did not want to pin anything down.

Because verification was not what he wanted.

He wanted emotion.

"Please state the specific time and place."

Uchiha Toru spoke each word distinctly.

The smile vanished from Kawahara Takuma's face.

"So now the Uchiha Konoha Military Police Force has to register even a casual opinion?"

This time, Uchiha Toru did not lose his temper.

He lowered his head and wrote.

The accuser refused to specify a time or place, describing his statement as a casual opinion.

Kawahara Takuma's gaze finally darkened.

Uchiha Gen turned to the watching crowd.

"We need two witnesses who aren't Uchiha."

The middle-aged ninja from the Transport Squad stepped forward first.

"I'll do it."

A woman who had been queuing for medicine earlier also hesitantly raised her hand.

"I can too."

Uchiha Toru glanced at them and carefully wrote down their names as witnesses.

"You heard what he said?"

The Transport Squad ninja nodded.

"Yes. He said the procedures caused delays, but he couldn't say which batch of medicine."

The woman also said quietly, "He said the wounded couldn't afford to wait. I thought some crate of medicine really had been held up."

Uchiha Toru wrote that down too.

After he finished, he suddenly felt that the anger in his chest was not as stifling as before.

It was not that he was no longer angry.

His anger was simply no longer being steered by the other man.

Kawahara Takuma took half a step back.

"Seems even speaking your mind isn't easy in Konoha these days."

Uchiha Toru looked up.

This time, he did not reach for his blade.

"Speaking is easy."

He turned the clipboard toward Kawahara Takuma.

"I wrote down everything you just said."

The crowd fell silent again.

The words sounded clumsy.

Yet they blocked Kawahara Takuma's escape perfectly.

It wasn't that he couldn't speak.

He had spoken.

He just couldn't explain himself clearly.

Uchiha Gen watched Uchiha Toru, the faintest hint of a smile flashing in his eyes.

This was harder than drawing a blade.

And more useful too.

Kawahara Takuma did not keep arguing.

He quickly recovered his smile.

"Then let's say I was wrong."

"Write that down too."

Uchiha Toru immediately lowered his head.

The accuser revised his statement to "let's say I was wrong."

The corner of Kawahara Takuma's mouth finally twitched.

Several nearby villagers could not help chuckling quietly.

This time, there was no fear in their laughter.

Instead, there was a subtle sense of relief at seeing a troublemaker held in check by procedure.

Kawahara Takuma turned and left.

Uchiha Toru watched him go, his fingers still gripping the pen.

"Gen."

"Mm."

"If I'd really drawn my blade just now, would it have been all over?"

"Not all over."

Uchiha Gen said, "But he'd have been halfway to winning."

Uchiha Toru fell silent for a moment.

"I used to think not drawing my blade meant I was a coward."

"And now?"

Uchiha Toru looked at the clipboard.

"Now I think sometimes not drawing it is even more frustrating."

Uchiha Gen said nothing.

Uchiha Toru grinned.

"But it also feels more satisfying."

Standing beside them, Uchiha Ryo gave a rare nod.

"At least he didn't get the scene he wanted."

Uchiha Makoto filed the record as an attachment to the daily report, giving it a clear heading.

A guard from an outside trading company publicly questioned police procedures but could not specify the batches, times, or places involved.

Below were the witnesses' signatures.

A Transport Squad member.

A Resettlement Zone villager.

A member of the Hokage's Anbu.

That evening, the record was also posted beside the wooden board in the Resettlement Zone.

Quite a few villagers gathered to read it.

Some still thought the police force's procedures were a hassle.

But at least this time, they had seen something else with their own eyes.

The Uchiha had not drawn their blades.

The Uchiha had made the other man put his words clearly in writing.

After reading it, a man queuing for medicine muttered, "Written out like this, it seems there's nothing we can't ask about."

The woman beside him replied, "Questions are fine. Just don't scare people for no reason."

Those two remarks were quiet.

So quiet they were almost swallowed by the noise of the Resettlement Zone.

But Uchiha Toru heard them.

He stood beside the wooden board, still holding the pen he had used that day.

In the past, he had been more used to hearing that people feared the Uchiha.

Today, for the first time, someone had said that Uchiha procedures gave them the courage to ask questions.

The feeling was unfamiliar.

So unfamiliar that, for a moment, he did not know where to put his hands.

Uchiha Gen walked over to him.

"Still think a pen is useless?"

Uchiha Toru looked down at the pen in his hand and snorted.

"Doesn't feel as natural as a blade."

"But it worked better than a blade today."

Uchiha Toru did not argue.

After a moment, he handed the pen to Uchiha Makoto.

"Keep it safe."

He paused, then added, "I'll need it again tomorrow."

Kawahara Takuma stood outside the crowd, the easy smile he had worn during the day gone from his face.

He knew his plan to provoke a conflict had failed.

He would have to try another approach.

That night, he returned to the caravan's temporary lodgings and took a medicinal herb transfer sheet he had prepared long ago from the bottom of a chest.

There were figures on it.

Signatures, too.

And batch records that appeared complete.

Kawahara Takuma spread out the transfer sheet, dipped his brush in ink, and added a few words to one of the lines.

Temporarily impounded by the Uchiha Konoha Military Police Force.

He blew the ink dry and chuckled softly.

"Since words won't settle this."

"Let's have the accounts do the talking."