"You're opening recruitment for the Konoha Military Police Force?" The Third Hokage rested his hand on the edge of the document without turning the page.
Sasuke pushed his hand aside. "It's not what I want. It's what Konoha needs."
Mitokado Homura's seat was already empty, and Utatane Koharu's had been sealed off. Two familiar faces were gone from the elders' table, yet the Hokage Building felt more stifling than ever.
Hiashi picked up the document. "Police Force examinations will be open to civilian ninja, ninja without clan affiliations, and anyone with a clean mission record."
Shikaku turned to the next page, his eyelid twitching. "Triple the base salary, advanced ninjutsu scrolls in exchange for merit, disability compensation paid from seized Root funds. Sasuke, you're throwing money at people."
"Danzo's money," Sasuke corrected him. "He owes Konoha."
The Third Hokage finally spoke. "The Police Force falls under Uchiha authority by charter. Expanding recruitment requires the Hokage's approval."
Sasuke set the old document before him. "Independent law enforcement authority, temporary expansion authority, and special personnel authorization during the hunt for rogue ninja. All Three Seals are here, along with Lord Hokage's handwriting."
The Third Hokage stared at the seals, his eyelids trembling violently.
"That was for investigating Danzo."
"Danzo is still alive." Sasuke closed the document. "So it remains valid."
Shikaku did not take a position right away. He looked at Sasuke. "How many do you intend to recruit?"
"Three hundred in the first intake."
The Third Hokage slammed the table. "Absurd! You'll drain Konoha's active ninja ranks!"
"The ANBU won't accept elite civilian ninja, regular mission teams distribute resources based on pedigree, and Root used to recruit through kidnapping and brainwashing." Sasuke looked out the window. "I'm opening a door and giving them a path. How is that absurd?"
Hiashi put down the document. "The Hyuga support this. Once the Police Force expands, the Hyuga Branch Family can send people to participate."
Shikaku sighed. "The Nara have no objections, but the examination rules must be public."
"Of course they'll be public." Sasuke turned and headed out. "The notice goes up today. Examinations begin tomorrow. Any obstruction from the Hokage Building will be treated as interference with the pursuit of a rogue ninja."
The Third Hokage stood. "Sasuke!"
Sasuke stopped in the doorway.
The Third Hokage stared at his back. "Doing this will divide the village."
Sasuke looked back at him. "Root already divided the village into people who could be sacrificed and people who could give orders. All I'm doing now is tearing down the door."
In the square, Police Force personnel put up a noticeboard.
Yamada Naoto pasted up a notice with black lettering on a red background. Before he had even smoothed it flat, spectators had crowded around it in a semicircle.
Someone read softly, "The Police Force is opening recruitment to the public. Civilian Chunin, Genin, and Special Jōnin may all apply..."
"Triple the salary?"
"Ninjutsu scrolls for merit? Is that real?"
"Disability compensation registered the same day and paid within three days?"
The crowd grew thicker and thicker.
A young man in a green bodysuit pushed through the crowd, his eyes blazing with startling intensity.
"Youth's opportunity has finally arrived! I, Might Guy, am applying!"
Yamada Naoto glanced at him. "You're a Special Jōnin on a regular mission team?"
"That's right!"
"A Taijutsu specialist?"
"Youth has nothing to hide!"
Sasuke came down the steps. "Take him."
Yamada Naoto immediately registered him. "Might Guy, candidate for Taijutsu instructor in the first intake."
Guy froze. "Instructor?"
"Civilian ninja lack resources, training grounds, and people who can turn grueling practice into results." Sasuke looked at him. "You're just the man for it."
Guy's eyes instantly reddened. "Sasuke-kun, you acknowledge my youth?"
"I acknowledge your combat record." Sasuke handed him an examination form. "Don't shout slogans here. If you can fight, teach, and follow the rules, you can stay."
Guy accepted the form with both hands. "I'll prove myself!"
The application line soon stretched to the end of the street.
Someone clutched a Genin forehead protector, freshly dried mud still clinging to their fingers.
"Can I apply? I don't have a clan."
Yamada Naoto pointed to the notice. "As long as you have no criminal record and a clean mission history, you can get in line."
A middle-aged ninja asked quietly, "Didn't the Police Force only take Uchiha before?"
Sasuke heard him and walked straight over. "That was wrong. We're changing it."
The man froze.
Sasuke continued, "The Uchiha monopoly over the Police Force gave Danzo an excuse to slander us. The Hokage Building's monopoly over resources gave Root fertile ground to abduct those at the bottom. From now on, the Police Force will recognize only ability and discipline, not surnames."
Word spread, and applause soon erupted through the crowd.
On a distant rooftop, ANBU sent by the Hokage recorded everything with cold expressions.
Inside the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage read the returned note as ash from his pipe scattered across the desk.
"He recruited Might Guy?"
The ANBU knelt on the floor. "Yes. Quite a few ninja from regular mission teams are also waiting in line."
The Third Hokage looked toward the empty adviser seats. There was no one there to speak for him.
"Notify the personnel office. Suspend all registration of personnel recruited through the Police Force's expansion."
The ANBU was about to accept the order when the door swung open.
Kakashi entered and handed over a record.
"Lord Third Hokage, under the new council of elders' resolution, Police Force expansion during the pursuit of a rogue ninja requires no approval from the personnel office. If the office withholds personnel files, the Police Force may open a case directly."
The Third Hokage's gaze bored into him. "Are you here to remind me, or to deliver Sasuke's message?"
Kakashi stood where he was. "I'm reporting in accordance with the rules."
"The rules." The Third Hokage repeated the words, his smile weary. "Now all of you are lecturing me about the rules."
Kakashi said nothing.
The examinations in the square had already begun.
Sasuke personally sat behind the desk. Fugaku handled the Uchiha veterans' section, Hyuga ninja sent by Hiashi conducted vision screening, and members of the Nara Clan verified applicants' records.
The first civilian Chunin to step forward charged at Uchiha Takaya with his blade. Three moves later, his kunai was knocked from his hand.
His face flushed crimson. "I can go again!"
Sasuke checked the record. "Poor ninja tools, acceptable chakra control, and no retreat under pressure. Assign him to the patrol reserve. Pay him seventy percent of the monthly salary and reassess him in three months."
The man stared. "Didn't I pass?"
"You passed, but you don't deserve full pay yet."
"I accept!"
The second applicant came from a collateral branch of the Aburame Clan, the third was a low-ranking ninja from the Inuzuka Clan, and the fourth was a female Chunin who had spent years on a mission team without getting any decent assignments.
Some lost and were assigned to logistics.
Some won and received a Konoha Military Police Force Combat Uniform on the spot.
The Uchiha veterans looked displeased at first, but eventually fell silent.
These people had not come to take the Uchiha's positions.
They had come to make the Police Force bigger.
Fugaku stepped up beside Sasuke. "A few elders in the clan are unhappy. They say outsiders will ruin the rules."
Sasuke leafed through the examination forms. "Tell them to come see me."
"You're going to persuade them?"
"I'm going to make them retire." Sasuke handed Fugaku the list of failed applicants. "The Police Force doesn't support people who flaunt their family trees. If the Uchiha want to stay in power, they need to fight better, obey the law better, and be more useful than outsiders."
Fugaku took the list and did not try to dissuade him again.
At dusk, the first list of accepted applicants went up.
Might Guy stood at the top, with "Special Taijutsu Training Instructor" beside his name.
He bowed to the noticeboard, and several civilian ninja beside him bowed as well.
Someone shouted, "Long live Clan Leader Sasuke!"
Yamada Naoto immediately rapped on the desk. "No shouting nonsense! The Police Force answers only to the law!"
Sasuke walked past behind him. "Shouting is fine. Take their names. Double their punishment if they break the rules later."
Laughter rippled through the crowd, making the atmosphere even livelier.
Inside the Police Force building, new combat uniforms filled half a room.
The seized explosive tags, steel wire, and soldier pills were all logged and distributed.
Fugaku looked at the roster and said quietly, "We've tripled in size."
"Still not enough." Sasuke spread out a map of Konoha. "Redraw the patrol districts. Include the area around the Hokage Building in routine law enforcement."
Yamada Naoto drew a breath. "We arrest the Hokage's relatives too if they break the law?"
Sasuke looked at him. "Scared?"
"Scared, my ass." Yamada Naoto threw down his pen. "I just wanted to be clear beforehand, so I don't go too easy on them."
Hurried footsteps came from outside the door.
Neji entered with intelligence from Hyuga scouts. "There's movement in the black market outside the village. Someone raised Danzo's bounty to fifty million ryo. You're the target."
Fugaku's expression turned cold. "Who put it up?"
Neji handed the paper to Sasuke. "Anonymous, but they used an old Root code."
Sasuke glanced at it, then abruptly pressed the paper onto the northwest corner of the map.
"He's getting desperate."
Yamada Naoto asked, "Should we arrest the black-market contact?"
"No." Sasuke picked up a pen and drew a circle around Training Ground Three. "Spread the word. Tomorrow at dawn, I'll go alone to Training Ground Three to inspect the New Recruit Camp."
Fugaku objected at once. "No."
Sasuke burned the bounty notice. "If Danzo wants to kill me, he'll have to unleash every dog he has left."
Outside the window, a Message Dog dashed into the courtyard, a torn Police Force armband hanging from its neck.
Yamada Naoto unfolded the armband. Half a sheet of bloodstained paper was tucked inside.
Written on the bloodstained paper were the words: Contract accepted. Eye collectors: Sound Ninja.
Before you continue