Rival powers, twin towers

"Sound Ninja?" Fugaku clenched the bloodstained paper in his palm, tearing one corner. "Orochimaru's men?"

Sasuke pulled the bloodstained paper from his hand and smoothed it out again. "Don't ruin it. Fifty million ryo for my eyes. Danzo couldn't afford the cash, so he traded something else."

Veins rose around Neji's eyes as he activated his Byakugan. "There are chakra traces at all three black-market outposts outside the village, but the people have already withdrawn."

Yamada Naoto swore. "Those rats sure ran fast."

Sasuke secured the bloodstained paper in the evidence book. "Don't chase the black market. Notify the new Konoha Military Police Force. Tomorrow, change into the new uniforms, patrol, and make arrests as usual."

Fugaku stood in front of the map. "You still intend to go to Training Ground Three alone?"

"Yes."

"This isn't fishing. You're putting your own neck on the chopping block."

Sasuke looked up. "Father, the police force has just expanded. Everyone is watching to see whether the new system can hold the old shadows in check. If Danzo can drive me back into the clan compound with a single assassination attempt, the Hokage Building will claim an unstable bloodline limit needs protection. The new recruits will scatter."

Fugaku rested his hand on his sword hilt. "Then I'll follow you in secret."

"No. If you follow, the fish won't enter the net."

Neji spoke up. "I can watch from a distance with my Byakugan."

"Tomorrow, you'll patrol outside the village with the Hyuga Team. Make the route public." Sasuke looked at him. "Danzo's mole will pass that information along."

Neji frowned. "You're using me as bait too?"

"You're not bait. You're a smokescreen."

Yamada Naoto pointed at the map. "Then who's protecting you?"

Sasuke tapped the underground drainage channel beside Training Ground Three. "Kakashi will hide here with ANBU. The Yamanaka Clan's people will hide in the interrogation wagon, and the Nara will seal off the perimeter. All police recruits will withdraw to the second line. Watch, don't charge."

Fugaku said gravely, "You're using yourself to establish your authority."

"I'm using assassins to establish the law."

Kakashi walked in from outside, holding the latest order from the Hokage Building.

"The Third Hokage demands that the police force refrain from expanding its patrol area without authorization. ANBU will remain responsible for the area around the Hokage Building."

Yamada Naoto laughed. "We've barely issued the new law, and they're already fighting us for the streets?"

Sasuke took the order, glanced at it, and tossed it into the brazier.

The corner of Kakashi's eye twitched. "You burned a Hokage Order."

"It's out of date." Sasuke handed him another document. "Passed by three seats on the Council of Elders. The police force's patrol area covers all public streets in the village. The plaza outside the Hokage Building is public space too. Take this back."

Kakashi accepted it. "The Third Hokage will be furious."

"Let him. Remember to move his pipe out of reach so he doesn't burn the curtains."

Kakashi turned to leave, but Sasuke stopped him.

"Release two files at tonight's ANBU meeting."

"Which two?"

"Mid-ranking Hokage Faction officials embezzling death benefits for fallen shinobi, and the Barrier Team's deputy captain taking stipends from Root."

Kakashi studied him for a moment. "You're going after the Barrier Team too?"

"Konoha's gates can't be left in the hands of people willing to sell them."

Kakashi nodded. "Understood."

Dawn had barely broken, and the lights in the Konoha Military Police Force Headquarters were still on.

The officers in their new uniforms stood in four columns, Uchiha veterans on one side and civilian recruits on the other. Might Guy wore a police field vest over his green outfit, looking so stifled that his face had turned red.

"Sasuke-kun, this vest won't interfere with the flames of youth, will it?"

Sasuke glanced at him. "Does it stop you from chasing the enemy?"

"No!"

"Then wear it."

Yamada Naoto approached, hauling a bound young shinobi along. "Clan head, this is the nephew of an official in the Hokage Building's logistics office. He got drunk last night, injured a vendor, and smashed a police notice board."

The bound man shouted, "My uncle works in the Hokage Building! You dare arrest me?"

The surrounding recruits looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke asked, "How badly is the vendor hurt?"

"Two broken ribs."

"Triple compensation, seven days in custody, and a public apology. If anyone from the Hokage Building comes to get him out, put their name on record too."

The young shinobi's expression changed. "You wouldn't dare!"

Might Guy stepped forward and hoisted him up. "Youthful law enforcement doesn't care who your uncle is!"

Yamada Naoto dragged the man away.

The civilians watching from the roadside saw it, and someone immediately began to clap.

"Who would've dared arrest someone like that before?"

"The police really went after someone connected to the Hokage Building this time."

When the news reached the Hokage's Office, the Third Hokage had just received the two files Kakashi delivered.

He read the records of embezzled death benefits, the creases in his forehead deepening.

"Kakashi, how did these files end up with the police force?"

Kakashi answered, "They were discovered during an internal ANBU review. Under the new regulations, all three parties retain copies. The police force has the right to consult them."

The Third Hokage stared at him. "You've been following the new regulations rather closely lately."

Kakashi lowered his head. "After the Danzo case, there were too many loopholes in the old rules."

The Third Hokage closed the files. "Leave."

After Kakashi left, the Third Hokage picked up the patrol-area document on his desk. He had barely read two lines when another urgent report came from outside.

"Lord Hokage, the police have arrested Lord Fujiwara's nephew from the logistics office. A sizable crowd has gathered in the plaza."

The Third Hokage briefly closed his eyes. "Tell Fujiwara to go apologize himself."

"But Lord Fujiwara said..."

"Lord Third Hokage!"

Another ANBU landed in the doorway. "The Barrier Team's deputy captain has been taken away by the police for accepting Root stipends and leaking gaps in the patrol schedule."

The Third Hokage slammed his hand on the desk. "Is Sasuke trying to tear the Hokage Building apart?"

Outside the Hokage Building, Sasuke stood at the police force's temporary enforcement post, watching as the Barrier Team's deputy captain was pinned to a table to put his fingerprint on a statement.

The man was still struggling. "I only took money! I didn't leak any critical information!"

Sasuke opened the ledgers. "The day after you took the money, Root death squad members withdrew through the Eastern Barrier Blind Spot. You claim you leaked nothing. Do you think the Yamanaka Clan can't read your mind, or that I wouldn't dare interrogate you in the street?"

Sweat dripped from the deputy captain's chin onto the table.

Shikaku arrived with the Nara Clan's record-keeping shinobi and glanced at the file. "The chain of evidence is sufficient to open a case."

Hiashi arrived as well, his Byakugan sweeping over the seal on the man's abdomen. "He has a Root Communication Seal on him."

Sasuke nodded. "Take him away."

The deputy captain finally panicked. "Lord Hokage will protect me! I'm with the Barrier Team! The police have no jurisdiction over me!"

Sasuke bent down to look at him. "You sold out the Konoha Gate, not your own back door. Anyone who protects you today becomes an accomplice."

As those words spread, the crowd erupted.

Behind a window in the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage watched, gripping his pipe so hard it bent out of shape.

On Konoha's streets, police patrols began covering the area around the Hokage Building.

The Hokage Building and the Konoha Military Police Force Headquarters faced each other from afar, the main street between them packed with spectators. Once, they had only dared walk past the Hokage Building with their heads down. Now, their eyes turned toward another brightly lit building.

Yamada Naoto grinned broadly at the sight. "Clan head, everyone on the streets is saying Konoha now has two centers of authority."

Sasuke studied the map. "Let them."

Fugaku stood beside him. "If that talk spreads, the Third Hokage won't be able to sit still."

"He already can't."

Kakashi landed just then and handed over the minutes from an ANBU meeting.

"The Hokage Building is preparing to reduce the police force's mission quota."

Yamada Naoto's expression darkened. "Cutting off our money?"

Sasuke handed the minutes to Shikaku. "He can't."

Shikaku finished reading and gave a wry smile. "You approached the Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Hyuga to establish independent mission channels because you were waiting for this day?"

"Catching villagers' cats, escorting merchant caravans, guarding shops, clan commissions-none of those need the Hokage Building's approval." Sasuke placed a stack of contracts on the table. "The police force only takes a twenty-percent maintenance fee. Half what the Hokage Building charges."

Hiashi took a contract. "The Hyuga caravans can post fifty commissions to start."

Shikaku nodded too. "We can give you a portion of Ino-Shika-Cho's medicinal herb shipments."

Fugaku looked at the stack of contracts and suddenly laughed. "The Third Hokage cut off your food supply, and you moved the entire kitchen away."

Sasuke did not smile. "Once our finances are separate, the defense lines come next."

The mood in the room shifted.

Sasuke tapped three places on the map: the Barrier Team, the General Affairs Department, and the Intelligence Department. "First, purge everyone connected to Root from the Barrier Team. Assign police liaisons to the Intelligence Department. The General Affairs Department's mission files need copies held by all three parties. Neji, watch the Hyuga scouting posts. Fugaku, you handle the Uchiha night patrols. Kakashi, keep giving me the list of ANBU insiders."

Kakashi asked, "You intend to take over Konoha's core defenses?"

"I'm stopping Danzo from selling our gates out again."

The moment he finished speaking, red markings lit up on the Malice Perception scroll on Sasuke's desk.

He pressed a hand to the scroll. The red markings crawled northwest across the paper, then veered farther beyond the village. A few fragmented words surfaced.

[Defense Line Map, transaction, Sound Ninja, Orochimaru]

Kakashi's expression changed. "Danzo handed over Konoha's Defense Line Map?"

Fugaku drew his sword, its edge reflecting the lamplight.

Sasuke put away the scroll and smoothed his collar.

"Notify everyone. The plan for Training Ground Three remains unchanged."

Neji stared at the final tiny blood-red words that had surfaced on the scroll, his face tightening.

The line had yet to fade completely.

[Mole already on the police recruit roster, codename, Aoda]