The Military Police Force

Fugaku was astonished. He studied the son who was his pride and joy, never having expected that, at such a young age, he had already seen depths beyond the reach of so many others.

Could his son be not only extraordinarily gifted with the Sharingan, but also so brilliant a thinker? He was indeed a son born to Uchiha Fugaku!

"Then how do you think we should respond?" Fugaku blurted out.

"I think-we should resign from the Military Police Force now! Let them find someone else for the job, and let everyone see just how easy the work really is!" Koki said, enunciating every word and leaving Fugaku stunned.

"What? How could we do that? We..."

"Dad!" Koki interrupted before Fugaku could finish. "Dad, hear me out first. I'm not saying we should never work for the Military Police Force again. We shouldn't keep working ourselves to the bone without getting any thanks. We should make them beg the Uchiha Clan to take the job!"

Overcome with excitement, he raised his voice a few decibels. Then he calmed himself and lowered it. "First, we get rid of this hot potato. The High Command might even be relieved.

"The other clans will surely scramble to compete for the position too. But who could be better suited to the job, or more familiar with it, than our Uchiha Clan? Only members of our clan dare to stand up to the powerful and enforce the law fairly.

"Besides, let the villagers see how well the others can manage the village without our Uchiha Clan. My proposal is to make Konoha and the villagers beg us to take the position again, and use the opportunity to set conditions. Perhaps, in the future, our Uchiha Clan will have a place at the center of the Hokage's power!"

After hearing Koki out, Fugaku frowned slightly. His expression shifted several times, his entire face taking on an inscrutable complexity. Gradually, everything seemed to settle, leaving only a look of deep contemplation, thick as a fog that nearly enveloped him.

He carefully pondered everything Koki had said.

It was true. The village's leaders feared the Uchiha, and the villagers hated them too.

They turned a blind eye to the Uchiha Clan's years of hard work, taking the Military Police Force's round-the-clock patrols and rigorous enforcement of the law for granted. They even deliberately smeared the Uchiha Clan, deepening the villagers' hostility by the day.

They had even... settled the Uchiha compound in Konoha's most remote area, exploiting the Uchiha's value to the fullest.

And although the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan were both among Konoha's two great Dōjutsu clans, the difference in how they were treated was like night and day.

The Hyuga Clan lived in the heart of Konoha. They had members in both Root and the Anbu, and quite a few of them held positions in the Hokage's building. The High Command treated them with particular warmth and kindness.

In comparison, how could Fugaku not feel resentful?

Then he recalled how, at today's meeting of the major clan heads, Shimura Danzō had actually brought up the village's poor finances and called for a pay cut for the Uchiha Military Police Force.

Fugaku could no longer contain his anger. He clenched his teeth, deeply pained.

Sure enough, he had been a fool. Even Koki could see what he himself had failed to understand all these years, while he had given so much to the village!

It was time to turn his attention back to his own clan, to give serious thought to his clansmen's daily lives and understand their joys and sorrows. The insults they had suffered were undoubtedly a sign of his own incompetence as their clan head!

With that thought, Fugaku's gaze grew resolute, and he decided to call a clan meeting the next day.

Koki, meanwhile, was in no hurry and drank his tea at ease. He believed that, as the head of the clan, Fugaku would soon understand what he had said.

Koki knew that what he had said today did not sound like something a four-year-old could say. Nevertheless, he did not regret saying it.

First, he had come to regard Fugaku and Mikoto as his own family, so naturally he wanted to make plans for them. Second, Itachi was his beloved younger brother, and he was determined to prevent the fate of Itachi having the Uchiha Clan wiped out more than a decade later.

Third, he could no longer tolerate the village's bullying of the Uchiha, especially that of the Konoha High Command led by Shimura Danzō. Even a rabbit would bite when cornered!

Finally, Fugaku had happened to ask about the matter today, so he might as well take the opportunity to lay it out and spur the Uchiha to prepare early. Of course, he actually had much more to say, but the most pressing task for now was to reverse the villagers' extremely poor impression of the Uchiha.

For a time, the council hall fell silent.

After an unknown amount of time, Fugaku spoke, though his voice was a little strained. "Koki, I think what you said makes a great deal of sense. I'll call a clan meeting tomorrow, and you'll attend with me."

"Dad! I'm still so young. How can I attend? The elders probably won't agree either." Koki felt miserable. He really had dug a hole for himself.

Almost every ninja attended the Uchiha's full clan gatherings, but Fugaku was clearly not talking about that kind of meeting. Only a select few members of the Uchiha Clan's inner circle could attend the smaller clan meetings. Because important decisions were made at them, the attendees were generally the elders and their guards, senior Military Police Force personnel, or clansmen who had made major contributions to the Uchiha.

As things stood, Koki was not qualified to attend a clan meeting.

"It's all right. I'll discuss it with the elders myself. You just come along. At tomorrow's meeting, I'll bring up what you said today." Fugaku gazed intently at his son.

"All right, Dad. But I suggest you carefully vet everyone attending the meeting." Recalling how Danzo and the others had learned of the Uchiha coup early on in Naruto, Koki felt a headache coming on. There had to have been spies from Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's or Shimura Danzō's side inside the Uchiha for a long time already. The only question was how many.

Fugaku, however, did not seem to have noticed the situation yet. Koki silently prayed that the Uchiha had not become a sieve riddled with holes.

"What? Are you saying there are traitors?" Fugaku's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yes, Dad. Don't look at me like that. That's exactly what I mean. You'd better check." Koki sighed helplessly. He vaguely remembered Fugaku being quite capable when he watched Naruto, so why was he so oblivious in this regard?

He was practically an innocent fool. No wonder Danzo and the others had played him like a fiddle.