"Captain, everyone's here."
Uchiha Tetsuka led more than a dozen Uchiha clan members into the room. This was the full roster of shinobi currently on duty in the Uchiha Military Police Force today.
Under normal circumstances, most of them would still be patrolling places like Konoha's commercial district and food streets at this hour.
Even though the First Shinobi World War had dragged on for eight long years, the daily lives of ordinary civilians in Konoha had not been significantly affected.
Life-and-death struggles were matters for shinobi. What did that have to do with common folk?
On this point, the Five Great Ninja Villages had reached a tacit understanding.
The smaller villages, however, had no such scruples.
When life became unbearable, they resorted to plunder—seizing civilian property within their own borders. Some shinobi from those villages even deserted outright to avoid combat missions, choosing instead to become rogue ninja, confident that their home villages lacked the strength to hunt them down.
As a result, civilians from small villages began fleeing in droves toward the Five Great Villages.
And the most desirable destination was naturally Konoha.
So while Konoha's shinobi numbers dwindled due to the war, its civilian population actually increased after the First Shinobi World War.
Commerce flourished.
And that meant one thing—
The workload of the Uchiha Military Police Force never let up.
Where there were more people, there were more problems. Theft and petty crimes happened constantly, all of which fell under the Police Force's jurisdiction.
And it wasn't just civilians entering Konoha.
Spies from other major villages were mixed in as well. In those cases, the Uchiha Police worked covertly with the Hokage's ANBU to eliminate threats in secret.
"Captain, what's this about? Calling in everyone on duty at once—these past few days have been exhausting."
"Yeah, Captain. What's going on with the expansion of our department? The Hokage still hasn't given a clear answer. We're seriously understaffed. At this rate, we'll have to pull in ordinary clan members. We're managing civilians anyway—it doesn't have to be ninja."
"…"
Uchiha Inaho complained loudly from behind Tetsuka. He and Tetsuka were twins, and both had served in the same battlefield unit as Uchiha Nan.
Neither of them were officially registered Konoha shinobi. They were clan-trained ninja—essentially the Uchiha's private force.
The war had lasted eight years. Even the clan's private troops had been partially drafted to the front.
The brothers were close to Nan. They had fought together, and Nan had once saved Inaho's life on the battlefield.
Barely through the door, Inaho had already started venting about every frustration that had piled up recently.
"Captain, I honestly don't want to be pulled back from the front anymore. Handling all this trivial nonsense every day—might as well let me fight on the battlefield instead."
"Captain…?"
Nan said nothing.
He simply stared at Inaho.
That gaze made Inaho's heart pound with unease.
The last time the captain had looked this serious was when they'd been trapped in a stone cave by more than a dozen Kumogakure jōnin. If Nan hadn't suddenly gone berserk and slaughtered his way out, none of them would have survived.
"Captain… I didn't say anything wrong, right?"
Inaho forced an awkward smile and shot a pleading look at his brother.
"Inaho, shut your mouth," Tetsuka snapped, rapping him on the head. "The captain hasn't even spoken yet, and you're the only one yapping nonstop."
He then turned toward Nan, waiting.
The other Uchiha followed suit, falling silent.
Nan had always been gentle within the clan, approachable and mild-mannered. But no one here dared test his temper.
On the battlefield, Uchiha Nan was a monster.
Lightning cloaked his entire body. Within that dazzling radiance lurked lethal blade light—by the time the enemy realized it, their heads were already rolling.
His position as captain of the Military Police Force wasn't nepotism.
It was earned through blood-soaked military merit.
It was obvious to everyone present—
Today, something was different about Captain Uchiha Nan.
"Inaho," Nan finally said, releasing Genji from his arms and standing up, stretching slightly. "You were complaining just now that the Hokage has been dragging his feet on expanding the Police Force's staffing, correct?"
"What's wrong with that?" Inaho rubbed his head. His brother's strike still stung.
Nan let out a cold chuckle.
"The expansion of the Uchiha Military Police Force is going to be delayed for quite some time."
"The Hokage… no longer has the chance to approve it."
The room went dead silent.
"Just now, I received confirmed intelligence," Nan continued calmly. "The Hokage has fallen during negotiations with the Raikage."
The words landed like a sledgehammer.
Every Uchiha present felt dizzy.
"Captain…?"
"You're joking, right? The Hokage is dead?"
"Dead at a negotiation table?"
Tetsuka's voice trembled with disbelief.
Senju Tobirama's death felt absurd.
Among the elders who had survived since the Warring States Era, Tobirama was infamous. When they cursed him, words like scheming, black-hearted, nest of conspiracies were always attached.
Some pessimistic elders even used to say:
"That slippery bastard Tobirama will probably outlive me. The Uchiha won't see daylight for decades. Who among us can outscheme that black-hearted monster? Heaven truly does not favor the Uchiha."
Tetsuka had heard such talk his entire life.
Even those elders who harbored bone-deep hatred toward Tobirama—forced by circumstance to do nothing more than curse him—were united on one point:
Senju Tobirama was hard to kill.
"This isn't something to joke about," Nan said seriously.
"According to my sources, the Second Raikage's subordinates—Gold and Silver—launched a coup. They ambushed both the Raikage and Lord Tobirama at the negotiating table."
"The Raikage was killed on the spot. Lord Tobirama was gravely injured. While retreating with his guard unit, they were pursued by Gold and Silver's elite forces."
"In the end, Lord Tobirama stayed behind alone to act as bait, covering the guard unit's escape… and fought until his death."
Nan summarized the events succinctly.
Tetsuka felt his head swell.
If the speaker hadn't been Uchiha Nan, he would have already slapped him.
What kind of nonsense is this?
A Hokage covering his guard unit's retreat?
What kind of guard unit lets their village's Hokage die so they can escape?
To survive like that—
Wasn't that humiliation piled on top of humiliation?
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