Chapter 571: Why Can't I Patrol? Prison Guards Are Police Too!

As one of the founders of the Konoha Military Police Force, Uchiha Gin established three ironclad rules at the very beginning of the force's inception to rectify its conduct:

【Law enforcement must have warmth】

【Batons must have force】

【Kicks must have accuracy】

"Thump! —"

Without the slightest hesitation, Uchiha Gin, having already knocked to issue a warning, delivered a flying kick directly through the thick front gate of Tobirama Senju's home.

"Boom!"

Taking advantage of the dust from the fallen gate, Uchiha Gin rolled into the courtyard and held his silver-standard handcuffs high, shouting loudly,

"Everyone, hands up! Men to the left, women to the right, and cross-dressers in the middle!"

In the courtyard, Toka Senju, who had just finished dealing with the intruders, happened to be standing right in the center. Upon hearing Uchiha Gin's voice, a nameless fire ignited in her heart.

"Do you want to die?"

At this moment, Uchiha Gin realized the scene was not as tragic as he had imagined; there wasn't even a hint of blood in the air, and he felt a great sense of relief.

He tucked away the silver handcuffs he had swiped from Madara and pointed sternly at Toka Senju's nose, rebuking her,

"You criminal, how dare you threaten a police officer! That's an additional offense!"

"This is my damn house, they are the criminals!"

Toka Senju suppressed the anger in her heart and kicked the man in black at her feet toward Uchiha Gin, her expression turning playful as she calmed down.

"Don't you think you should explain this?"

By the flickering lights of the courtyard, Uchiha Gin recognized at a glance that this unconscious fellow was none other than Uchiha Setsuna, whom his young cousin had mentioned earlier that day.

This guy, who looked like a born troublemaker, had his mouth wide open and his eyes rolled back, clearly having suffered extreme shock before losing consciousness.

"How bold! To dare attack the Uchiha clan, aren't you afraid..."

Uchiha Gin only paused for 0.01 seconds before reacting instantly, turning the tables on her.

"Do you believe I'll teleport you into the latrine at the village entrance?"

"Cough, cough, cough—just kidding, we're all so familiar, no need for that, no need~"

Seeing that Toka Senju had actually taken the joke seriously, Uchiha Gin immediately changed his tune and kicked Uchiha Setsuna with a solemn expression to show his resolve.

"These three scumbags of the clan must be punished severely without leniency!"

"It seems your Uchiha internal affairs are not exactly a monolith right now."

Ignoring Uchiha Gin's antics, Toka Senju frowned slightly. She had just felt intense malice from the three Uchihas who attacked her, something she hadn't encountered in a long time.

Even Uchiha Madara, who had a blood feud with her, had never shown her such intense malice.

That could only mean that within the Uchiha clan, which had become quite stable, there had emerged racists of the kind common during the Warring States period.

"There have indeed been some small problems in the clan recently, but don't worry, this kind of thing will absolutely never happen again."

Uchiha Gin nodded lightly, his gaze falling on the face of the open-mouthed, wide-eyed Uchiha Setsuna, his mind already made up.

What a troublesome guy; he should never dream of being promoted to a member of the Uchiha main family in this lifetime.

"And what about those three?"

"We'll follow procedure. Our Uchiha clan has always been law-abiding; we'll lock them up and punish them as required, with absolutely no tolerance."

"Hmph! It better be as you say."

Toka Senju snorted coldly, the tense expression on her face gradually relaxing.

"They came for a night raid, but what did you come here for?"

"I came to collect a debt~"

Uchiha Gin smiled and made a money gesture, preparing to ask Toka Senju for the outstanding payment.

"Dong dong! Dong long! —"

Just as he finished speaking, the sound of footsteps came from the street outside the courtyard, converging from both the east and west directions before stopping at the gate of Tobirama Senju's residence.

Arriving from the east gate was a group of aggressive Senju clansmen, dispatched by Toka Senju to station themselves near her home to protect her safety.

"Sure enough, someone intended to do something untoward to Lady Toka!"

The leading Senju clansman saw the missing gate, his gaze froze, his muscles instantly tensed, and cold light bloomed in his eyes as blue chakra of monstrous strength covered his entire body in the blink of an eye.

Just from his aura, one could tell this person was an elite Jonin proficient in taijutsu.

"You lot, what are you doing in our Senju clan grounds in the middle of the night?"

The Senju clansman, just about to enter the gate to investigate, suddenly widened his eyes in anger because he saw a group of people speeding in from the east, and he was no stranger to the person leading them.

"This area hasn't been your Senju clan grounds for a long time; it belongs to the public area now."

Among the people coming from the east, a mature, middle-aged man with a ponytail replied coldly.

"We received a report from nearby residents and came to investigate; this falls within the scope of our duties."

"Hmph! This place doesn't need you Uchihas to manage it; we can solve it ourselves."

The Senju clansman looked at the police force emblem on the other party, curled his lip in disdain, and with no intention of wasting more time, turned around to force his way into the courtyard.

"Wait!"

Uchiha Hi no Ki, responsible for this patrol, frowned. If the residents inside were truly in danger, rushing in like this might lead to unimaginable consequences, so he flashed forward to stop them.

"Don't cause trouble!"

The anxious Senju clansman didn't care about that; he threw a backhand punch at Uchiha Hi no Ki, who was trying to stop him.

"Clang!"

Hi no Ki immediately raised the long sword in his hand to block. The Senju clansman's palm struck the steel weapon, actually sparking a metallic ringing sound.

"Whoosh."

Feeling the immense force from the weapon, a flush appeared on Uchiha Hi no Ki's weathered face. He flew backward, only managing to dissipate the monstrous strength after a few backflips.

After all, he was an old employee nearing sixty; it was understandable that his strength had regressed slightly under the ravages of time.

"Captain Hi no Ki, are you alright!"

The police force teammates who came with him immediately surrounded him. Seeing this old comrade who was about to retire looking flushed, they were instantly furious.

"Cling!"

The weapons in their hands were unsheathed, and points of cold light appeared.

Seeing the situation escalating, the Senju clansman who had knocked back Uchiha Hi no Ki frowned tightly, secretly regretting his impulsiveness.

"I will come to apologize in person later, but for now, uh..."

But right now, Toka Senju's safety was more important; he could still distinguish priorities, so he promised to visit Uchiha Hi no Ki with fruit later.

However, before he could finish speaking, he suddenly found that his body could not move an inch, and only his pupils, which were filled with horror, could rotate.

"Poof~"

Uchiha Hi no Ki, who was being supported by the others, turned into several black crows that scattered and flew away with a poof.

"I, the old man, am not yet past my prime!"

That aged but vigorous voice sounded from behind the Senju clansman.

"When did you...!?"

The Senju clansman struggled to move his eyes, successfully catching sight of the unscathed Uchiha Hi no Ki behind him. As his gaze met the other's scarlet eyes, he instantly understood.

"Resent your own miserable fate for not having the Sharingan~"

Uchiha Hi no Ki looked proud; this seemingly formidable Senju clansman had already fallen into the trap of his Sharingan the moment they made eye contact.

"Now let me perform my official duties. As for you lot, all of you come with me to the station later to write a report."

Daring to gather and wander in the middle of the night—they must write a 30,000-word report before they can go home.

Just as Uchiha Hi no Ki turned around, a figure he was quite familiar with walked out of the courtyard, swaying.

"What are you arguing about? Can't a person get any sleep?"

"Brother Gin! Why are you here?"

Rubbing his slightly farsighted Sharingan in disbelief, Uchiha Hi no Ki asked incredulously, only to be met with a big eye-roll from the other party.

"What else could I be doing? Policing, obviously~"

"Policing? Aren't you from the prison..."

"Prison guards are police too."

Uchiha Hi no Ki blinked his dry eyes and was immediately convinced by this statement.

"I suppose that's true..."

Although the nature of the work at the Konoha Prison and the Konoha Military Police Force was vastly different, it didn't change the fact that they belonged to the same system.

They usually got paid at the same time, and many members of the police force came to the prison to mooch off the cafeteria; they could be called brother departments.

"Who are they?"

Only then did Uchiha Hi no Ki notice the three figures of varying heights and builds that Uchiha Gin was dragging.

"These guys? Just arrested some criminals."

Uchiha Gin threw them aside, tossing the three clansmen who had been instantly defeated by Toka Senju in front of Uchiha Hi no Ki.

"There's even an acquaintance of yours in there~"

An acquaintance?

"Hiss."

Uchiha Hi no Ki paused for a moment and immediately lowered his head to identify them, but the result made him gasp.

"Setsuna... he... how could this be?"

He knew all three of them, but what surprised him most was Uchiha Setsuna, who had the most unsightly expression while unconscious.

"Ah! Deputy Captain Setsuna? Didn't he take the day off today?"

The team members following Uchiha Hi no Mi also recognized the distinctively styled Uchiha Setsuna, and for a moment, question marks appeared over everyone's heads.

Although Uchiha Setsuna's character was mediocre and he was usually difficult to get along with, he had never had a criminal record before; how did he become a criminal under arrest?

Uchiha Hi no Mi swallowed hard, the expression on his face becoming somewhat unsightly.

"Brother Gin, is there some kind of misunderstanding here? Setsuna shouldn't be that kind of person."

He was about to retire, and the person most likely to succeed him as captain of the Police Force was, nine times out of ten, the unconscious Uchiha Setsuna at his feet.

Of course, this was not because of Uchiha Setsuna's impeccable background, nor was it because of how strong his abilities were.

It was simply because there weren't many outstanding young people left in the clan, so they had to pick the tallest among the short, handing the position of Police Force captain to Uchiha Setsuna, who was at least passable.

At this point, you might ask:

Isn't there still that beloved, flower-admired, car-exploding, five-good youth, Kagami?

Wake up, brother.

That guy is about to become a village branch secretary; would he still care about the position of a captain of the city management brigade?

"The kind of person you're talking about..."

Just as Uchiha Gin was about to begin reading the charges against Uchiha Setsuna and the other two, a faint scent of formalin wafted over. Senju Hizhen, wearing a white lab coat with her hands in her pockets, looked on with a faint majesty in her scarlet eyes.

"Miss Hizhen!"

The Senju clansman, who had been frozen by Uchiha Hi no Mi's Sharingan, let out a long sigh of relief upon seeing Senju Hizhen appear safe and sound.

"Huh?"

The next moment, he felt his whole body loosen, and control over his body returned.

After skillfully breaking the restraint of the Sharingan, Senju Hizhen slowly withdrew the finger she had pointed at the clansman's shoulder, turning her gaze instead to Uchiha Hi no Mi, who had just defended Uchiha Setsuna.

"... is what kind of person?"

"Are you the illegitimate daughter of Tobirama Senju?"

Uchiha Hi no Mi looked at the young woman before him who had easily broken his ocular jutsu, but a flame known as the "spirit of gossip" ignited in his eyes.

Being older, he had inevitably grown fond of one of the activities of the elderly:

【Gossiping】

He had long ago learned from someone's grapevine that the legendary Tobirama Senju, who supposedly kept his distance from women, had actually left behind an illegitimate daughter outside the village, and that this illegitimate daughter had now come knocking.

But due to his status and work, he had never met this legendary illegitimate daughter. Now that he saw her, he instantly understood why no one questioned her identity.

She looked exactly like him!

"Old man Hi no Mi, you're at your age now, stop staring at the young lady."

Uchiha Gin, standing to the side, saw Uchiha Hi no Mi staring intently at Senju Hizhen with bloodshot eyes and, worried that his old man would make a mistake, immediately spoke up to remind him.

"Brother Gin, you've misunderstood..."

Hearing this, Uchiha Hi no Mi's old face flushed red.

"I'm just curious, what kind of sacred person is the woman Tobirama Senju found?"

"Uh..."

Uchiha Gin scratched his head upon hearing this. If he didn't know the truth of the matter, he would also be quite interested in digging into this gossip.

Unfortunately,

Old man Hi no Mi would likely have to take this unsolvable question back to his happy hometown to retire.

He didn't expect someone to mock him in public, and it was an abominable Uchiha at that.

The veins on Senju Hizhen's hands, still in her pockets, bulged. Resisting the urge to point a finger, she turned her head to question Uchiha Gin, who wore a thoughtful expression.

"Is this the quality of the current Konoha Police Force?"

"Everyone has a heart of curiosity; please try to understand."

Uchiha Gin revealed an embarrassed expression and turned to introduce her to his little old man.

"Old man Hi no Mi, she is the victim of this case, the criminal target of these three clan failures."

"She is the victim?"

Looking at the calm and composed Senju Hizhen, whose white lab coat was spotless, Uchiha Hi no Mi blinked in confusion.

The three Uchihas lying on the ground were all at the Jonin level.

Among them, Uchiha Setsuna had perfectly inherited the mantle of his father, Uchiha Ryuei, and his strength was among the best of the elite Jonin; even for Uchiha Hi no Mi, taking him down would not be easy.

Uchiha Hi no Mi truly could not believe that a mere young girl who had just arrived in Konoha not long ago could remain unscathed under the siege of three Uchihas.

"Hmph! Miss Hizhen possesses the Flying Thunder God Jutsu personally taught by Lord Tobirama, and her strength is unfathomable. Taking down three mere Uchiha thieves is as easy as turning over one's hand."

"No, it was he who saved me. Remember to send him a silk banner tomorrow."

Just as the Senju clansman was boasting about Senju Hizhen's strength, the person in question shook her head lightly, extended a fair, small hand from her pocket, and pointed at Uchiha Gin, who was busy calculating how to collect his debt.

"Huh?" *N

At this moment, whether they came from the east or the west, everyone revealed an expression of surprise in unison.

This even included Uchiha Gin himself, who had been pointed out. After being stunned for a moment, he immediately leaned over to Senju Hizhen and asked in a low voice:

"White-hair! What exactly are you trying to do?"

"For the sake of our friendship over these years, help me shoulder this for now. I will come to thank you in person afterwards."

Shoulder your sister! If I had known this, I wouldn't have engaged in cross-jurisdictional law enforcement.