Chapter 28: Police Department

This place is exactly where the inside and outside meet, with a steady flow of people; Sima Yi, in the time it takes to finish a bowl of soup, saw over ten people come and go from this small stall.

Unexpectedly, the woman let out a soft sigh, "I can't earn much, just scraping by."

After that, she said no more and handed the change to Sima Yi.

Seeing this, Sima Yi didn't ask further and left the stall.

"Would you two like some apples? This is the last batch of the year, shipped from the capital, and even the Hokage says they're good."

"Apples? In this season, there are still apples preserved this well?"

Just after leaving the stall, the two were stopped by a fruit vendor wearing a headscarf, looking cheerful.

"You bet! To get these apples here, we hired quite a few ninjas to help, so why not buy some to try?"

Sima Yi took an apple; although he said it was well preserved, the apples were actually slightly dehydrated.

However, he didn't refuse, but asked, "How much?"

"Not much, not much—just one hundred taels!"

"A bowl of mutton soup costs eighty taels, so a jin of apples for one hundred taels really isn't much."

"One jin? No, no, no, sir, you misunderstood—it's one hundred taels each!"

Sima Yi looked at the wilted apple in his hand, then at the cheerful vendor, fell silent for a moment, and still bought ten.

Creak~ Hui carried the things, gnawing on the apple, wearing a look of disdain as he said, "This stuff is dry and tasteless."

"Leave some for Shisui; he's still growing, so eating some fruit is good."

"Shisui, that's true too—since the clan sent him to the Hokage, he's either on a mission or on the way to one; I'd guess he hasn't had a hot meal in several days."

Hui shook his head, feeling that Shisui's annual mission count equals his twenty years; he really pushes himself.

Boom—just then, a sudden loud noise came from a dozen meters away.

The sudden movement instantly drew everyone's gaze, and they all rushed forward to look.

"Let's go take a look." Sima Yi, equally interested, followed the crowd over.

"Hey, uncle, slow down, watch out for the crowd!"

The two followed the crowd to the center of the street, and upon looking, saw two teenage ninjas wearing the Uchiha clan crest, surrounded in the middle, dressed in Police Department uniforms, their faces grim.

In the middle also lay a portly middle-aged man, on the ground crying out in pain while grabbing at the scattered coins around him.

Besides some coins on the ground, there were a large amount of leather garments and an overturned stall.

"Uchiha again—what's going on?"

"Really annoying, those Uchiha are bullying people again."

"Damn it, why are these people still in Konoha? The Hokage should just drive them out."

"They're just doing what they're supposed to do, right?"

The noisy discussion reached their ears; Hui's expression changed, he frowned and was about to step forward, but Sima Yi held him back.

Sima Yi's face remained calm; he pulled Hui to a corner and they watched silently.

"What's going on?"

The crowd kept growing, soon drawing in Police Department officers from other streets.

Leading them was a person clad in a black combat uniform, with green Jonin armor on the outside, the Uchiha clan crest embroidered on the shoulders, and sporting a distinctive short brown hair.

This person was none other than the Police Department's Second Division Captain, Uchiha Badai! Sima Yi narrowed his eyes—he had seen this person yesterday, standing behind the Great Elder. Upon the arrival of the Uchiha Jonin, the surrounding people made way.

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

The two surrounded also breathed a sigh of relief, stepped forward and said, "Captain, we received a report that someone was illegally setting up a stall on the road here; we came intending to have him leave immediately, but he refused to move no matter what, so we—"

"I didn't! You're talking nonsense—I was just passing by, resting here, and you came over and overturned my stall. You're ninjas—how can you bully an ordinary civilian like this?"

Before the Police Department member could finish speaking, the portly man on the ground, still wailing, suddenly shouted, then resumed his lament.

"I just wanted to sell some clothing to earn money to buy tasty supplements for the children returning from the front line—why are you cutting off my livelihood like this?"

His roar accompanied by sobs moved everyone, especially those whose family members had just returned from the front, who felt the same pain.

"He's just selling some stuff; you don't have to like it, but there's no need to smash his stall!"

"Exactly, the Uchiha always enforce the law with violence."

"Get them out of Konoha!"

"You you—"

The boy, hearing this, flew into a rage, pointing at the portly man, his whole body trembling, his Copy Wheel Eye involuntarily activating.

The other boy beside him clenched his fists even tighter, "Clearly you're the ones who reported it, we came to manage things—how did it become our fault?"

His breath rose, and he secretly began to draw chakra.

His scarlet gaze made everyone shudder.

Uchiha Badai scanned the crowd, his gaze landing on a roof eave, then he withdrew his eyes and shouted loudly, "Stop!"

The boy's breath stalled, he gave a cold snort, turned his head, and panted heavily.

"Since someone filed a report, let's first take him back for investigation."

Uchiha Badai, expression cold, saw no need to argue; with a wave of his hand, two Police Department members stepped forward and lifted the portly man.

"Wait, what are you doing? I didn't occupy the road—you Uchiha are trying to extort a confession! I want to see the Hokage, I want to see the Hokage!"

The portly man's face changed and he immediately began to howl; he kept struggling, and the surrounding crowd, seeing this, were all furious, they kept speaking—either insulting, advising, or threatening—but no one dared cross the line.

The situation before them was heated; just then, a noise came from the roof eave at the side of the street, where a masked ninja crouched silently.

"The Hokage already knows about this; since it's just a minor misunderstanding, please Captain Badai release him—don't gather a crowd here and affect the villagers."

Having said that, he vanished in an instant, leaving everyone staring at each other.

"As expected of the Hokage, he found out so quickly."

「Fortunately, the Hokage is here; otherwise, someone would be falsely accused by the Uchiha again. 」

「Evil Uchiha, why hasn't the Hokage driven them away yet? 」

Facing the crowd's discussion, the young Uchiha were all furious, while Uchiha Hachidai remained calm, his emotions always steady.

「Since the Hokage has spoken, let's release him, help set up his stall, and disband. 」

He has been in the Police Department for decades; he has seen this kind of thing too many times, enough to let him ignore these words that once made him extremely angry.

Soon, the crowd began to disperse; Hui's expression was grim, he didn't expect that after so many years the Police Department's situation would still be so difficult.

And Sima Yi? He just smiled, watching all this with interest.

(End of chapter)