Hashirama Senju wore a face full of confusion.
He could not understand why the villager before him feared he would strike him, nor why the villager feared shinobi might take him away for questioning.
Had he done something bad?
Under Hashirama Senju's gentle inquiry, the villager barely calmed himself and, trembling, told of what had happened that afternoon.
"Lord Hokage, hundreds of villagers were beaten with wooden batons by a group calling themselves ANBU, and they were taken away."
With one sentence the villager roughly explained the afternoon's events, while cleverly omitting the reason they had occurred.
After all, though the Hokage before him was always mild and kind, what had happened that afternoon had truly left him terrified.
Under the iron-fisted crackdown.
The villager suddenly felt his earlier words had been far too bold and unbridled. Now he truly feared that speaking the truth would anger the Hokage!
"What!"
"How could that be!"
Hashirama Senju showed disbelief. Ordinary villagers might not know what ANBU were, but as Konoha's Hokage—even if he did not often manage the village—he understood such a special operations unit well.
ANBU, fully the Assassination and Tactical Special Unit, first proposed by Uchiha Makoto and then copied by younger brother Tobirama, generally handled shinobi-world intelligence and secret village missions.
But such missions could not possibly involve Konoha's villagers!
It must be Tobirama!
Hashirama immediately thought of his younger brother Tobirama Senju as the "mastermind" behind this, for the ANBU nominally answered directly to the Hokage, heeding only the Hokage's orders—one of the Hokage's core powers yet Hashirama had never minded such things and had calmly delegated those Hokage powers to Tobirama.
He had never imagined Tobirama would use ANBU against villagers!
That was dangerous indeed!
"Lord Hokage, if there's nothing else may I go now."
"Mm, you may go."
"G-good…"
Hashirama's usual smile returned, but fear still tinged the villager's voice; he longed to flee home at once.
This fear and distance pained Hashirama. He cherished how every Konoha villager once greeted him naturally and warmly; that feeling told him his efforts were not in vain.
But now
Hashirama looked around.
The few villagers on the street still avoided him. In their eyes he read only awe, and even fear.
Who wouldn't fear six swings a second?
Beaten, then thrown in a dark cell!
"Tobirama, what on earth happened to him today?"
"For him to do such a thing!"
Anger rose in Hashirama's heart. He felt his younger brother had gone too far today, beyond expectation. No matter what the villagers had done, he must not set ANBU upon them with fists and feet!
Filled with anger
Hashirama hurried to the Hokage building he had not visited in days.
At this moment.
"Lord Tobirama, these are the repentance letters from the rioting villagers. Most are here. They have deeply realized their mistakes and sincerely ask forgiveness from Lord Hokage and Lord Tobirama."
An ANBU handed several hundred repentance letters to Tobirama Senju.
"Mm. Well done."
"For these villagers, we must strengthen ideological instruction. Such things must never recur."
Tobirama nodded, speaking as he took the letters. He drew out a handful and read them through from beginning to end before showing a satisfied smile.
The villagers had become too unruly; Konoha's attitude toward them far too lax, leading at last to this Konoha no-limits brawl. Fortunately, their attitude in admitting fault was positive and sincere; they pulled back from the brink. In just half a day they had all recognized their mistakes.
To know one's fault and amend it is the greatest good!
The letters brimmed with emotion, some even written in blood—real blood.
In them they described their errors: they should not have questioned the village's decisions, should not have gathered to make trouble, still less should they have defamed the Hokage's name and slandered Lord Tobirama's ability to govern.
Such speed and attitude in admitting fault pleased Tobirama.
Of course
This could not be the result of ideological education.
Each had taken several blows, then been hauled to ANBU's pitch-dark dungeon. When the ANBU told them to write repentance letters, every villager scrambled for paper and pen to confess his crimes, terrified of being locked there forever.
In truth
From the first strike of an ANBU baton, they had already grasped their error.
Six swings a second was terrifying indeed!
"Lord Tobirama, shall we keep them locked up?"
"Of course. Their problem cannot be solved by a single letter. They must remain in ANBU for sufficient ideological instruction before release—hold them for a week!"
Tobirama had no intention of releasing them so easily. These rabble had thrown his deployments into chaos. He had meant to turn a blind eye and keep delaying the mobilization of the shinobi army, but now that was impossible.
The army would have to depart at once.
Truly a near miss turned failure!
And his actions today would surely reach his elder brother's ears, and his brother was the softest of men. When he heard, he would surely storm in to trouble him.
Tobirama had steeled himself to face his brother's anger. Over the afternoon he had prepared countermeasures—almost a foolproof plan.
Even so though prepared, he still felt a tremor in his heart before an angry elder brother. On ordinary days he could scowl and dress his brother down, make him squat in a corner and draw circles in grievance, but on sensitive issues his brother was stubborn to a frightening degree.
But villagers making trouble.
Once they gathered and charged the Hokage building
The matter turned more serious.
The Hokage's majesty could not be questioned, nor could the Senju line's ability to govern!
This touched Konoha's foundation.
When a single track is blocked at both ends, one can only choose the lesser of two evils.
"Sister-in-law—has she arrived?"
"Lady Mito is here…"
"Good…"
Tobirama breathed easier.
In the next instant.
He heard a voice he knew all too well: "Tobirama, what exactly did you do this afternoon!!!"
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