The Land of Fire.
At the village border, a crowd of villagers gathered, pointing and whispering in front of a tavern.
Inside, the place was a mess. Two middle-aged shinobi, both reeking of alcohol, had a portly tavern owner pinned under their boots.
"I told you already, bastard, I didn't bring any money today! Why're you making things difficult for us?"
The man punctuated his words with another hard kick to the owner's face.
Blood streamed between the owner's fingers as he clutched his mouth. His voice trembled with a hint of sobbing. "I–I know I was wrong. Please, let me go. Just think of this meal as my treat."
The other ninja pressed his foot on the man's head and said coldly, "You think we care about your filthy money?"
"Someone like you has no right to treat us to anything."
"I'll pay for the drinks later, but next time—be careful, or I'll kill you."
With that, he kicked the man several meters away. The tavern owner curled on the floor, groaning in pain—it sounded like a rib or two might've snapped.
At that moment, two Anbu appeared.
"What happened here?"
Seeing them, the drunk shinobi straightened up with forced smiles. "This owner caused trouble first, so we just gave him a little lesson. Don't worry—it's nothing serious."
The Anbu knelt briefly to check the injured man, then said coldly, "Make sure you compensate him. Don't go too far next time."
"Yes, yes."
The shinobi exchanged lighthearted chatter with the Anbu as they left the tavern. The tavern owner lay motionless on the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling.
After a while, the onlookers outside finally stepped in.
Seeing his pitiful state, someone fumed, "Boss, that's outrageous! I know those guys' names—you should report them to the Police Force!"
But another voice scoffed. "The Police Force? You think there's any justice left there?"
Someone else chimed in, "Yeah. Last time I got beaten by a ninja and went to them, they threw me in a cell for a week."
The crowd fell silent.
Ever since the Uchiha clan left, the Police Force had become unrecognizable.
Minor issues were ignored, major ones endlessly delayed.
And after the daimyō was overthrown, the shinobi had turned into the new ruling class. Ordinary villagers like them were worth even less than before.
Many found themselves longing for the days when the Uchiha ran the Police Force—stern, expressionless, incorruptible.
Back then, no ninja dared bully civilians like this.
If they could go back, they'd never have treated the Uchiha so coldly.
Hokage Building.
Inside the Hokage's office, Orochimaru listened as Hiruzen Sarutobi finished relaying the latest Anbu report.
"Teacher," Orochimaru said, "many of our shinobi have been getting out of hand lately. Shouldn't we rein them in?"
Hiruzen snorted, his tone heavy. "Orochimaru, do you remember when they surrounded the Hokage Building, demanding I step down?"
"When people are given too much freedom, they forget their place. Only when they understand their own position will they know what they can and cannot do."
He cared deeply for his reputation—but not enough to risk his title over it.
One mass protest had been enough.
Orochimaru, seeing the look in his teacher's eyes, dropped the subject. "Then why did you summon me today?"
Hiruzen tossed a scroll onto the desk, brows furrowed. "Yuzuru Uchiha and A have been running wild in our territory. Over the past few months, who knows how many of our shinobi they've killed."
"Worse, our mission success rate has plummeted."
"This can't go on. I'm putting you in charge of dealing with it."
Orochimaru shook his head immediately. "Teacher, I'm no match for Yuzuru Uchiha."
Hiruzen frowned. "It's been years. Maybe you've already surpassed him."
"How would you know unless you try?"
But Orochimaru remained unmoved. "Either way, I'm not going."
He wasn't suicidal. The last time he'd met Yuzuru's eyes, he'd lost an arm. And now Hiruzen wanted him to provoke that monster again?
Even if he went, what could he possibly accomplish?
Better to spend that time researching ways to survive such encounters.
Seeing Orochimaru's firm refusal, Hiruzen slammed his hand down on the desk.
Humiliation burned through him.
The great Hidden Leaf Village, the strongest in the world—reduced to this?
A single man had them all cornered.
He hadn't done anything wrong. So why had everything turned out this way?
After raging silently, all he could do was sigh in defeat.
"Forget it… pay them off."
Even Orochimaru refused to face Yuzuru Uchiha—who else could he send?
The Land of Fire was rich. A little extra money wouldn't cripple them.
When Yuzuru's Mangekyō Sharingan finally went blind, that would be the moment he struck back.
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Hidden Cloud Village.
When Yuzuru and A saw the 4 billion ryō reparations from Konoha, both were momentarily speechless.
That money came far too easily.
From their perspective, the Leaf hadn't even tried to resist.
They'd simply been cutting down Konoha shinobi across the Land of Fire when a peace envoy suddenly arrived—offering a treaty and a fortune to end it all.
Yuzuru shook his head. Hiruzen truly suffered from a lack of education.
If he'd ever read The Six Kingdoms, he'd never have handed over money so easily.
Meanwhile, the Third Raikage was grinning ear to ear.
The Land of Lightning's massive infrastructure project had nearly drained their last round of compensation—but now it was topped up again.
Spending someone else's money felt glorious.
He clapped his hands together, laughing. "The two of you should stop harassing the Leaf Village for now. We'll go after them again once we've used up the money. We need sustainable development; we can't drain the pond to catch all the fish."
Yuzuru nodded. "Fine by me. Mikoto is due any day now. I'll stay in the village to be with her."
The Third Raikage's grin widened. "Congratulations, then!"
Then he turned and smacked A on the back of the head. "And you—stay in the village too! Until your wife's pregnant, you're not stepping foot outside!"
A looked utterly distraught.
Seriously? Collateral punishment again?
After all the good he'd just done for the village? (T/N: I think A is going to retaliate and become a rogue shinobi from all the smacking he's getting…)