Chapter 57 Anbu's Reaction
After the three blows, the villagers who had sheltered the escaped thugs immediately regretted their decision made just minutes earlier.
"Sir! Stop! Stop! I have nothing to do with this!"
"You have nothing to do with this? Then why are these thugs in your house?" Without a word, a member of the security force struck the man in the waist with a stick. "I think you're their accomplice! Take him away!"
When the chaos erupted, Naruto was buying ramen at Ichiraku Ramen and also getting Kakashi a bowl to take home. But as soon as he stepped out with the takeout box, he saw this no-holds-barred fighting tournament.
"What... what happened?" The scene before him left Naruto dumbfounded.
Although he saw that the person being beaten to the ground and given a bone-setting massage with six blows in a second seemed to be a habitual offender who often insulted him, his kindness made him want to stand up and say a few words for the man.
But before he could speak, his collar was grabbed.
He turned around and saw an Uchiha captain staring at him with blood-red Sharingan eyes.
"Where did this kid come from? Didn't you hear about the village being under martial law?"
Uchiha Tayami's actions instantly put the ANBU responsible for protecting Naruto on high alert, and they quickly appeared.
But before these ANBU could speak, Uchiha Tayami tossed Naruto to them and said, "You're just in time. Quickly take this kid back, don't let him wander around outside!"
"Understood." The masked ANBU nodded and took Naruto from Uchiha Tayami's hands. After all, he was a Jinchuriki, and they had been terrified when he attacked earlier.
While the unrestricted fighting tournament was in full swing in the village, Uchiha Touhuan, Uchiha Fugaku, and Aburame Shikai, the captain of the Sixth Battalion who was ordered to stay behind at the security headquarters, were leisurely brewing tea in Uchiha Fugaku's office.
"Touhuan, aren't you going out to take a look?" Fugaku asked, somewhat puzzled. Touhuan had just given the order and then immediately dragged him here for tea.
"I can't go out yet," Touhuan chuckled. "Otherwise, the Third Hokage might really get restless."
"Come, come, have some tea!" Touhuan served tea to both of them.
"I've often heard of Chief Touhuan's superb tea ceremony skills in the Security Department; I never expected to have the chance to taste it today," Shiki Aburame said with a smile, accepting the tea offered by Touhuan.
Meanwhile, the chaos on the street was also being observed by Hiruzen Sarutobi in the Hokage's office.
"Hiruzen, you saw that, didn't you!" Koharu Utatane, who had come to the Hokage's office to complain, immediately stepped forward after hearing the Anbu's report and said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "The Uchiha clan attacked the villagers! This is clearly a rebellion! Hiruzen, we can't hesitate any longer!"
Listening to his old partner's incessant nagging, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a surge of annoyance. He wearily waved his hand at her before asking the new Anbu leader, "Where is Uchiha Touhuan now?"
"Hokage-sama, Uchiha Touhuan is still in the Security Department; he hasn't taken any action."
"Is that so?" Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "That's good."
Hiruzen Sarutobi breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Uchiha Touhuan wasn't planning on a direct rebellion; otherwise, with almost the entire Security Department mobilized, Uchiha Touhuan, the strongest member of the Uchiha clan, wouldn't have remained inactive.
"Kōji, go and invite Uchiha Touhuan, the clan head, to the Hokage Building," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a sigh to the newly appointed captain of the Anbu after Kakashi's retirement.
"Understood," Kōji nodded and left.
"Hiruzen, we really can't hesitate any longer! Isn't the Uchiha clan's rebellion obvious?" Homura Mitokado spoke up at this moment.
Hiruzen Sarutobi ignored the two and simply lit his pipe.
"Hiruzen! You'll regret this!" Homura Mitokado stamped his foot anxiously, but Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't even bother to say, "I am the Hokage."
These two old bastards only know how to spout nonsense on the sidelines, and they even dared to do something so serious behind his back! Even Danzo would inform him beforehand before doing something like this, but these two did it without a word. When Hiruzen Sarutobi heard the rumors about Kakashi in the village, he wanted nothing more than to draw his sword and kill these two idiots.
The Third Hokage's original plan was to give Kakashi custody of Naruto to win Kakashi's heart, but these two idiots' actions were no different from pushing Kakashi directly to the Uchiha clan.
What made the Third Hokage even more speechless was that these two idiots not only did the deed, but they did it so sloppily. Now the Security Department was using this as an excuse, and he, as the Hokage, had no legal grounds to stop them.
After several encounters, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that Uchiha Touhuan was different from the previous Uchiha clan leaders; he wasn't the kind of fool who could be easily fooled.
After a long while, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed and said, "Send out the Anbu to control the situation. Then have the leaders of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans lead the Jonin squads to provide support."
"Understood." Inside the office, another Anbu member accepted the order and left the Hokage's office.
Soon, the Anbu member responsible for relaying the order arrived at the Anbu base, gathered all the Anbu members remaining there, and took to the streets.
Before the Anbu could even disperse, they saw a member of the security force chasing three thugs, brandishing a baton.
"What are you doing?" An Anbu ninja stepped forward and slightly stopped the security officer's bone-setting act.
The fleeing civilians, seeing this, quickly scrambled to hide behind the Anbu member.
"The security department is on a mission to investigate thugs who spread rumors in the village, slander Konoha hero Kakashi Hatake, and violently resist law enforcement. Are you, the Anbu, planning to protect these thugs?" The man who was stopped, though only a Genin, showed no fear in front of this Anbu member, whose strength was at least Special Jonin, and questioned him directly.
"I see, I misunderstood." The Anbu member nodded, stepped aside, and then said, "Remember, don't cause any deaths."
Then, amidst the incredulous gazes of the pursued villagers, the Anbu member leaped over the wall and disappeared.
This scene repeated itself several times in the village. Most Anbu members, after receiving a mission and asking around to learn the security department's purpose, generally chose to stand by and do nothing, at most giving instructions not to go too far and cause any deaths.
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(End of Chapter)