"No Talking About Village Affairs"—Mentioning Ninja Makes Faces Go Pale
Senju Hashirama was utterly confused.
He couldn't understand why the villager in front of him looked terrified that he might suddenly attack him, nor why the man feared being dragged away by ninja for interrogation.
Had this man done something terrible?
Only after Hashirama gently questioned him again and again did the villager finally calm down a little, trembling as he explained what had happened that afternoon.
"H-Hokage-sama… hundreds of villagers were beaten with wooden batons by people who called themselves ANBU… and then they were taken away."
That single sentence summarized the entire afternoon.
As for why it happened—
The villager very wisely skipped that part.
After all, even though the Hokage in front of him looked gentle and kind, what had happened earlier that day had truly shaken him to the core.
Under the iron fist of enforcement, the villager suddenly felt that his earlier remarks had indeed been far too reckless.
Now, he was genuinely afraid that telling the full truth might anger the Hokage.
"What?!"
"That's impossible!"
Hashirama's eyes widened in disbelief.
Ordinary villagers might not know what ANBU was—but Hashirama was the Hokage of Konoha. Even though he rarely involved himself in village administration, he knew very well what kind of organization ANBU was.
ANBU—the Anbu Black Ops, formally known as the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad.
The concept had originally been proposed by Uchiha Makoto (Uchiha Sei / Uchiha Makoto equivalent in this AU), and later copied and institutionalized by his younger brother Tobirama.
ANBU were responsible for intelligence gathering, covert operations, and handling the village's darkest secrets.
No matter how one looked at it—
They should never be dealing with civilians.
Tobirama.
Hashirama instantly identified the "mastermind" behind this incident.
Because although ANBU nominally answered directly to the Hokage—this authority, one of the Hokage's core powers, had long been delegated entirely to Tobirama.
Hashirama had never minded.
He trusted his brother.
He had never imagined Tobirama would use ANBU against villagers.
This was extremely dangerous.
"Hokage-sama… if there's nothing else… may I go now?"
"Yes… you may go."
"O-okay… thank you…"
Hashirama wore his usual gentle smile, but the villager's voice was still full of fear, as if he couldn't wait to run home.
That sense of fear—of distance—made Hashirama deeply uncomfortable.
He had always cherished the way Konoha's villagers greeted him naturally and warmly. It made him feel that everything he had worked for had meaning.
But now—
Hashirama looked around.
The few villagers still on the street deliberately avoided him.
In their eyes, there was no warmth.
Only awe.
And fear.
After all—
Who wouldn't be afraid of six strikes per second?
Especially when it ended with being thrown into a dark cell.
"Tobirama… what exactly happened today?"
"How could he do something like this?!"
Anger welled up in Hashirama's chest.
What Tobirama had done was far beyond anything he had imagined.
No matter what, using ANBU to beat civilians was unacceptable.
Filled with suppressed fury, Hashirama rushed toward the Hokage Building, a place he hadn't visited in days.
At that very moment—
"Lord Tobirama, these are the written confessions from the villagers who caused trouble. They're all here."
"They've deeply recognized their mistakes and are sincerely begging for forgiveness—from you and from the Hokage."
An ANBU operative presented several hundred sheets of paper to Tobirama.
"Mm. Well done."
"For these villagers, ideological education must be strengthened. Incidents like this must never happen again."
Tobirama nodded calmly as he accepted the stack.
He randomly selected a few confessions and read them from beginning to end, only then allowing a satisfied smile to appear.
The villagers had been far too presumptuous.
Konoha had been too lenient with them.
That leniency was precisely what had led to this so-called Konoha Unlimited Combat Tournament.
Fortunately, their attitude of repentance was sincere and prompt.
In less than half a day, they had all come to recognize their errors.
To know one's mistakes and correct them—there is no greater virtue.
The confessions were emotional, some even described their remorse in blood-written sincerity.
Literal blood.
In them, the villagers admitted:
They should never have questioned village decisions
Never should have gathered to cause unrest
Never should have slandered the Hokage
Never should have insulted Lord Tobirama's governance
Their speed and enthusiasm deeply pleased Tobirama.
Of course—
This had nothing to do with ideological education.
After being beaten several times and dragged into the pitch-dark ANBU detention cells, the moment they were told to write confessions, every villager scrambled for pen and paper.
They were terrified of being locked there forever.
In truth—
The moment the first baton landed on their bodies, they already knew they were wrong.
The power of six strikes per second was truly terrifying.
"Lord Tobirama… should we continue detaining them?"
"Of course."
"A written confession alone doesn't solve their problems."
"They must undergo sufficient ideological education within ANBU custody."
"Detain them for one week."
Tobirama had no intention of releasing them so easily.
These unruly civilians had completely disrupted his plans.
Originally, he had intended to turn a blind eye and continue delaying the deployment of Konoha's forces.
Now—
That was no longer possible.
The ninja forces would have to move immediately.
Everything had been ruined at the final step.
And more importantly—
He knew his brother would find out.
Hashirama was a soft-hearted idealist.
Once he learned the truth, he would undoubtedly storm in, furious.
Tobirama had already prepared himself for that confrontation.
In fact, he had spent the entire afternoon preparing countermeasures—nearly foolproof ones.
Still, even with preparations, Tobirama couldn't help but feel uneasy.
When Hashirama became stubborn about a principle, he was terrifying in his own way.
But civilian unrest—
Especially if it escalated to storming the Hokage Building—
Was even more serious.
The authority of the Hokage could not be questioned.
And the governing legitimacy of the Senju line could not be questioned either.
This was the foundation of Konoha itself.
If both sides led to disaster—
Then Tobirama would choose the lesser evil.
"…Has sister-in-law arrived?"
"Lady Mito is already here."
"…Good."
Tobirama finally felt a bit relieved.
Then—
In the next instant—
A voice he knew all too well thundered through the room:
"TOBIRAMA—WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU DO THIS AFTERNOON?!"
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