Chapter 56: Konoha Unlimited Fighting Championship Pre-Season

"Officer! Stop hitting us! Please stop!" The first few men knocked to the ground wailed while shielding their heads from the batons, "We're just civilians who were called here! This has nothing to do with us!"

"Now you know you're civilians?" Uchiha Inabi glared with a pair of Sharingan eyes, his baton moving at a blur of six strikes a second. "Too late! You dared to storm the Military Police Force! Tomorrow, will you be storming the Hokage's Building?"

Soon, the fleeing rioting villagers surged into the alleys and streets of Konoha, relentlessly pursued by members of the Military Police Force brandishing batons.

A few passing villagers, still unaware of what had happened, were sternly scolded and driven back into their homes by the police: "What are you looking at? The village is under curfew tonight! None of you are to step outside, or you will be treated as rioters!"

With that, the police officer vaulted onto a wall flanking the road, accelerated, and dropped from the sky to kick down a fleeing protesting villager, his baton swinging instinctively.

This scene terrified the uninvolved villagers, who hurriedly fled back to their homes, slamming their doors and windows shut. In no time at all, the only people left on the streets of Konoha were the fleeing rioting villagers and the pursuing police officers.

At this moment, three Anbu operatives on a mission within the village witnessed the scene, and one of them asked, "Jonin Nagai, should we intervene?"

"Intervene with what? Can't you see the Military Police enforcing the law?" Seiichi Nagai glared at the two Special Jonin working with him. "We just need to go back and report to Lord Hokage. Don't go looking for trouble for yourselves."

Though vastly outnumbered by the rioting villagers, the Military Police Force—nearly all of whom had been deployed—was well-trained and methodical in their actions. After subduing a few individuals with a complimentary "bone-setting package," they would assign one or two men to drag the rioters, now beaten to the pulp of dead dogs, back to the police headquarters.

Screams and shrieks echoed relentlessly through the streets and alleys of Konoha.

Sakurai Hideaki and a teammate named Fujiwara Yoki were chasing a fleeing troublemaker through the winding alleys.

This person was clearly no ordinary villager; after all, an ordinary villager could never run for this long while being pursued by two shinobi.

The four being chased ducked into a corner, and the two officers charged right in without a second thought. However, once inside, they discovered several others lying in wait. Furthermore, the individual they had been chasing grabbed a wooden chair at the corner, smashed it heavily against the wall, and distributed the splintered wooden staves to the others.

Now outnumbering the officers and armed with weapons, the hiding men grew much bolder. One of them stepped forward to accuse Sakurai Hideaki and Fujiwara Yoki, "Shinobi are supposed to protect the village! How can you attack civilians?"

"People like you, who act so recklessly and disregard the Will of Fire, have the nerve to call yourselves villagers?!" Sakurai Hideaki raged.

"Hideaki-bro, what should we do? There are too many of them." Fujiwara Yoki hesitated. He was merely a fresh graduate from the Ninja Academy, and he hadn't yet mastered the ninjutsu recently issued by the Military Police, placing him among the lowest combat capability in the force. Facing such a crowd, he couldn't help feeling a bit timid.

"What is there to be afraid of?!" Sakurai Hideaki snorted coldly, reaching up to remove his forehead protector. "Did you forget what Deputy Captain Doutsu said just now? Don't disgrace the Military Police!"

Sakurai Hideaki took a deep breath, raised his baton, and stepped forward.

Seeing this, Fujiwara Yoki gritted his teeth and followed.

The two sides immediately clashed in a chaotic brawl. Sakurai Hideaki fared relatively well; back at the academy, he had been a civilian student with above-average grades, and after joining the Military Police, under the guidance of Uchiha Doutsu, he had mastered not only the police-issued ninjutsu but also a style of Uchiha-style swordsmanship. Thus, even fighting four-on-one, he held his ground without losing momentum.

Fujiwara Yoki, however, was a perpetual bottom-feeder. Having just graduated from the academy, he lacked practical combat experience and could only rely on his chakra-enhanced physique to forcefully endure the rioters' attacks.

Even so, despite temporarily falling behind, Fujiwara Yoki did not forget to fiercely swing his baton.

Suddenly, one of the rioters suppressed by Sakurai Hideaki whipped out several shuriken and hurled them at the two officers.

Sakurai Hideaki narrowly dodged the attack, but Fujiwara Yoki failed to react in time. Though he managed to evade a fatal blow, the flying shuriken instantly slashed open his thigh, and blood began to gush out.

"You're a shinobi?" Sakurai Hideaki roared in fury upon seeing this, drawing shuriken from his own weapon pouch to retaliate.

Having shed their disguise, the private soldiers of the Mitokado clan no longer intended to keep up the act and immediately began weaving hand seals on the spot.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!" The shinobi spat out a fireball aimed squarely at the injured Fujiwara Yoki.

Seeing this, Sakurai Hideaki rushed to provide backup, but their earlier skirmish had stretched their formation too thin. Sakurai Hideaki's rescue was clearly going to be a fraction too late. In his desperation, he could only shout, "Get out of the way!"

Fujiwara Yoki tried to dodge, but his injured thigh made movement agonizingly difficult.

Just as Fujiwara Yoki was about to meet his end, a figure blocked his path, a ninja sword flashing in a diagonal slash that dispersed the incoming ninjutsu.

"Squad Leader Doutsu!" Sakurai Hideaki and Fujiwara Yoki cried out in pleasant surprise. The newcomer was none other than Uchiha Doutsu.

"Useless trash. Once this mission is over and your injuries heal, get ready for hellish training!" Uchiha Doutsu glanced back at Fujiwara Yoki with cold eyes, snorting before speaking.

"As for you," Uchiha Doutsu fixed his gaze on the Mitokado clan's private shinobi, "you have a death wish, daring to kill members of the Military Police?"

Since the other party had already resorted to shuriken and ninjutsu, Uchiha Doutsu no longer needed to exercise restraint. He brandished his ninja sword and charged forward at lightning speed. The Mitokado clan's private soldier possessed at most the skill level of a mid-tier chunin; how could he possibly match Uchiha Doutsu? In less than three moves, he was captured. As for the villagers from earlier, the moment ninjutsu was used, they had scattered without a trace.

"What are you standing around for? Go after them!" Uchiha Doutsu snapped impatiently at Sakurai Hideaki, who nodded hurriedly and gave chase.

The order for the village-wide curfew spread rapidly throughout Konoha. Yet, Konoha's troublemakers never lacked the ignorance of the reckless. A few individuals, consumed by a misplaced saintly complex, threw open their doors when they saw rioters being pursued by the police, offering them refuge inside their homes.

However, the Military Police officers, their eyes bloodshot from the hunt, cared nothing for such sentiments. They smashed right into the houses and forcefully instilled a heavy dose of loyalty into both the rioters and the hosts alike.