“Is that so …”
The boulder had already begun to roll. There was nothing to be done about it at this late date. Or rather, Fugaku had no intention of doing anything. Rising to action was the only possibility left to their clan.
But he did not want to force his son to obey. “You should stay true to your thinking. Fight, be confused, be lost, and come through that to find your answer. And once you find it, make your decision, and do not waver from it. Find your answer, and be ready to follow through. That is determination.”
“Determination …”
“Yes. There are few people in this world who live their lives with their own determination. They leave their decisions to others, and avert their eyes from responsibility. You must not live like that, at least. Move forward in your life, making your own decisions.” Fugaku felt something hot in his eyes. He tried desperately to calm the emotions in his heart without his son noticing.
“I understand,” Itachi said, like a small battle cry, and turned passionate eyes on his father. “I will never leave the decisions in my own life to someone else.”
“Now that is my boy.” For the first time in a long time, Fugaku was able to say the words in a straightforward way. There was no pain in his heart.
The slight trembling of Hiruzen’s eyebrows did not escape Danzo’s notice.
The formal meeting room at the Hokage Residence, the seat where budgetary policy for the governance of the village of Konohagakure was determined. In addition to Hiruzen and Danzo, the councilors Koharu and Homura were there. At this meeting, they would set the basic policy, and, taking that into consideration, Hiruzen would select the personnel in village government and the official budgets.
“About the budget for the Military Police Force.” Taking his eyes off the document he had before him, Hiruzen looked at the other three. In his hand was their proposal. “The basic idea is to significantly reduce the budget, but what exactly is the meaning of this, Koharu?”
Hearing her name, Utatane Koharu opened her eyes a narrow slit and peered at Hiruzen. “It’s been seven years since the end of the war. Life has gotten back to normal, for the most part. And it has become customary for the Anbu to investigate serious and brutal crimes. The current role of the Military Police Force is quite limited. There’s no need for the same budget they’ve had in the past, is there?”
“That said, isn’t cutting their budget by forty percent a bit too abrupt? A cut like this will also have a significant effect on Military Police Force personnel.”
Staring at the sour look on Hiruzen’s face, Mitokado Homura opened his mouth. “Rebuilding after the Nine Tails’ attack is mostly complete. The urgent need now is for new facilities and wider roads. And now that early graduation has been abolished, the academy will need to expand soon, as well. We don’t have the extra resources for a shrinking organization.”
“I know. I know that, but if we do this in such a way that we make the Military Police Force alone the enemy, it will be increasingly—”
“It will spur dissatisfaction among them?” Danzo spat, seizing his opportunity. He continued without a pause. “I will ask you then, is there another division in this village that is growing smaller as obviously as the Military Police Force? The cause for the reduction is clear: peace in the village, and the expansion of Anbu duties. The Military Police Force can perform no other role than maintaining the peace. And given the negative feelings of dissatisfaction they harbor toward the village, it’s doubtful as to whether or not they are faithfully performing even that role. I feel that maintaining their current budget is simply pampering them.”
“It is not pampering. It’s sheltering.”
“Sheltering? Why would people with no impediment to their work need to be sheltered?”
“Because the places where they can be active have been severely limited by people like you, who are prejudiced against that clan!” Hiruzen pounded his desk and stood up, as Homura and Koharu watched coolly.
Rather than pushing back the grin that spread across his face, Danzo turned to the third Hokage, his old acquaintance, and said, “So, you would shelter them because there is prejudice. Isn’t that in and of itself an act of distancing and discrimination?”
“What did you—”
“It’s precisely because they have the Military Police Force to work at, and because they are assured a more than ample budget from the village, that the Uchiha clan refuse contact with outsiders, and sneak around with people from their own circle. You distance them in the framework of the Military Police Force under the pretext of sheltering them, and so you allow them to grow this evil flower of dissatisfaction within themselves. Isn’t that so?”
“The formation and management of the Military Police Force was the dying wish of the second Hokage.”
“Don’t you feel that way of thinking is outdated?” Danzo asked. “I believe a revolution is necessary, now especially when the Great War is over, and the scars from Nine Tails’ attack are beginning to heal. But, what does everyone else think?”
“I have no objection,” Koharu voiced her agreement. Homura nodded silently. Danzo had already gone round to speak to them, and the three were of the same opinion on the matter of reducing the Military Police Force budget.
Only Hiruzen was on the outside. “And what will we do when the Uchiha clan’s dissatisfaction explodes?”
“You’re using Shisui to prevent that, are you not?” Danzo struck the final blow.
It hit home. Hiruzen faltered.
“Wasn’t that the reason you pulled the young ninja, so worried about his clan, from his regular missions, gave him a position in name only, and permitted him a certain level of independence?”
“Thirty percent, then,” Hiruzen said hoarsely.
A bitter choice.
He was acting exactly as Danzo had expected. Danzo didn’t believe a reduction of forty percent was possible, either. He had anticipated thirty percent being the point of compromise.
“If we cut any more than thirty percent of their budget, we won’t escape backlash from the Military Police Force.”
“I respect the Hokage’s decision.”
Hiruzen made an obviously disgusted face at Danzo’s seemingly deliberate words.