On Konoha's Eighth Street, after many shop owners' attempts to reason with the Military Police Force failed, they reopened their businesses as usual.
The Root members assigned to the patrols also began their normal rounds. At first, the Uchiha shop owners thought it was manageable. But as time went on, they felt something was off. These Root guards were constantly loitering around the Uchiha establishments. Their presence deterred some customers, who, not wanting to deal with Root operatives, simply decided not to enter the shops at all.
The Uchiha owners tried to negotiate, stating that such a heavy patrol presence was unnecessary. But their complaints were ignored. If any Uchiha shop owner showed the slightest sign of aggression, they were immediately arrested.
Danzo lurked in a dark corner of the street, a cold smile on his face. He used to look down on these small businesses, but that changed when his investigators reported on the profitability of the Uchiha's restaurants. Only then did he truly begin to take these shops seriously. If they were all his, he would never have to worry about research funding again. He would no longer be constrained by the Third Hokage. Without needing to ask Hiruzen for money, Hiruzen would naturally lose his leverage over him. Even if the Third Hokage disagreed with rebuilding Root, it would only be a matter of losing a superficial veneer.
Therefore, he had to get his hands on all of the Uchiha's small shops. Today was just a preliminary test. He had other tricks up his sleeve. There was plenty of time; he could afford to be patient.
What he didn't know was that the Uchiha already had a countermeasure in place.
After receiving a message from Hizashi, Fugaku was next updated by the Military Police Force, followed by reports from the ordinary Uchiha shop owners. Information poured into Fugaku's ears through various channels. Within just a few hours, he had mounted a swift response.
An Uchiha clan member entered each Uchiha-owned shop. After making a few pre-arranged hand signs to the owner, they would leave just as quickly as they came. Shortly thereafter, the Root members still spying on the area noticed that one shop had a problem with its stove, while another had a burst water pipe.
Stoves were broken, pots were cracked, and ingredients were contaminated. The owners apologized profusely to the villagers still waiting in line.
"Dear customers, we are terribly sorry, but our kitchen equipment has malfunctioned today. We can't continue serving food and will have to close for the day."
The customers were deeply disappointed. "How could this happen? I've been in line for an hour just to get your spicy fried lobster!"
"Exactly! I came here early this morning just for this. What equipment is broken? I can fix it, just please don't close!"
The owner made an apologetic gesture. "Every customer still in line will receive a coupon for three pounds of spicy fried lobster. Please come back another day."
A coupon for three pounds was no small thing, worth at least several hundred Ryo. Though the customers grumbled, they accepted the coupons and gradually dispersed.
The villager who offered to help with repairs was pulled aside by the shop owner. "My friend, our equipment isn't really broken. We have no choice but to close."
The villager looked astonished. "You're turning away good money?"
The owner lifted his chin slightly, gesturing with his eyes towards the street outside. The man looked and saw several Root members loitering nearby. The owner gave him a knowing look. The villager seemed to understand, though not completely. He accepted the coupon and left.
One by one, under the watchful eyes of Root, all the Uchiha-owned shops closed their doors. The villagers, deprived of their favorite food, cast subtle, resentful glances at the Root members. The Root operatives noticed but paid them no mind, simply reporting the chain of events to Danzo.
Danzo waved a calm hand. "It's fine. They're in the food business; they'll have to reopen eventually. There's no rush."
What followed was a protracted battle between the Uchiha merchants and Root. Danzo had assumed the Uchiha would close for a day or two at most before reopening. He was wrong. These goldmines of shops remained shut for seven straight days. For seven days, countless customers arrived only to leave in disappointment. That was a lot of Ryo going down the drain.
Danzo grew restless. The grand elder of the Hyuga Main Family was on pins and needles. He had initially used his authority to send Hizashi, a branch family member, home on leave so he could take over personally. Danzo had approached him with an offer: an honorary elder position in exchange for the Hyuga clan's cooperation. Yet, the moment he arrived and made a simple roster change, every Uchiha restaurant closed down. Now, not only had he failed to secure the promised benefit, but he was also likely to stir up more trouble.
For years, these restaurants had been the economic engine of the entire street. Even the Hokage had praised Eighth Street for its prosperity. Now, with all the eateries closed, the foot traffic had visibly plummeted. The Uchiha clan themselves hadn't said a word, but the complaint letters from non-Uchiha shop owners on Eighth Street were flying to the Hokage's office like a snowstorm. The Hyuga grand elder had come in and immediately started making waves. People had tried to speak with him, but they all left fuming. Eventually, they bypassed the Military Police Force entirely and complained directly to the Hokage.
Word began to spread throughout the village. Although the Uchiha clan remained silent, the shop owners had been winking and subtly pointing at the nearby Root operatives as they closed up. Root's reputation was already in the gutter, so the villagers naturally started speculating. Were these Root security guards causing trouble for the Uchiha? Were they deliberately trying to put the Uchiha out of business? The villagers spoke with such conviction it was as if they had witnessed it themselves, all convinced that Root was out to ruin the Uchiha.
Before long, Hyuga Hiashi was summoned to the Hokage's office.
The Third Hokage, puffing on his pipe with a displeased expression, said to Hiashi, "I don't care what private agreement your Main Family and Danzo have reached. You have three days to get those Uchiha shops reopened."
From the start, Hiashi had disagreed with the grand elder getting involved in the Military Police Force's affairs. He had lost all goodwill toward the Hokage's administration after the incident with the Hidden Cloud Village, where the Hyuga clan had been sold out as a sacrifice. But the grand elder was an old stubborn fool, convinced that defying the Hokage would lead to ruin. Besides, Danzo had promised the Hyuga an honorary elder position for what was supposed to be a simple personnel adjustment. Who could have predicted the Uchiha would be so prepared? The moment Root operatives got close, the owners shut their doors without a second thought.
Now, with the Third Hokage's backing, Hiashi rushed back to discuss countermeasures with the other elders. The Third Hokage secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had granted Danzo some authority but had kept it quiet. The public didn't know that the actions of Danzo and the Hyuga Main Family had his tacit approval. The Uchiha's strong reaction meant he had to rethink his long-term strategy.
Hiashi quickly relayed the Third Hokage's directive. The grand elder, however, was still fixated on the honorary elder position and couldn't just let it go. He recalled Hizashi to active duty but remained in the Military Police Force himself under the guise of "assisting." At times like these, Hizashi despised the men who occupied positions of power yet did nothing of value. But as a branch family member, he couldn't afford to offend the Main Family. He could only silently endure the grand elder's constant meddling.
Later, the Root guards were reassigned to other districts. At that exact moment, all the Uchiha shops on Eighth Street reopened simultaneously.
"Yes! Skewers!"
"Stinky Tofu!"
"My beloved Hot and Sour Noodles!"
"Lamb Paomo!"
The villagers erupted with joy. Their stomachs had long been conquered by Chinese cuisine. With the shops closed for a week, everyone had lost their appetite and felt gloomy. Many had even lost weight. As the shops reopened, a massive crowd immediately surged in, ordering frantically. The Uchiha staff were nearly collapsing from exhaustion by the end of the day.
Having finally tasted the delicious food again, the villagers ate until they were stumbling, needing to lean on walls just to get in and out. They were terrified the shops would suddenly disappear again the next day. Fortunately, their fears did not come true; the Uchiha shops opened as usual. The villagers could finally relax.
On the fourth day, however, all the shops closed again in unison.
A customer who ran into an Uchiha owner privately asked for an explanation. The owner replied with a wry smile, "The past few days, the patrols were handled by our own Uchiha or by the Hyuga. Naturally, there was no problem. But today, the patrol is made up of Root members. How could we dare to open?"
"Those Root people, well..." The owner trailed off deliberately. "Once the Root patrol's shift ends, our shops can reopen. Thank you all for your understanding."
The Uchiha owner then pushed his way through the crowd and left.
Word travels fast in a crowd, and it wasn't long before Danzo heard the news. He smashed his teacup in a fit of rage. The Uchiha clan's defenses were airtight. He had planned to use Root's presence on the patrol to find an opportunity to tamper with their food, create an incident, and then use safety concerns as a pretext to shut down the shops one by one and bring the owners in for interrogation. Once they were in his hands, he could manipulate them as he pleased. He'd get not just their secret recipes, but even where they hid their private savings.
But the Uchiha gave him no opportunity whatsoever. The moment Root was on patrol, all Uchiha shops would collectively close. They would rather lose money than do business under his watch. They showed no fear of alienating their customers. At first, some customers were indeed angry, but the Uchiha clan was prepared. They handed out coupons and free food, not sparing any expense, to show the customers that they too were victims of circumstance.
Gradually, a tacit understanding formed among the clientele. Someone, somewhere, leaked the Military Police Force's patrol schedule. On days when Root members were on duty, customers didn't even bother showing up, knowing they wouldn't get anything to eat. As a result, whenever Root was on patrol, the entire street became deserted, as if all the shops had gone out of business. Forget finding a chance to get the secret recipes; Root would be lucky to find a single Uchiha clan member.
Danzo was fuming. "They're closing every other day! Don't the shop owners have a problem with that?" he demanded, utterly perplexed. A business that raked in so much money couldn't just be closed on a whim. Every closure meant a day's lost revenue. If customers were turned away too often, they would eventually stop coming. If too many ingredients were prepared, they could spoil after a day, leading to significant losses.
Danzo had no idea that Kawasaki had anticipated this scenario from the very beginning and had formulated a plan with Fugaku in advance. The moment Danzo or Root made any move, the Uchiha had to react immediately. Otherwise, they would be like a frog in slowly boiling water, unable to escape their eventual fate.
Customers couldn't get their food? No problem. Anyone who made a wasted trip due to a closure received a coupon. And these weren't paltry coupons for a few hundred Ryo off. They were outrageously generous, often for a portion size equivalent to a full meal.
Too many leftover ingredients? No problem. They were all brought back to the clan compound and distributed to everyone for free. The restaurant owners' losses were fully reimbursed by the clan. For every day a shop was closed, the owner received a subsidy equivalent to their average daily revenue for that month.
With money, you could be that willful.
Did the owners have any objections? Of course, they did. They secretly wished Root would be stationed on their street every single day. They wouldn't even have to open their shops; the clan would just pay them directly. Getting paid without working? What could be better?
Most Uchiha, however, were filled with gratitude toward the clan. These shops were originally established by Vice-Chief Kawasaki to help them. Now, their businesses were booming, and they were earning several times what they used to. Kawasaki had explained from the start the various difficulties they might encounter. The most important thing was to protect the Uchiha's reputation. A good reputation would keep people coming back. All losses incurred during this period would be covered by the clan.
This was also why the "Chinese Cuisine" tasted so unique. Anyone who had tried it wouldn't stop coming just because the shops were occasionally closed. Most people simply transferred their frustration over the lack of food onto the Root members. Ordinary villagers posed no real threat to them, at most giving them strange looks. But for ninjas with skills and resources, it was a different story.
Root members began to suffer a series of "accidents." They would be sent flying by a random collision while walking, find bugs in their fruit, or fall into the latrine. They knew someone was behind it, but they had no proof. Konoha was a large village, and there were countless subtle jutsu that could be used to make someone's life miserable. Consequently, the Root members would patrol during their shifts and disappear the moment they were off duty. Otherwise, they might not even know how they died.
Inside the Hokage Tower in Konoha.
"This is the solution you came up with? Do you have any idea how much the foot traffic on Eighth Street has dropped?" Hiruzen slammed his hand on the desk, his dissatisfaction with Danzo clear. "The mailbox for villager complaints is about to burst! Several other ninja clans have shops there, and they've all come to me to report the situation!"
Danzo's eyes flashed with impatience. "The Uchiha were obviously prepared. I was also surprised by their reaction."
"Keeping your Root members in the Military Police Force was a terrible move," Hiruzen said, taking a puff from his pipe. "It has achieved nothing. Go to the village community hall and ask around. See just how bad your Root's reputation is. People go out of their way to avoid them. How can they possibly serve as guards?"
Danzo's expression soured. When he had trained Root, his priorities were loyalty to him and proficiency in special missions. Asking them to act as community police officers now was a fool's errand. They completely lacked the interpersonal skills for the job.
"I will think of another way," Danzo replied.
"How about starting by pulling your men out of the Military Police Force?" the Third Hokage said coolly.
"No!" Danzo's reaction was sudden and fierce.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen smoked his pipe, feeling agitated. The Uchiha clan was proving impervious to both soft and hard tactics. Conciliatory policies didn't work, but neither did shows of force. He couldn't intervene directly, and Danzo had been utterly humiliated, now lying low.
"Elder Koharu, what is the Uchiha clan's mission status?" The Third Hokage decided to try applying pressure from a different angle.
Koharu Utatane reported dutifully. "I've brought the statistics on the Uchiha's recent mission completions."
The Third Hokage nodded in satisfaction. She was one of his own; he only had to summon her, and she knew what he needed, even preparing the documents in advance. He picked up the mission report, his brow furrowing slightly. Although over a hundred elite Uchiha had left, there should still be more than a hundred remaining. Yet their monthly mission completion rate was less than a third of what it used to be.
"Are the Uchiha no longer taking missions to support their families?" Hiruzen asked, confused.
Koharu was clearly better informed. "Many Uchiha are staying home to have children, so naturally, fewer people are taking missions."
The Third Hokage was puzzled. "Shouldn't having children make them work harder?"
Koharu shook her head. "You don't understand, Hiruzen. Before Kawasaki left, he implemented a childbirth incentive program. For every child born, the family receives a large sum of money. As a result, many ninja have stopped taking missions to focus on starting families at home. Those who do take missions only accept simple ones."
Hiruzen paced around the room. The Uchiha's actions confirmed they were indeed making a fortune from their restaurants. He had to stop their momentum.
"In that case," the Third Hokage said, a new idea forming, "we can change the rules at the Mission Assignment Desk..."