Uchiha Ren's words left everyone in the meeting room speechless.
Indeed, whenever conflicts had occurred between the Uchiha clan and ordinary villagers in the past, the villagers had generally been the weaker side. As a result, everyone had instinctively placed the blame on the Uchiha shinobi.
But in reality, the Uchiha shinobi had merely been enforcing the law impartially!
Even if there were unreasonable aspects to those laws, it seemed unfair to blame the Uchiha shinobi for enforcing them.
"Prejudice in the human heart is like a great mountain."
Uchiha Ren continued speaking.
"I know that ever since our Uchiha clan's predecessor, Uchiha Madara, became the first member of our clan to defect from the village, everyone has developed certain prejudices against the Uchiha clan."
"But I want to make one thing clear. Since the founding of Konoha, Uchiha Madara has hardly been the only shinobi to defect from the village! And Uchiha Madara is Uchiha Madara. The Uchiha clan is the Uchiha clan!"
"When Uchiha Madara left the village, our Uchiha clan firmly chose to remain in Konoha!"
"During the First Shinobi World War, the Second Shinobi World War, and the Third Shinobi World War, whenever the village needed the Uchiha clan, when have we ever said no?"
"We shed blood and made sacrifices during wartime, and we maintained public order during peacetime. Our Uchiha clan has never done anything to betray the village!"
"What our Uchiha clan has always wanted is not special treatment. All we have ever wanted is fairness!"
After a brief pause, Ren's voice grew heavier. He spoke with utmost seriousness.
"I won't bring up the past anymore. But from now on, I hope everyone will stop looking at the Uchiha clan through colored glasses!"
"We are all comrades from the same village. No one is going to destroy the village's interests for no reason."
"When a problem arises, don't immediately throw the blame onto the Uchiha clan. Instead, think more carefully, look more closely, ask more questions, and wait until you've understood the true nature of the matter before reaching a conclusion!"
As he said this, Uchiha Ren gave Tsunade a pointed glance.
If anyone had prejudice against the Uchiha clan, the Senju clan's prejudice was undoubtedly among the deepest.
Especially that naturally evil, white-haired Senju!
To some extent, the reason Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado—the so-called Konoha F4—had been so hostile toward the Uchiha clan was also because they had been influenced by Tobirama Senju.
Danzō had repeatedly claimed in the past that suppressing the Uchiha clan was the will his teacher, Tobirama Senju, had left behind, and that he himself was merely the one carrying out Tobirama's will.
Ren's words caused quite a few people in the meeting room to lower their heads in shame.
They were clearly among those who had harbored prejudices against the Uchiha clan.
Most of them, however, were civilian-born shinobi and relatively insignificant members of their respective clans.
They had not been exposed to many of the village's deeper affairs and were therefore easily influenced by others.
Many of those who actually possessed political influence had long understood the truth behind the Uchiha clan's suppression.
But under those circumstances, simply refraining from kicking the Uchiha while they were down had already been the best they could do. Expecting them to stand up and speak a few words of justice on the Uchiha's behalf was even more unrealistic.
"All right, all right."
Seeing that the atmosphere in the meeting room had become somewhat heavy, Minato spoke up to ease the tension.
"We're all on the same side. There is no misunderstanding or conflict that cannot be resolved."
After a pause, Minato continued.
"After hearing Elder Uchiha's explanation, I believe everyone should understand by now that the conflicts between the Uchiha clan and ordinary villagers ultimately stem from problems with the village's rules and regulations!"
"People often say that establishing laws is easy. The difficult part is putting those laws into practice without compromising them."
"In my view, the Uchiha clan's people are indeed somewhat rigid when it comes to enforcing the rules. But in the hands of law enforcement officers, being rigid isn't a shortcoming. On the contrary, it is a rare and valuable virtue!"
"That is also the primary reason I am entrusting the Konoha Military Police with complete responsibility for the village's internal security."
At this point, Shikaku Nara and the others could no longer find much to object to.
Nevertheless, some people still wore expressions of concealed concern.
Seeing this, Minato smiled.
"There's no need for everyone to worry. I didn't make this decision on impulse. Rather, it was based on another matter."
"I believe everyone still remembers that not long ago, Elder Uchiha proposed at the Jōnin Council that the Konoha Military Police should be reorganized and that the village's existing rules and regulations should be revised, correct?"
Everyone froze for a moment before gradually recalling the matter.
At the time, they had been quite concerned.
After all, the authority to formulate laws had effectively been in the hands of the Uchiha clan. Who knew what kind of laws the Uchiha might create?
But afterward, too many things had happened, and the Uchiha clan had stopped mentioning the matter.
Everyone had gradually forgotten about it, assuming that Uchiha Ren had merely brought it up to annoy and counterbalance Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others.
They had not expected Minato to bring up the old matter again after so much time had passed, placing it openly before the council.
Minato continued,
"Elder Uchiha discussed this matter with me privately several times, hoping to gain the village's support. I also reviewed the preliminary proposal submitted by the Uchiha clan head and found it quite good. That's why I've brought it before this meeting to ask everyone for their opinions."
The expressions of the people in the meeting room did not change much when they heard this.
There were no objections.
Instead, some of them even seemed faintly expectant.
Their previous concern had been that the Uchiha clan would monopolize the power to formulate the new laws, resulting in an unfair legal system.
But now that the Uchiha clan was willing to give up that monopoly, and with Fourth Hokage Minato personally backing the proposal, they no longer needed to worry about the Uchiha becoming the sole authority.
At the same time, they were somewhat eager to see whether they could secure some benefits from the reform.
After all, Minato Namikaze was the Fourth Hokage of the village. Surely he wouldn't side with the Uchiha clan on absolutely everything.
However, everyone also noticed something suspicious in Minato's words.
Minato had said that he had discussed this matter with Uchiha Ren privately several times.
But today was only Minato's first day as Hokage!
Good grief.
They had already suspected that Minato was a seemingly innocent but secretly calculating schemer who had deceived them all this time.
And now he wasn't even pretending anymore.
He had simply laid his cards on the table, openly revealing the close relationship between himself and Uchiha Ren!
Seeing that no one raised any objections, Minato smiled and continued.
"Then, without further ado, let's have Elder Uchiha explain the details of the Konoha Military Police reorganization."
Everyone in the meeting room once again turned their attention toward Uchiha Ren.
Ren, however, looked toward Uchiha Yashiro, who was sitting nearby, and gae him a subtle signal.
Uchiha Yashiro nodded and stood up to make the preparations.
Only then did Ren turn back toward everyone.
"Because this is rather complicated, our Uchiha clan has prepared a PowerPoint presentation. Everyone, please wait a moment."
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