The undercurrents in the Land of Rain haven't yet shown any clear impact on the future of the ninja world. The Akatsuki organization still chooses to maintain the status quo, quietly biding their time, waiting for the moment to shock the world. But it's not just Akatsuki honing its skills; with the Third Hokage and Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer around, Konoha, free from endless internal strife, is also quickly recovering its strength.

The reforms in the Police Force are still in their early stages, but there are already signs of prosperity.

Even though many non-Uchiha ninjas have joined the Police Force, and the power within is still tightly held by the Uchiha clan, the equation of "Police Force = Uchiha" is gradually fading in the minds of the villagers. It was at this moment that Sōgen received a report from the squad led by Kabuto Yakushi.

In the Police Department, The Minister's Office

"Why is it the daimyo's residence again?"

Sōgen shook the report in his hand, a strange smile on his face.

Previously, they had arrested a thief, which led to uncovering some unsavory scandals involving a high-ranking official from the Ministry of the Treasury under the daimyo. Sōgen had planned to use that information to make a fortune and resolve the Police Department's financial crisis, but they hadn't made much progress on that front yet.

And now, they had discovered a new case.

The disappearance of people in the newly developed district seemed to be connected to the daimyo's envoy stationed in Konoha. This finding was rather troublesome.

"Sōgen, we need to suppress this matter."

Uchiha Ranzan frowned. "First, we meddled in the internal strife of the Ministry of the Treasury, and now we're investigating the daimyo's envoy in Konoha. People will start thinking we're targeting the daimyo, and that's not going to benefit the village or the clan."

"But it's not like we're the ones committing the crime. We're just doing our job, aren't we?"

"Heh."

Uchiha Ranzan let out a sarcastic laugh. "Chief, sure, investigating the missing persons case is part of our duties. But meddling in the Ministry of the Treasury's internal strife? That's not our job. Or have you decided to abandon your plan to make money?"

"…Isn't there a way to satisfy both sides?"

"How could there be? I certainly don't have the skills to pull that off."

Ranzan spread his hands with a look that said, "You're putting me in an impossible situation."

Sōgen sighed. This was indeed a difficult situation. After all, the Fire Daimyo was technically the highest leader of the Land of Fire. Even though the Hokage's status was lower than the daimyo, as acknowledged by the First Hokage, this hierarchy had never really been accepted by the later Hokage, and the daimyo had never successfully interfered in the succession of the Hokage.

But appearances still had to be maintained.

The legitimacy of the one-village, one-country system had, over fifty years, become a universally accepted norm. Konoha's high degree of autonomy was legal, reasonable, and logical, but the daimyo's role as the lawful supreme leader was also indisputable.

If they disrupted the peaceful relations between the daimyo's residence and Konoha, the hard-earned positive reputation of the Uchiha clan and the Police Department might take a sharp nosedive again.

"…Let's put the Ministry of the Treasury matter on hold for now." After some deep thought, Sōgen made a decision. Intervening in the internal strife of the Ministry of the Treasury, no matter how covert, would inevitably leave traces that could be used against them.

Besides, apart from the financial gain, the matter wasn't that urgent. As long as they had evidence of illicit transactions between the Kado Shipping Company and high-ranking officials from the Ministry of the Treasury, there was no harm in waiting.

In contrast, Sōgen decided to focus on solving the missing persons case first.

Let's see what the final investigation reveals.

After all, Kabuto's report only indicated that the envoy was involved; there was no solid proof that he was the true culprit behind the disappearances. It could just be someone using the envoy's name to commit crimes... though that was the optimistic view.

The most important point was that, in his position, he had to perform his duties. The Police Department's job was to maintain Konoha's order and security. Knowing there were criminal activities in the village and doing nothing about it would weigh heavily on his conscience.

"Tell Kabuto's team to go ahead and handle it. As long as they follow the code of conduct and avoid using excessive force, it'll be fine!"

"And what about the money? What should we do about that?"

Uchiha Ranzan frowned deeply. "I had the Finance Department recheck the budget. We only have enough funds to pay two months of salaries. If any injuries occur and we have to pay compensation, we won't even last two months."

"…I'll talk to the Hokage and see what we can do. If it comes to it, we might have to send the Special Task Force to collect bounty rewards."

Sōgen racked his brain and came up with a crazy idea.

"Huh?"

Uchiha Ranzan was dumbfounded.

Bounty rewards?

For what exactly... could it be rogue ninjas?

"Are you saying we should send the Special Task Force to hunt rogue ninjas?"

As the saying goes, "The bigger the forest, the more diverse the creatures." In a village with tens of thousands of ninjas, not everyone upholds the Will of Fire. Some commit serious crimes like harming comrades, maliciously injuring others, leaking information, or stealing secrets, forcing them to defect once discovered by the Police Department or the ANBU.

"I'm not talking about S-rank rogues, but even A-rank rogues fetch a high price. B-rank rogues might be worth less, but their numbers can make up for it!"

The more Sōgen thought about it, the more he felt this plan might just work.

The ranking of rogue ninjas was based on mission difficulty. Any rogue capable of successfully defecting from the village was undoubtedly formidable, so even the lowest-ranking rogue was at least B-rank. Given the difficulty of capturing rogues, and to encourage ninja involvement, a B-rank rogue's bounty was several times that of an ordinary B-rank mission.

Orochimaru, for instance, had a bounty so high that the reward for completing twenty S-rank missions wouldn't come close to matching it.

"Catching rogues isn't that easy," Uchiha Ranzan remarked, doubtful.

If rogues were that easy to deal with, the ANBU would have captured them long ago. Yet in reality, these rogues only grew stronger after repeated escapes from the ANBU, becoming even more elusive and difficult to apprehend.

"Let's give it a shot! Honestly, there aren't many opportunities for the Special Task Force to be deployed in the village. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, they might as well get some exercise." The Special Task Force's main duty was to deal with jōnin-level criminals. The entire team consisted of only 20 members, split into five squads, each led by elite jōnin, with the remaining three members all being tokubetsu jōnin.

Such a force was, frankly, of little use in the village.

Konoha's law and order had always been excellent. Whether in the past or now, the Uchiha clan had never failed to live up to their responsibilities. Rogue ninja hunting had always been the job of the ANBU, not the Police Department. Ranzan clearly thought of this as well.

"Sōgen, isn't this overstepping our authority?"

"How could that be? There's no rule in the village prohibiting the police from capturing rogue ninjas. On the contrary, the village supports and encourages those with the capability to apprehend rogue ninjas." This was a gray area. While some members of the Anbu were specifically tasked with hunting down rogue ninjas, the rest of the village's ninjas were also allowed to earn bounties for these captures.

Otherwise, who would they expect to claim these bounties—Cloud ninjas, Sand ninjas? They would be lucky if those villages weren't secretly collaborating with the rogue ninjas.

As for the ninjas from smaller villages or clans, it's not about looking down on them, but expecting them to catch rogue ninjas that even Anbu found troublesome was asking too much. Realistically, only people from their own village had the ability to earn these bounties.

"Fine! You're the department head, so it's your call. After all, the Special Tactics Unit is your direct responsibility. By the way... did you have this plan in mind from the beginning?"

Suspicion flickered in Uchiha Lanshan's eyes.

"How could that be? You're giving me too much credit. I didn't think that far ahead. I just figured that as the head of the department, I can't rely on passing orders down layer by layer for every little thing—it's too much trouble."

"Really? Fine! I'll take your word for it. Is there anything else?" Uchiha Lanshan took a few steps toward the door, turning his head to look at Sōgen, who was seated behind the desk. "If there's nothing else, I've got a pile of work waiting for me."

"That's it. Just remember to tell Kabuto's team to proceed with the mission. We need to solve the missing persons case as soon as possible. I also need to head out now."

As he spoke, Sōgen stood up and ran his hand through his hair while gazing out the window.

"Where are you going?"

Uchiha Lanshan asked offhandedly as he opened the door to leave, "The Naka Shrine? You've been going there a lot lately. What exactly are you doing over there?"

In the past, when the Uchiha clan was ostracized by the village, they often held secret meetings in the underground chamber of Naka Shrine. But nowadays, even though they hadn't fully integrated into the village, there was no longer a need for such frequent gatherings. Honestly, without meetings, hardly anyone went to the shrine anymore.

"Not the shrine. I'm heading to the Hokage's office to see if I can secure some funding!"

Sōgen dismissed Lanshan's guess but didn't explain what was really happening at the shrine.

"Sōgen? The shrine?"

Lanshan's suspicions deepened.

"Don't worry about what's going on at the shrine. It's mainly been turned into a lab where we're researching some things. Chuta and Chihaya are keeping an eye on it. You just focus on managing the police department. I don't want to overwhelm you with more responsibilities."

"A lab?"

Lanshan's heart skipped a beat.

His evasiveness... It was clear this research wasn't exactly legitimate. Otherwise, there'd be no need for such secrecy. The fact that he didn't even know about it before now spoke volumes about how closely guarded it was.

"Sōgen, be careful... Don't forget Orochimaru's lesson."

Lanshan originally wanted to dissuade Sōgen from taking risks, but then he realized that once Sōgen made up his mind about something, no one could change it. Instead of hoping he would stop, it was better to urge him to be cautious and avoid repeating Orochimaru's mistakes.

"Don't worry. I'm not like Orochimaru."

Sōgen smiled.

Orochimaru had been forced to defect not only because he had decided to leave, but also because of two major factors. One was using fellow villagers as human experiment subjects, and the second was getting caught.

Otherwise, honestly, human experimentation wasn't that big of a deal.

Did anyone really think that the Second Hokage developed all those forbidden jutsus out of thin air? It required extensive human experimentation. For example, the Reanimation Jutsu needed fresh corpses as sacrifices. The only difference was that the Second Hokage didn't use villagers for his experiments.

At the end of the day, Orochimaru simply wanted to leave Konoha. Otherwise, with his abilities, he could've found experiment materials outside the village. Or, with his skill, it wouldn't have been easy for people to discover that the disappearances were linked to him. His heart had already strayed, which is why everything unfolded the way it did.

"Orochimaru wanted to leave the village. I have no intention of becoming a rogue ninja wandering the world... The reason the lab's research is kept secret isn't because it's unethical, but because it concerns the future of the Uchiha clan. If it were exposed, Shisui and I would probably have to guard it day and night to prevent sabotage."

Sōgen walked to the door, leaving with Lanshan.

"…Is it that serious?"

Lanshan's face was filled with doubt.

Research that could impact the long-term prosperity of the Uchiha clan? What on earth were they studying? It seemed exaggerated.

"Not at all. You'll understand in time. For now, the fewer people who know, the better."

The key to ensuring the Uchiha clan remained at the top of the ninja world was the uninterrupted inheritance of the Mangekyo Sharingan. However, because the Mangekyo Sharingan caused blindness, Uchiha members who unlocked it were cautious about overusing its power.

It was only because Sōgen had subdued Samehada that it could drain its own life force to replenish the eyes' power. Without Sōgen, Samehada could at best restore its wielder's chakra, but it wouldn't use its energy to repair the eyes.

As for White Zetsu, which contained Hashirama's cells, it could help stabilize the turbulent power of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

If they could perfect a safe method of cell transplantation, the Uchiha clan might no longer need to worry about the risk of blindness. But, of course, this was easier said than done, and ensuring the safety of the transplant was just the first step.

There were other issues too, like whether the transplanted cells could be passed down genetically. If not, where would future transplants come from?

This was thinking too far ahead, though. The immediate challenge was safely implanting White Zetsu's cells into an Uchiha body. Don't be fooled by Obito's success in this regard. It wasn't easy. Who knew if Madara had taken extra steps to ensure Obito survived?

Madara himself may have transplanted his own cells into Obito. By then, Madara had already awakened the Rinnegan and perfectly fused the powers of the Sage's eyes and body. So, Obito's case didn't prove much.

Even Sasori hadn't made any progress in this area so far.

The power of the Sage's eyes and body had been separated for millennia, and the two forces were now so incompatible that "oil and water" was an understatement. Even Uchiha Madara, who had awakened the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, only managed to fuse the two forces and unlock the Rinnegan when he was old and frail.

This shows just how difficult the research was.