The three boys—stone-throwers turned criminals—stared wide-eyed, faces pale and lips trembling. They hadn't expected things to go this far.
Not after the last time.
Not after every other time.
But this wasn't just another time.
This time, Ryosuke Uchiha stood before them—his voice like thunder, his eyes sharp as kunai, fury barely restrained.
"Is that the story you're going with?" he growled.
The tallest of the boys, perhaps twelve, perhaps only ten but looking older than the others, blinked fast and gulped. Then, like a rat trying to escape a collapsing den, he scrambled for a lie.
"It was him! He hit us first!" the boy yelped. "We were just defending ourselves!"
His father, standing stiff behind him, jumped at the chance to back the boy's words.
"Yes! That's exactly what happened," the man said with forced confidence. "That demon child—he attacked first. He brought this on himself!"
Ryosuke's lips curled into a humorless smirk. He'd heard a lot of garbage since the Uchiha had been reinstated into the village's affairs… but this? This was impressive garbage.
His voice cut through the air.
"Another word of nonsense," he snapped, "and your son gets five years in prison."
The words dropped like boulders into a still pond.
Five years.
The crowd gasped. The boy's face went ghost white.
"F-five years?!" he squeaked, his voice breaking.
Desperately, he tried again. "It's true! It's true! Naruto hit us first—he really did!"
The two smaller boys, who had stayed quiet, now looked on the verge of tears. One hiccupped. The other clutched his shirt with tiny, shaking hands.
Even the four clan heads standing behind Ryosuke—Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Choza Akimichi, and Tsume Inuzuka—exchanged uneasy glances.
This wasn't a slap-on-the-wrist punishment. This wasn't detention. This was prison.
And five years in a shinobi prison didn't just take away your time—it broke people.
There were no teachers. No guidance. Just locked cells, bad food, and violence.
"Isn't this a little... excessive?" murmured Choza under his breath.
But before he could voice it aloud, Shikaku raised a hand, stopping him.
"Wait," Shikaku said quietly. "Let the truth come out first. We can't challenge Uchiha judgment until we're sure."
Choza frowned but nodded.
Ryosuke turned his icy gaze to the two smaller boys.
"And you?" he said. "Do you share his story? Or do you think lying to a Uchiha Police officer is fun?"
The boys didn't speak.
Their fathers were now sweating bullets. They weren't idiots. Ryosuke had a point—dozens of civilians had been on the street that afternoon. If he really wanted to, Ryosuke could pull security scrolls, talk to witnesses, trace footprints with Byakugan precision.
If their kids lied and got caught?
They were done.
One of the fathers snapped.
"Tell the truth!" he barked at his son. "Do you want to spend five years in prison?!"
The other nodded furiously. "Speak now or suffer later. You think he's bluffing?"
The two kids burst like water balloons under pressure.
"It was us!" one admitted tearfully. "We threw the rocks first. Because—because he always eats ramen! He gets food every day. Why does a demon get to eat better than us?!"
"Yeah!" the second added, sniffling. "We were just mad. He fought back with a small rock. But the big one… that was his idea!" He pointed at the tall boy.
"It was a huge one. And it hit Naruto in the head!"
Their parents' faces twisted in shock and fury—not at Ryosuke, but at their own sons.
"You idiots!" one father hissed. "I told you to keep it harmless!"
Another muttered under his breath, "Now we're really in it. This Uchiha's clearly trying to make an example—for that demon."
They looked warily at Ryosuke, who stood like a wall between justice and injustice.
He wasn't here for revenge.
He was here because Naruto Uzumaki, the Fourth Hokage's son, had nearly been killed by children the village failed to raise with decency.
And now, one of them had tried to lie his way out of it.
Ryosuke turned to the crowd.
"Anyone else witness what happened?" he called out. "5,000 ryō reward for a truthful account."
The people stirred.
Money changed things.
A man stepped forward—a middle-aged shopkeeper with calloused hands and a ragged apron.
"I saw it," he said. "Those boys threw rocks first. Naruto fought back with a small stone. Then the tall one—he hurled a boulder. Hit the poor kid right in the skull."
"Liar!" the tall boy's father shouted.
But the witness barked right back.
"Lying?! Ask anyone! We all saw it!"
The father looked around. Not a single person came to his defense. Some looked away. Others nodded grimly. No one denied it.
Ryosuke turned to the clan heads. His voice was firm and final.
"The evidence is clear. I sentence the tall boy to five years in the Uchiha Police holding facility. The other two—one year each, as accomplices."
Gasps swept through the crowd.
Even Shikaku's normally unreadable face twitched. This wasn't symbolic punishment. This was real.
Choza finally stepped forward.
"Wait," he said. "Ryosuke, this is… excessive. They're just kids."
Inoichi frowned. "They didn't even manage to kill him—Naruto will recover."
The tall boy's father saw his chance.
"We'll pay for the hospital bills," he offered quickly. "Please, anything but five years. He'll come out broken!"
The other parents added in protest.
"Our kids didn't even hurt him!"
"They only threw tiny rocks!"
Ryosuke narrowed his eyes.
"They assaulted a jinchūriki," he said coldly. "That's attempted assassination. And lying to the Uchiha Police? That's an insult to justice."
"The tall one tried to blame the victim and twist the truth. He nearly killed a boy over jealousy. That kind of cruelty doesn't come from nowhere. It grows in the shadows of a village that enables it."
The clan heads looked at each other. Their silence was deafening.
Then the tall boy's father turned desperately to Shikaku.
"Nara clan head! This is your jurisdiction! Uchiha or not, you're still in charge here! You can't let him do this!"
Shikaku scratched his head. He didn't like this one bit.
He also didn't like what it meant if they blocked Ryosuke now—what it said about how Konoha protected its outcasts.
He sighed.
"Ryosuke… this punishment. Isn't it a bit much? Maybe just a few months…"
Ryosuke stared at him.
"No. They nearly killed the son of the Fourth Hokage. One of the most important children in this entire village. They did it because they think he's beneath them."
"They'll face the full consequences."
And then, almost as an afterthought, he added:
"The Uchiha Police don't hand out warnings. We deliver justice."
Read ahead with 90+ chapters now and daily updates!
@patreon.com/Zefyrus