Please note that this has a small continuation called Police II that will be published sometime... I'm not sure when, I haven't figured out the updating schedule at this point.
Toru's Age: 14 Years
Sasuke's Age: 11 Years
Naruto's Age: 11 Years
Time After Events of Current Strength: Three Months
Ren Yoshido is proud to call herself one of the senior police members. At twenty-four, she's still young, (and she knows it, despises it at times because it means people look down to it, but simultaneously loves it because it means people are willing to ignore her), and only has two years of police work as experience, but nonetheless, she has one of the best on the force.
Not that the force is big, but it's grown from the initial four people who'd been the first group going through the program. Nonetheless, now Ren can proudly state she's part of a thirty-something police organisation, all of which take on practical work and paperwork. There are even more police members, Ren knows, if one considers the important – and helpful – dogs who work loyally beside their trainers.
However, the latest batch of recruits are all out on their first patrol without a senior overseer, and so few people want to take the late afternoon receptionist shift, especially when it falls on a Monday.
Next to her chair, hidden by the desk, Shinju lifts her head, muzzle wrinkling slightly in warning. Ren hums softly, pushing her chair back slightly and tapping the underneath of the table three times in rapid succession. Shinju stands, ready and waiting, and Ren looks straight ahead, as someone pushes open the doors to the Uchiha Police Headquarters.
The person who enters is someone Ren hasn't ever seen before. His hair is cut short, and his top is tucked into his pants. He looks like a business man and someone who never has stepped foot into the Uchiha Clan Compound. Ren can't help but think that he doesn't belong here – everything about him sets him apart from the other residents, (the Uchiha Clan Head might think he's subtle hiding those in the back of the compound but Ren is a member of the police force and knows some of the secrets in the back of the compound, in houses meant to be empty, in children picking up clothes in the shadows and darting off, in women with tattered clothing in dark houses).
"Good afternoon Sir," Ren says, because it never hurts to be polite. "What can I help you with?"
The man looks down his nose at her, and she wonders what he thinks. Does he see her lack of uniform, her messy hair, the pen behind her ear, and does he think her inferior to him because of it? Ren doesn't come from a background with money, she believes in hard work the same way she feels happy after hours spent gardening with dirt lining the whirls of her fingers.
"I am a spokesperson for the Civilian Administration," he says, and Ren thinks everything about him sounds rich, sounds snobbish. The Civilian Administration is for those who have power, who have money, who have talent – they've never bothered with anyone like the residents in the Uchiha Clan Compound, unless it's to scorn and belittle them of course. "We would like to speak about the number of complaints within this Compound?"
"Is there a problem?" Ren asks, hoping that the Civilian Administration doesn't want to shut down a program that's only ever helped people, but it seems like the kind of thing the administration would do; they are not here for those who aren't rich.
"Not at all," the man responds. "The number of complaints from this sector has decreased drastically. The Civilian Administration wishes to implement the system in the rest of Konoha."
Ren smiles, posture relaxing, and she clicks her fingers, causing Shinju to relax as well. "That's lovely to hear. I can organise a meeting for you with our founder and boss, if you desire?"
"Unfortunately, the Civilian Administration does not have much time," the man replies, causing Ren to frown. "I have two hours currently, but the next time my division would be available would be in about two months."
"Very well," Ren says, feeling an idea take root in her mind. "Shinju," she says, and the dog jumps up. Quickly scrawling down a message on a piece of paper and tucking it into the dog's collar, Ren orders, "Find Toru." Shinju barks and sprints off. One of the commands each dog is trained with is finding Toru, even if such a command is rarely used.
"Is Toru-san your employer?" The spokesperson for the Civilian Administration asks. Ren nods. "Is he like you?"
Ren smiles demurely, "He owns a property around here," she says. The man looks slightly put out, and Ren wonders what the Civilian Administration's response will be upon learning that Toru Uchiha, Uchiha Clan Head and Konoha chūnin, is the leader of the Uchiha police organisation. It should be straight forward, but many people would overlook such a simple thing. After all, the boy is young, and many wouldn't believe his capabilities.
Shinju bounds into the room, message gone from her collar. Ren feds the dog a treat upon her return and stands up, directing her gaze at the room's newest occupant. "Good afternoon, Uchiha-sama," she says, smiling upon seeing the pale face of the Civilian Administration spokesperson.
"Indeed, Ren-san," Toru replies, the hulking mass of Haruto at his side. "Good afternoon, I am Toru Uchiha, founder of the Uchiha Police and owner of the Uchiha Clan Compound. I have heard you wanted to meet with me…?"
"Ahh, yes," the man pauses. "I am Taiki Hamasaki, a member of the Civilian Administration, and I come to you on their behalf to discuss whether this organisation can be implemented in the rest of Konoha."
"Very well, Hamasaki-san," Toru says decisively, "We can talk in my office. Ren-san, is it still open?"
"It is, and there's no new paperwork either. Tsuyoshi-kun has been ensuring that the paperwork you need to complete remains low. We got your signed papers yesterday as well."
"Thank you, Ren-san. If we don't finish before your shift is up, I'll lock up for you."
"That will not be necessary," Ren replies with a smile, "Besides, the newer recruits are due back, and I can't wait to hear what Kohaku-chan has to say."
Toru tilts his head in acknowledgement before leading Taiki Hamasaki to his office. As the door shuts behind them, Ren wonders what the outcome of their meeting will be. She'll stay silent of course, she owes that much to the Uchiha Clan Head. Moreover, she'll be interested in what happens if the program is implemented.
Shifting, giving an apologetic smile to the person next to her when she elbows them, Sora Ueno leans forward to look over the massive map spread out over the table. She briefly wonders why they're meeting in a room meant for five, seven at most, with ten others. Still, when Toru Uchiha does some ninja-secret power thing, lines all over the room glow before fading.
"Sorry about the small space everyone," he begins, "but unfortunately none of the larger meeting rooms have the same warding this room does that stops eavesdropping. I'll endeavour to fix that soon, though. Now, some of you may have heard that I've been recently meeting with the Civilian Administration, and this is true. They came to us a few weeks ago with the wish to implement this program in the wider of Konoha."
"They thought they could bulldoze our organisation and take control," Ren says with a laugh, interrupting Toru, although the younger boy doesn't seem to care. "Then they learnt Uchiha-sama was the leader and changed their tune pretty quickly." There's a moment of laughter, shared amongst everyone, and then Toru holds up his hand, hushing everyone.
"The logistics of it all requires heavy planning, and we're months away from implanting a program, but there are ideas in the works. What I've been discussing with the Civilian Administration is about trying to have the program under our control and jurisdiction, rather than theirs. We've managed to come to a compromise that we are able to plan everything and implement it, but the Civilian Administration will sign off on it all. As a result of the organisation being implemented in Konoha as well, there'll be a seat on the Villiage Council for someone who's part of the organisation," Toru explains.
"Is this why you organised a meeting with the rest of the police members for tomorrow?" Someone calls out, Sora scans down the table to see that Kohaku had spoken.
"Correct," Toru answers with a nod of his head. "Everyone here are the senior police members, so your input is extremely valuable, and it's much easier to discuss in a small group like this. Everything will get more hectic once everyone knows."
"What's today's meeting agenda?" Sora asks.
"The laws, handling of prisoners and hashing out the law, requirements for police, and dealing with new recruits and the recruitment process, since we can't run things the same way we do here – or not exactly the same way," Toru explains.
"The laws?" Tsuyoshi – their youngest senior police member – echoes. Toru doesn't respond, instead looking about; it's a tactic he often employs so that everyone speaks and has a turn at being part of the conversation or discussion.
"I think I get it," Nori says slowly. He draws the attention to himself quickly, and hurries to continue. "We don't focus on all ensuring all laws are followed around here, simply because not all apply – such as the private bathing laws regarding the public baths. Did I get that right?"
"You did indeed, Nori-san," Toru replies.
"Our recruits focus in areas of law we often have to enforce, the ones that we most deal with, not the ones that Konoha as a whole has the most issues with," Sora says in the silent that follows. "What are we going to do about the problem with the laws?"
"Honestly, it's just going to be a work in progress. We'll have to remember all of the laws when out in Konoha, and ensure that we're dealing with all issues. It will no longer be something as simple as finding a lost item or child or finding stolen items. Crime in Konoha is real and much darker than many things we deal with here, but you all know of it regardless," Toru replies. "We may not be dealing with murders and crimes much more violent. There will be violence now, and your fighting abilities may be needed, and so will your loyal canine partners."
"This is where a prison will come into play, I imagine," Kohaku adds. "That's why there's this map out in front of us, isn't it?"
"Pretty much," Toru says. "There's the old prison remaining towards the back of compound, but I doubt it'd be safe for prisoners and not to mention the conditions may be inhumane. It hasn't been looked after in… a while."
(A moment of silence, a few seconds of grieving, and it seems like there will never be a stop to it all, and maybe there never will be. Maybe that's how sorrow is, it never stops only seems lesser in certain lights, in certain situations.)
"Did the Civilian Administration also give you hell over that?" Ren asks. "I can imagine them doing such a thing – something to do with power, perhaps?"
Toru laughs, and Sora finds herself relaxing as the grief abates. "Oh, there have been insinuations and subtle implications that it would be giving us all too much power and the Uchiha Clan shouldn't be trusted."
"Did they forget they were the ones coming to us?" Sora asks with a laugh.
A smirk crosses Toru's face, "Not anymore," he says. "Nonetheless, I figured it would be better to have a prison somewhere easily accessible by outside visitors, not to mention inspectors who would ensure that the prison remains up to humane standards that we will create. After they've been created, we will allow for changes to it, but only through a process that ensures it is not one person making the change – a democracy of some sorts."
"The prison itself, would we be creating another police headquarters nearby?" Shiori Asahi asks, "And where about would you want to be placing both buildings?"
"Another headquarters is a must," Toru confirms. "And the location is something I want to discuss with you all and is why we have the maps. I don't want it to close to the Akasen and all their gangs, but also not too close to the Hokage's office and the Academy. Accessible to everyone, not just those with power and wealth."
"Near one of the markets, perhaps," Nori murmurs.
"We can work on this as a group," Sora says decisively. "After all, we can't let you do everything yourself."
"Indeed," Kohaku is quick to throw in her own agreement. "It should be somewhere that's not being used, perhaps a block of land with buildings ruined?"
"What about where the Amachi's used to live?" Shiori asks slowly. "The fire was massive and I don't think anyone has bought the area yet."
"I'll look into it," Ren says.
"Thanks," Toru says with a nod. "Okay, so once we find a location, we'll buy the land and build a prison and police headquarters. For the prison itself, I'm thinking standard cells, but the format of the building is confusing. I might talk to the Katou family and ask for their help with creating the clothing prisoners may wear so that it will be fairly easy to tell if they have weapons or not."
The Uchiha Clan Head pauses, surveying the ten police members. "What I'm about to tell you will be classified information, only the higher-ups may know of it. The clothing will be linked with subtle seals – ensuring that if prisoners escape their cells with the intention to escape the prison and avoid their sentence, they will be confused and unable to escape.
"With regards to the structure itself, I'm thinking the prison will have a large yard including a garden, and the cells have windows allowing sunlight. The prison itself can't be the worst place to be – humane, first and foremost."
"You've already got a motto in place?" Kohaku teases, but the quick exchange of glances amongst the active police officers tells Sora that whether or not Toru meant the phrase as a joke, it will be given serious consideration.
"The security of the jail," Katsuro Mori says, "What will that be like? You mentioned visitors earlier, how will that be done? You can't have everyone enter without prior inspection."
"I'm thinking we have the police headquarters attached to the prison. For a visitor to enter the prison, they need to be accompanied by a policeman at all times. The doors would be operated by a multi-number code that changes every few weeks, and a card swipe – you know those fancy things?" Everyone nods and so Toru continues, "The first door will also have a guard who checks police officers to see that they match their identity card. Visitors will be checked for weapons beforehand. The prison's visiting hours will be something like 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on weekends. The prison would need round-the-clock surveillance and patrolling as well.
"However, that said, we want to be helping these people if we can, so guards aren't so much guards but people who are trying to help I suppose. Let's have cells only being used for sleep, and try to encourage prisoners to study and learn and pursue a hobby."
"So, essentially, we're trying to rehabilitate these people so they can join society and not have to turn to a life of crime in order to survive," Tsuyoshi says. "If that's the case, maybe there can be some programs implemented to help battle addictions and so forth? Or, I suppose, the Uchiha Police, and the whole prison program in general, could help ensure a person can be employed after leaving the prison?"
Toru hums, eyes flicking upward. "That's a good idea, Tsuyoshi-san. Even if people in the rest of Konoha aren't willing to help them, I'm sure there would be job opportunities in the Uchiha Clan Compound, and people can move on from there and get other jobs."
"You mentioned the requirements for a police officer and the recruitment plans," Sora prompts. "What were your ideas about them?"
"You all know I'm very selective over who enters," Toru says slowly, "but if we're expanding, I can't be solely responsible for recruiting and employing members. Anyone joining will need to be physically fit, so naturally we'll have physical tests and so forth. They're all standard and need to be retaken every month to ensure a person is capable of remaining in the taskforce. Anyone who's forced to retire, age or injury or other issues, can become dog handlers and overseers of something or the other – I'm sure they'll be things to do if they don't wish to drop from the police program. Adding onto the physical tests, after that, there'll be a stage including interviews as well as psychologist meetings to ensure that the recruit's capable of handling the pressure and are mentally healthy. If they're not – mentally healthy there is – then measurements can be taken to support and help them, and they can join the police force anyway if it's estimated they can handle everything that comes with it. Also, let's have psychologist meetings for every police officer every two months for various reasons such as mental health."
"What about ninjas, are they going to be allowed into the force?" Shiori asks, Toru shakes his head in response.
"No. Ninjas – retired or not – have different training and are less prone to the ideology of attacking or injuring first, rather than questioning and using violence as a last-resort," Toru explains. "Now, after being recruited, what should the training generally be?"
"Currently, we have juniors work with someone who's been on the force for a while with training to work with their dogs and learning how to fight properly and all that," Sora says. "Some of this program can carry forward." She glances at Takeshi Kita, who's her partner with the training of juniors as a whole.
Takeshi hums. "Perhaps, before the juniors help out at the prison or police headquarters in greater Konoha, they help at the police station here. There's few to no troubles in the Compound now, so it would give them time to learn how to fight and teach them how to work with their dogs and so forth."
"Not to mention, this way they can learn any schoolwork and general skills they're lacking," Tsuyoshi says quietly. "It's helpful, and doing such a thing could be near impossible in Konoha itself."
"Makes sense," Sora replies. "After all of the basic training, juniors can be given patrols around the Uchiha Clan Compound with another junior, both of them pretty much by themselves – like what we do now."
"Once they've passed everything," Takeshi continues, "they can be moved to the Konoha main police area and work on a team with two senior members. Once they've had enough experience and are trusted enough, they can help out with the prison and so forth."
"Well then, I think that's everything!" Clapping his hands with a smile, Toru adds, "Thanks for everyone's input for today's meeting. I'm sure we all have things we want to get back to, so I'll let you all go for now. If you could help with tomorrow's announcement and ensuing discussion that would be great. I look forward to our expansion!"
The thing about opportunities is that sometimes you take them in your hands and yank them towards you, and in some situations they walk towards you with a scornful face and you manipulate it to suit yourself. The Uchiha Clan Compound is growing and – maybe – prospering, but the Compound is only a small part of Konoha. Nevertheless, the created policing force in the Compound has not gone unnoticed, and they're prepared to venture outside of the Compound and help with the rest of Konoha's civilian crime issues.