Chapter 24.

I flipped through the stack of papers again as irritation swelled up in my chest. I thought that something like this might happen, but it's still a bit too soon for that...

I looked at Izuna-nii-san, who was doing his best to finish with today's portion of the paperwork and heaved a sigh, carefully placing the information back onto my desk.

"Are they just bored?"

"Most probably, " - the Hokage nodded without looking up, - "I'm sending them on missions occasionally, but it seems to be insufficient to drain them of their overflowing energy."

"Do they not get an earful from Madara-nii?"

"That is why I called you here."

I lifted an eyebrow waiting for the answer.

"I'm doing my best to conceal all of this from brother since, if he learns about this, those fools would most likely find themselves dead, " - a smirk formed on his face.

"Oh, but with me, they will experience something worse, you know?"

"They will stay alive and that's enough. If some of them develop a trauma in the process of education, we will just send them to therapists or Yamanaka," - his smile deepened. Looks like he had enough of their nonsense.

I smiled and left the office.

The new and young generation is fooling around a bit too much. The shinobi from the main, official, police, who were supposed to keep the peace, were getting bored from patrolling the streets, controlling drunkards, breaking up the fights and tried to impose some of their own regulations onto the powerless folks.

"This is the result of putting a race, that is literally living by wars, into a peaceful environment, " - I looked out of the window. The war finished, but their blood wants some proper combat, but it is only possible in relatively serious missions or during the warring period.

"Minato-kun, let's go. I'm going to introduce you to my students!"

The boy leapt out of the chair and run up to me. Today is his second time coming to the Hokage's tower and his eyes shine brighter than the Polar star.

The vision of his older, smiling version covered in blood, appeared before me, meshing with the child's gleeful expression. I shook my head, dispersing the mirage and led my son in the direction of the training field.

"Do you want to start your training for real?" - We were already halfway there and I noticed, how he was becoming tenser as we got closer and the squeeze of his little palm got tighter.

His eyes shot right up and met mine with determination and disbelief written clearly in them.

"You will? Don't I have to wait till the Academy?"

"No? There was never such a rule," - I rummaged through my brain to see what could've been the seed for the confusion, - "I think you misunderstood something. Did you hear that from your orphanage director?"

He nodded, happiness bubbling in his aura, though, on the outside, he did his best to look collected.

"The rule only applies to children, who were born from common people, and kids from the orphanages. There just wouldn't be enough teachers for all of them, so the rule was made. Believe me, everyone from influential clans starts their training being as young as three years of age."

"Will you really train me?!"

"I have enough time to train my students, so why won't I have time for you, whom I got the custody over?"

We continued to walk in silence and as we were about to reach the field, where I could already feel expectant auras of my group, Minato whispered a soft thank you.

"Welcome. "

***

"From what I can see, you didn't take a break as I advised you to, " - I assessed their conditions during spars and regular exercises and had to shake my head, pretending to be disappointed.

Something definitely happened for them to put this much effort into doing extra curriculum. A day more and they would've been admitted to the hospital.

"Hiruko, Tsunade, you are learning Iryojutsu, how come you didn't monitor yourselves? You too Orochimaru."

"We haven't learnt how to do diagnose ourselves just yet, " - they answered, burning in shame.

"What about examining each other?"

"We did not think about taking precautions, " - they eventually gave up the attempts to justify themselves and resigned to their fate. Even Jiraya, who tried to convince me, that everything was ok, was sitting quietly on the grass. Or he just fell asleep from exhaustion.

I looked over to Minato, who was sitting cross-legged a few meters away, trying to sense his chakra and appeared to be making some progress. He really is a genius. Nevertheless, I'm not letting him close to anything Shinigami related! This is something only Uzumaki can pull out relatively safe, as they are connected to him by some sort of contract from the past. They aren't called the Red-haired Devils due to trivial matters.

"Alright, now tell me, what was the logic behind your actions?" - I inquired while healing my rush pupils.

"We wanted to go on a proper mission! " - Jiraya revived after the treatment and gave the answer with a stubborn look on his face as if preparing to defend his point of view with everything he had.

"Does last B-ranked mission not count?"- I could only ask in amusement.

" But it was super close! And we didn't even meet any shinobi!" - Tsunade supported her cousin and I could see that the other two were fully on their side.

I shook my head and gave each one of them a flick on a forehead, - "A good mission is the one with no troubles, you uncultured walnuts."

"But it was boring! And Daimyo's wife was so annoying and ghastly! Who even asked her to come here?!" - Hiruko exclaimed and I could tell that this was a wail of a shattered heart.

I glanced at Orochimaru and saw that he was fully on board with his teammates.

"Alright. The day after tomorrow we will get you another B-ranked mission."

"But!..."

"No 'buts', Jiraya. First of all, your bodies require rest and second of all, this will be your punishment for not taking my words seriously, " - I harshly finished the conversation and got up, after finishing their immediate treatment, leaving some minor, but nasty injuries, untouched. I'll let them suffer for a day longer, - "Got that?"

"Understood, " - their depressed nods made me feel horrible, so I decided to lift their moods a bit, - "After this mission, I will recommend you to Chunin Shiken. Let us think of this as our last mission as a team of students and a teacher. I've no doubt in your ability to pass, so next time we meet for a mission, we will be on equal ground."

"Hai!"

***

My captives finally opened their eyes in a dimly lit room and tried to figure out their location or a way to undone the ropes wrapped tightly around them.

Hm... I looked at the group of fools before me. Two Uchiha, one Nara (which is surprising), four Inuzuka, two Yamanaka and a member of Akimichi. All are under the age of 25 and not the strongest from a bunch. They have something to them since they were accepted in the police department; however, it appears that they do not have the patience to do their jobs properly.

"Good morning," - I got their attention, - "Should we have a talk? Or do you prefer moving directly onto your punishment?"

"Hey! Release us!" - one of the Inuzuka began to yell, - "You have no rights to confide us! What you are doing, will get you straight into prison!" - his voice sounded so confident when he uttered these absurd words, that I just had to commend him for recklessness. He was held captive by someone who was stronger and shouting at them definitely isn't the right way to go about things. I saw that several other people we're slightly nodding in agreement; however, the Uchiha-hooligans quietly sat on the floor with their heads lowered. They, of all people, knew about me enough to feel the weight of the severity of the situation they got themselves into.

I stood up and walked over to the tied-up group in the centre of the room. We were in one of the rooms of the interrogation department, kindly provided by the Hokage. The Inuzuka that spoke, was looking at me with contempt and superiority as I made my way over.

"Inuzuka Toru. I have full authority to do as I please with your patrolling unit. The permit was given by the Hokage, personally."

"The Hokage has no say in the way police operates!" - I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Yamanaka.

"And where have you gotten this piece of information from?" - I asked in bewilderment. This was new.

"Isn't it common sense? Uchiha Madara is the one overseeing our operations, not the Hokage!"

"I'll have to stop your ridiculous rant now, " - I took a few steps back and let out the bloodlust, - " I will remind you of a few things and then move on to your discipline. First of all, the Hokage has the absolute authority over every citizen and organisation of the Konohagakure no Sato. Second of all, do you even know why are you still alive?"

They froze, while the Uchiha paled even more.

"Hokage-sama is related to Uchiha Madara and was covering you up so that you wouldn't become corpses prematurely, " - I began to slowly pace around, - "Nevertheless, you had to be punished for breaking the code of the police and intimidating the common folk. And this role was assigned to me, so prepare yourselves for a ride."

I snapped my fingers resulting in the disappearance of the ropes, but before they could move, they were transported to my dimension.

"Try your best to stay alive, " - I merrily cheered just before they fell into the hole they dug for themselves.

When the mini-portal closed, I exited the building and went home. From what my clone relayed, Minato-kun was studying in his room and needed a break. And a proper diner. I asked Fiji-chan for help in learning about the complex world of meat containing dishes and she thought me how to cook an omelette. Let's hope, I'll be able to make it and it will be edible.