The wooden board displaying the public rescue list was set up outside the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Not inside the Clan Meeting Hall.
Nor in the Konoha Military Police Force's archives.
It stood where anyone passing the outskirts of the compound could see it.
There were no heated rebuttals on the board, nor any accusations.
Only names, line after line.
Who had been rescued.
Which street they lived on.
Which Uchiha clansmen had taken part in their rescue.
Whether any Konoha Ninja or Medical Ninja had witnessed it.
The handwriting was far from neat, and traces of soot and water stains still remained. But that was precisely why it looked less like a carefully crafted statement and more like facts salvaged from last night's fires.
The first to stop were the civilians rescued the night before.
Chiyo Morikawa stood at the edge of the crowd, holding her child. When she saw her own name, her eyes instantly reddened.
Someone beside her asked quietly, "Was it really the Uchiha who saved you?"
Chiyo Morikawa did not answer immediately.
She looked at Uchiha Ryo, who was moving timber nearby, then back at the words on the list.
"He carried my child out on his back."
Her voice was quiet.
But loud enough for the people beside her to hear.
Uchiha Gen stood on the street corner without approaching.
The list needed no explanation from him.
Too much explanation would only sound like an excuse.
With the facts laid out in plain sight, letting those who had been rescued speak for themselves carried the most weight.
"The next team goes to the Western Main Road."
Uchiha Gen turned and spoke to the young clansmen behind him.
"Three freight carts are blocking the road there, and the medicine can't get through. Toru, take two people and clear the road. Ryo, take a team to escort the wounded. Makoto, keep handling registration."
Uchiha Toru watched the complicated looks directed their way from the street and said quietly, "They're still afraid of us."
"Of course."
Uchiha Gen did not deny it.
"One list won't change everyone's minds. What we need to do today is make them question their assumptions for the first time."
Uchiha Toru paused.
"Question their assumptions?"
"Question whether the Uchiha deserve nothing but suspicion."
Uchiha Gen looked at the devastated streets.
"Once they start questioning that, Root won't find it so easy to turn the whole village against us with a single remark."
The young clansmen fell silent for a moment, then got to work.
They wore the uniforms of the Konoha Military Police Force, but unlike before, they did more than stand at intersections maintaining order.
Some moved fallen timbers.
Some escorted the wounded to medical stations.
Some carried sacks of grain through the ruins.
Some held registers, recording the names, addresses, and last known locations of the missing.
At first, the civilians still instinctively shied away from the Uchiha Clan Crest.
One old man even pulled his grandson behind him, afraid of letting him get too close.
Uchiha Ryo stopped in front of him. Without offering any explanation, he simply handed a bag of medicine to the Medical Ninja beside him.
"The remaining hemostatic medicine from the pharmacy on East Street. It's been logged."
The Medical Ninja paused, then accepted the bag.
"Thank you."
Uchiha Ryo nodded, turned, and left.
The old man watched him go. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.
Still, he did not pull his grandson back again.
That was change.
A tiny change.
So small it could not even be called trust.
But Uchiha Gen knew that when fate first began to shift, the change was often just that small.
Before noon, the first report of disaster relief assistance reached the Hokage Building.
A copy of the rescue list from the Night of the Nine-Tails accompanied it.
Outside the Hokage Building, several Root ninja watched everything from the shadows.
That afternoon, a different kind of talk began spreading through the village.
"The Uchiha are just putting on a show."
"The Nine-Tails had the Sharingan in its eyes last night. Now they think moving a few pieces of wood will clear them of suspicion?"
"They're only pretending to help because they're afraid of being relocated."
Those remarks spread quickly.
Too quickly to seem like complaints ordinary villagers had come up with on the spot.
When Uchiha Toru heard them, he nearly lost his temper right there in the street.
Uchiha Gen pressed a hand against his shoulder.
"Don't argue."
"After what they've said about us?"
"That's exactly why we can't argue."
Uchiha Gen looked toward the whispering crowd.
"They're waiting for the Uchiha to get angry. The moment we attack, every record we've made will be buried under a single line: 'See? They're dangerous after all.'"
Uchiha Toru clenched his teeth.
Uchiha Gen turned to Uchiha Makoto. "Put up the second board."
"Now?"
"Now."
Soon, a second wooden board was carried to the street entrance.
It did not list the day's reconstruction work.
Instead, it displayed witness statements.
Takuya Yamashiro, a Chunin of Konoha Patrol Squad Two, severely injured at the South Street Entrance, had reported a suspicious masked ninja and abnormal spatial fluctuations.
Inoue Shin, temporary support for the Barrier Team, had confirmed traces of suspected abnormal chakra at the South Street Entrance.
A family of four from a shop on South Street, Chiyo Morikawa and her child, and a Medical Ninja at the temporary medical station had confirmed the Uchiha's participation in the rescues.
Every entry included where the statement had been recorded and who had witnessed it.
There was no exaggerated language.
Nor did it directly attempt to clear the Uchiha's name.
It merely laid out what had happened the night before.
The voices of those who had just called it "a show" noticeably quieted.
A show could be mocked.
But a Konoha Chunin still undergoing emergency treatment, a Barrier Team ninja, and a medical station's wounded-patient handover record could not be erased with a few careless remarks.
A middle-aged man suddenly stepped out of the crowd.
His face was still wrapped in bandages, and he walked with a limp.
"I can testify too."
Everyone turned to him.
The man raised a hand and pointed at the first list.
"Last night, I was pinned behind the South Street Tavern. That kid named Uchiha Toru split the beams and dragged me out."
Uchiha Toru froze.
The man then looked at the people who had been spreading those remarks.
"If you want to curse the Uchiha, that's your business. But at least don't claim the people who saved me did nothing."
The street entrance fell silent for a moment.
Uchiha Toru lowered his head, his grip on his sword slowly loosening.
Uchiha Gen did not smile.
He simply had Uchiha Makoto add the man's name.
"The third record: witnesses to the post-disaster reconstruction."
Uchiha Makoto nodded. As his charcoal pencil touched the board, his hand was much steadier than it had been the night before.
That evening, the Uchiha clan gathered again.
This time, the atmosphere had already changed from the night before.
The exhaustion remained.
The doubts remained.
But there was something new in the young clansmen's eyes, something they could barely contain.
They had watched civilians go from avoidance to uncertainty, and heard people stand up to speak on the Uchiha's behalf.
This was no fantasy.
Nor was it self-comfort.
It was the first small response they had earned through an entire day's work.
Fugaku sat at the head of the hall with three records before him.
The rescue list from the Night of the Nine-Tails.
Testimony concerning the anomalous controller.
The record of post-disaster reconstruction assistance.
He remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.
"In the past, the Uchiha always believed that as long as we did nothing wrong, the village would eventually understand."
No one in the Clan Meeting Hall spoke.
Fugaku's voice was low, yet clearer than it had been before.
"But after last night, I understood something."
His gaze swept over everyone before finally settling on Uchiha Gen.
"Silence will not bring us justice."
Several elders wore complicated expressions.
Coming from Fugaku, those words carried an entirely different weight than when Uchiha Gen had said them.
Fugaku continued, "Starting tomorrow, the Konoha Military Police Force's reconstruction assistance records will remain public. No clansman is to clash with the villagers, investigate Root without authorization, or damage any existing evidence."
"The Uchiha must find a different way to live."
Uchiha Gen's hand tightened slightly at his side.
At that moment, he knew the most crucial first step of the first ten chapters had finally been taken.
The Uchiha had not been immediately cleared of suspicion.
The relocation order had not disappeared either.
Danzo was still watching him from the shadows.
But the Uchiha were no longer simply standing still, waiting for others to finish writing their fate.
[Stage objective completed.] [Key evidence chain for the Night of the Nine-Tails established.] [Uchiha Military Police Force reform path unlocked.] [Mission progress: 35%.] [Stage reward issued: Sharingan Eye Power Enhancement.]
A surge of heat rushed into his eyes.
Uchiha Gen closed his eyes, forcibly suppressing the burning pain deep within his eye sockets.
When he opened them again, a second tomoe slowly emerged within his scarlet eyes.
[New mission unlocked: Prevent the Uchiha from being relocated to the outskirts of the village.]
The system notification was cold and clear.
Uchiha Gen looked out at the darkness beyond the Clan Meeting Hall.
On the first night, he had saved the evidence.
Next, he would save the future of the entire Uchiha clan.
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