The lights beneath Root's headquarters stayed on all night.
Several reports of failed operations lay on the table.
The attempt to seize Shisui's eyes had failed.
The attempt to isolate Itachi through a single-handler channel had failed.
The Radical Faction's Purge List had failed.
The Kunai probe involving Sasuke had failed.
The arson at the Records Room had failed to destroy the core copies.
The Resettlement Zone complaint template had also been publicly dissected.
Taken individually, every report still left room for excuses.
But placed together, they pointed to only one conclusion.
The Uchiha had changed the way they responded.
Danzo sat in the shadows, his lone eye fixed on the latest proposal.
Direct elimination of key nodes.
The proposal did not spell things out too clearly.
But every Root ninja kneeling there knew that these so-called key nodes meant more than Shisui, more than Itachi.
They also included Uchiha Gen.
The boy did not always stand at the forefront.
He did not even hold a formally high-ranking position.
Yet every thread the Uchiha seized eventually led back to him.
Records.
Witnesses.
Filing.
Sealing.
These things, which had never been sharp weapons, had become a net in his hands.
Root did not fear powerful individuals.
Powerful individuals had weaknesses.
They could be manipulated, surrounded and killed, robbed of their eyes, or burdened with crimes they could never explain away.
But an ever-expanding set of procedures was more troublesome than any powerful individual.
Because silencing one person would not make it disappear.
Danzo slowly tapped his cane with his fingers.
"Eliminate Uchiha Gen?"
The Root ninja kneeling on the floor lowered his head.
"Or sever the core personnel of his recordkeeping system. Che, Cheng, and the Clan Meeting's Records Room can all be included in the assessment."
Danzo did not immediately