After sending out the application for the border investigation, Uchiha Gen remained alone in the Records Room for a long time.
Outside the window, the Clan District was quiet.
From the Training Ground, the occasional sound of a kunai striking a wooden target drifted over.
Inside the Records Room, only the rustle of turning pages remained.
Every key turning point since the Night of the Nine-Tails lay on the desk.
The first file contained the rescue records from that night.
The Uchiha had not remained silent.
At least, their silence was no longer set in stone by someone else's order to "stand by."
The second file concerned residual traces of abnormal chakra.
The Masked Man was not some shadow from a legend, but someone who had left real traces behind.
The third file concerned the relocation dispute.
The Uchiha had not been pushed straight to the village's outskirts, nor had they allowed fear to turn the Clan District into an isolated island.
The fourth file concerned the Konoha Military Police Force Reform.
They had used rules to turn suspicion into a process that could be checked.
The fifth file concerned Shisui's eye.
The eye that should have been stolen was still there.
Nor had Shisui been driven to the point where death was his only way to prove his innocence.
The sixth file concerned Itachi's choice.
The prodigy who should have been driven down a single, lonely path had learned to bring orders back into the light.
The seventh file concerned Sasuke's kunai.
The next generation had not been left alone, surrounded by misunderstanding and silence.
The eighth file concerned the sealing of the fire scene in the Records Room.
The enemy had burned some of the papers, but had not burned away the facts.
The ninth file concerned the