The dead could not collect sealing wax.
When Che wrote those words into the comparison table, the entire clan meeting fell silent.
They were too blunt.
So blunt they needed no explanation.
Three days after a logistics ninja had died, his name had appeared in the auxiliary supplies collection records for the week before the Night of the Nine-Tails.
What he had collected was precisely the sealing wax containing bitter resin impurities.
That batch of sealing wax also corresponded to the urgent documents in the old archives, the fire at the Records Room, and Root's peripheral supply lines.
Looking at the timeline, Uchiha Jun finally felt a chill.
In the past, he had thought a conspiracy meant someone hiding in the shadows and giving orders.
Only now did he realize that something far more terrifying was using even the dead to complete procedures.
Gen linked the four threads together.
The deceased's identity.
The sealing wax collection.
The old access authorization.
The pages added afterward.
None of them was a direct answer.
But once they formed a timeline, the answer was drawing close.
Fugaku entered the Hokage Building again with the table.
This time, Danzo did not speak first.
Mitokado Homura studied the time of death, his brow tightly furrowed.
"Could this have been a delay in registration?"
As a documentary witness, Che was permitted to explain.
"A delay in registration could explain why the record was filed late. It cannot explain how the deceased signed for the supplies after his death."
His words were forceful.
But he did not overstep.
He discussed only procedure.
Utatane Koharu asked, "Could the signature have been provided in advance?"
Che opened the collection sheet.
"The same page contains records of other supplies, with consecutive dates before and after this entry. If the signature was