The retired clerical ninja was named Ihara.
He stood at the edge of the meeting, his back as stiff as a plank.
In the past, he had been a minor figure in Root's peripheral clerical network.
He took no part in decisions.
He had no access to its inner workings.
His only job had been to turn requests that had no place in official procedures into seemingly ordinary forms.
Later, he had been marked as withdrawn.
According to the roster, he no longer had any connection to Root's periphery.
Yet now, his old seal had appeared on a request to access the Nine-Tails Old Records.
Ihara's voice trembled.
"I really didn't request access."
Gen watched him without rushing to press him.
"When did you turn in your old seal?"
Ihara thought for a moment.
"The day I retired."
"Who received it?"
Ihara opened his mouth, his face growing even paler.
"There was no official recipient."
Another blank.
Had Uchiha Jun been there, he would already have understood what those two words meant.
No recipient meant the old seal could disappear outside the official process.
After disappearing, it could be brought out again whenever needed.
Che entered Ihara's answer into the record.
No record of receipt for the retired ninja's old seal.
This echoed the blank acknowledgment of receipt for the supplementary pages.
Gen looked at Crow.
Crow said gravely, "This is no longer a matter of a single clerical ninja."
Danzo said coldly, "Are you going to draw conclusions on the Uchiha's behalf?"
Crow lowered his head.
"I am only stating what I witnessed."
Those words kept Danzo from pressing him further.
Because Crow was not Uchiha.
He belonged to the Hokage's Anbu.
Ihara was asked to explain how the old seals were used.
He admitted that Root's peripheral clerical