After the emergency mission exception was written into the provisional rules, Gen did not relax.
Uchiha Jun, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief.
"At least they can't use the old cover identities whenever they please now."
Gen glanced at him.
"What do you think Danzo likes most?"
Uchiha Jun frowned.
"Power?"
"Exceptions."
Gen set the provisional rules on the table.
"Normal procedures leave records. Exceptions leave records too. But once there are enough exceptions, they gradually become another set of procedures."
Those words silenced everyone in the room.
Almost every problem they had tracked down had worn a cloak of legitimacy.
Temporary directives.
Auxiliary supplies.
Post-disaster supplementary pages.
Emergency reorganization.
None of those terms was inherently bad.
But precisely because they were legitimate, they made ideal doorways for Root.
After reading the rules, Fugaku asked, "So we watch the exceptions next?"
Gen nodded.
"We don't stop every exception. We make sure every exception comes with a cost in recordkeeping."
Che wrote that down.
Exceptions must have a cost.
Inside the Hokage Building, the leadership was still arguing.
Danzo insisted that Root's emergency missions could not be subjected to excessive restrictions.
Mitokado Homura worried that excessive restrictions would weaken Konoha's defensive line in the shadows.
Utatane Koharu, however, believed that since the old cover identities had been confirmed to still be active, Root could no longer be allowed to define an emergency unilaterally.
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not reach an immediate decision.
He, too, understood Root's unique circumstances.
But being unique could not mean having no boundaries.
Fugaku submitted the Uchiha's proposal.
Any emergency exception involving old cover identities, frozen identification numbers, undestroyed old seals, or files linked to the Core Sealed Archive had to meet three requirements.
First, immediate witnessing by the Hokage's Anbu.
Second, timestamps retained by