One wrong timestamp was enough to discredit the entire ledger

No one spoke in the Konoha Military Police Force hall.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on those two times.

The original record: 3:30 p.m.

The daily summary: 1:30 p.m.

Only one character was different.

Yet it was enough to tear a hole in the first daily report of the observation period.

Uchiha Makoto had gone pale, barely able to hold the charcoal pencil in his hand.

"Gen, I really didn't change it."

"I know."

Uchiha Gen repeated himself.

Those words were not meant as comfort.

He had been standing beside the desk the whole time and had seen everything clearly.

Uchiha Makoto had neither paused while copying nor secretly altered anything.

The problem did not lie with the last person to put pen to paper.

If they immediately blamed the recorder now, it would turn this into the Uchiha passing blame among themselves.

That was exactly what Root wanted.

One wrong timestamp.

One panicked recorder.

One daily report that had problems before it even reached the Hokage Building.

Enough to cast doubt on every public record.

Uchiha Gen looked up at the member of the Hokage's Anbu.

"Please seal the original record and the daily summary for now."

The Anbu member asked, "You suspect someone tampered with them?"

"I suspect there's a flaw in the procedure."

That answer made the Anbu member pause.

Uchiha Toru could not hold back. "After all this, you still won't call it tampering?"

Uchiha Gen glanced at him.

"Without evidence, calling it tampering is still just an accusation."

Uchiha Toru clenched his teeth and fell silent.

An older clansman said coldly, "Then what do you intend to do? Seal the daily report on the very first day? What will the Hokage Building think of the Uchiha?"

"They'll see the truth."

Uchiha Gen laid the two records side by side.

"On the first day of the observation period, the Konoha Military Police Force discovered inconsistent timestamps in its records, voluntarily sealed them for verification, and added a correction procedure."

He raised his head.

"That's better than sending out a faulty ledger and letting someone else catch it."

Fugaku emerged from the inner room, having clearly heard the commotion.

"What needs checking?"

Uchiha Gen answered immediately, "Three timelines."

"First, when the Medical Station received the medicine."

"Second, when the Transport Squad moved the medicinal supplies."

"Third, when the Hokage's Anbu filed their record."

He paused.

"As long as all three match, we can prove the 1:30 p.m. entry in the daily summary was a later error, not a fabrication of the event itself."

Fugaku nodded. "Go check."

The Konoha Military Police Force sprang into action.

Uchiha Ryo went to the Medical Station.

Uchiha Toru went to the Transport Squad.

Uchiha Gen stayed at the Konoha Military Police Force to check the filed copy with the member of the Hokage's Anbu.

Uchiha Makoto remained seated, his head still lowered.

Uchiha Gen walked over to him.

"Look up."

Uchiha Makoto stiffened.

"If you keep your head down now, people will think you have something to hide."

Uchiha Makoto clenched his teeth and slowly raised his head.

Uchiha Gen pushed another blank sheet of record paper in front of him.

"Write down how we discovered the discrepancy just now. Who noticed it first, which two records differed, and who was present when they were sealed."

Uchiha Makoto froze.

"You want me to write it?"

"Yes, you."

Uchiha Gen said, "You're the recorder. When a record is wrong, the recorder can't just insist he did nothing wrong. He needs to document how the error was discovered, too."

Uchiha Makoto's hand was still shaking.

But this time, he did not back away.

The charcoal pencil touched the paper again.

An hour later, the three timelines came back one after another.

The Medical Station's record: three crates of medicinal supplies received at 3:45 p.m.

The Transport Squad's record: medicinal supplies moved from the Western Main Road at 3:30 p.m.

The Hokage's Anbu filing: Fire Release used to assist in clearing obstacles, witnessed at 3:30 p.m.; medicinal supplies confirmed in storage at 3:45 p.m.

All three records matched.

The 1:30 p.m. timestamp appeared only in the daily summary.

The tension in the hall finally eased a little.

The older clansman's expression was conflicted.

If Gen had not caught it before it was sent out, the Uchiha would have struggled to explain themselves once the Hokage Building received that report.

Because no one else would care that "only one character was different."

They would simply say that the Uchiha's public records had problems on the very first day.

Just then, Shisui appeared silently outside the door.

He did not enter the hall, remaining in the shadows.

Uchiha Gen saw him and walked over.

"Find anything?"

Shisui nodded.

"When the Transport Squad was confirming the signatures, a temporary porter touched the scroll."

"Where is he?"

"Gone."

That answer was no surprise.

Shisui continued, "He didn't open the scroll. He only straightened it. The movement was brief."

"Enough to change a single stroke."

Uchiha Gen spoke quietly.

The two-tomoe Sharingan could track movements, but he could not personally watch every handoff.

That was precisely the sort of gap the other side had exploited.

Shisui asked, "Do we pursue him?"

Uchiha Gen shook his head.

"Not yet."

Shisui looked faintly startled.

"Why?"

"He's only the hand doing the work."

Uchiha Gen looked toward the three timelines in the hall.

"Even if we catch him now, all we can prove is that someone tampered with the scroll. But if we establish the correction procedure first, then even if he tampers with it again, it won't be so easy to make the error stick."

Shisui fell silent for a moment.

"You'd rather fix the rules?"

"I want them to have one less avenue every time they reach in."

Uchiha Gen returned to the hall and placed a fresh sheet of paper on the desk.

"Starting today, the Konoha Military Police Force will add a correction procedure to its records."

Everyone looked at him.

"First, when the original record and the daily summary differ, neither may be overwritten directly. The discrepancy must be marked in red."

"Second, the discrepancy must be checked against records from at least two non-Uchiha parties."

"Third, the correction must be signed jointly by the recorder, the team that carried out the operation, the witness, and the Anbu verifier."

"Fourth, all correction records must be sent to the Hokage Building for filing along with the daily report."

The member of the Hokage's Anbu watched him and finally spoke. "This will make recordkeeping more complicated."

"Yes."

Uchiha Gen acknowledged it.

"But a little more complexity is better than letting someone use one discrepancy to discredit the entire ledger."

Fugaku looked at the correction procedure and said solemnly, "Add it to the reform plan."

Uchiha Makoto copied the correction procedure into an appendix to the observation period's first daily report.

This time, he wrote very slowly.

Every stroke was firm and steady.

The older clansman stood beside him and watched for a long time before suddenly speaking. "With this, everyone will see it whenever we make a mistake ourselves."

Uchiha Gen nodded.

"They will."

"Won't that be even more embarrassing?"

"It's better than letting someone else find it for us and then claim we hid it."

Uchiha Gen looked at the appendix.

"Reform isn't about making sure the Uchiha never make mistakes. It's about making sure that when we do, others can't turn those mistakes straight into criminal charges."

The older clansman fell silent.

The member of the Hokage's Anbu also looked up at him.

Those words, too, were written into the margin.

When the observation period's first daily report was sent out, its appendices were thicker than the main report.

The obstacle-clearing record, the medicinal supply transfer record, the Fire Release rescue record, the explanation of the timestamp discrepancy, the correction procedure, and the three-party verification results were all packed into the same scroll.

It was not an elegant scroll.

It even looked cumbersome.

But it would be hard to discredit with a simple claim that "the Uchiha falsified their records."

Only after the final signature was added did Uchiha Gen have the member of the Hokage's Anbu seal the copy.

At the same time, underground at Root.

A Root ninja knelt on one knee.

"The timestamp discrepancy was discovered."

"Uchiha Gen did not hold the recorder responsible. Instead, he checked the three parties' timelines and added a correction procedure."

Danzo's face was so dark that his emotions were unreadable.

"In other words, simply changing the records will have less effect next time."

"Yes."

Danzo tapped his cane lightly against the floor.

"Then don't just change the records."

The Root ninja lowered his head.

Danzo's voice turned cold.

"Records can explain discrepancies."

"They can't explain away the dead."

In the shadows, the air seemed to grow heavier.

"The medical access route in the Resettlement Zone."

Danzo spoke slowly.

"Make them truly lose control for once."