Before the new rumors from Root had fully spread, a second anomaly appeared on Konoha's outskirts.
This time, the anomaly was very close to a mission dispatch point.
The location was too convenient.
So convenient that Shikaku Nara's first words upon seeing the records were, "The two sides have collided."
The alternative explanation Root wanted to manufacture was that a secret Uchiha ocular technique had gone out of control.
What the Masked Man wanted to conceal was the true source of his own space-time ability.
The two could have used each other.
One would direct the fear back toward the Uchiha.
The other would continue hiding in the shadows outside the village.
But when Root repeated the words "space-time ocular technique" too often, it instead made Konoha pay more attention to space-time abilities themselves.
The Masked Man did not like that.
He needed Konoha to fear the Uchiha.
But he did not need Konoha to truly understand his ability.
Root did not like the genuine traces the Masked Man left behind, either.
Because the more genuine traces there were, the easier it would be to expose Root's fabricated alternative explanation.
For the first time, the two covert operations came into conflict.
After receiving the review report, Fugaku called Gen, Shisui, and Itachi into the back courtyard.
Gen still did not appear at public meetings.
But he had to read this report first.
The report contained two key points.
First, the direction of the new spatial residue overlapped with the mission dispatch point where Root's rumors had first appeared.
Second, the scene also showed signs that someone had moved the record tags.
After reading it, Shisui said, "The spatial traces are real, and so is the movement of the record tags."
Itachi added, "But the methods behind the two are different."