Konoha began facing two manipulators at once.
One was outside.
He used spatial abilities to approach Konoha, probe the Uchiha, and try to steer their old fate back into the depths of hatred.
One was inside.
He used old permissions, old sets of questions, and old channels of public opinion to shape the answers, trying to pin every unknown on the Uchiha again.
In the past, both forces had hidden in the same shadows.
The Uchiha could only feel themselves being cornered.
But they had struggled to explain who was cornering them, how it was being done, or where each hand was reaching from.
Now things were different.
The external spatial lead and the internal authorization lead had been separated.
That did not mean the truth had been laid bare.
But it meant the darkness had been given an outline for the first time.
Fugaku placed two progress reports on the review onto the clan meeting table.
The first concerned the unknown spatial ability user.
Kakashi's testimony, the Fourth's old records, the chakra paper from the perimeter, and the testimony of the Hyuga and Nara had all been filed.
The second concerned interference with internal procedures.
The sources of rumors, the movement of recording tags, overlaps in Root's old permissions, and the review of the Hokage Office's authorization chain were also listed separately.
As the clan members looked at the two documents, their reactions differed from before.
They were no longer merely angry.
Nor did they only want to demand why the village suspected the Uchiha.
They began to understand how that suspicion had been manufactured.
That mattered more than simply clearing their names.
Shisui stood to one side, his emotions tangled.
If this kind of separation had happened earlier, perhaps many things would never have reached a dead end.