After the fake border roster was pinned down, Konoha did not immediately face a larger attack.
Instead, everything that happened over the next few days was minor.
On a trade route in the eastern Land of Fire, someone switched the route markers for a caravan transporting medicine.
Near a southern outpost, several kunai appeared that were not standard Konoha issue.
A liaison station near the Land of Rivers received an unsigned warning letter.
No one died.
There were no large-scale battles.
There was not even a clear enemy.
Taken individually, none of these incidents warranted a major meeting at the Hokage Building.
But their simultaneous appearance was deeply unsettling.
Shikaku Nara laid the three reports side by side. His first words were, "The storm isn't coming through the front gate."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at him.
Shikaku continued, "They're in no hurry to break in. They're testing our judgment threshold."
Judgment threshold.
The term made the Anbu chief frown.
Shikaku explained, "If we treat every minor incident as a top-level crisis, Konoha will wear itself out. If we ignore them, we might miss a real danger. The enemy is watching to see when we start skipping procedures."
When Fugaku heard this, he immediately recalled Gen's earlier warning.
More minor incidents.
The enemy had indeed come.
Danzo proposed that Root take centralized control of intelligence on anomalies across multiple locations.
His reasoning was sound, too.
The anomalies were too scattered and needed to be consolidated efficiently.
But Shikaku quickly objected.
"We can centralize the reports, but not their interpretation."
Once again, those words blocked Root.
Compiling reports was work.
Interpreting them was power.
If every minor anomaly went to Root first, and Root then supplied a single interpretation, the temporary guidelines would be bypassed.
Fugaku added, "Anomalies across multiple locations make classification