The news that the false list had drawn on the Old Archives was kept under strict wraps.
Yet that very night, Danzo submitted a comprehensive report classifying the Akatsuki.
The report defined the Akatsuki as a mercenary network composed of rogue ninja from the Land of Rain.
Its objective was to disrupt order along the great nations' borders, profiting by attacking trade routes, selling intelligence, and provoking conflict.
All exiles from the Land of Rain suspected of contact with the Akatsuki were to be temporarily gathered for screening.
Nagasawa, the guide from Gray Bell Relay Station, was also on the list.
The report's logic was thoroughly laid out.
The drugs had come from the Land of Rain.
Old Akatsuki had originated in the Land of Rain.
The Black Market contact point was near the Land of Rain.
The Red Clouds clothing and the carved word "Akatsuki" that had now appeared were naturally assigned to the same trail.
The report also included an order of operations at the end.
First, detain the exiles from the Land of Rain. Next, seal off and search the trading firms that dealt with them. Finally, leave Root to determine which testimonies could enter the Akatsuki files.
Once implemented, witnesses like Nagasawa would become suspects first.
And Root would be responsible both for arresting them and for deciding whether their words were credible.
What Old Akatsuki had actually done, and whom Konoha had contacted in the past, would survive only in the version Root compiled.
But after Gen read the summary, the first thing he noticed was not what the report said.
It was what the report left out.
The report described Old Akatsuki's activities in the Land of Rain in detail, yet skipped over a gap lasting nearly a year.
During that period, Konoha had