When Kirigakure's ceasefire liaison saw the rubbing of the black sign-off mark, his first reaction was denial.
"Kirigakure has no such seal."
Shikaku did not ask him to shoulder all the responsibility for the old mission.
Konoha submitted only three items that both sides could verify together.
The pursuit route.
The Three-Tails' sealing structure.
And the second sign-off mark scraped away beneath the surface orders.
Kirigakure could refuse to disclose its secrets, but it had to explain why a mission intended to destroy Konoha included a gap in operations that allowed time for a Konoha ninja to arrive.
The liaison took the request back.
Two days later, Kirigakure agreed to a limited review at a neutral border station.
Neither side could take away the other's originals.
They could only compare the paper, marks, and order timestamps through a transparent sealing panel.
The surface orders Kirigakure brought matched the rubbing Konoha had preserved.
Seal the Three-Tails inside Rin Nohara.
Let her return to Konoha.
Release the seal inside the barrier.
If the plan was exposed, the pursuit team was responsible for retrieving the host.
According to these orders, Rin had to remain alive until she reached Konoha.
Yet the same batch of files contained a route restriction order that had never been included in the main mission file.
It mentioned neither the Three-Tails nor Konoha.
It listed only four timing conditions.
After the target left the confinement site, do not intercept and kill her in the first canyon.
Maintain a distance of one hundred paces until the white-haired Konoha ninja appeared.
Once the target entered the range of a Lightning Release attack, seal off all escape routes.
Upon the target's death, eliminate all witnesses at the scene.
This was not an attempt to retrieve the host.
It was arranging the conditions