A witness who recants fears nothing more than another witness

Early the next morning, news of the recantation reached the Konoha Military Police Force.

The villager representative who had signed the supplementary record at the western resettlement site had changed his story.

He claimed that after Uchiha Makoto forgot to record a witness, Makoto had returned to the scene with others and forced him to sign.

He also said he had been too afraid to refuse.

As soon as those words spread, another tear opened in the trust the Rotating Records Team had only just rebuilt yesterday.

"Bullshit!"

Uchiha Toru slammed his fist onto the table.

"We were all there yesterday! He clearly read the record himself before signing!"

Uchiha Makoto was deathly pale.

He stood beside the table, his fingers picking at his cuff.

"It was my fault."

Uchiha Gen looked at him.

Uchiha Makoto said quietly, "If I hadn't left it out, there wouldn't have been a supplementary signature. Without that, no one would have had anything to use against us."

"Are you trying to take the blame for the whole thing again?"

Uchiha Makoto stiffened.

Uchiha Gen took out yesterday's report and laid it flat on the table.

"He didn't recant because you left something out."

"Then why?"

"Because he's an ordinary villager who couldn't withstand the pressure of testifying for the Uchiha."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Those words were unpleasant.

But they were true.

When he signed the supplementary record yesterday, the middle-aged man had made himself very clear.

He was willing to sign because that was what had happened.

But the truth could not necessarily protect him.

If someone used his family, his medicine, or his shelter to pressure him, why would he stand firm for the Uchiha?

Uchiha Ryo asked gravely, "Then what do we do now?"

"We don't pressure him."

Uchiha Gen spoke.

Uchiha Toru grew agitated. "He's turned around and accused us, and we don't even question him?"

"We can question him."

Uchiha Gen looked at him.

"But we can't let him decide the facts alone."

With that, he spread out yesterday's supplementary signing record.

"Aside from him, members of the Transport Squad, a medical ninja, and the Hokage's Anbu were also there yesterday."

Uchiha Makoto abruptly raised his head.

Uchiha Gen continued, "A witness who recants fears nothing more than another witness."

An hour later, at the western resettlement site.

The villager representative was invited into a temporary verification shelter.

He looked awful, with dark circles under his eyes, as though he had not slept all night.

Uchiha Gen did not sit directly opposite him.

The person sitting directly opposite him was a member of the Hokage's Anbu.

On the left sat a Transport Squad member.

On the right sat the medical ninja from yesterday.

Uchiha Makoto sat at the far end, responsible only for recording.

Gen had arranged the seating.

He did not let the Uchiha take the most dominant position.

Nor did he let the witness feel surrounded by the Uchiha.

The Hokage's Anbu member spoke. "Today, you changed your account to say that the Uchiha forced you to sign the supplementary record yesterday?"

The villager representative kept his head lowered.

"Yes."

Uchiha Toru stood outside the shelter, gritting his teeth in anger.

Uchiha Gen did not look at him.

The Anbu member continued, "Who forced you?"

The villager representative's voice grew even quieter.

"Uchiha Makoto, and... and the other people from the Konoha Military Police Force."

Uchiha Makoto's grip on his pen tightened slightly.

Uchiha Gen looked at him.

Makoto clenched his teeth without raising his head.

He kept writing.

The Anbu member spread out yesterday's record.

"A Transport Squad member was present when you signed yesterday. Do you confirm that?"

The Transport Squad member spoke. "I was there."

The medical ninja added, "So was I."

The Anbu member continued, "Yesterday's supplementary signing record states that Uchiha Makoto explained that you could refuse to sign and have your reason for refusing recorded. Did you hear that?"

The villager representative's lips trembled.

"I..."

He looked up at the medical ninja, then at the Transport Squad member.

Neither spoke in defense of the Uchiha.

They simply watched him.

The medical ninja said quietly, "Your daughter's fever medicine was dispensed according to her condition. It wasn't given to you by the Uchiha, nor was it a favor from anyone else."

The villager representative's eyes reddened at once.

Uchiha Gen's heart sank.

Just as I thought.

Medicine.

Someone had used his daughter's illness to pressure him.

Shisui's figure flashed past outside the shelter.

A little later, he appeared beside Uchiha Gen, his voice very low.

"Someone approached him last night. Not an ordinary villager. They gave him a packet of medicinal powder."

"Where are they?"

"They've already left the Resettlement Zone. Their route was clean."

Shisui paused.

"But they went to this man's tent. People nearby saw them."

That was enough.

The point wasn't to catch someone.

It was to establish that the witness might have been influenced by outside pressure.

Uchiha Gen did not immediately reveal that information.

He looked at the villager representative.

"You don't have to speak for the Uchiha."

The man raised his head, confusion in his eyes.

Uchiha Gen continued, "You only need to say whether anyone drew a blade yesterday when you signed, whether anyone threatened your family, or whether anyone stopped you from reading the record."

The man's lips trembled even harder.

No one inside the shelter rushed him.

After a long time, he finally said quietly, "None of that happened yesterday."

Uchiha Makoto's pen paused.

The man seemed to lose all his strength at once.

"They let me read the record yesterday, and they said I could refuse."

The Anbu member immediately wrote it down.

"Then why did you claim today that you were forced?"

The man lowered his head, tears falling onto his knees.

"My daughter still has a fever."

He did not need to finish the rest.

The medical ninja's expression had already changed.

The Hokage's Anbu member raised their head as well.

This was no longer a simple recantation.

This was a witness being coerced.

Uchiha Gen did not press him for the identity of the person who had given him the medicinal powder.

He would not get an answer.

Even if he did, it might only lead to another scapegoat.

He turned to the Hokage's Anbu member.

"Please record this: the witness's recantation is suspected to have resulted from outside pressure involving medicine. I recommend registering the witness and his family for protection."

The Anbu member glanced at him.

"Registering them for protection?"

"Yes."

Uchiha Gen said, "From now on, whenever a civilian testifies for records made during the Konoha Military Police Force's observation period, if a major dispute is involved, we should record their residence, basic information about their family, and whether anyone has approached them under unusual circumstances. Not to monitor them, but to prevent retaliation for their testimony."

The Transport Squad member frowned. "Wouldn't that be too much trouble?"

"It would."

Uchiha Gen admitted it.

"But if witnesses are threatened, every witness procedure we have will become nothing more than window dressing."

The medical ninja nodded.

"I agree. At the very least, no one should be allowed to use a patient's medicine as a threat."

After a brief silence, the Hokage's Anbu member wrote down the recommendation.

Uchiha Makoto wrote it down as well.

This time, his hand did not tremble.

After the verification ended, the villager representative was neither arrested nor berated by the Uchiha.

The medical ninja registered his daughter's medicine again according to her condition, noting its source and dosage.

Before leaving, the man quietly said to Uchiha Makoto, "I'm sorry."

Holding his writing board, Uchiha Makoto waited a moment before saying, "If someone pressures you next time, tell us first."

The man gave a bitter smile.

"I'm afraid."

Uchiha Makoto fell silent.

He finally understood that a recorder had to write down more than just the facts.

He also had to make sure the people who spoke those facts were not so alone.

That evening, the proposal to register witnesses for protection reached the Hokage Building.

After reading the report, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression remained grim for a long time.

"Someone used medicine to threaten a witness?"

The Anbu member lowered their head. "At present, we can only confirm that someone exploited the illness of the witness's family member. The person who approached him remains unidentified."

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes briefly.

The Resettlement Zone.

Records.

Witnesses.

Threats involving medicine.

Once all these things were connected, this was no longer ordinary chaos.

Nor should it be handled as ordinary chaos anymore.

He said gravely, "Notify Danzo."

The Anbu member looked up.

Hiruzen Sarutobi said slowly, "I want to know whether Root has carried out any additional operations in the Resettlement Zone or during the Konoha Military Police Force's observation period without registering them with the Hokage."