The final lunar surface anchor was hidden in the old order from the Night of the Nine-Tails

The emergency order from the Night of the Nine-Tails remained in Konoha's register of active orders.

It no longer mobilized the Konoha Military Police Force.

Nor did anyone enforce the restriction against approaching the Nine-Tails in the streets.

In practical terms, the order had long since ended.

Under archival procedure, however, it had only been marked "suspended following the end of the emergency."

There was no termination date.

No withdrawal document.

And certainly no correction of its erroneous basis.

As long as Konoha determined that the Nine-Tails was exhibiting abnormalities again, the old order could still be reinstated and cited.

This was the anchor in reality that Black Zetsu needed.

The lunar surface path did not need a lasting supply of chakra.

As long as an order still recognized by the shinobi village's authority established the Uchiha as the default connection to the danger posed by the Nine-Tails, Black Zetsu could link the Sharingan and the tailed beast back into the same explanation.

Gen did not simply believe the lead because it came from Black Zetsu.

Konoha retrieved three independent sets of documents.

The Hokage Building held the Master Ledger.

The Konoha Military Police Force held the execution copy received that night.

An ordinary rescue team had also retained a temporary deployment record that bypassed the restriction.

All three sets of papers dated from the same period.

The order numbers matched.

But the results of their execution were not entirely the same.

The police force's copy preserved two annotations requesting permission to join the battle.

Neither request had been approved.

The rescue team's record showed that some Uchiha had crossed their original deployment boundaries to help evacuate civilians after casualties in the streets mounted.

The Master Ledger in the Hokage Building contained neither of these subsequent developments.

It recorded only