The air inside the Hokage Building felt heavier than in the Resettlement Zone.
A medicinal supplies handover slip lay on the desk.
The paper was smooth, the ink clear, and the trading company's red seal stamped in the lower right corner. It looked neater than many of the temporary records.
The neater it looked, the more convincing it was.
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not speak immediately.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura sat to one side, their eyes fixed on that single line.
Temporarily held by the Uchiha Konoha Military Police Force, pending review before release.
Danzo stood in the shadows, tapping his cane lightly against the floor.
"I warned you before."
His voice was quiet, but everyone in the room could hear him clearly.
"After the Night of the Nine-Tails, the Konoha Military Police Force should not have been given so much authority in the Resettlement Zone. Medicinal supplies are a matter of life and death for the wounded. If clan sentiment interferes, the consequences will be more than a probationary report can answer for."
Uchiha Fugaku stood beside the door, his expression as grim as iron.
He did not rush to argue.
This piece of paper was more than an empty allegation.
It had quantities, signatures, and a handover time.
If the Uchiha denied it on the spot, people would demand evidence.
If the Uchiha rushed to explain, people would think they had something to hide.
That opening was exactly what Danzo was waiting for.
"I recommend immediately suspending the probationary period for the Konoha Military Police Force reform."
He said, "Distribution of medicinal supplies in the Resettlement Zone should be taken over by the Hokage's Anbu and the Logistics Squad. The Uchiha Konoha Military Police Force should return to perimeter patrols until the matter is resolved."
Mitokado Homura frowned. "Suspending the probationary period would have significant repercussions."
"However significant, they would be less serious than leaving the wounded without medicine."
Danzo looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Hiruzen, we cannot let the village suffer another error in judgment."
Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up his pipe but did not light it.
He looked at Fugaku.
"Fugaku, what do you think?"
Just as Uchiha Fugaku was about to speak, an announcement came from outside the door.
"Lord Hokage, Uchiha Gen requests an audience. He is accompanied by Yamashiro Ken of the Transport Squad, a recorder from the Medical Squad, and two witnesses to yesterday's medicinal supplies handover."
Danzo's eyelid twitched faintly.
Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his pipe.
"Let them in."
The door opened.
Uchiha Gen entered carrying three ledgers.
He did not look at Danzo first, nor did he turn to Fugaku for help.
He first bowed to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Lord Hokage, after receiving the documents publicly calling our conduct into question, the Konoha Military Police Force neither intercepted nor destroyed them, nor altered the originals. We are now submitting our verification records."
The room fell silent for a moment.
No interception.
No destruction.
No alterations.
Those three statements carried more weight than simply protesting their innocence.
Danzo said coldly, "You certainly got here quickly."
Uchiha Gen answered calmly, "The false ledger arrived quickly, too."
Fugaku glanced at him.
That was a risky thing to say.
But it needed saying.
Danzo fixed him with a heavy stare.
"You're saying this is false?"
"Yes."
"On what grounds?"
Uchiha Gen placed the first ledger on the desk.
"First, the batch number is wrong."
He opened the ledger and pointed to a page.
"After the Night of the Nine-Tails, the Medical Squad introduced temporary post-fire batch codes to prevent duplicate registration and fraudulent claims for emergency medicinal supplies. Yesterday's shipment from the Western Border to the Resettlement Zone was numbered Post-fire-Western Medical-B3. Nara Chie, a recorder from the Medical Squad, registered it, and the Logistics Squad confirmed it with a verification stamp."
The Medical Squad recorder stepped forward.
"That is correct."
She also handed over her record-keeping stamp.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took it, examined it, then passed it to Utatane Koharu.
Uchiha Gen continued, "But the batch number on this handover slip is Western Border Medicinal Supplies, Batch Seven. That number belongs only to the trading company's old internal accounts. It does not exist in Konoha's logistics system."
Mitokado Homura laid the two sheets side by side.
The numbers differed.
So did the formats.
Danzo did not move.
"The trading company's use of its own numbering does not mean the incident never happened."
"Then let's look at the second point."
Uchiha Gen opened the second ledger.
"This false ledger says the shipment arrived outside the Resettlement Zone at half past five in the morning and was temporarily held by the Konoha Military Police Force. But by half past five, Post-fire-Western Medical-B3 had already been received at the Medical Station. The receiving location was the temporary medicine shed on the eastern side of the Resettlement Zone. Nara Chie registered it, and Yamashiro Ken of the Transport Squad confirmed its delivery."
Yamashiro Ken stepped forward, his expression tense.
He was clearly unused to standing inside the Hokage Building.
But he gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Hokage, I did deliver the medicine to the temporary shed around five yesterday morning. It was not held by the Konoha Military Police Force."
Danzo looked at him.
"This handover slip also bears your signature."
Yamashiro Ken went pale.
Itachi stepped out from behind Gen and handed over yesterday's public record.
"This is Yamashiro Ken's signature as a witness yesterday."
He pointed to the two instances of the character for "shiro."
"When Yamashiro Ken writes this character, he presses down on the earth radical and finishes the stroke toward the left. On the false ledger, the finishing stroke is straight, and the pressure is different."
A boy stepping forward to examine handwriting should have carried little weight.
But he spoke with remarkable assurance.
So much assurance that everyone in the room found themselves looking at those two characters.
Fugaku finally spoke.
"Lord Hokage, the Uchiha do not ask the village to take only our word for it. That is why Gen brought members of the Medical Squad and Transport Squad, along with witnesses who are not Uchiha."
Those words turned the situation around.
This was not the Uchiha vouching for themselves.
It was letting the process speak for itself.
Uchiha Gen opened the third ledger.
"Third, there is also a problem with the identity of the person who delivered the ledger."
Danzo's fingers tightened almost imperceptibly.
Uchiha Gen did not look at him.
"Shisui."
Outside, an Anbu member looked toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded.
Shisui entered and set down a wooden tag.
"The person who brought the copy to the Hokage Building claimed to be an employee of the Kawahara Trading Company. But that name does not appear on the company's roster of accompanying personnel registered yesterday."
He set down a transcript as well.
"Before leaving the trading company's lodgings, this person first met an unidentified ninja at the West Street Old Warehouse. That ninja wore no Konoha forehead protector, yet was familiar with the intervals between Anbu patrols."
The atmosphere in the room changed.
An outside trading company.
A false ledger.
An unidentified ninja.
Knowledge of the intervals between Anbu patrols.
Taken together, these were no longer a simple dispute over medicinal supplies.
Danzo said gravely, "Shisui is an Uchiha. His tracking report cannot serve as the sole basis for this."
"Which is why I did not use it as the sole basis."
Uchiha Gen raised a hand and presented another record.
"There is a registration point for Resettlement Zone supply deliveries near the West Street Old Warehouse. The two logistics ninja responsible for registration saw the ledger courier take a detour when he left. They also saw him hand a second copy to a villager representative."
Mitokado Homura looked up. "Where are they?"
"Downstairs."
Uchiha Gen said, "They can be summoned at any time."
Danzo finally fell silent.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the three ledgers on the desk, turning his pipe halfway around between his fingers.
"Gen."
"Yes."
"If you discovered the false ledger ahead of time, why didn't you intercept it?"
Everyone in the room looked at Uchiha Gen.
This was the crucial question.
Uchiha Gen lowered his eyes.
"Because if we intercepted it, the Uchiha would never be able to explain it away."
He spoke very slowly.
"Lord Hokage, what the Konoha Military Police Force needs most right now is not a faster counterattack, but a process that lets the village see the truth. If the false ledger stopped in Uchiha hands, people would say we suppressed evidence. Only by letting it reach the Hokage Building, then exposing it through the real ledgers, the Medical Squad, the Transport Squad, and logistics witnesses together, can we keep it from becoming another rumor."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing for a long time.
Neither did Fugaku.
But his shoulders relaxed a little.
This was not a concession.
It was a step toward moving the Uchiha from "those under suspicion" to "those who resolved problems by the rules."
At last, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke.
"The probationary period for the Konoha Military Police Force reform will continue."
Danzo raised his eyes.
"Hiruzen."
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not look at him.
"At the same time, the Konoha Military Police Force is authorized to investigate the source of the false ledger, the courier's identity, and the person contacted at the West Street Old Warehouse, under the observation of the Hokage's Anbu. Investigation records are to be submitted to the Hokage Building daily."
Uchiha Gen bowed his head.
"Yes."
Danzo's cane remained planted on the floor for a long time.
He offered no further objections.
Because this time, objecting would amount to admitting that he did not want the hand behind the false ledger investigated.
When they left the Hokage Building, sunlight lay across the steps.
Uchiha Toru was waiting below. The first thing he said when he saw Gen emerge was, "Did we win?"
Uchiha Gen looked at him.
"The probationary period wasn't suspended."
Uchiha Toru grinned.
"Then we won."
Uchiha Gen did not deny it.
The next instant, a voice only he could hear sounded in his mind.
[Root's peripheral pawn network exposed.] [Rewrite progress increased.] [Reward: slight increase in chakra control precision.]
A faint current of warmth swept through his chakra pathways.
Uchiha Gen flexed his fingers.
This wasn't power that could sweep away his enemies in an instant.
But it was enough to give him firmer footing.
In the shadows of a distant high-rise, a figure wearing the Swirl Mask quietly watched the Hokage Building.
"Uchiha Gen..."
He murmured the name.
The course of events within Konoha was veering off its original track.
And a deviation often warranted more caution than hostility.
Before you continue