When the first arrow was nocked, the people queuing beside the well had yet to disperse.
A child clutching a wooden bucket stood between two armed groups. Neither side dared back away first.
On the eastern side of the well stood the people of Iwatari Village in the Land of Grass.
On the western side stood the people of Ashihara Village in the Land of Rivers.
The surface river had been dry for eleven days. This deep well, sunk into bedrock, had become the only reliable source of water for dozens of miles around.
The people of Iwatari Village said they had dug the well during the war.
The people of Ashihara Village said the land beneath the well had been returned after the war.
Both sides had brought shinobi.
There were not many, but enough to turn a shoving match into an exchange of ninjutsu.
When Gen reached the Well Zone, he did not begin by asking which side was lying.
The first thing he noticed was the newly carved blasting groove beneath the rim.
If anyone slipped an Explosive Tag into it, no one would be drawing water again.
Shisui landed on a rise on the other side, his three tomoe sweeping over the crowd and the surrounding woods.
There were no signs of large-scale genjutsu.
There were no White Zetsu spores, nor any of the cold, sinister chakra Black Zetsu left behind.
The anger on both sides belonged entirely to the people standing there.
"Lower your bows."
Gen did not cross the boundary the two sides had drawn.
The leader of Iwatari Village's guards stared at him. "Do you represent Konoha?"
"I represent the Joint Witness Group. My only job for now is to keep the evidence and the people drawing water intact until verification is complete."