Itachi's Three-Day Mission Ran Into the First Order That Should Never Have Been Classified

With only four hours left before the three-day deadline, Itachi found the old order.

It was tucked at the very back of the seventh row of archive shelves in the Land of Fire Wartime Materials Dispatch Office.

The cover was labeled "Supply Route Maintenance."

Inside, however, were Ninja Tools transport routes, Earth Release engineering records, and water supply adjustment appendices for four border settlements.

Under the Anbu mission requirements, Itachi only needed to confirm whether the old transport nodes could still expose Konoha's operations.

But the index number sent from the Well Zone pointed directly to the third page of the water supply adjustment appendix.

That page stated that, to let heavy wagons avoid the mud on the surface, a Land of Fire transport team had ordered Earth Release ninja to deepen Iwatari Village's deep well and narrow an underground water channel flowing toward Ashihara Village.

The work was originally supposed to be reversed after the war ended.

The restoration field was blank.

Itachi did not tuck the document into his clothes.

First, he entered the time, page number, and reason for the discovery in the access log, then summoned the Anbu superior responsible for the archives.

The man wearing a gray badger mask finished reading the third page and fastened the Sealing Closure again.

"The transport routes remain classified. No part of this volume may be released."

"The water supply appendix is already affecting an ongoing dispute."

"It is still in the same volume."

"The nonmilitary content can be separated."

Gray Badger looked at Itachi. "Your mission is not to decide what gets declassified."

"Nor does my mission include concealing the source of effects that are already public."

The Archives Room fell silent.

Neither man threatened the other.

The authorization for this short-term mission explicitly provided channels for objection,