The codes in Kuriyama's ledger were not a sentence.
They were three sets of numbers.
Peripheral contact points.
Temporary clearance levels.
Special Minor Requisition priority.
Each set used Root's old format.
Yet the paper had only been manufactured six months earlier.
The old order had not been reinstated.
Someone had copied it onto new paper.
The enforcement officials across the border first sealed the original ledger.
The Land of Fire obtained a copy verified by both sides and could only investigate the format's origin, Konoha's old contact points, and whether its own checkpoints had wrongly granted passage.
The evidence of Kuriyama concealing pain seals, obstructing inspections, and attacking patrol officers remained where those acts had occurred.
An entire ledger could not become Konoha's case simply because it contained Root numbers.
The old archive repository retrieved the corresponding order.
Its earliest version had been issued during the border war.
It allowed peripheral personnel to temporarily take away unregistered minors with potential in sensory abilities, sealing, or bloodline abilities under the pretext of "Special Minor Requisition."
The order did not publicly identify whom it targeted.
It had no fixed time limit.
Nor did it provide any way for those requisitioned to refuse.
When Root was dismantled, these formats had already been placed on the revocation list.
The revocation records were genuine.
The problem lay in implementation.
Nine remote checkpoints had received only a list of discontinued numbers.
The list did not explain what the old documents looked like or how to verify anyone carrying them.
Three checkpoints later replaced their personnel, and the new guards did not even know those numbers had once belonged to Root.
Kuriyama did not need to bring Root back.
He only needed to bet that the checkpoints would not dare stop something that looked like a secret