Evidence of the Uchiha's deployment

The fire had not yet gone out.

But at the temporary shelter on South Street, people had already begun looking at the Uchiha differently.

At first, there had been wariness.

Then hesitation.

Now, something more complicated had crept in, something they could not quite name.

Several civilians Uchiha Toru had dragged from a collapsed building leaned against the wall, coughing, their faces covered in ash. When an elderly woman was brought to a medical ninja, she still clutched Uchiha Ryo's sleeve.

"Young lady, what's your name?"

Uchiha Ryo froze for a moment.

"Uchiha Ryo."

The elderly woman repeated it, as though afraid she might forget. "Uchiha Ryo."

She turned to her son beside her. "Remember it. This young lady carried me out."

Something flickered in Uchiha Ryo's eyes.

Normally, he might simply have said there was no need to thank him.

But tonight, he instinctively looked toward Uchiha Gen.

Uchiha Gen nodded.

"Let them remember."

Uchiha Makoto no longer needed a reminder. He crouched in front of a broken door panel, writing down name after name with a charcoal pencil.

Names of those rescued.

Locations.

Uchiha clansmen involved in the rescue.

Whether any Konoha ninja had been present.

The handwriting was hurried and messy, but every stroke pulled tonight's Uchiha further away from the label of "silent bystanders."

"Next group, head to the East Alley entrance."

Uchiha Gen scanned the shelter.

"Three households there still haven't been evacuated. Toru and two senior clansmen will break down the doors. Ryo, protect the injured as they withdraw. Makoto, keep recording."

Uchiha Makoto looked up. "Am I coming with you?"

"You're coming to record everything."

Uchiha Gen looked at him. "Tonight, your charcoal pencil matters more than a kunai."

Uchiha Makoto's pencil hand paused.

A moment later, he nodded firmly.

They rushed back into the fire.

The East Alley entrance was even more chaotic than South Street.

The tremors caused by the Nine-Tails had brought down the roofs along half the alley. Wooden beams, tiles, and broken furniture blocked the entrance. Flames spread along the oilcloth awnings, and the thick smoke made it almost impossible to keep their eyes open.

"Don't use Fire Release recklessly!"

Uchiha Gen warned them immediately.

Flammable materials were everywhere. Any ninjutsu could turn the rescue into a second disaster.

Gritting his teeth, Uchiha Toru stopped forming hand seals and used his short sword to hack through a doorframe instead. Two adult clansmen braced a beam on the verge of collapse, while Uchiha Ryo rushed inside and carried out an unconscious child on his back.

The child's mother knelt on the ground, crying too hard to make a sound.

Uchiha Gen helped her up and asked directly, "What's your name? Which house do you live in? Who rescued your child?"

The woman stared at him blankly.

At a time like this, those questions seemed cold.

But Uchiha Gen did not relent.

"Write it down. When morning comes, tell people the Uchiha were here tonight."

The woman finally understood.

She wiped the ash and tears from her face and looked at Uchiha Ryo, who was carrying her child.

"My name is Chiyo Morikawa. Third house in East Alley. Uchiha Ryo saved my child, and... and the Uchiha who broke down the door with his sword."

"Uchiha Toru."

Uchiha Makoto quickly supplied the name beside her.

"Uchiha Toru," the woman repeated.

Uchiha Gen was just about to turn away when two figures suddenly appeared at the alley entrance.

Black cloaks, their faces hidden behind masks.

These were not the animal masks commonly worn by the Anbu.

They were colder, more devoid of emotion.

Neither joined the rescue. They simply stood in the shadows, their gazes sweeping over the Uchiha Clan Crest before settling on the records in Uchiha Makoto's hands.

"Stop recording."

The one on the left spoke in a hoarse voice.

Uchiha Toru's hand went to his sword hilt.

Uchiha Gen raised a hand to stop him.

"Why?"

"During the Nine-Tails attack, all irrelevant records could interfere with the post-battle investigation."

The man took a step closer.

"Hand them over. The village will handle them centrally."

Uchiha Makoto instinctively moved the door panel behind his back.

Seeing that gesture only deepened the chill in Uchiha Gen's heart.

These men had appeared too quickly, with too much precision.

They had barely begun asking the rescued civilians to remember the Uchiha's names before someone came to stop them.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Someone wanted tonight's Uchiha to remain in one particular state.

No action.

No rescue efforts.

No witnesses.

When morning came, people would remember only that the Nine-Tails had been controlled by the Sharingan, and that the Konoha Military Police Force had not appeared on the main battlefield.

As for how many people they had saved, what irregularities they had discovered, or what kunai they had intercepted to stop witnesses from being silenced, all of it could be erased simply because there were "no records."

Uchiha Gen looked at the black-cloaked man.

"Are you Anbu?"

The man did not answer.

"Do you have a written order from the Third Hokage?"

Still, the man remained silent.

"No written order, no identification, yet you want to take our rescue records."

Uchiha Gen did not raise his voice, but everyone nearby who had just been rescued could hear him.

"Is this the village's order, or your own?"

The black-cloaked man's gaze turned cold.

"Uchiha brat, remember where you stand."

"I know exactly where I stand."

Uchiha Gen stepped aside, revealing Chiyo Morikawa behind him, crying as she held her child.

"There are still people in the fire, and the Uchiha are saving them. You won't help, and you won't let us record who saved them, either."

He paused briefly, then turned toward Inoue Shin.

Two genin were supporting Inoue Shin as he stood at the edge of the shelter.

Uchiha Gen asked, "Senior Inoue, is this a wartime regulation too?"

Inoue Shin's expression darkened.

Of course he did not want to get caught in a conflict between the Uchiha and these black-cloaked men.

But he had personally witnessed the senbon, the spatial traces, and Takuya Yamashiro's testimony.

Now these people wanted to take the records as well.

Staying silent would mean putting himself back among those who "knew nothing."

Inoue Shin gritted his teeth.

"I've never heard of any such regulation."

The surroundings fell silent.

The black-cloaked man turned to look at him.

Inoue Shin forced himself to continue. "Casualty transfer and rescue records are supposed to be preserved. They're needed for the post-battle investigation."

Uchiha Gen immediately followed up. "Did you hear that?"

He looked at Uchiha Makoto.

"Keep writing."

Warmth surged through Uchiha Makoto's chest. He lowered his head and continued writing.

The companion behind the black-cloaked man took half a step forward.

An oppressive presence bore down on them at once.

The two adult Uchiha stepped forward at the same time, shielding Uchiha Makoto.

The tension was like a steel wire pulled taut.

Uchiha Gen knew they might not win if a real fight broke out.

But the other side would not dare kill Uchiha engaged in rescue work without cause in front of so many civilians and Konoha ninja.

That was why he needed to put everything out in the open.

"You can take them if you want."

Uchiha Gen spoke suddenly.

Uchiha Makoto jerked his head up. "Gen!"

The black-cloaked man's gaze shifted slightly as well.

Uchiha Gen continued, "But in front of everyone here, please leave your name, affiliation, and the source of your orders. Put it in writing that you're taking the Konoha Military Police Force's rescue records from the Nine-Tails attack."

He pointed at the door panel.

"Then we'll write a second copy."

The black-cloaked man fell silent.

This was more troublesome than a refusal.

If he identified himself, he would be admitting that someone was specifically monitoring the Uchiha's rescue records.

If he seized them without identifying himself, every civilian and Konoha ninja nearby would remember that someone of unknown identity had prevented the Uchiha from preserving evidence of their rescue efforts.

Neither outcome was what he wanted.

Uchiha Gen watched him, his voice steady.

"The choice is yours."

Firelight shone on the black-cloaked man's mask, revealing no expression.

After several long moments, he finally turned aside.

"Continue the rescue."

With that, the two dark figures withdrew into the shadows at the alley entrance.

Uchiha Toru cursed under his breath. "Who the hell do they think they are?"

Uchiha Gen said nothing.

Before they left, he saw one of them lightly tap the back of his hand twice with his right index finger.

It was a tiny movement.

As though he were signaling someone in the distance.

[Uchiha rescue records disseminated.]

[Number of civilian eyewitnesses increased.]

[Number of Konoha ninja witnesses increased.]

[Mission progress: 17%.]

The system notifications sounded.

But Uchiha Gen felt no relief at all.

Seventeen percent meant he was heading in the right direction.

But Root already had its eyes on him.

Those two men had not backed down. This simply was not a convenient place for them to act.

The real trouble still lay ahead.

At the far end of the alley, a black-clad ninja stopped behind a broken wall and looked back at Uchiha Gen in the firelight.

He pressed a hand to his ear, his voice low and utterly flat.

"Target confirmed."

"Uchiha youth. Suspected of leading defiance of orders and inciting clansmen to act without authorization."

"Shall we apprehend him?"