When the Post-Disaster Orphan Register was placed on the table, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression truly changed for the first time.
When the Nine-Tails' classified files had been tampered with earlier, he had looked grim.
Now, he looked cold.
Because the Nine-Tails' classified files were sealed.
There were prohibitions.
There were guards.
There were layers of records.
But the Post-Disaster Orphan Register was different.
It looked like nothing more than a placement record.
It listed where children who had lost family during the Night of the Nine-Tails had been sent, who had been assigned to care for them temporarily, and which distribution points supplied their food and medicine afterward.
Ordinary.
Trivial.
The chaos after the disaster had even left many of the records poorly organized.
But if someone knew the Jinchūriki's identity yet could not touch the Nine-Tails' classified files directly, this register would become another route.
Bypassing the Nine-Tails.
Reaching for that child's shadow.
Uchiha Gen stood beside the table without opening the register.
He only read the report of irregularities Shingo Nara had handed over.
"Signs of pages being turned along the edges?"
Shingo Nara nodded.
"Yes. The Sealing Closure is unbroken, but the creases at the corners of several pages in the register near the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki records are inconsistent."
Mitokado Homura frowned.
"It's only an orphan placement register. Why was it stored so close to the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki records?"
Shingo Nara lowered his head.
"After the Night of the Nine-Tails, some post-disaster records were sealed chronologically rather than filed separately by sensitivity. The Jinchūriki-related records were given additional seals later, but the adjacent registers weren't fully relocated."
His words left the room even quieter.
An old procedure again.
Additional seals again.
Another gap that seemed reasonable, yet was wide enough for someone to slip through.
Uchiha Gen had