The first draft of the high-risk mission witness registration contained only three lines.
Uchiha Makoto paused several times as he copied it onto the official document.
Anyone dealing with senior leadership, Anbu, Root, or sensitive clan meeting matters must not attend a meeting alone.
Before the mission, the location, time, initiator, and witness must be registered.
After the mission, a supplementary record must list those contacted, the scope of the discussion, and any last-minute changes.
Those three lines did not look long.
Yet they were like a fine net.
It was not enemies they caught.
The first ones caught were the Uchiha themselves.
After reading it, Uchiha Toru's first words were, "Once we post this, won't people think we're scared?"
Uchiha Gen did not look up.
"Scared of what?"
"Of the Hokage Building, of Anbu, of Root."
Uchiha Toru frowned.
"Especially Shisui. If he has to register everywhere he goes, it won't sound good when word gets out."
Shisui sat nearby without speaking.
He had the same concerns himself.
If even Body Flicker Shisui had to bring a witness to a meeting, people could easily take it as the Uchiha guarding themselves against the village.
More troubling still, Shisui had always served as a buffer between the clan and the village.
The more freedom he had, the easier many things were to handle.
But everything that had happened recently also proved that the freer someone was, the easier it was to lure him somewhere no record would be kept.
Uchiha Gen finally put down his pen.
"That's why this registration can't name only Shisui."
Uchiha Toru asked, "Then who do we name?"
"Everyone carrying out high-risk missions."
Gen pushed the list toward them.
Shisui Uchiha.
Uchiha Toru.
Uchiha Ryo.
Uchiha Makoto.
Even Uchiha Gen himself was on it.
Uchiha Toru's