The shop stood on a small street on Konoha's west side.
Its storefront was small.
The goods it sold were ordinary, too.
Paper, ink, sealing wax, medicinal powder, wooden crates, hemp rope.
Any ninja squad might come to buy them.
And precisely because it was so ordinary, it was a good place to hide things.
When the Konoha Military Police Force and the Anbu arrived together, the shopkeeper showed little panic.
"My lords, this shop only does honest business."
Uchiha Gen ignored his pleasantries.
"The ledgers."
The shopkeeper's smile stiffened.
"The ledgers are a little messy."
Che set an evidence bag on the counter.
"Then we'll start with the messy ones."
When the ledgers were brought out, there were three full stacks.
The first two were perfectly normal.
Ninja tool shops, medical shelters, the Resettlement Zone, ordinary ninja squads-whatever they bought was recorded.
The third stack, however, was very clean.
Too clean to look like ledgers.
They contained only dates, quantities, and the words "consumables, no named recipient."
No buyers.
No purposes.
No delivery addresses.
Uchiha Gen turned to several pages, then stopped his finger.
The day before the fake summons.
The day before the Purge List appeared.
The day before Itachi's unnumbered mission was delivered.
The same kind of consumables had been dispatched on all those dates.
After reading them, Shisui's gaze darkened.
"The timing lines up."
The Anbu Captain fell silent as well.
Ledgers like these were hardly enough to establish guilt on their own.
But the coincidence was too striking.
So striking that every time someone tested the Uchiha, a batch of supplies with no named recipient had gone out beforehand.
Sweat began to bead on the shopkeeper's forehead.
"Temporary workers recorded all of these. I don't know where they delivered them, either."
Uchiha Gen looked up.