When Sasuke handed the Kunai over at the records room, everyone inside fell silent.
He grew a little uneasy.
"Did I do something wrong?"
Itachi immediately crouched down.
"No."
His voice was softer than usual.
"You did very well."
Sasuke looked at him, then turned to Uchiha Gen.
Gen did not pick up the Kunai directly.
He first had Che fetch a sealing cloth, then asked Sasuke to explain exactly where he had found it.
The east side of the training ground.
Beside the third target.
Less than fifteen minutes after Itachi had left.
He had not seen any strangers nearby.
Sasuke gave his account very carefully.
Only after he finished did he ask quietly, "Does this belong to an enemy?"
Fugaku arrived at the doorway just in time to hear those words, and his expression turned frighteningly grim.
He did not lose his temper with Sasuke.
But in that instant, he could barely contain his anger as a father.
The enemy had already planted something right at Sasuke's feet.
That was harder for him to bear than any probe aimed at an adult ninja.
Uchiha Gen sealed the Kunai before saying, "We can't be sure yet."
Sasuke looked a little disappointed.
"Then someone might have just dropped it?"
"Possibly."
Gen looked at him.
"That's why we need to record it. A Kunai found by a child is the easiest thing to dismiss as an accident."
Itachi's gaze turned cold.
If Sasuke had taken the Kunai away without telling anyone, whatever happened afterward could have been explained away as a child's curiosity.
If the Kunai carried poison, a mark, or a guiding technique formula-or even if someone had simply left it there on purpose-they would lose their starting point for an investigation, all because "the child was just playing around."