At noon the next day, an invitation arrived. This time, someone delivered it in person.
An Anbu stood outside the main house, mask facing the doorway, and held an invitation across the threshold. The clan elder took it with both hands. When he looked up again, the alley entrance was empty. The visitor had left without a sound.
"Last time, they left a message." The clan elder held the invitation, his hands trembling slightly. "This time, they came right to our door."
The invitation bore a single line: Tomorrow at noon, a meeting at the Hokage Building.
The clan's small meeting was brief. On the table in the main hall, they checked the two sets of evidence: a copy of the Dossier from Root's archives, correspondence, and a fractured pebble from the Naka River, one item at a time. Held to the window light, the broken edge matched the stone from the Naka River. Shisui's handwritten eyewitness account and the two neatly folded separate sheets beside Fugaku were returned to the book's compartment on their own, rather than laid on the table.
"Do you know how many lives it cost to gather all this?" the clan elder asked.
"We do," Mikoto said. "That's why we're going."
"Show half," Kiyoshi spoke first.
Mikoto glanced at him.
The clan elder grew anxious. "Half? Will that be enough?"
"Enough to bring them to the table. Only once they sit down can we talk about three days," Kiyoshi said.
Mikoto closed the book and held it against her chest. "We'll do as he says."
Shisui stood by the door, dirt from the forward lookout still on his shoulders.
"I'll cover the slope."
That was all he said. He glanced at the table, turned, and left. The rustle of grass soon faded into the distance.