"The White Fang Precedent?"
Kakashi pressed the message against the table, lightning scorching black spots into the paper. "They even dared to put that term in writing."
Shikaku's face turned utterly cold. "The Third Hokage's office wouldn't put something like that in an official document. Who signed it?"
Yamada Naoto answered at once, "The deputy commander of the Old ANBU Unit, Matsui Takashi."
Inoichi looked at Kakashi. "Do you know him?"
"I do." Kakashi lifted his hand from the message, leaving a ring-shaped scorch mark on his palm. "After my father died, he was the first person to publicly say in the mission hall that White Fang had broken the rules."
Choza cursed. "Someone like that is still in the Old ANBU Unit?"
Sasuke slipped the message into the evidence binder. "Good. If the Third Hokage wants to scare people with old ghosts, I'll dig up the old graves."
Kakashi raised his head. "You're going after Matsui?"
"He handed me the blade himself."
Shikaku held down the draft alliance agreement on the table. "Finish the contract first. Without it, if you move against the Old ANBU Unit, the Third Hokage will seize on you overstepping your authority."
Sasuke took a black wooden seal box from the drawer and pushed it before the four men.
"Affix your blood seals."
Inoichi looked at the seal box. "You even had this ready?"
"Before the Masked Man came through the door last night, I already knew the Hokage Building would make a move."
Choza pulled aside his wrist guard, bit his thumb, and was the first to press it beside the Akimichi Clan's name. "I don't like being treated as a granary, and I like it even less when someone uses the White Fang Precedent to threaten our own people."
Inoichi pressed his seal