**
Six months later
The High Council still existed.
But it no longer ruled in silence.
Its Speakers were fewer. Its purges slower. Every seal carried a question now, every doctrine faced a whisper.
Snowlight Valley remained quiet. Not crushed. Not free. Just waiting.
And Daigo?
He was gone.
Not buried. Not lost. Just gone.
No one knew where he'd gone. Some said he crossed into the Land of Rivers. Others believed he went underground, joining resistance cells across the nations. A few claimed to have seen him in the Land of Iron, speaking to generals beneath paper lanterns.
No proof. No confirmation.
Only one thing was certain:
Wherever he went, the ledgers followed.
Copies of his original audit appeared in academies.
In temples.
In rogue libraries passed hand to hand.
His seal, burned into the bottom corner. Always the same.
**Truth does not vanish when silenced.**
Somewhere, the High Circle still watched. Still waited.
But now, for the first time, they knew:
Someone had learned how to fight them not with chakra, but with records.
With memory.
With law.
And with that, the world had changed.
Not loudly.
But permanently.