Kyoshin's gaze shifted slightly.
"Where could it be?"
That thing was a genuine treasure.
According to Kyoshin's mories, the sealing techniques recorded by the Uzumaki Clan were terrifyingly powerful.
Aside from the completely broken monsters tied to the Sage of Six Paths that appeared after the power scaling collapsed...
the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts were practically unmatched throughout the ninja world.
Recalling that painful night, Chinatsu's brows furrowed slightly.
"That day, because we received no advance warning, the clan fell into complete chaos."
"Before evacuating, Princess Kushina and I received orders from the clan leader to hide a thick scroll inside a secret passage beneath a dried-up well."
Kyoshin made a reasonable deduction.
"So there are three possibilities regarding the scroll's location."
"First: the Kirigakure ninja who attacked the Land of Whirlpools discovered it and brought it back to Kirigakure."
"But after all these years, they've remained isolated from the outside world, and there haven't been any rumors related to sealing techniques. That leaves only two possibilities."
"They never found the scroll… or they did find it, but couldn't understand it at all."
"Second: if Kirigakure never found the scroll, then it may have later been obtained by Konoha after learning about it."
"This possibility is the highest, because Auntie and Kushina hid the scroll together. Later, Kushina went to Konoha, beca part of the sa generation as the Fourth Hokage, and ultimately died during the Night of the Nine-Tails."
"During that entire period, she had countless chances to pass information about the scroll to Konoha."
This was also what Kyoshin worried about most.
Because in the original story, Kushina possessed powerful sealing techniques, and Minato also understood the Four Symbols Seal and the Eight Trigrams Seal.
There was a high chance those were connected to that scroll.
If Konoha had obtained it, then Kyoshin's chances of getting the scroll right now were practically zero, unless he could fight all of Konoha by himself or learn an ultra-long-distance teleportation technique like Flying Thunder God.
"That's unlikely," Chinatsu said, giving Kyoshin a glimr of hope.
"Because the clan leader once said that only Princess Kushina, myself, the clan leader, and another elder who evacuated knew the location of the scroll."
"The clan leader said that after the elder broke through the encirclent and the situation cald down, he would return to the Land of Whirlpools to retrieve the scroll in order to preserve and continue the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts."
"And at the ti, Kushina wasn't just a theoretical genius. Her practical results were excellent too."
"Even though Princess Kushina didn't yet know any powerful sealing techniques back then, she knew how to cultivate them, and her theoretical scores were nearly perfect."
Kyoshin took a deep breath.
"In other words… there's still a chance the scroll is still inside that dried-up well."
Chinatsu nodded.
Kyoshin thought it over carefully before imdiately making a decision.
"Aunt Chinatsu, may I report this matter to the Tsuchikage?"
"If possible… even though the hope is extrely slim, if it's really still there…"
"Obtaining the Uzumaki Clan's scroll would benefit both the village and the continuation of the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts."
Chinatsu nodded seriously, "That's exactly why I told you."
———
[The Next Day, At The Entrance Of Iwagakure]
A squad had assembled.
An Anbu squad: Kyoshin, Tajima, and iko.
In addition, there was another three-man jonin squad, including Onoki's disciple Akatsuchi and his son Kitsuchi.
Leading the group was a gigantic masked man clad in heavy red armor. Though quiet and reserved, he was the strongest mber of the squad.
Iwagakure's Five-Tails Jinchuriki, the so-called Steam Ninja, Han.
Onoki swept his eyes across the squad lineup and slowly nodded before warning them, "Rember, because the mission route is long and close to the Land of Fire, your first priority is ensuring your comrades' safety."
"If the scroll isn't in the Land of Whirlpools, don't stay there too long. Return directly to Iwagakure.", Han's voice was slow and steady.
"Understood."
After leaving the village, Han led everyone northward until they arrived at a coastal port.
Since traveling by land would require crossing too many countries and attract too much attention, they chose the sea route instead.
It was also Kyoshin's first ti seeing the ocean.
Once the initial novelty faded, all that remained was boredom.
Fortunately, Kyoshin had brought along the sealing technique materials Chinatsu had given him, and he could use shadow clones to study them.
The large ship sailed all the way toward the Land of Whirlpools, stopping once midway at a small harbor for supplies before quickly continuing onward.
After successfully arriving in the Land of Whirlpools, the group disguised themselves as rchants before entering the country and locating the Uzumaki Clan ruins using the location information provided by Chinatsu.
The place was filled with broken walls and ruins. Moss covered every surface. The wooden structures that had once burned down had long since rotted away, with new trees growing from their remains, while weeds spread wildly everywhere.
The area itself wasn't particularly large, and the dried-up well was easy to find.
The Land of Whirlpools now only had the daimyo's residence along with a group of recruited ninja and samurai as military forces. Their supervision over this place couldn't even be described as lax.
It practically didn't exist.
iko climbed down into the dried-up well and successfully located the hidden passage, then brought up a nearly rotten scroll as thick as a bucket.
The group inspected it briefly and, after confirming that its appearance matched Chinatsu's description, carefully stored it away.
After so many years, once opened, the fragile material might cause so of the writing to peel away.
"First mission complete."
Han slung the massive scroll nad Uzumaki Secret Scroll onto his back and gave the next order.
"Proceed with the second mission."
The second mission was to locate the Uzumaki Clan shrine.
According to Chinatsu, many terrifying entities sealed inside masks were kept within.
Those things were extrely mysterious and dangerous.
But if used properly, they could also be considered a type of "resource."
Soon, the group gathered at the location where Orochimaru found the Shinigami mask in the original story.
Sure enough, they discovered those ferocious-looking masks hanging on the wall, each one carrying an extrely strong sealing power.
No one knew what was sealed inside them.
Kyoshin inspected them one by one, his gaze sweeping across the masks before his brows suddenly knitted together.
Back in his previous life, he hadn't paid attention to details like these while reading the original work.
And since the masks all generally looked demonic, Kyoshin couldn't tell which one was the actual Shinigami mask.
But what surprised him was that among the row of masks hanging on the wall, there was an empty spot right in the middle.
Kyoshin stepped closer to inspect it. Judging from the dust marks on the wall...
the sealing mask that had originally hung there seed to have been removed not long ago.
'Could this be the butterfly effect?', Kyoshin frowned, an ominous feeling rising in his chest as Orochimaru's sinister face involuntarily flashed through his mind.
"Kintsuchi."
"Ti to go.", iko's voice rang out.
Kyoshin looked up.
They had already collected all the masks and were preparing to return to the ship.
Unable to figure it out, Kyoshin could only temporarily suppress the doubts in his heart and follow after them.
The Land of Whirlpools was basically a barren wasteland now.
The daimyo's residence barely possessed enough strength to protect itself, and its control over the country was weak.
The group avoided detection completely, boarded the ship smoothly, and set sail.
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