Chapter 23 Revealing the Past
Tears dripped onto his knees, soaking his pants as he tried to focus, trying to find the Kyuubi in the seal.
But Kyuubi kept his heart shut, refusing to communicate, and the burning feeling in his stomach did not ease.
He couldn't let this happen. He absolutely couldn't.
The Nine-Tails was a creature made of chakra; Naruto had no doubt that if he did nothing, his tailed beast would most likely die.
He couldn't let that happen.
He placed his hand on the seal and could feel the searing heat even through the layers of bandages.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came into his mind, a neural connection, a spark of hope.
seal.
The seal is the root of the problem.
If he could change it, modify it in some way so he could channel chakra through it…
He jumped up and began to search the bookshelf for anything related to sealing techniques.
He quickly browsed through scroll after scroll, becoming more and more frustrated because he could not find anything, nothing that could help him. There were only simple sealing spells such as storage scrolls and barrier scrolls.
He accidentally knocked over the chair in the corner - the only furniture in the room, and he was just absent-mindedly thankful that the room was soundproof.
He leaned against a tall bookshelf, looking hopelessly at the scrolls and open books scattered about before him, and then he saw it.
Behind the chair he had knocked over, right next to the edge of the bookshelf, was a keyhole.
It looked exactly like the one he had used to disarm the alarm.
He walked over, hardly daring to hold out any hope.
It might match Jiraiya's alarm key, but it might also require an entirely different key, which Naruto didn't have.
If that was the case, if the alarm went off, the ANBU would find him and he would be expelled from the ninja school.
He would never be able to become a ninja, at least not in Konoha.
But if he didn't try, Kyuubi would die, and it would all be his fault.
This made his choice easy.
He inserted Jiraiya's key into the lock, whispered a "please" to any being that might be listening, and turned the key.
With a click, a rotation, and an invisible mechanical operation, a partition on the bookshelf next to him suddenly cracked.
No alarms sounded. No ANBU broke in.
What would Jiraiya say?
"Thank God for luck," Naruto whispered, knowing it sounded a bit corny but he felt the need to say it.
He opened the secret door, and the heavy hinges creaked.
Behind the door was a short flight of stairs leading to a small, dark room filled with scattered papers and reports.
The walls are covered with Chinese seals, probably to prevent anyone from invading from the library.
Naruto walked down the stairs, gently closing the bookshelf behind him.
The room was almost empty except for a table and a huge scroll placed on the table.
That scroll was almost as tall as Naruto.
There were no other scrolls here, nothing that could tell him how to modify a seal as complex and powerful as the Nine-Tails Seal.
He took a deep breath and struggled to move the huge scroll off the table.
******
"Forbidden Technique"
Naruto swallowed thickly and continued to look through the jutsu.
The paper of the scroll is thick and heavy, but the ink on it is surprisingly simple.
Naruto read it from beginning to end, writing down anything he felt he couldn't remember. He didn't know what he might need later, what might be useful.
There's a description of a Shadow Clone Jutsu, which is both meaningless and significant, some details about a chakra security system around the so-called "Mask Shrine", and a description of a jutsu using the "Flying Thunder God Jutsu", whatever that is.
Near the end, he noticed something very familiar.
His seal is marked in great detail as the "Eight Trigrams Seal".
Judging from the dense notes on the side, this thing is much more complicated than anything else.
He couldn't understand some of the terms; what were fixtures, distribution curves, dimensional pockets? Nothing explained what they were.
Kyuubi had taught him some basic compression techniques, enough for him to make his own storage scrolls and some custom barrier scrolls, but nothing nearly as complex as this.
Nevertheless, he copied every word, traced every diagram in extreme detail, and placed this particular scroll in a hidden pocket of his shirt rather than in his backpack.
It was a start, but it wasn't enough information to get him going. He needed more help - an expert in sealing techniques to teach him, but he didn't know anyone like that.
...No, he did know someone, but the person was no longer around.
He rolled up the scroll and turned his attention to the piles of papers.
Four hours left. Better hurry.
He began to leaf through the papers, being careful not to disturb their order. They were in alphabetical order, so they were not difficult to find.
His eyes accidentally fell on another folder, which was four levels higher than the one he was looking for.
Uchiha Incident
Seeing this title, Naruto couldn't help but think of Sasuke, and the lonely figure walking towards the huge empty mansion after school.
An inexplicable impulse drove him to pick up the folder. On the cover of the folder was printed a strange symbol - the word "Root" written in bold letters above an official "Copy" stamp.
He thumbed open the folder.
The photos inside made him feel nauseous.
He quickly scanned the contents of the document, one hand covering his mouth, shuddering at the thought of someone doing this to someone else, especially their own family. A few lines of text came into view.
【Members of the "Root" organization have been dispatched.】
Mission accomplished: Only one survivor.
Mission executor: Uchiha Itachi.
Status: Rebel Ninja.
Control: Failed. 】
At the very back of the folder, there was a note written by Jiraiya himself.
[This must never happen again. Danzo has gone too far this time. The Root organization will be disbanded immediately. From now on, he cannot act without my direct authorization, especially after this incident. I will ensure the safety of the child. This is Itachi's last wish.]
There were some words below that he didn't recognize.
[I have arranged the funeral according to your request, but you should know that his eyes are missing.]
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