Naka Shrine.
It was the ancestral ground worshipped by the Uchiha clan for generations.
Even before the founding of Konoha, the Uchiha had lived by the Naka River, and the history of Naka Shrine was older than the entire village itself.
Tobirama was no stranger to this place.
His understanding of the Uchiha and the Sharingan even surpassed that of many Uchiha clansmen.
In the main hall stood numerous ancestral tablets, some with names even familiar to him.
Many areas bore signs of repair, while the ancient tables and offering platforms carried the weight of a prestigious clan's heritage.
Tobirama circled to the back, examining the floor before lifting a stone slab to reveal a staircase leading underground.
Below was pitch black, with no visible source of light.
Its destination was unknown.
Tobirama's expression turned thoughtful—he had learned from Orochimaru's records that a great secret was hidden beneath the Naka Shrine.
Descending the steps, he lit a torch mounted on the wall.
The chamber was narrow and confined, containing nothing but a single stone tablet.
The stone tablet appeared utterly unremarkable.
Tobirama circled it, inspecting it closely and probing for any seals, but found nothing of value.
After lingering for some time without making any discoveries, he decided to leave.
Upon exiting the underground chamber, he noticed someone new in the main hall.
It was a black-haired boy holding a broom, sweeping dust from the shrine.
His clothes bore the Uchiha clan's fan emblem, and he wore a forehead protector, suggesting he had just graduated from the Ninja Academy.
"Who's there?"
The boy was highly alert and quickly turned toward Tobirama.
Tobirama did not hide but walked straight out, his gaze fixed intently on the black-haired boy.
"You are...?" The boy hesitated, staring at Tobirama's somewhat familiar face.
"What's your name?" Tobirama asked first.
"Shisui, Uchiha Shisui... You're the Second Hokage, aren't you?" The boy's eyes widened as he suddenly realized.
This child's appearance bore an uncanny resemblance to a former subordinate of his.
Tobirama stared silently at Shisui's young face for a long time.
"Lord Second Hokage?" Shisui spoke cautiously.
"What brings you here?"
This was the ancestral ground of the Uchiha, rarely visited by outsiders.
"Nothing," Tobirama responded indifferently, then turned and walked out of the main hall without looking back, leaving Shisui standing there, puzzled.
Setting aside his confusion, Shisui resumed his cleaning duties.
Upon reaching the area behind the offering platform, he noticed the stone slab that had been moved aside and the staircase leading underground.
This place was not particularly secret; most of the Uchiha clan knew about it, as clan meetings were often held in the underground chamber.
Did the Second Hokage just go down there?
Shisui furrowed his brows in thought, deciding that this matter needed to be reported to Lord Fugaku.
........
The Second Hokage now held a unique position in the village.
He rarely appeared in the public eye anymore and sensibly refrained from interfering in village affairs, devoting himself entirely to the research lab left behind by Orochimaru.
Makoto even proactively offered to provide Tobirama with everything he needed, assigning an Anbu team at his disposal.
Orochimaru had left behind many things.
The White Zetsu remnants had largely been cleaned up by Makoto, but a few of Orochimaru's experimental subjects from his soul reincarnation experiments remained.
There were also collections of Sharingan, Byakugan, Hashirama cells, Uzumaki cells, and various research documents on human anatomy and soul reincarnation.
To Tobirama, this was nothing short of a treasure trove.
Orochimaru's path of scientific research had initially been pioneered by Tobirama, and now Tobirama had inherited Orochimaru's findings, filling in decades of gaps.
Makoto figured that Tobirama had likely experimented with the Sharingan long ago.
As for the Byakugan stockpile, Makoto had secured it for future research when the time was right.
Regarding the Tenseigan, Makoto only knew that it evolved from the Byakugan, but the specifics of how the evolution occurred remained a mystery.
Even in the original work, no detailed process was provided, only that it required a large number of Byakugan, demanded a certain level of purity, and seemingly required the chakra of the Otsutsuki clan.
This secret was all hidden on the moon.
After finishing cleaning the shrine, Shisui didn't return home but went straight to the clan leader's residence.
He was familiar with this place, especially since there was a younger brother-like figure he was particularly close to.
"Shisui is here, huh?" Mikoto greeted warmly, smiling as she saw the boy at the door.
"I'm here to see Lord Fugaku," Shisui replied.
"Shisui's here?" A figure quickly ran out from inside the house.
"Shisui, are you here to see me?" Itachi asked eagerly.
"I'm looking for Lord Fugaku... but I can train with you later," Shisui said with a smile.
Mikoto said, "Fugaku's in the study. You can go directly to him."
Following her words, Shisui headed to the study and informed the clan leader of his encounter with the Second Hokage at the shrine.
"The Second Hokage..." Fugaku frowned thoughtfully as he sat there.
Other than the Uchiha clan members, no one else ever went to the Naka Shrine.
It was the sacred ancestral site of the clan—who else would have a reason to go there?
Was he perhaps paying respects to a deceased comrade?
Although the Second Hokage had always had a poor view of the Uchiha, one of his former subordinates was from the Uchiha clan, Shisui's ancestor.
But why did he go into the underground chamber?
Fugaku knew that Tobirama was continuing Orochimaru's research in the laboratory.
Could there be some hidden secret in that chamber?
But aside from the ancestral stone tablet, there was nothing else down there.
The stone tablet...
Suddenly, Fugaku noticed a small head peeking in from the doorway every now and then.
He smiled and said, "Shisui, if there's nothing else, go play with Itachi."
"Yes." Shisui bowed respectfully in response.
Outside the door, Itachi protested, "We're not playing; we're training."
The two children left the house together. Fugaku, still deep in thought, decided to go see for himself.
"Are you going out?" Mikoto asked as she saw him hurriedly leave the study.
"There's something I need to check at the Naka Shrine."
In the underground chamber of the Naka Shrine.
Illuminated by the torchlight on the wall, Fugaku stood before the stone tablet, scrutinizing it repeatedly.
The inscriptions were merely ancient and obscure ceremonial texts, seemingly nothing special.
Many old clans had similar relics.
Fugaku examined the stone tablet again and again but found nothing unusual.
He had seen it countless times, as had the rest of the clan.
Every clan meeting was held in front of this stone tablet.
The Second Hokage had been here, but nothing seemed different, implying that he had likely found nothing either.
Or perhaps Fugaku was overthinking it—perhaps the Second Hokage had simply come to pay respects to a fallen comrade, stumbled upon the chamber, and entered out of curiosity...
Fugaku pressed his hand against the stone tablet.
There was no trace of chakra fluctuations, indicating no sealing technique was present.
"The Uchiha ancestral stone tablet... Uchiha... Uchiha..." he muttered to himself.
Suddenly, he activated his Sharingan, the three tomoe patterns appearing in his eyes.
In an instant, the stone tablet seemed to react.
The inscriptions on it gradually became blurred and indistinct.
Fugaku's eyes widened as he focused intently, trying to make out the text, but it was futile.
"Could it be...?"
The pattern in his eyes further transformed, evolving from the three tomoe into a form with three black dots and intersecting lines.
At this moment, the previously obscure inscriptions on the stone tablet finally became clear.
"Shinra... Bansho..."
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