Hidden Mysteries Within

"Tap... tap... tap..."

In the dim passageway, footsteps echoed continuously. As the walls, tangled like interwoven pipes, swept past behind him, Chiba's face showed a faint look of understanding.

So that's how it is. This should be the passage leading to the confinement cells. When I was locked up back then, I was knocked out and sent straight to the cell. So even the route to the confinement cells is hidden. And it's different from the way out.

The thought naturally arose in his mind. Chiba was very familiar with these pipe-entangled walls—they were exactly the style of the walls outside the confinement cells. Moreover, the cells were located within the cliff of the high ground atop the Second Hokage's rock face. Since this passage ran through the high ground, it could only lead to the confinement cells.

And this time, Kushina had told them to gather atop the Hokage Rock Faces, making it even more obvious. She clearly wanted them to use the passage through the confinement cells to reach the Hokage Rock Faces.

As for how Chiba had left the Hokage Rock Faces back then without passing through this corridor, he obviously had not jumped down from the rock face. Instead, he had found a craftsman's path and followed it all the way down.

At the time, Chiba had been quite certain that when Naruto climbed onto the Hokage Rock Faces to pull his prank, he must have taken that path.

That craftsman's path had been fairly obvious, at least near the Second Hokage's rock face. But the end of the path was quite well concealed. If Chiba had not emerged from there himself, he likely would have overlooked it.

"So there are so many passages inside the high ground of the Hokage Rock Faces!"

The three of