Twenty-Seven Masks

"How many years has it been since anyone last came here?" Ino, dressed in a thin blue hoodie and wearing a hood, looked back at the dark red torii gate.

Upon hearing this, Naruto thought back for a moment and realized that the last Uzumaki clan member from Konohagakure was probably Kushina.

"It's been more than ten years."

"Huh?" Ino shrank back. "It's only been a little over ten years and it's already this wasteful?"

"Is it possible that it was abandoned more than ten years ago?" Naruto couldn't help but correct him. "This is the shrine of the Uzumaki Clan, and no one has been here for a long time."

"Hmm? The Uzumaki Clan?" Ino looked at Naruto.

"I just found out myself." He smiled. "Although we share the same surname, that's all. I don't know anything else about it."

A broken water vat in the yard caught Ino's eye. She was about to walk over when Naruto grabbed her arm.

Where to?

"There's a water vat over there," she pointed to a corner of the rubble. "Something seems off."

"Don't wander around here." Naruto glanced at Ino with a complicated look in his eyes. "That thing isn't a water tank. Take a closer look before you speak."

"But that's clearly a water tank," Ino, somewhat confused, turning her head to look again.

In the overgrown corner, there was no water vat, only a pile of bones, indistinguishable as human or animal remains, with a few eerily purple flowers blooming around the bones.

"Ah!" Ino broke out in a cold sweat; it was just a hallucination. "I clearly saw it just now!"

"It's okay, just don't go near there." Naruto pulled her along and held the girl's hand. "It's not that dangerous here. Stay close to me, nothing will happen."

A dilapidated shrine, basically just an empty grave. Naruto wasn't too nervous; his purpose was simply to look at the masks hanging in the shrine.

They gently kicked open the door. The shrine was empty, with only some fallen tiles on the ground. The empty inner hall was so quiet that only the sound of their footsteps could be heard.

A gust of wind blew by, making the broken door creak and groan.

"Naruto, did you... did you hear that? It sounds like someone is laughing." Ino swallowed hard, constantly looking behind them as if something was following them.

"No." Naruto replied without changing his expression.

"It sounds like she's crying." Ino practically pressed herself against him, gripping his hand tightly. "Naruto, should we leave here first?"

The girl's voice trembled slightly, and Naruto could feel Ino's grip on his hand tightening. She was still quietly having second thoughts, her muttered words echoing faintly in the empty inner room.

She suggested bringing Shikamaru and the others along, saying that more people might be safer. Naruto just listened, his gaze fixed on the twenty-seven masks on the wall.

He occasionally nodded and responded with an "Mmm" to Ino's rambling.

Some things are unavoidable; they've already come to pass. Whether he cries or laughs, he's determined to seize the Uzumaki Clan's legacy; even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't change that.

Twenty-seven demon masks hung on the wall, each one grotesque, with the Death Reaper Mask in the center.

"Stay here and don't move," Naruto suddenly said.

"Huh? Then... where are you going?" Ino was a little scared, her face turning pale as she recalled the crying. "Am I going to stand here alone?"

"I'm not going anywhere, I'll stay here." Naruto let go of Ino's hand, looked around, and then picked up a long stick from the base of the wall.

Ino stood there obediently. An hour ago, she thought she was going with Naruto to some shrine to pray for blessings. Who knew she would be a little flustered now?

Things were taking a strange turn, and she stood trembling in the middle of the shrine's inner sanctum.

The door creaked again, even though there wasn't a breeze. Ino saw footprints on the ground, and the mask on the wall stared at her menacingly.

This shrine has a serious problem!

The footprints stopped three meters away from Ino and then went straight toward Naruto. Ino opened her mouth to warn him, but found herself speechless.

Naruto seemed completely oblivious to the strange situation around him. He stood under the mask wall with the long stick he had picked up, poking and prodding the masks as if trying to knock them off.

Ino clearly saw that the trail of footprints had reached behind Naruto. Her body froze completely, unable to move or speak, and she could only watch helplessly.

Suddenly, with a thud, a mask fell off the wall.

Naruto bent down to pick it up, but suddenly heard a whooshing sound behind him, which puzzled him. Ino watched as Naruto turned around abruptly, only to find that he was already wearing the fallen demon mask.

Call!

All sounds disappeared, and the inner shrine returned to silence.

Ino suddenly felt that she could move again, and took a deep breath as if she had never breathed at all.

"Naruto, behind you!"

She froze halfway through her sentence. There were no footprints in front of Naruto when he turned around, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

"What's next?" Naruto asked, taking off his mask.

"No, it's nothing," Ino asked somewhat uneasily. "Can I come over to your place now? I'm a little scared."

"Come here, it's alright." He beckoned Ino over.

Standing beside him, Ino finally breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the mask in his hand and asked.

What is that?

"Just an ordinary mask." Naruto tossed it into the Sealing Space.

Then he pointed to the remaining twenty-six masks on the wall and said, "Wait a moment, after I take all these masks down, we can leave."

"Good."

Naruto said to Ino as he took off his mask.

"I already told you you didn't need to come along. There's not a single living person in this place."

Ino didn't say anything, knowing this wasn't the time to be angry. Only after Naruto threw all twenty-six masks into the Sealing Space and the two slowly withdrew from the Uzumaki Clan's barrier did she pinch Naruto's waist hard.

"Ah!!" Naruto screamed, "Ino, you're going to kill me!"

"Serves you right," Ino said irritably.

"How could I deserve this?" Naruto gasped, muttering to himself as he rubbed his waist. "Just you wait, this is your turn. You'll regret this."

What are you muttering to yourself over there?

"It's nothing, it sounds like someone is talking to me, did you see them?"

"Ah!!" Ino screamed, her face turning deathly pale.

"Just kidding, I was just trying to lighten the mood since you're so nervous," Naruto said cheekily.

Ino: "."

This guy deserves to die!

"So you're afraid of those things?" Naruto and Ino walked side by side, slowly heading towards the village.

"Of course I'm scared. Who isn't afraid of those things?" Ino said, still shaken. "I definitely won't come to a place like this with you next time. It's too terrifying."

"Haha, what you saw was just an illusion," Naruto explained. "There aren't that many strange things in this world, just don't take it to heart."

"Of course I know," Ino said defiantly.

"It's still early, where are you planning to go?" Naruto casually suggested. "If you're free, why don't you come stay at my place?"

"Hmm? What excuse are you making up now? You foot fetishist."

"You have a deep misunderstanding of me." He said casually, his gaze wandering through the early spring woods. "Is it possible that I have more than just a foot fetish?"

"Oh, really? I'm so sorry! I misunderstood you, you pervert!" Ino said with a slight smile and her hands behind her back.

"I didn't want this to happen either, it's all because Ino too cute."

"Hmph, have you started to lose all shame? Saying such embarrassing things without batting an eye." Ino was already immune to his occasional lewd remarks.

Ino's expression was rather cute when she said that. She openly accepted the compliment of being cute, yet still had to haughtily call the other person a pervert.

Girls with this kind of personality are extremely rare, and there may be even fewer people who like this type of personality. Oh, and he just happens to be one of those people, thoroughly enjoying the flirtatious insults from these pretty girls.

Ino has a pure personality, making her the kind of rival who will continue to grow stronger, but she's also like a girl who will blush if you raise your voice a little.

"I'm telling the truth. I haven't seen Ino in so long, so I miss her terribly," he said.

"Oh, so lying has become so natural now? I don't believe it, oops." Ino seemed to be in a good mood, and her mind became more active.

Normally, she would have been shy first, and then doubted the truth of Naruto's words. But now she saw through it at a glance. Was it because she had become more perceptive?

Naruto suddenly felt a sense of relief, as if he had finally molded Ino into the person he was familiar with. It seemed that he could no longer make her blush with just a few words.

However, there is another way.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto ran ahead and then turned to look at Ino. The two were about thirty meters apart, and the forest was deep and quiet.

"What's wrong with you?" Ino was a little confused, not knowing what Naruto wanted to do.

"Ino, you're so cute!!!" Naruto shouted at Ino, fluttering his arms and startling half the birds in the forest.

"Eh? Eh!!" Ino's face turned bright red at a visible speed, overwhelmed by shame. "What... what are you yelling about?!"

"You pervert! Don't run away!"

The next day, the sky outside the window was clear and blue.

After washing up, Naruto went out and walked alone on the main street of Konohagakure Street, slowly merging into the crowd. The bustling street was humid and stuffy.

In situations like these, the advantage of having few friends becomes apparent.

Even though he survived a great voyage at sea, only a few of his friends had time to visit him. The Team 3 and Team Eight were on missions outside the village and wouldn't be back for a while.

When they return and hear about his miraculous return from the sea unscathed, they'll probably be quite surprised. He'd like to see Kiba Inuzuka's reaction; he'll likely be very jealous of his genius leadership skills.

In short, life has returned to normal.

It seems that Kazahana Koyuki Sakura Haruno are having health problems, probably due to their experience adrift at sea. He'd also heard many stories of people falling ill simply from relaxing.

He walked slowly down the road. Today he planned to go to the hospital to visit Sakura Haruno and Kazahana Koyuki. He was discharged from the hospital shortly after Anko, and his health was fine.

He was making a routine visit to his teammates, and also checking on when the mission target would recover and be discharged from the hospital. While it might sound a bit heartless, the truth was that only by restarting the mission could he possibly receive the Flying Thunder God reward.

Also, updates before midnight.