After traveling on and off for several days, Houka finally arrived at... Konoha?
"Hey, hey, after taking such a huge detour... isn't this just Konoha?!"
Uchiha Sasuke nearly choked on his anger.
"You wouldn't understand." Houka snorted as he made his way to the edge of Konohagakure. The area was barren, with only a few scattered buildings standing in the distance.
"Where is this?"
Uchiha Sasuke frowned and looked around. Konoha was neither particularly big nor particularly small, and he had genuinely never been here before.
"You could call it the former site of the Uzumaki Clan," Houka said.
After the Uzumaki Clan was destroyed, this place had completely fallen into decline. Left unattended for years, battered by wind and rain and scorched by the sun, all that remained were crumbling ruins.
"The Uzumaki Clan? Uzumaki..." Uchiha Sasuke's pupils contracted. "...Naruto?"
A surge of intense jealousy and resentment rose in Uchiha Sasuke's heart.
I'm the one standing by your side. I'm the one running errands for you. I'm the one working myself to the bone for you. Me, me, it's always me—so why, no matter how much I do, is Naruto always the one on your mind?
And that bastard Naruto was even training under Jiraiya, one of the Sannin! Why?!
Heaven was too unfair!
How frustrating!
Uchiha Sasuke gritted his teeth, but he said nothing.
Houka looked ahead. That was Naka Shrine, where the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu masks were kept!
The Dead Demon Consuming Seal was indeed absurdly powerful. It could seal away a person's soul, condemning them to eternal damnation, but no matter how formidable it was, this Sealing Jutsu could still be broken.
The key was the Death God Mask!
As long as one put on the Death God Mask, one could summon the Death God,