Withered vines, ancient trees, crumbling walls—the ruins of Uzushio Village were desolate and ruined.
The Uzumaki Clan had been wiped out during the Second Shinobi World War. By now, it had been roughly ten years.
Araki and the other three walked along a road overgrown with weeds. Kaguya Black Bone kicked a piece of rubble aside and asked, "Boss, what are we looking for in a place like this?"
"There's something I need in the Uzumaki Clan's Mask Storage Hall. Split up and search."
The four of them were simply too inefficient when acting together, so Araki decided to divide them into teams.
However, this was unfamiliar territory. If someone ran into trouble alone, nobody would know. In the end, they decided to move in pairs.
Araki set off with Zabuza Momochi, while Hozuki Mangetsu took Kaguya Black Bone to investigate elsewhere.
Uzushio Village was nominally a village, but its territory was actually quite vast. Moreover, the place Araki sought had no obvious markings outside, so he had to inspect every well-preserved building they came across.
They searched all the way from Uzushio Village's southern gate to its northern gate. His eyes had gone dry from looking, yet they still found nothing.
"Looking for something really is more exhausting than cutting people down, isn't it, Zabuza?"
Araki boredly took the hilt of the Sword of the Thunder God from his clothes and poured chakra into it. As he watched the golden, laser-like blade, he complained to Zabuza beside him.
Zabuza did not respond to Araki's complaint. Instead, he was very interested in this thunder sword he had never seen before. "Is this the legendary Sword of the Thunder God of the Second Hokage?"
"That's right. What do you think? Doesn't it look cool?"
Araki casually swung it, and crackling electricity