Sealing Tower

The entire Village of Whirlpools was built around the central tower, with rings of houses spreading outward in a vast spiral.

Ayako led everyone along the street. Compared with the people at the harbor, the villagers here showed her even greater reverence.

Qiancao had a feeling that if the people at the harbor cherished Ayako because of their affection for Ashina, the people of the Village of Whirlpools respected her from the bottom of their hearts.

Ayako walked ahead without making much of it, merely nodding in return to the Uzumaki Clan members who paused by the roadside to greet her. She led everyone to the tall tower at the center of the village.

Before they entered the tower, Ayako turned to Qiancao and Wuming and said gravely, "This tower was built to protect the Four Symbols Seal inside."

"The guardian deity of the Land of Whirlpools is enshrined within the Four Symbols Seal. It was only because of its existence that the daimyos of the Land of Fire had no choice but to acknowledge our country's independence."

Could a Tailed Beast be sealed inside? In the Naruto World, Tailed Beasts are the only things that would need a seal of this level, right? Qiancao wondered.

Ayako continued, stressing her words even more seriously. "My usual duty as your teacher is to watch over the seal here. Once you're living here, don't damage anything on the first floor."

Qiancao and Wuming nodded in agreement. Ayako pushed open the door and led everyone inside.

The Sealing Tower was about a dozen stories tall, but the first floor alone was as high as five stories, creating one vast, open space.

At the center of the first-floor hall stood an enormous statue. It depicted a gray, clay-like monster shaped like a turtle, with sharp teeth and a tail like a shark's.

The rest of its body resembled a giant tortoise. Hard, protruding shells covered its limbs and head, making it look like something best left alone.

Qiancao recognized the statue at once as the legendary Three-Tails. After all, ordinary animals wouldn't go to the trouble of carving three tails for it.

Seeing her student take an interest in the statue of the Three-Tails, Ayako introduced it to him:

"This is Isobu, the guardian deity Brother Ashina 'invited' from the Land of Water."

"When Brother Ashina found it, it was living in a huge lake in a remote part of the Land of Water. The local ninja wanted to tame it and use it as a summon."

"But it refused to cooperate, and often clashed with the local ninja. Brother Ashina was invited to help seal it."

"Brother Ashina and the local ninja fought it for three days and three nights before they finally subdued it. The two sides ended up with a deep grudge between them."

"The locals feared it would break free of the seal someday and seek revenge, so they begged Brother Ashina to take Isobu somewhere and dispose of it."

"But while communicating with Isobu, Brother Ashina realized that it had no intention of harming humans. In the Land of Water, it was the humans who had attacked first and tried to tame it, so it had only fought back."

"By chance, Brother Ashina had discovered Whirlpool Island on his way to the Land of Water. So he reached an agreement with Isobu: he would provide a place on the island where it could live, offering it a quiet environment."

"And so, the first building in the entire Land of Whirlpools was this Sealing Tower."

Looking at the towering stone statue before him, Qiancao hadn't expected his first encounter with a Tailed Beast to happen under these circumstances. He couldn't help but feel moved.

I wonder where the other Tailed Beasts are now. They're probably living in the countries that will seal them in the future, right?

Ayako then led everyone up the stairs spiraling along the walls. After quite a climb, they finally reached the second floor.

The second floor had a somewhat smaller hall, with stone partitions around it that separated several small rooms.

Ayako pointed to one of the rooms. "This is where I usually rest. If anything important comes up, just knock on my door."

She then pointed to a room across from hers. "This room is a storeroom for the various Sealing Jutsu and sealing tools of my Uzumaki Clan. It's protected by powerful barriers."

"If you enter without permission, you'll trigger an alarm that will alert the clan's experts. So don't go in there."

Ayako added, "I'll teach you all the Sealing Jutsu in there someday. There's no need to be curious about what's inside."

Qiancao nodded like a well-behaved student. I don't need to go in to know what's inside. I might even know some Sealing Jutsu that won't be invented until the future.

With the help of his Sharingan, details from the Naruto anime that had once been blurry now seemed as clear as a high-definition video he could browse through whenever he wanted.

Whenever he wanted to search his memories of the Naruto anime, the Seventh Generation God's Mangekyo Sharingan would automatically play the relevant scenes in his mind. It was incredibly convenient.

Ayako was quite pleased with his obedient expression. There had been other ninja who came to the island, not to seek shelter but to steal the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu. It had taken her considerable effort to get rid of them.

Ayako led everyone farther up. The third floor was laid out much like the second, with a hall and several rooms.

The hall and rooms on the third floor were just a little smaller than those on the second.

Ayako brought everyone into the third-floor hall and opened three adjoining rooms.

"These rooms are meant for clan members to live in as the family grows," Ayako explained. "But everyone's been busy building the village these past few years, so no one has moved into the Sealing Tower."

"You can stay here!"

Ayako showed them the furnishings in the rooms. They reminded Qiancao of the budget hotels from his previous life. They weren't luxurious suites, but they were neat and cozy—far more welcoming than the Uchiha prison cells.

After putting all their luggage and the things they'd bought in the rooms, Ayako led everyone back up the stairs.

"The fourth and fifth floors are laid out just like the ones below," Ayako continued explaining. "Some of the clan elders used to live here, but they preferred to stay with their families."

"So aside from the servants who come up every day to clean, hardly anyone lives on these floors."

The enormous Sealing Tower had more than twenty rooms, but most of them were empty and unoccupied.

Only then did Qiancao understand why Senju Arashi had said her teacher was usually quite lonely. Her clan members were all around her, yet she lived alone above someone else's prison. It really was rather lonely.

Ayako had no idea what Qiancao was thinking. She led everyone all the way up to the top floor of the Sealing Tower.

She opened the door to the rooftop, and they stepped outside from within the tower. A sense of openness washed over them, as if they stood atop the highest peak, looking down on all the lesser mountains.

The entire Village of Whirlpools spread out beneath them. The golden evening sun cast long shadows from the buildings, and wisps of cooking smoke rose from the chimneys, guiding family members home.

Seeing Qiancao's expression, Ayako was pleased. She knew her student was moved by the scenery too.

"Whenever I feel depressed or lonely, I come up here to look," she said slowly. "Every time I see the view below, I feel that all my sacrifices and endurance have been worth it."