The Secret Passage Beneath the Memorial Stone

The night air before the Memorial Stone was cold. The passage split open beneath its base gaped like a black mouth, breathing out damp air that smelled of paper ash. Kakashi stood beside the stone, his Forehead Protector slanting over his left eye. For the first time, his visible eye held none of its usual languor.

He came here often.

Obito's name was carved into the stone. So was Rin's.

He had made this a place to atone, a place where he could say a few words to the past.

But now a secret passage had opened beneath the stone.

Someone had hidden something beneath the dead, perhaps using their memorial as cover for years.

Kakashi's fingers slowly curled into a fist.

"I didn't know there was a passage here."

Naruto glanced at him but said nothing.

Didn't know.

Too many people had said those words tonight.

The Third Hokage hadn't known Naruto's living expenses had been docked. Jiraiya hadn't known what Naruto had suffered. The Advisors hadn't known the letter had been burned. The Sarutobi clan members hadn't known what was hidden in the Old Storehouse.

None of them had known.

Yet every bit of it had gone on for six years.

Mitokado Homura's voice came from the passage again.

"Naruto, come down. Don't you want to know the truth?"

His voice wasn't loud, but a Sealing Circuit amplified it, making it echo before the stone.

Uchiha Tekka crouched at the entrance, his Sharingan sweeping over both sides of the stone steps.

"Explosive Tags. The sealing lines are packed tight."

Jiraiya landed beside the entrance, his expression grave.

"I'll go down first."

Naruto raised a hand to stop him.

"No need."

Jiraiya's brows drew together.

"Naruto, if Mitokado Homura chose this place, he has something else planned. You're still young. You can't just charge in relying on the Nine-Tails' power."

Naruto looked at him.

"You said the village had rules."

Jiraiya froze.

Naruto's voice remained calm. "Then we'll follow mine now."

He set foot on the first stone step.

The sealing lines beneath his foot lit up at once. Blue-black markings spread from the edges of the step, trying to coil around his ankle.

Naruto glanced down.

Golden Sealing Jutsu pressed down through his foot.

The blue-black markings broke apart in sheets, like cobwebs caught in flame.

Explosive Tags lit up on the second step.

Before they could detonate, Nine-Tails Chakra swept along the walls, peeled the tags off one by one, rolled them into a ball, and tossed them out of the passage.

Kakashi's pupil contracted.

No child could dismantle seals that fast.

Even an experienced Sealing Squad would need time to analyze their structure.

Naruto, though, seemed to know exactly where to cut every line.

Jiraiya's expression grew more complicated.

Minato had been extraordinarily gifted at Sealing Jutsu, and Kushina had inherited the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline. But what Naruto had just done went beyond inheritance.

It was as though someone had forced that gift awake before its time.

The passage was shallow but long.

Old Illumination Stones were set into the walls. Most had gone dark, leaving only scattered glimmers. Names were carved into the stone: fallen ninja whose names also appeared on the Memorial Stone.

As Naruto passed, he noticed several names had been scraped away.

The scratches were fresh.

He stopped.

"Whose names were these?"

Kakashi followed him down and glanced at the wall. His face changed at once.

"Fallen ANBU."

Tekka added, "The ones scraped off may have belonged to people involved in the orders issued on the night of the Nine-Tails' Attack."

Naruto pressed his hand to the scratches.

The sealing residue was faint, but he could still trace a hint of its Chakra signature.

Mitokado Homura had worked on them moments ago.

He hadn't simply fled here.

He was destroying the last group of names.

A lamp burned at the end of the passage.

Mitokado Homura stood before an iron door. He had few guards with him, only three masked Gray-Clad Ninja. The door was covered in paper seals, and boxes of Scrolls were faintly visible behind it.

Mitokado Homura braced himself against the wall. His eyes behind his glasses were bloodshot.

"You got here faster than I expected."

Naruto stopped ten paces away.

"The Scroll."

Mitokado Homura's mouth twitched.

"You think every truth can be dragged into the light?"

Naruto raised a hand. Nine-Tails Chakra formed a fox claw behind him.

Mitokado Homura immediately held up a Scroll.

"One more step and I destroy it."

Kakashi and Jiraiya stopped at once.

Naruto looked at the Scroll's cover.

It read: Final Record of the Maternity Ward Leak During the Nine-Tails' Attack.

Mitokado Homura pressed a finger to its sealing strip. The paper had already begun to glow red.

"You're strong, Naruto. Strong enough to kill even Danzo."

His voice shook, but he still strained to speak with the authority of a village elder.

"But you need to understand. The truth won't necessarily get you justice. It'll only bring the village down."

Naruto looked at him.

"The truth isn't what destroyed the village."

"You did."

Mitokado Homura's face twisted.

"What do you know? After Minato died, Konoha faced threats from within and without. Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure were all watching us! The Uchiha were unstable, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was a child. If we hadn't kept everything under control, the village would have descended into chaos!"

Naruto took a step forward.

The Scroll's sealing strip glowed brighter red.

"Stay back!" Mitokado Homura shouted.

Naruto stopped.

"You're afraid I'll get the record?"

Mitokado Homura panted. "I'm afraid that once you read it, you won't leave even the last shred of order in Konoha intact."

Naruto's gaze turned icy.

"Then you've got me wrong."

"I'm not here to tear down the order."

"I'm here to replace the people running it."

As the words left his mouth, Naruto vanished.

Mitokado Homura's pupils shrank. His fingers tore at the sealing strip.

But halfway through, an orange-red Chakra arm burst from the wall and clamped around his wrist.

Naruto himself hadn't rushed him.

From the start, he had been feeding Nine-Tails Chakra through the passage walls.

Two more fox claws shot out at the same time, seized the three Gray-Clad Ninja by their necks, and slammed them into the iron door.

The Scroll fell from Mitokado Homura's hand.

Naruto caught it with the Body Flicker Technique.

Mitokado Homura went deathly pale.

"You..."

Naruto tucked the Scroll into his clothes and pressed his other hand onto Mitokado Homura's shoulder.

"Now."

"It's your turn to kneel."