Xuandou looked puzzled.
"This is..."
Kushina held the scroll out to Xuandou, her expression solemn.
"Granny Mito left this to me."
Xuandou took the scroll.
"It contains every Sealing Jutsu of the Uzumaki Clan."
Xuandou's pupils contracted slightly.
Every Sealing Jutsu?
"When Uzushiogakure was destroyed, many Sealing Jutsu were lost."
"Granny Mito wrote every Sealing Jutsu she remembered into this scroll and gave it to me before she died."
She paused.
"Later, Konoha made me hand them over. I only handed over some of them."
"The true core techniques are all here."
She looked into Xuandou's eyes.
"Now, it belongs to you."
Xuandou held the scroll.
This was the Uzumaki Clan's thousand-year legacy, secrets countless ancestors had protected with their lives.
Xuandou said nothing more, only held her tightly in his arms.
Several months passed in the blink of an eye.
The fifty-sixth year of Konoha arrived.
Xuandou's Imperial Palace was finally complete.
The sprawling residence had winding corridors and secluded gardens.
Besides the main hall completed for the earlier Enfeoffment Ceremony, there were rows of side halls and wings.
A study, a tea room, a Martial Arts Arena, a Hot Spring Bath, storerooms, servants' quarters...
Functional buildings of all sizes were arranged throughout the grounds, connected by corridors.
Wind or rain, one could move freely through the corridors.
What pleased Xuandou most was the number of bedrooms.
Thirty-two in all.
Each had fine tatami flooring, its own closet, and a washroom.
The windows faced the gardens, opening onto carefully pruned pines and cypresses and white-sand karesansui gardens.
When Goumu Yanō handed over the residence, he looked at the bedrooms, then gave Xuandou a meaningful look without saying a word.
Xuandou pretended not to understand.
Meanwhile, Hidden Xuan Village had changed by the day over these past few months.