"Talking"

'Thinking'

Flashback - "Talking"/ 'Thinking'

Chapter 14:

Half an hour later, Naruto and Tayuya arrived in front of a relatively big building, made out of stone blocks and wood.

The building used to be the Uzukage Tower, the place from where the leaders of the Hidden Whirlpool Village, were leading it to prosperity, for decades, until the village was destroyed.

Looking at the building, Naruto could see that it was in a better state then the rest of the village, but not by much. In fact, looking around, Naruto noticed that this entire area, is less damaged then the lower areas of the village.

"Why does this area seem to be less damaged then the other areas in the Hidden Whirlpool?" Naruto asked Tayuya.

"I think that once heard from some of the Uzumaki who were with Orochimaru, that most of the battle was held at the lower levels of the village, and that barely any was held here," Tayuya said. "This damage was not done by the battles. It was done by those who came after to search for anything valuable. As you can see… they weren't merciful toward the village."

Naruto was quiet for a moment, before he growled. "Don't worry. We won't be merciful to the responsible for this, either."

Tayuya looked at Naruto's back, as he went ahead and passed through the entrance to the tower.

XXX

For half an hour, the two of them have been going through the tower, searching through the rooms and hallways, for anything that might attract their attention.

Naruto was paying particular close attention to any seal that might be somewhere on the wall or the floor of the tower.

Of course, Naruto doesn't know anything about Fuinjutsu, since he never learned it while he was alive, and he simply didn't have from where to learn after he came back to the EN. Tayuya, though, she knows some stuff… not a lot, but enough to be able to identify any seal they might come across, so that he would know what to do once they find it.

The reason Naruto is looking for seals, is because he believes that the Uzumaki of old have hidden everything valuable somewhere in the tower, or beneath it, and have placed numerous seals around the locations to protect the secrets of the village. He believes that the reason no one has ever found anything in the Whirlpool, even though they had Uzumaki Clan members with them, is either because they couldn't find the seals, or because they couldn't get pass them, even if they did find them.

Of course, those who came to search for anything in the Whirlpool, probably didn't have the patience to spend a lot of time searching for something that might not even exist. Naruto on the other hand, has enough patience for every living being in the EN. You don't live for as long as he did without learning to be patient, and without learning that nothing can be achieved in a hurry, which is why he is willing to spend weeks, even months searching the place, and if after all that time, he doesn't find anything… well, that would just mean that Tayuya was right and that the Uzumaki of old, simply didn't leave anything behind.

Once everything in the Whirlpool Tower, which was above ground level, has been checked out, Naruto and Tayuya moved to the basement of the tower.

This is where Naruto thought are the biggest chance he will find anything, since it would be well hidden if the vault was built 'under' the tower, and then seals placed over the entrance to hide it.

The basement had couple of skeletons, which were left there since the war, as no one cared about burying the dead, and the Uzumaki who came there after the war, couldn't do it, as they always had 'handlers', who were breathing down their necks and didn't allow them to do anything they didn't want them to.

As such, there were a lot of skeletons all over Whirlpool when Tayuya arrived there with the Fūma Clan and the other people who will be leaving in the Land of Whirlpools once its rebuild. One of the first things which were done after they arrived, is that everyone except children, split in two groups, and while one was checking out the houses, the other group was bringing the skeletons at one place, where they were later buried. It was a long and torturous task, which, by the way, wasn't finished to the end, but it had to be done in respect to the people who gave their lives defending their homeland. They were all buried one a hill several miles outside of the Whirlpool. The place where the deceased Uzumaki were buried, has been completely empty and didn't show any signs of ever being used for anything, which makes it a perfect place for the massive graveyard.

Of course, there were still some corpses left, as the new residents of the Land of Whirlpools, didn't have time to bury them all.

Naruto stood above one of the skeletons, looking at it a hard look on his face. It was clear that he was angry as all hell because of what happened to his clansman, and he felt bad that he can't do anything for them.

It has been about three decades since the fall of the Whirlpool, and any souls which have lingered behind, unable to move, have most likely turned to hollows by now, and are in Hueco Mundo… that is, of course, if they are still alive even there, as there is a possibility that they have been devoured by the other hollows.

The fall of the Whirlpool happened long time before Naruto's original death, and while he has spent over a thousand years in Hueco Mundo, only about three years has passed in the EN. This means that all those Uzumaki who have died about three decades before Naruto, and who have potentially become hollows, have arrived in Hueco Mundo, thousands of years before Naruto. During all of his time in the Hueco Mundo, Naruto has never met a hollow which was so old that it would have lived for almost 10 thousand years.

This all means, that the Uzumaki who have died in the battle of the Whirlpool, are truly gone for good, and not even his powers can bring them back.

The basement level of the Uzukage Tower, had two different levels.

The first level below the ground, had several rooms, of which, all but one were empty. The one which wasn't empty, looked like a council chamber where the Uzukage and the Hidden Whirlpool council were holding meetings.

Naruto checked all the room, including the council chamber, but found nothing, so he proceeded to the stars to the second level below the ground.

The stars went downward for a while. It took Naruto and Tayuya 10 minutes to get to the bottom of the stairs, and when they got there, they found themselves in front of a wall… and nothing else.

Naruto and Tayuya looked at each other for a moment, before they looked back at the wall. Naruto then went closer to the wall, and started inspecting it, to see if there might be some Fuinjutsu formula or something, so that Tayuya might figure out what to do from there.

After ten minutes of searching… Naruto found nothing.

"This can't be right," Naruto commented as he was looking at the wall in front of him, but now he also started to look at the side walls and at the ceiling of the stairway. "There must be something on these walls, otherwise, there would be no point in the stairways go get to this level."

"I agree on that," Tayuya said. "But Orochimaru also agreed, until he gave up in the end when he couldn't find anything which would show him the point of this stairway."

"Orochimaru was here?" Naruto questioned and Tayuya nodded.

"Yes," she said. "He spent a while looking all over the walls, and even had a bunch of Uzumaki look at the place. They found nothing. At one point he thought that the seals are invisible, and that Uzumaki blood and chakra might work and show the seals. Unfortunately for him, that failed as well. After that, he raged to a while, even tried to blow up the wall, but after that failed as well, he gave up and left. He never returned here after that. I will tell you though, he was really hard to stand for a while after that, as he was constantly raging."

"I see," Naruto said, while still looking all around himself, trying once more to see if there is something that everyone has missed. He didn't see anything. "So even the Uzumaki blood and chakra failed," Tayuya nodded. "But what if what's needed is the specific blood and chakra?" Tayuya looked at Naruto with confused look on her face.

"Land of Whirlpools was led by the Uzumaki Clan, who were the Royal Family, right," Naruto asked, and Tayuya nodded? "But even among the Uzumaki Clan, there was a family which was above the others. Like the main branch and the side branch?"

"I think so," Tayuya said after thinking about it for a while. "I think I remember hearing a story from one of the Uzumaki. He mentioned that all the Daimyo's and the Uzukage's were a part of one LINE, of the Uzumaki. He mentioned that that line had a higher standing then the rest of the clan, even though the whole clan was a Royal Clan of this land."

"Was there a member of that line with Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think so," Tayuya said. "As far as I know, the daimyo and his family, along with Uzukage of that time, and his family, have all died in the war. There was none left."

"Hm," Naruto hmed and went into deep thought. He knew that his mother was an Uzumaki, and that she was sent to Konoha not long before the Whirlpool's downfall. But he wasn't sure if she was just one of the many Uzumaki, or if she was a member of the, Royal Line. "I guess I'll just to try and see what happens."

Tayuya watched Naruto as he bit his right thumb, letting some blood flow on his hand, before he pressed it on the wall in front of him.

When he pressed his hand on the wall, Naruto felt tingling in his hand, and nothing else, so, he went and sent some chakra from his hand and to the wall. The moment he did that, the wall in front of Naruto, along with the ceiling and the stairway's, glowed, much to Tayuya's shock.

The glowing went for a minute, before it stopped, only to reveal a massive seal which was spread on every single part of the wall, ceiling and stars. Everything was covered in seals.

"What the hell is this," Tayuya asked as she was staring wide-eyed at the seal. She then looked at Naruto, who has removed his hand from the wall, and was grinning like crazy. "What did you do," she asked? "How did you do it? Every Uzumaki which was brought here, has failed to find anything. So why did the seal activate with YOUR blood and chakra?"

"I guess my theory was right," Naruto said, before he went quiet and continued to look at the seals all around him.

Tayuya wasn't happy with the silence and with not knowing what's going on, so she yelled again. "Will you tell me, what is it, you did!?"

Naruto frowned and looked at Tayuya. He was annoyed that she was interrupting him, but then he remembered that he has no knowledge about seals, and that just looking at them, is useless.

Then again, as he was looking at the seals, he felt like he knows them and knows what they are supposed to do, but then at the same time, he is completely lost. In the end, he decided to just explain to Tayuya and then to see if she knows something.

"My theory was that only the blood and chakra from a member of the Uzumaki's Royal Line, will be able to do something," Naruto said. "I didn't know if I was a member of the Royal Family, but I decided to try and see if something will happen."

Tayuya looked at Naruto as if he has grown a second head. "There is no way you can be that lucky," she grumbled. "And how in the hell can you be a member of the Uzumaki Royal Line? Everyone thinks that they have all died during the siege on the Land of Whirlpools."

"My mother was sent to Konoha, before the Whirlpool was attacked," Naruto said. "She was apparently a member of the Royal Line, and through her, so am I."

"What was your mother's name?" Tayuya asked.

"Kushina Uzumaki." Naruto said. "She was the second Kyūbi jinchūriki, after Mito Uzumaki and before me."

"I see," Tayuya said. "Well, I have heard of her… everyone has, really, since she was quite famous kunoichi. On the other hand, I didn't know that she was from the Royal Family of the Uzumaki Clan."

"Neither did I," Naruto said. "Surprise for the both of us. But, it is a nice surprise, because if she wasn't, then I wouldn't be either, and we never would have found these seals."

Tayuya nodded in agreement, before she started to check out the seals, as she knew that that is what Naruto is expecting from her, since he has no knowledge about seals, while she has some.

Some knowledge, sometimes just isn't enough.

Tayuya spent two hours, going over the sealing formula, trying to decipher it, but from the very start, she was barely able to make heads and tails on the thing.

She will admit that her knowledge about seals, is on the expert level as she has spent some time learning from the other Uzumaki who were with Orochimaru, but whoever has made this seal, must have been Grand Master level in Fuinjutsu, which is the highest level anyone can reach, and even then, no person outside of the Uzumaki Clan, was able to reach that level. From her own knowledge, there have only even been half a dozen Grand Masters in Fuinjutsu, and they were all Uzumaki.

"This is beyond me," Tayuya finally admitted defeat. "I simply don't have the knowledge to decipher this seal."

Naruto heard what Tayuya said, and sighed. "That's a bummer," he said. "What should I do now?"

"Well," Tayuya started to say, drawing Naruto's attention. "You can try and destroy it," she suggested. "With your powers, this seal should come down quickly, no matter how powerful it is."

"That might be true," Naruto said. "But we don't know what's inside there, and because of that, I can't risk it and end up destroying something far too valuable. On top of that, while I don't know almost anything about seals, one thing I do know, is that one should never mess with them unless they are suicidal."

Again, Tayuya saw the reason behind Naruto's words and agreed with him. "So, what do you suggest?" She asked.

Naruto thought about it for a few minutes, before he sighed and said. "The only thing I can do at this point is to try and learn as much of Fuinjutsu as possible and as fast as possible. Only then, would I have a chance to decipher this seal so we can find out what's hidden behind it."

"But how do you plan to learn Fuinjutsu," Tayuya asked? "I can only teach you what I know, and that will only put you on the expert level, which clearly is not enough to break this seal."

"I'll start by learning what you know," Naruto said. "In the meantime, I will try to find some Uzumaki around the EN, and maybe, if possible, obtain some Fuinjutsu books and scrolls from other villages."

"And exactly, how do you plan to do that?" Tayuya asked with narrowed eyes.

The smirk Naruto gave to Tayuya, unnerved her to no end, and she knew right then and there, that nothing good will happen on his quest for the Fuinjutsu knowledge.