Crescent Valley, located in the northwestern region of the Land of Fire, earned its name from a deep, crescent-shaped gorge carved into the earth.
Night
"Naruto, hurry up! What are you dawdling for back there?" Karin's voice cut through the darkness.
Sakura's team of four had spent an entire day reaching the location detailed in their intel.
Before them stretched the shadowy, crescent-shaped gorge, cloaked in the night's darkness. This was the very place where Uchiha Hikari's seal was said to be hidden, according to the records.
"I was just picking a mushroom on the way, okay?" Naruto retorted, waving a freshly plucked mushroom in his hand as he responded to Karin's nagging.
Sakura ignored the bickering between Karin and Naruto, focusing instead on cross-referencing the intel to pinpoint the exact location of the seal.
Sasuke, meanwhile, surveyed their surroundings. The area was lush with dense foliage, and even the steep cliffs of the gorge were dotted with pine trees clinging to the rock.
This gorge… it didn't look naturally formed.
No, it was…
Sasuke drew his ninja blade, comparing its edge to the contours of the gorge.
This was…
Carved by a single blade!
Having studied under Kakashi, who had inherited the blade techniques of the White Fang of the Leaf, Sasuke was no novice when it came to swordsmanship. Though he couldn't yet match the legendary White Fang, his keen eye immediately recognized that this gorge was the result of a single, monumental slash.
The discovery sent a thrill through Sasuke. What kind of battle could have left such an exaggerated scar on the landscape? Even after centuries, the mark remained, unyielding to time's erosion.
"This should be the place," Sakura murmured, rubbing her chin as she studied the intel.
Long ago, the Uzumaki clan's shinobi, seeking efficiency and wary of complications, had sealed Uchiha Hikari right here on the spot.
"Karin, use your Mind's Eye of the Kagura to sense anything unusual," Sakura called back to Karin, who was still squabbling with Naruto.
"Got it!" Karin replied, abandoning her argument with Naruto and rushing to Sakura's side. Without hesitation, she activated her Mind's Eye of the Kagura.
The Mind's Eye of the Kagura was the most powerful sensory bloodline limit in the shinobi world, surpassing even the Byakugan in its scope. In an instant, Karin's perception enveloped a radius of dozens of kilometers.
The rustle of wind through the leaves, the chirping of insects in the grass, the faint scurrying of small animals—nothing escaped her senses.
After a long moment, Karin frowned slightly and spoke, "There's nothing around here. If I had to point out something, it's this gorge. It's… off."
"I can't sense anything below us," she added. "It's like there's just… nothing."
Naruto, overhearing, sidled up with a grin. "All that talk, and you're saying it's just down there, right?"
His words promptly earned him a vein-popping glare from Karin.
Thwack!
"Less talk now, huh?" Karin growled, rubbing her fist as she loomed over a sulky, golden-haired Naruto.
Sakura ignored the two clowns. If the problem was below, there was no point wasting time up here. "Stop messing around. We're going down."
With that, Sakura gathered chakra to her feet and leaped into the gorge. Sasuke was about to follow when Naruto, sporting a fresh lump on his head, sidled up with a cheeky grin.
"Sasuke, when we find that ultimate weapon, can I borrow it for a couple of days?" he asked, eyes gleaming with hope.
Sasuke's lips twitched into a faint smirk. "You're hopeless. Fine, you can have it for two days."
"Woo! That's my Sasuke!" Naruto cheered.
Karin rolled her eyes at the pair before following Sakura's lead, leaping into the gorge.
Ultimate weapon? She couldn't care less. For Karin, the real joy was the journey with her comrades. Hunting for a centuries-old treasure was just a bonus.
Sakura's pink figure plunged downward, the cold night wind whipping past her, making her robes flutter wildly. She descended like an arrow loosed from a bow, and as a precaution, she activated the Heavenly Canopy Formation.
Hm?
At a certain depth, Sakura sensed something was wrong.
Just as Karin had described, up to a certain point in the gorge, all she could feel was an eerie void. But now, suddenly, her senses sharpened, picking up the surroundings clearly.
A barrier?
A barrier that had been maintained for centuries?
How was that possible?
What kind of barrier could last for hundreds of years?
Unless… someone was down there, actively maintaining this perception-blocking barrier.
No, wait…
There was another possibility.
If the barrier was powered by natural energy and its sealing runes were preserved well enough, it could theoretically endure for centuries.
Sasuke and Karin, following close behind, also noticed the barrier that had been shielding their senses.
Naruto, unsurprisingly, felt nothing.
As they neared the bottom of the gorge, the surroundings grew clearer.
At the base of the gorge lay a shimmering, icy-blue pool. In its center was a small "island," and on that island stood a stone monument overgrown with creeping vines.
With her exceptional chakra control, Sakura landed lightly on the water's surface despite her high-speed descent, causing only gentle ripples.
"Woo-hoo!" Naruto's voice echoed from above.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
A series of massive splashes erupted behind Sakura, soaking her clothes.
She glanced down at her drenched outfit, lips pursed. So much for showing off her flawless chakra control.
Sasuke, Karin, and Naruto's heads popped up from the water, their eyes locking onto the conspicuous island in the center of the pool.
"That's gotta be our target, right?" Naruto said, clambering onto the surface with his sopping wet hair plastered to his face.
"Let's check it out," Sakura replied.
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