30 The Ruins of Uzushiogakure

Kibo woke up the next morning and told Zabuza that he'd be heading out with Naruto and Karin.

Before they managed to leave, Hinata had woken up and asked to come along, "I want to see the Uzumaki Clan's village with Naruto! Is that alright?"

Kibo nodded his head in agreement, thinking that her Byakugan might come in handy.

The group of four Genin gathered together and made a batch of clones to take their places while they were gone.

They were standing at the edge of the unfinished bridge where Kibo began molding his Star Chakra. With a few seconds, a small flying ship about the size of a gondola appeared, floating in front of the group.

After Kibo hopped on, he turned to the three and said, "Hurry up, I can't keep this construct out forever."

Hinata, Karin, and Naruto jumped on board and were surprised.

The Chakra was so solid that they could stomp down on it all day and it wouldn't make a dent or bend.

Kibo smiled as he placed his hand on the bow of the ship. A large gust of Wind Chakra entered it as two large greenish-blue Chakra wings grew on the port and starboard sides of the boat.

A funny grin came across Kibo's face as he said, "Hold on to something!"

The trio barely had the chance to grip their feet to the ship with Chakra when the wings let out a flash of light before they flapped.

Before they knew it, everyone was sent rocketing across the early evening skies.

Thanks to the Wind Chakra added to the ship's wings, its speed increased over 10 times what Kibo's ship was capable of using Star Chakra alone.

At the moment, they were moving at about 250MPH.

Kibo stood at the front of the deck and held his head up and shouted in excitement "YAHOO!"

Naruto and Karin screamed out fright while hugging an unconscious Hinata in the middle.

After an hour or so, the trio approached a massive series of whirlpools, ranging from the size of a human head to the size of a small island.

They continued to travel for only a few minutes more before the hidden village they had been searching for, came into view.

The ruined remains of a once-great civilization, showed its history for the world to see. The scattered architecture was composed of several broken down high rise buildings. A single large wide river flowed seemingly throughout the entire village, and many destroyed bridges that looked like they used to carry hundreds of citizens, lay shattered on both sides of the waterway.

The surrounding countryside was overrun by steep and lush emerald green hills and forests that shined like jade when the morning sun's rays brushed its surface.

"This is the Uzumaki clan's territory?" Karin and Naruto asked at the same time, waking up Hinata in the process.

"Even after it's been destroyed, it's still this beautiful," Kibo said nodding his head.

"The Uzumaki really knew how to pick a location to build their village," Kibo thought before he rode down and landed on the center of the largest destroyed building.

As soon as his feet touched the stone roof, Navi sent him a quest.

[Quest: Discover Uzumaki's Fūin-Jutsu Inheritance. Reward: 5,000 System Points, and 1 Teleportation Relic.]

Kibo smiled as he activated his Tengan and began to search for an old enough object to read. After a few minutes, they stumbled upon an old stone epitaph.

Upon it was a deeply carved mural that had the Konoha and Uzushio Village Symbol.

Kibo placed his hand on the tablet and began to read information from it.

For a moment, he was thrust back in time. Kibo could see the village before it's destruction. He saw Uzushigakure in all its beauty and splendor. The lively and bustling citizens moving about as if he wasn't there freaked him out a little, he felt like a ghost standing amongst ghost.

After a while of listening to some conversations, and a Jonin level specter talking about handing over a new sealed chakra beast to the clan head. Kibo discovered the location of the Village Leader's mansion.

Kibo quickly pulled out some parchment and drew down a map with some instructions on how to get there.

When removing his hand from the monument, Kibo looked at what he had drawn and written. Once he memorized the material, Kibo told the other and headed towards a large open courtyard.

There were quite a few houses here that looked like they used to at one time or another be connected to the same house.

Due to the decay and passage of time, it made the formerly magnificent building look like multiple houses on a single property.

But in reality, it was the Uzumaki Clan's Estate.

Kibo, Karin, Hinata, and Naruto looked over the decrepit house and landscape before Kibo said, "This is the home of your ancestors. The Uzumaki Clan's Estate used to stand here."

Kibo then turned to Hinata and asked, "Can you search through the grounds? I'm looking for something out of the ordinary, or maybe something that should be there, but isn't."

Kibo didn't know if the Byakugan could see through the seals or not. But he knew he was about to find out when Hinata nodded her head in and activated her Byakugan.

She began looking around the entire village from the highest point. After a few minutes of scanning through the surroundings, she jumped back down and said, "There's some kind of cave system underneath the Estate. However, it looks like the basement entrance located at the Estate's central building has collapsed. We could clear it out, but I think there are traps and explosive tags set up through the tunnels. The Chakra in them is unstable, so anything could set them off."

Hinata then pointed to the river and continued explaining, "If we want to enter without risking a cave-in, we'll have to go in from the cavern entrance at the bottom of the river."

"Good job, Hinata!" Kibo said giving her a thumbs up.

"Mn!" Hinata nodded her head with a happy expression.

"You should brag a little!" Karin declared while wrapping her arm around Hinata's shoulder.

"Yeah. There's no telling how long we'd be searching if we didn't have you!" Naruto said with a mile-wide smile.

"No, Kibo could have found it if he used his Tengan," Hinata denied.

"The Estate entrance maybe, I could probably even disarm the traps, but I wouldn't have known about the tunnels under the river. Don't sell yourself short, Hinata. You're an amazing Ninja!" Kibo said before he started walking off.

They all walked over while chatting about little stuff like gathered at the side of the river bed when Naruto asked, "How are we going to get down there? Are we swimming?"

Kibo shook his head and replied, "No. I figured we travel smart."

He then molded some Star Chakra and made a sphere with a single cylinder-shaped tube reaching out of the top at an angle. After everyone entered the contraption, the bubble dived into the river.

Only the air tube remained above water as the transparent pod stretched downward, allowing everyone to see the aquatic life on the way down.

Thanks to Hinata's directions, they didn't have to struggle long to find the cavern entrance. Seconds after seeing it in person, Kibo directed the construct through the maw-like opening and followed the tunnels until the group resurfaced in a large underground lake.

There was no light source other than Kibo's Star Chakra. Long and winding tunnels stretched out in multiple directions, leading into the darkness and cavities underneath Uzushigakure.

They didn't run into any form of human traces until they saw laid bricks next to an incomplete construction site.

"They must have known about these tunnels, but never got to finish construction before the Village was destroyed," Karin commented as she looked at the environment.

Kibo agreed before activated his Tengan to see dormant Chakra placed in Sealing Traps along their path.

Before Kibo could say anything, the blond-headed Uzumaki declared he bravely lead the way. A few seconds later, Naruto's bravado fell to pieces as Kibo watched him walk forward, moments away from stepping on a pressure trigger.

"Watch your step!" Kibo said while grabbing Naruto's shoulder, making Naruto's foot halt and hover a few inches away from the trap.

While Kibo slowly pulled him back a few steps, he quickly explained their current situation.

Naruto shuddered as he thought about the danger he almost stepped into.

Kibo then led them through the cavern tunnels, avoiding or disarming every trap he found along the way.

After a few minutes, they ended up in a large cellar that had hundreds if not thousands of dust-covered shelves. On the wooden shelves were medium-sized clay pots with paper seals on the tops of every last jar.

After inspecting them, it was clear that the paper over clay pots and jars were clearly very powerful Fūin-Jutsu talismans.

"This must be where they store all the dangerous Chakra Beasts that the Uzumaki clan has sealed over the generations," Kibo stated as he walked around, looking at the names of the mythical beast and monsters on the tags of the pottery.

Kibo noticed that over two-thirds of the sealed beasts were at least A-Ranked monsters, the rest made him sweat with worry, as they were most definitely S-rank beasts.

From the reading on his Tengan, Kibo discovered that some of the Chakra Beasts sealed in this room were close to a 1-Tailed Beast level of power.

"Don't touch anything in here, okay! These monsters may have been sealed. However, they're still alive. And I don't know about you guys, but feel like dying just yet."

When he explained the most of these creatures were A and S-rank beings, everyone shivered.

Kibo however continued to search for traps, as they headed towards the central chamber of the cave.

When they arrived; there was a small wooden altar that had many different symbols carved into it.

On top of the flat wooden surface, was three items of great importance to the Uzukami Clan.

One was a large scroll that had the Kanji for Seal on it, the second item he noticed was a stone-tablet that had the whirlpool symbol on it, and the last item was the Reaper's Mask.

Kibo was about to step forward when he sensed danger. All his hairs stood on end as he looked around the room once more. However, Kibo couldn't find the source of his worry.

He shook his head moved towards the altar, thinking it might be his imagination, when suddenly, as he approached the grey stone tablet started to crack.

A flood of dense and pure white light beamed out of the fissures on its surface, revealing an energy source that was previously hidden from his eyes.

Kibo quickly stashed the Scroll and Mask, he didn't wait as he grabbed the tablet that looked like it was on the verge of exploding.

Kibo then quickly activated his Earth Sage Mode and shot through the ceiling of the cave.

Using his ability to sense the surrounding earth, Kibo managed to make it out without causing a cave-in or disrupting the seals on the other monsters, but that statement wouldn't hold true for much longer.

When he reappeared above ground at the Uzumaki's estate, Kibo chucked the tablet as high as he could into the sky.

As Kibo used his Hardening Jutsu on the surrounding tunnel he made, a large explosion detonated in the sky, shaking the grounds below them.

Suddenly, a chime went off in Kibo's head, both confirming his completion of the previous quest and the start of a new one.

[Quest: Defeat Reibi no Hikari[1]. Reward: 1 Star Chamber Relic, and 1 Reibi no Hikari 1/2 Chakra Beast Soul.]

A terrifying, yet somehow gentle power, swept over Kibo and the surroundings seconds before a loud thud echoed out.

The creature that landed nearby sent up a puff of dust, revealing a large, shapeless, and gelatinous being.

The Chakra Beast looked like a massive clear whitish slime with a black Noa's mask on it on the center of its head-like protrusion. Carved into the forehead of the mask was the kanji for "zero" written in bold grey coloring.

Five light-blue quill-like feathers sprouting from around the mask. Four at the top of the mask, and one at the bottom.

When Kibo couldn't fully make out the monster, the mask began distorting its structure to resemble human expressions, all ranging in the positive emotions scale. Happy, laughing, bliss, bravery, and many more.

The Reibi then opened its mouth and let out a frightening roar, revealing very human-like teeth, made completely out of molars.

As the slime-like creature started to move, it took the shape of a large serpentine with hundreds of legs and charged at Kibo while happily laughing.

Kibo dodged as tentacles formed from the Zero Tails body and gave chase.

Just as the cavern below had lost its stability and began to cave in. Naruto, Hinata, and Karin moved up through the tunnel while reinforcing it so that it didn't fall apart.

By the time they made it to the surface, the trio saw the monster chasing after Kibo, whipping its arms around like massive pythons.

They began to panic when they saw Kibo looking stressed.

"Kibo, be careful around that thing! It's a Chakra beast that failed its first tribulation! In other words, it failed to form its first tail. It may not have intelligence, but isn't any weaker than a single-tailed beast." Seiryu shouted in worry.

Kibo didn't want' to get close to the monster and kept his distance before using a Great Yang Fire Ball Jutsu to blast at its jello-like surface.

However, what occurred was outside of Kibo's expectations.

Kibo's jaw dropped open as the Reibi absorbed his fireball like it was eating a meal. It then laughed loudly before shooting Kibo's Jutsu back at him even faster than it was launched.

Kibo was forced to dodge his own attack, giving the creature an opening to wrap one of its tentacles around his ankle.

The moment the Reibi toughed him, Kibo suddenly felt a form of elation rapidly altering his mental state. He felt happy, at peace. Like there was nothing left for him to do in the world, and he could just sit back and relax.

Seconds later, Naruto threw a Windmill Shuriken, cutting of the beast's appendage and saving Kibo in the process.

Kibo, who had now snapped back to reality, jumped over to Naruto and told them to form up. "Avoid using Tai-Jutsu and don't let it touch you. It has the ability to pacify and numb you with a sense of serenity and tranquillity."

"What do we do?" Naruto asked as they jumped aside, avoiding the slime's tentacles.

"Spread out and try different things. I'd start by avoiding fire," Kibo said as he took off.

The group thought about how Kibo's attack was reflected back at him. Since they knew about it beforehand, they could avoid some trouble.

Naruto, Hinata, and Karin circled the beast and began their assault.

Karin and Hinata used their combined electric/water release Jutsu to fire off a volley of bomb-like attacks.

Kibo noticed that water, and other Yin related elements seemed more effective on the beast.

However, their attacks did little to harm it, Kibo didn't know why, but the creature seemed scared of the lightning, even though it didn't seem to harm it too much.

Kibo began jumping around while trying to examine the creature. "Use Water or Yin-related techniques. Lightning doesn't seem to harm it, but it seems to be afraid," Kibo explained as he shot Star-Water Bullets at the beast.

The Nin nodded their heads as they began shooting dozens of water, wind, earth, and lightning techniques.

In response to the bombardment, the Reibi started to pick up debris from the scattered remains of the village with dozens of tentacles, then began chucking it at the group.

Kibo ran along the side of half a high rise building that was thrown at him, when he came around the corner of the building, he jumped off as the construct smashed into the hillsides behind him.

Using the leap to charge at the beast, in mid-air, Kibo performed his Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryū's Dragon Hammer Flash, cutting the beast in two.

No sooner than Kibo passed through the monster, it rapidly healed the wound almost instantly. Kibo dodged and weaved his way out of the area before Naruto appeared beside him.

Used an Earth Release; Earth Wall Jutsu, Naruto attempted to cage the beast inside. But the Reibi broke down his wall with sheer brute force.

Naruto jumped back when he saw Hinata's hands were coated in Water Chakra made by Karin's Jutsu. She then used her gentle fist style to launch the water off of her hands with great force.

The droplets formed into Senbon needles that stabbed the monster's tentacles into the ground.

Seeing what his girlfriend was up to, Naruto went over to the captured appendage and tried to perform his Fūin-Jutsu to seal the monster's mobility.

The moment the Fuin Marking appeared at the tips of Naruto's fingers, the Zero-Tailed Beast started to express something other than positive emotions.

It seemed scared before it roared at Naruto. The Reibi focused all its attention on Naruto before it struck out at him.

As quickly as he could, Kibo sent out dozens of Chakra Wires to try and suppress the beast's attack.

The wires wrapped around the tentacle before Kibo pulled back as hard as he could. The force from the monster dragged Kibo through the earth, ripping up the ground beneath him.

Even with Kibo slowing the monster down, the Reibi's tentacle slammed into Naruto, sending him flying into a pile of rubble.

"Naruto!" Hinata screamed in worry.