Ancestral Grounds

"It looks like the shrine is close." Sahiro said while inspecting the map. They had already been traveling for a day and got lost a few times. Fortunately, they were both perceptive enough to realize it and doubled back. The snow didn't let up at any point in their trip so they each had a thin layer of frost along their uniforms.

Natsume was looking on ahead while Sahiro inspected the map. Something about this area gave her a strange sense of déjà vu. There was a small clearing on rocky terrain that continued forward in a slight upward slope. She started moving forward on her own. After a while, she reached the edge of the cliff. The cliff face was huge and wrapped around a quite a distance. She looked down and saw the large area of lightly wooded forest.

Although the snow blanketed the terrain, Natsume instantly recognized where she stood. 'Hokage rock… Then the area below is the location of the future Konoha.' She felt a strange feeling about standing on the cliff face that was so prominent in her memories. This cliff held the faces of all the Hokage, forever immortalizing them in the history of the world. Her memories do not give this majestic place enough credit. 'Hashirama certainly had incredible vision in choosing the village location.'

"Natsume, what did you find? Ah… What a fantastic view." Sahiro stood next to her and enjoyed the sights for a moment. He then made an 'aha' face and took out the map. He looked at it and the surroundings repeatedly before pointing toward a grouping of trees. "The Naka shrine should be right there. This cliff is one of the landmarks."

Natsume raised her brow and looked over. It was in clear sight from the cliff side. 'No way… it wasn't Hashirama? Did Madara suggest the area around the Naka shrine to build Konoha?' Her memories didn't contain information like that, but based on her understanding, there would be no other reason for Konoha to be built on top of the Uchiha's sacred shrine unless Madara revealed this place to Hashirama. It was possible that he discovered this place on his own, but this is so deep into the forests she doubted the coincidence.

After observing for a while, she turned around and started the trek down the side of the mountain. Seeing the location of Konoha before it is built was a very unique experience for Natsume. She even had some dreams of grandeur. Being one of the faces on the Hokage Rock was very tempting. However, she didn't know if she could beat the charismatic Hashirama. Her understanding of Madara had changed at that moment of realization.

He was fully invested in the idea of a unified village and probably put everything on the table in order to achieve success. But, in the end, he lost the popularity contest. If it were Natsume in his position, she would likely feel betrayed and disrespected. Thinking about it, the main issue is that the majority of clans forming Konoha were already on good terms with the Senju. In many cases, having partnership through marriage.

It wasn't due to a lack of trying, but rather, there were very few clans allied with the Uchiha to begin with! This was part of their pride as Uchiha blocking themselves from success, in Natsume's opinion. If they had more allies the founding of the village wouldn't have been so unfair. Also, if the people had full understanding of everything that Madara did for them, perhaps they wouldn't have feared him so much. Unfortunately, the personality of an Uchiha is very stubborn and he probably would've hidden his deeds from the public.

'Sigh…' Natsume shook her head and cleared her thoughts. She would just end up in an endless spiral of ifs at that rate. This was all an issue for the future. She wasn't even strong enough to participate in the kind of battles those two had. Also, everything was in the base assumption that she would survive to see them grow up and build Konoha. The last battle was a good example of her mortality.

They eventually made it to the thick section of trees. Sahiro looked on ahead and confirmed it was the correct location. Then, he took out a piece of paper with a fuinjutsu formula on it. When he placed it on the ground, the trees seemed to animate as they moved out of the way, creating a path to the center of the thick woods. "Let's go."

The snow wasn't able to penetrate through the natural fuinjutsu barrier that was set up here, so the ground was lush and green. Once they entered the main shrine grounds, dozens of braziers lit up as if welcoming them. They walked up to the wooden platform and knelt down to pay their respects. After kowtowing to their ancestors, Natsume and Sahiro removed all their weapons and placed them in a box outside the shrine.

The interior of the shrine was very spacious and did not contain any furniture. A standing stone sat enshrined as the focal point of the building. The two of them went over and knelt in front of the stone. Using their sharingan, they were able to read the history of the clan as told by their ancestors. It was the known history told to all young Uchiha, so it was nothing new. However, reading it directly from the source was quite unique.

"Tajima-sama told me that it was underneath the seventh tatami mat." Sahiro looked over to the mat in question as he talked. After they finished respecting the Uchiha's history, they removed the mat to reveal a solid stone floor. Sahiro made a hand sign to release the seal and moved the stone to the side. Underneath was a hidden staircase.

Natsume went down first, but Sahiro placed a hand on her shoulder. "No matter what is down there, know that I will always put you first."

She frowned and thought to herself, 'That's exactly what I'm afraid of.'

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Regular chapter!

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