Chapter 52 - Unknown Connections

After talking with Aito and drawing up a draft of the Shichibukai system, Ernie left the village to go visit the ruins. He was being led by to older shinobi who have been in the village for a while now.

Both men with families of their own.

He wasn't too sure what to think of the ruins, he didn't know who they belonged to or what secrets they held. He thought this place was uninhabitable, but it seems that wasn't true. At least they had to be in the past.

Ernie was curious to see what the ruins looked like and who created them.

As he was led to the ruins sight, his eyes opened wide.

The symbol on the broken stone gate, there was no mistaking it. It was the same one that was on the three tails temple!

'Otsutsuki?'

Ernie asked himself as he touched the stone gate.

The stone gate was broken and had overgrown vegetation surrounding it. Moss and trees grew all over.

Stepping into the ruins, he saw an open plain with broken pillars.

In his head, he knew something happened here. He just wasn't too sure as to what.

Ernie walked the ruins while studying the walls and symbols. There were no pictures, but there were some drawings on the wall. The pictures were strange and most couldn't even be fully seen due to holes or the wall being broken.

Still, Ernie could make one picture out. A pale skinned woman with long white hair and eyes that had no pupil. While the lower portion of the drawing was cut off, Ernie was positive this was Kaguya.

"Beautiful, isn't she?"

One of the shinobi that came with Ernie said.

"Only if you have strange taste."

Ernie said jokingly.

He wasn't charmed by her appearance, but he knew she bore strength that could end to this entire world. Ernie faintly forgot what happened to her, but he knew she wasn't around.

What he did recall was that she faintly appeared before Naruto himself became hokage. Which was during the fourth great shinobi war.

Ernie wasn't a match wiz, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that, that wouldn't be for a long time. He more than likely wouldn't be around by then, and even if he was he'd be too old to do anything.

Eventually he stopped looking at Kaguya and looked around the ruins. He felt there was a forgotten history here, but he wanted to learn all about it. As he walked through the Otsusuki's clan destroyed home, he found relics of the past.

A red magatama was on the floor, half cracked but still together. Ernie picked it up and squeezed it.

This more than confirmed it, the Otsusuki clan lived here.

"Wonder how old these ruins are?"

One of the men asked.

"Considering we are practically walking on grass, more than a few hundred years old. It's surprising the walls didn't completely crumble yet."

The other man responded.

As the two shinobi began to discuss the ruins, Ernie walked off until he reached what seemed to be the main hall. Inside he found pieces of red carpet, pieces of broken vases but most importantly, he saw a small journal.

Kneeling down he picked it up and dusted it off.

The paper was extremely fragile as when Ernie opened the small book, it tore. He realized he needed to be careful, but even with the slightest turn of a page the pages started to break down.

Even after carefully flipping pages and being gentle with the small journal, Ernie only managed to keep two pages intact.

One page had the images of the Sharingan, Mangekyo Sharingan, Rinnegan Byakugan and two other dojutsu. One looked like a mix of both the Sharingan and the Rinnegan while the other looked like an overlapping flower with a blue pupil. The latter was similar in a way to Ernie's Reitgan, but they were different.

He wasn't too sure what this page meant, but he knew most of the dojutsu here. Clearly, all these dojutsu originated from this clan.

The second page shocked him thoroughly.

"What is the meaning of this…"

Ernie's hand trembled a little.

His eyes were focused on the three different dojutsu shown on the page. Even if he had all his memories of this world, he would be clueless to what they were. He was positive they never existed, but they their pictures were shown here. In a journal found in these ruins. These dojutsu must have existed back when this clan was still alive.

From the bottom, there he found an eye that resembled the first form of his Reitgan. Next to it were words he couldn't make out, but above it was an arrow going to the next eye.

It was the second form his eye took which had more words by the picture. There were two arrows that pointed to the top and right of the eye. Towards the right, he found the same eye on the first page, the one that looked like a blooming flower. However, above it he found something else.

Pure white in color, but around the pupils seemed to be a blue wave. No flower pattern, just a blue wave.

Above that was a figure shrouded in black with a question mark all around it.

Ernie had no clue what this was.

Did this mean his eyes weren't his own creation? Did the system somehow implant him with the eyes of someone else from an era long forgotten? But, more than anything else, what was the connection to the Otsutsuki clan?

'Fuck!'

Ernie shouted in his head as he stopped himself from crumbling the two pieces of paper in his hand.

If only that journal wasn't destroyed he could find the answers. Or at least, he'd be guided to them.