Chapter 3: The Secrets Beneath Our Shrine

DISCLAIMER: This story is not mine!! Read the original at fanfiction.net "Naruto: The Uchiha Prodigy" by Rifat

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The Naka River

Naruto was skipping stones near the edge of the Naka River. This was their favorite spot on the river. He would sit there for hours while sitting with his mother or brother and stare off into the eternal water that always flowed there. He always felt a certain amount of peace when he stood in the exact same spot he was standing in right now. Skipping stones became a bad habit for him when it came to this place. It was instinctual. Shisui had often told him when he was younger that skipping stones was a good warm up exercise for those who were not shinobi. He used to think it was an absurd lie. He started skipping stones in a shuriken throwing fashion at five, and when he finally started his bukujutsu at six he saw that it was not a lie at all.

The stones were sometimes heavier than conventional shuriken and this helped him when he started the actual exercise. Though his brother had often told him not to rely on the Sharingan all the time as he believed it would greatly hinder his progress as a shinobi in the endgame. Many of the clan members had often prided themselves on the fact that they had the Sharingan. The branch member however could not proudly proclaim that proud ancestry so easily. Very few members from the branch had awakened the Sharingan. Naruto's eldest brother himself had awakened the Sharingan a few moments before his death as Kakashi had stated before, whose left eye was one the Sharingan Obito had awakened. Shisui awakened it after he was attacked by some ANBU Black Ops, something that bothered Naruto to this day. Naruto does not remember the story as to how his parents awakened but guessed that it must've been a similar situation.

After a few more stones had been skipped he started towards the Eastern direction of the Naka River from where he stood. This was going to be a very defining moment for Naruto. He found the shinto boundary and saw the cavern that was digging itself below into the ground. He stood in front of the cavern and activated his Sharingan and looked around carefully for anyone. Right now, he did not fully trust anyone, even more so because this was a clan secret. Any one outside the clan who had gain the knowledge by inept means would face only one punishment: Death.

Seeing that there were no chakra signature he took a moment to contemplate the situation. With the Sharingan, the series of lettered Kanji could be seen clearly on a large slab at the surface of the cavern. He then was mentally remembering all the hand seals that Shisui had written down on the scroll and released a large sigh before performing them.

Tatsu - Ne - Tori - Mi - Inu - Tatsu - Uma - Ushi - Uma - U - Saru - Hitsuji - Tora - Mi

Then the slab raised itself as a light blue colored chakra displayed itself around the corners of the slab. He saw that the slab rose further and was waiting in mid air. Naruto got down in the dug out earth and saw that there was a stair way leading downstairs. It was dark. Too dark. Naruto let out a small sigh and channeled katon chakra to his palms after performing the Mi and Tora hand seals. The flame lit in his palm and he noticed that the slab that was suspended in mid air had come down and closed the entrance.

"Well... At least the slab knows what it's doing." Naruto muttered as he looked at the walls with pure distaste. All of the walls seemed like they had been maintained properly but the color was somewhat depressing. To him at least.

Plain grey.

"Just like the Uchiha mindset. How boring. At least make it an interesting color." Naruto then remembered the red and blonde blur that left him dazed earlier today, and the other color he noticed. "Like orange... On second thoughts no. Who in their right mind would wear orange? It must have been my imagination."

Somewhere in the Leaf Village

A girl seven years of age stood at 3'8" tall and was grinning with her eyes closed. She looked like a mad scientist with that grin on her face. She had light skin and had three faint whisker marks on each of her cheeks. Her face was had baby fat which was an added factor to her bubbly cuteness. Now she opened her eyes and a deep violet shade could be seen clearly. Her hair sun kissed blonde hair had streaks of red in it was smooth and flowing. It was done in twin pigtails. She wore a orange hoodie which had some blue in it and wore orange pants as well. As if it couldn't get any worse, it was neon orange. It stood out way too much.

All of a sudden she sneezed.

"Someone must've caught my prank."

Uchiha Stone Tablet Chamber.

Naruto made it all the way down the stairs and found the said object that was mentioned in said scroll.

The Uchiha Stone Tablet.

It was granite in color and seemed almost as ancient as the Village itself. Of course it was. It was here before even the Village started. Naruto went over and started to read the Stone Tablet. It was unreadable. He activated his Sharingan once more and saw that he could now understand what was written on the tablet.

The first contents of the Stone Tablets had contained general notes of the Sharingan. It's function and abilities to copy any jutsu down to the last detail and make a perfect copy. It had however failed to mention the fact that there was no guarantee the copied jutsu would be as powerful as the original jutsu it was derived from. Shisui had explained this to him a year ago. It also contained information on the maturity of the Sharingan, stating that the minute each Sharingan eye obtains three tomoe the Sharingan has been perfected.

The next content was the details on the life of Madara Uchiha. It seemed strange to him. Why would the Stone Tablet have writings on Madara Uchiha? He then saw that some of the notes themselves were left by Madara himself.

It contained notes on how Madara played a huge part during the Era Of the Warring States and was considered to be one of the most powerful Uchiha in existence. He had often fought against the Senju Clan of the Forest and particularly against their leader at that time. Hashirama Senju, even then he was considered the God of Shinobi. After years of never ending conflict between the two clans, the Uchiha and the Senju contracted a peace agreement between the two and formed the first Ninja Village. It came to be known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Every other Elemental Nation then adopted this system and hence, the Shinobi Villager Per Nation System came to be.

Some time after Tobirama was made Hokage, Madara had defected from the Village and went on his way becoming a rogue ninja. He swore that he would get rid of the paradox created by the Village System and bring 'true peace'. That was his opinion that was scribbled into the tablet.

He returned with a vengeance.

Armed with the Nine Tails, he fought against Hashirama Senju and changed the entire landscape that forms the border of the Hi no Kuni. The devastating effects of their ungodly battle is still present today. It is now known as the Valley of the End. Two titanic statues of Hashirama and Madara were erected there as a testament to their historic battle.

To the Hidden Leaf Village, Madara Uchiha was a traitor. He was the definition of everything Konoha ever went against. All the people generally regarded Madara to be nothing but a malevolent force in the shinobi world who only knew how to create mass wide destruction and chaos. The Uchiha Clan themselves held a high disregard for Madara. He was the reason why, according to them anyway, the Village would always suspect them. He was the Ghost of the Uchiha Clan. Ironic how they ended doing the exact same thing he did only some decades apart.

To Naruto however, Madara Uchiha was a target. A level that no other shinobi could ever reach. When he once said that he wants to reach Madara Uchiha's level his mother gasped and bonked him on the head. Naruto never understood why people looked towards Madara in such an antagonistic way. Sure, he went against the Village. He brought the Kyuubi and fought Hashirama Senju, he threatened to destroy Konoha itself. In general, he is the one shinobi a person should never dream to be. Why not? There was no denying the power that Madara held. He was the only one who could match the First Hokage, who is generally regarded to this day to be the strongest shinobi in history. Naruto wanted to be that strong. He wanted to reach the level Madara was at, but he would never turn his back on the Village. Not after how his family had given their lives to protect their home. Doing that would be tantamount to spitting on their graves.

Moving on he read the second description of the Tablet. He found the description of two dojutsu that were clearly written as forbidden jutsu. They were kinjutsu and absolutely forbidden to use. Regardless, Naruto read on.

The first one was Izanagi. It was a powerful genjutsu that was cast on the user instead of the victim. When the Izanagi is activated, the boundaries between reality and illusion are discarded for the user. For a brief amount of time, the caster of the Izanagi is able to control their state of existence. I.E: warp reality for themselves. The main usage and purpose is for the user to cast off injuries or mortal wounds as mere 'illusions' and then fade away, only to return to reality unscathed. The price for this genjutsu was also too high. Once the caster would use the Izanagi, they would permanently lose the light from one of their eyes. They would become blind from which eye the jutsu was cast.

It was also stated that many Uchiha members had abused this jutsu and got lost in the power of the Izanagi which lead to inner conflict within the Clan. Members would fight each other over the supremacy of their visual prowess and the usage of the Izanagi became a common phenomenon, leading to the death of many members.

Seeing this the Uchiha Clan had come up with another jutsu to counter this jutsu specifically. It was the perfect counter to Izanagi.

This visual kinjutsu was known Izanami.

Izanami was different from Izanagi in many aspects.

Whereas Izanagi had warped reality itself, the genjutsu prowess of the Izanami depended on physical sensations between the user and the target. To activate the technique, an arbitrary moment would be chosen at first. The caster then uses their Sharingan to remember the physical sensation felt by the bodies of both the caster and the target during that instant (Call this Moment A). Then after some time, the user must then intentionally replicate the sensation in the same way of that captured moment once more, they have to memorize this moment as well (Moment B). The flow of time between the two events must also be carefully considered and recorded. Several other moments can also be recorded, but it is mandatory that the inital moment and final moment must be the same for the jutsu to work.

The Izanami is then activated and the opponent's consciousness is then trapped in an infinite loop of events between the two moments. (Between Moment A and B). The more moments recorded between the two moments would result in a more effective application of the Izanami.

Once captured, the body of the target stands motionlessly while the infinite loop of events keep repeating themselves. Even if the target becomes aware of the sensations and tries to cast it off as an illusion it would be impossible to escape, unless one had truly accepted their fate. The real reason this jutsu was developed so that the abusers of the Izanagi could realize what they have done and finally realize their mistakes, so that they can reprimand themselves. In this case the users of the Izanagi.

The illusionary caster in the genjutsu is also somewhat sentient. The actions in the loop of events such as verbal actions would also be repeated on a never ending loop. The illusion of the caster would also keep telling the victim to take a closer look at the chain of events brought forth by them and acknowledge their mistakes.

The Izanagi has the power to alter destiny, but the Izanami has the power to 'decide' destiny. As the same case with Izanagi, the usage of the Izanami also causes blindness to take over the eye from which the genjutsu. Ironically, the Izanami is not to be used on enemies, but on friends who have lost their way and is used as a means to help them find themselves again.

Naruto was deeply affected by the two kinjutsu he read about. Silently, he prayed to whatever God was out there that he would never have to use either of these jutsu in his natural life. He then got on to the topic that was crucial to the Uchiha heritage and the powers their eyes held.

The Secrets of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

It stated clearly that the Mangekyou Sharingan was the next level of the Sharingan. The only way for a person to achieve the higher power that is known as the Mangekyou Sharingan is through killing the person who was closest to you.

Naruto now frowned at that statement.

"Something's wrong with that statement... It's almost like as if someone wrote that there on purpose."

Naruto had awakened his Mangekyou Sharingan without killing anybody. He was pretty sure that his parents and brother had also awakened theirs without killing anybody that was close to them. They couldn't. They were just not that sort of people who would kill a person they love, they hold dearly to their chests. The same could be said for Itachi. The whole statement itself caused Naruto to disregard whatever information the Tablet may present next. Still curiosity took the better of him and he kept on reading.

The Stone Tablet had nothing else written on it. But Naruto knew better and remembered the words Shisui had written and activated his Mangekyou Sharingan. It stung a little bit as he closed his eyes for a moment before opening his eyes. The four bladed scythe wheel present in his eyes.

"Maybe it's because I am not strong enough to wield it yet. Gotta do this quick."

He then read the tablet once more and found out about the abilities the Mangekyou Sharingan grants.

The first one was Tsukuyomi. It was considered to be a powerful genjutsu that alters the user's affect on time itself. The amount of time spent when caught in the genjutsu is exponentially multiplied to that of the actual time spent in the real world. Naruto shivered as he remembered the effects of the jutsu. How he had to watch Itachi slaughter the entire clan, murder Mikoto and rip out Shisui's eyes.

The next ability he read about was Amaterasu. Amaterasu was a visual jutsu that depended on precise visual focus. Upon the mere intensity of the gaze, black flames would conjure on the location and incinerate the object. The Amaterasu Flames could not be extinguished by any normal means. Only the caster of the jutsu, has the ability to negate the flames and that too requires great focus. When left unattended, Amaterasu will continue to burn for seven days and seven nights before extinguishing on it's own.

"I wonder if it can be sealed." Naruto mused as he remembered Shisui sealing a fire jutsu into a scroll. "Must be one hell of an Elemental Capture Seal to seal flames like Amaterasu."

Now came the part that scared Naruto a bit. The Kotoamatsukami. It was considered to be the perfect genjutsu that a Sharingan user could ever hope to awaken. The Kotoamatsukami would literally invade the mind of a subject and implant ideas. Absolute control over the mind while the victim would have no idea that said person is under a genjutsu. The victim would be entirely convinced that every action they are taking would be according to their free will. However, the drawback was that to fully utilize the effect of the Kotoamatsukami, both eyes would be needed to perform the genjutsu on a perfect scale.

Such a powerful genjutsu. In the wrong eye sockets, this can cause widespread panic.

Naruto then went on to read about the infamous Space Time Jutsu of the Mangekyou Sharingan. The Kamui. The Kamui had three abilities. One was that the user could create a void or a black hole on a small scale to absorb/transport a certain object to a personal dimension of said visual jutsu. The second ability was a transportation technique that took the user itself to the personal dimension, and then reappear to a certain location whose entire geography was well versed into the mind of the user. The third and most dangerous ability was Intangibility. The body or chosen parts of the body would not exist in this realm and phase through whatever attacks that would be cast at them. The sever drawback of this ability was that the user could not attack in this state and had to materialize to attack. This gave the opponents the time to attack within that same time frame.

"Every jutsu has a weakness." Naruto muttered to himself. This is what Itachi had once taught him along with Shisui. Even an invincible jutsu like the Kamui had a weakness on this scale. To most it would seem invincibility, but a seasoned shinobi could exploit this weakness and use it to his advantage.

Naruto then read the next topic which was both exciting and bone chilling for him.

The Mangekyou Sharingan could control Tailed Beasts.

"..."

The Mangekyou Sharingan was capable of enhancing every other power the user had. Even a normal genjutsu would be nearly three times as powerful. The Mangekyou user would be able to control a Tailed Beast through their visual prowess and for all intents and purposes, turn the mighty beasts into pets. Naruto figured that Madara must've controlled the Nine Tails through this. It was also mentioned that Tsukuyomi and Kotoamatsokeami are the perfect genjutsu to control Tailed Beasts, of course powerful genjutsu other than these could also control but to a much lesser scale. They could however suppress the chakra that a Bijuu or it's Jinchuuriki would be moderating. This was way too much information for Naruto to handle, thankfully he had brought along a scroll and was furiously writing down all the contents of the Stone Tablet. He would later evaluate all the writings and make his own conclusion.

Then came the next ability granted by the Mangekyou. A technique. A technique that is considered the pinnacle of the power the Mangekyou holds. The ability to summon an ethereal warrior's body around the dojutsu user's body. It acted as both as the perfect defense and a brutal offense.

The Susano'o.

The Susano'o was considered to be the final ability that the Mangekyou manifests. Legends state that the Susano'o itself is capable of holding on it's own against Tailed Beasts. Naruto figures that the entire situation must depend on the user. Just having the Susano'o and utilizing the Susano'o properly are two completely different things. The Susano'o itself consists of five stages.

The first stage would form a rib cage made of pure ethereal chakra, each user had a different colored Susano'o. This stage acts mostly as a defense.

The second stage forms a skeletal head and hands which can be user to attack the enemies but has a limited range unless the user moves along with the Susano'o activated.

The third stage has ethereal flesh covering the Susano'o and allows more mobility. In some cases, the Susano'o has two additional arms protruding out. Usually this happens in the next level.

The fourth stage has a shroud of armor covering the Susano'o increasing it's already sturdy defense. This one also allows the Susano'o access to weapons in accordance to the user's abilities.

The fifth and final stage of the Susano'o is called the Full Body Susano'o. It is stated clearly in the Stone Tablet that, those who see the Perfect Susano'o facing down on them don't live to tell the tale. In this form it is said to be at the same heights as the Tailed Beasts and has a complete body. It consists of four arms, covered by reinforced armor and a prominent tengu nose. It also has a certain long range weapon known as the magatama which is hurled at the opponents. It can easily cause widespread destruction without much effort.

However the prices for all the magnificent abilities that the Mangekyou is the same. Vast amounts of chakra usage and exhaustion. There is also a very important factor about the usage of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Those who overuse their eyes will eventually go blind. The only way to retain the 'light' of these eyes is to replace your original eyes with the Sharingan of another who has awakened the Mangekyou themselves. This will cause the two Mangekyou to overlap and negate the blindness caused by the usage. These eyes are known as the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

Naruto then closed his eyes for a bit and deactivated his Sharingan. He sat down and unsealed a water bottle that he brought with him. He knew there were still some things to read so he activated his Mangekyou once more and started to read. The next passages of the Stone Tablet shocked him.

The Stone Tablet was apparently created by Hagoromo Otsutsuki, better known as the Sage of Six Paths. The Stone Tablet was his creation and the passages inscribed were written by him. Apparently he had fought his mother who was considered to be a cruel godlike being. She was considered to be the first user of chakra. She had eaten the fruit of a forbidden tree and obtained the ability to mold and use chakra. Later on her son, Hagoromo had also inherited her powers and had a legendary dojutsu known as the Rinnegan. This was considered to be the most rare and powerful of the three dojutsu. His mother Kaguya Ootsutsuki had used the tree's power to reflect a never ending genjutsu off the surface of the moon and trapped the people in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Hagoromo later defeated his mother and freed the people with his Rinnegan.

The Rinnegan apparently granted it's users powers that was unlike any other and gave them the ability to use Yin and Yang Chakra. Later the tree from which the fruit was eaten had come to life and took the form of a hideous beast with one lone eye and ten tails. This beast was known the Juubi, the Ten Tails. The Sage of Six Paths later fought the Juubi who had come to wreck widespread destruction and reclaim the chakra that was stolen from the tree. The Sage then defeated the Juubi and sealed it's chakra into himself. He later separated the Juubi's chakra into smaller parts inside his body. They took the shape of nine different beasts with different amounts of tails. They were later known as the Tailed Beasts.

Hagoromo then roamed the world and spread ninjutsu. He became known as the Father of All Shinobi. Hagoromo had two sons. The older had inherited his mental energy and his ocular powers. The younger one had inherited his physical powers and dense chakra. On his deathbed, the Sage chose the younger son to be his successor who believed that true peace can be achieved through the combined efforts of people. The older brother had always believed in power and conquest were the means by which the world would attain peace.

After the Sage died, his sons had fought time and time again. The Tailed Beasts had reformed and each went their own way. Even now the descendants of the Sage's sons were enemies. The older son's descendants came to be known as the Uchiha. The younger son's descendants came to be known as the Senju. Hence the cycle never ends. At the end Stone Tablet was a passage inscribed by the Sage himself.

"Seeking stability one god was divided into yin and yang. These opposing two acting together obtain all things in creation."

This sentence had two meanings according to Naruto anyway. One: two opposing forces would act together to bring peace. Or, two: A person with both those powers could bring peace himself if he willed himself to.

Naruto guessed that the the combinations of the Senju and the Uchiha bloodlines would mutate the Rinnegan to exist.

"This is way too much information lying around on a stone tablet. Somehthing's not right." Naruto stared at the tablet once more.

He found another passage.

"When someone who possesses the power of Samsara approaches the moon, an eye will open that is reflected on the moon to grant the eternal dream to those who were wronged."

"*sigh*" Naruto sat down and closed his eyes for a long time. "So the Mugen Tsukuyomi will redeem the Uchiha... Such nonsense. To take away the will of the people and trap them under an illusion forever. How despicable. Rikoudo Sennin. I don't know why you wrote that second verse. But, I am going to go with first conclusion of working together with an opposite force. This village itself is a symbol of what can be achieved when people work together. Though there are a few things that I'd like to change."

Naruto got up and looked around the chamber and found a secret compartment. It was hidden under a genjutsu. It contained scrolls of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Naruto took them and sealed them into the scroll he brought with him.

"I'll return it later." He got up and was going to go the way back out but saw there was another flight of stairs in the opposite direction and headed up. He used his Sharingan and performed the same hand seals. The door that blocked his path moved away. He was now in the Naka Shrine.

"So the clan built a secret bunker beneath the Shrine. No one would suspect if anybody held meetings there. How Uchiha of us."

Naruto rushed back to his home. He sealed all the scrolls into his hidden compartment. Thank the Sage that Shisui had left more empty slots in the Blood Recognition Storage Scroll. He would have to study all the scrolls later. If he starts his training now seriously, he could deal with problems much more easily in the near future.

He then got ready to go to the funeral. He took a good look at his room with his Sharingan to memorize where everything was. He could not trust people easily now. Unless they were genuinely dense, of course.

Naruto stepped out of his house. He walked towards the gate of the Clan Compound to see that Sasuke waiting for him. This was a strange sight for him. Sasuke Uchiha had never even deigned to speak to him willingly and was now waiting for him.

Maybe the Clan Massacre changed him.

"Where the hell were you?" Sasuke asked with a cold tone. His eyes looked like they could bore holes through Naruto's body.

"Sorry. I still feel a bit weak. I had gone to the Naka Shrine first to pr-"

"Save it." Sasuke cut him off. "Even now you disrespect your own clan. At least have some respect for the dead." Sasuke walked off leaving Naruto behind.

Naruto simply looked at the fading figure of Itachi's brother walking into the distance.

Looks like I was wrong. Kami... if you're out there, please help me bear my stuck up Uchiha brethren.

Konoha Cemetery

There was large table near Hokage Burial Sculpture. It had another sculpture that depicted the Will of Fire. It represented the Will that Hashirama Senju believed in. The belief that people should band together and put aside their differences to work for a better future. It was the same belief that the Sage's younger son believed in. Now Naruto, after seeing the devotion his family had towards it and how they would give their lives to preserve this, also believed in it with all his heart. The Stone Tablet only went on to further increase his faith.

On the table were pictures of all the people that were massacred. Only two pictures mattered to Naruto more than anything else. Coincidentally enough, both were placed side by side. The first was Shisui Uchiha's. They could not find his body and assumed that he was dead, slain by the hands of Itachi as the village proclaimed. The second one was that of Naruto's aunt / mother like figure, Mikoto Uchiha. The only person after his family that gave a damn about him. He let off a sad and heavy sigh.

What did she do to deserve this? What did any of the younger children do to deserve this? Because of the foolishness of some people the entire clan has to suffer. I will not let this happen again. The Uchiha Clan will be redeemed. I will protect this village and the dreams of my ancestors. Madara Uchiha may have tried to destroy this place, but he also founded this village. The Uchiha Clan and the Elders had tried to rebel against the village in general and died because of them, but they forgot that this was their home. I will keep the dreams of my family alive. I will protect the village Shisui nii. Obito nii, I may have never met you but I will continue your dream and become Hokage and forever change the way of the Uchiha. Tou san. Kaa chan... I will make you proud.

Naruto laid the flowers on the pictures and personally laid more flowers on the graves. He saw that the Clan Heads of Konoha had come and some of them had offered Naruto their condolences. Their children and other members of their families had come as well. There was also a general number of civilians that had turned up as well. The surprising fact was that some of them had offered their condolences as to Naruto. That was a strange experience for him. Usually they throw verbal daggers at him, then Naruto understood the bigger picture.

Trying to gain favors from the Uchiha Clan huh? Figured I was too young and naive. How foolish.

He then saw that Sasuke had a genuine air of sorrow around him and was going to speak to him. He may have been an ass but he was still a clan member. He did not get the chance to. He was surrounded by many civilians one of whom Naruto recognized. The woman in particular had a high pitched voice who had often verbally berate his family. Seeing her, Naruto just walked away. He would have time to speak with Sasuke later. He then walked out. All the time he felt someone was watching him.

Naruto's House, Uchiha Clan Compound.

Naruto activated the privacy seals which he saw from the scroll. Apparently Shisui had gone to great lengths to secure the house with seals. His fascination towards fuuinjutsu had often drawn scoffs from fellow members of the Clan, but Naruto now saw the advantage of it. He would later have to study it to a great extent. He then remembered what Kakashi, a former teammate from his eldest brother Obito's team, had once spoken to Shisui about.

"A single well placed kunai can kill a man who knows over a thousand jutsu."

"Wise words indeed. Now let's get started." Naruto took out a scroll and started to read it. He had already mastered the Academy Basic Three a year ago and was well on his way to learn tree walking. Though his bukujutsu ,without the use of Sharingan still needed more work. According to Shisui and Itachi, Naruto had low jounin level chakra but not much of a control over it. Then he finished reading one of the many scrolls that Shisui had left him.

"Solid clones. Takes up a strenuous amount of chakra. So this is why Shadow Clones are forbidden jutsu. But then again it has mental and muscle memory shared functions, meaning the user receives all the memories and experiences of the Shadow Clone. This may help more than I thought"

Naruto released a sigh and studied the scroll in front of him a bit more.

"I have a lot of work to do."