I had fought a lot, but I hadn't faced many life-or-death battles. Perhaps that was why Tsunade's Aura and Chakra Pressure made me unable to resist. I had almost spilled out my deepest secret.
I needed to take more risks. I needed to learn how to fight and counter other Shinobis. But anyway. Once Tsunade withdrew her aura, I bounced back and began thinking straight in a few seconds. Apparently, A clan head can not be subjected to questioning and torture so easily. There needed to be a whole thing with the Elder Council before that. And the Hokage had registered Kurosawa as an actual minor clan since its inception. Which gave me a bit of immunity. Yeah, I too never thought I would thank the existence of that council for anything. Yet here it was.
But the truth was, I won't have the answers when the council asks either. I can't tell them about the system either. I needed to deal with this here. When it wasn't such a big deal. That's when I suddenly noticed the Quest icon blinking. The other quest, Pursuit of Power. Indicated that what I wanted was there in the next room.
But I knew that everything valuable had already been taken away. I decided then and there. I have played it safe for too long now. In my two years here, I could count on one hand the number of times I had chosen to take an actual risk. Honestly, except for the time I confronted the Hokage. I couldn't remember even one. Fortune favors the bold. No Risk No return. So I decided to do the one thing I never did: I gambled.
Of course, I did it against Tsunade. I was a warrior, not a fool.
"Lady Tsunade, if I tell you the truth, you may not believe me."
She looked up.
"Try me."
I took a deep breath. Preparing myself and also setting the proper atmosphere. As if evaluating whether to trust her words or not."
"The truth is that I've always had these feelings," I said slowly, choosing every word with the care of a man walking through a field of exploding tags. "Of things yet to be."
Tsunade's amber eyes narrowed slightly.
"Feelings?"
"Yes," I replied, keeping my voice steady. "It's not something I can explain in normal terms. Sometimes I just… know. When something important is nearby. When danger's about to strike. It's like—intuition, amplified. It's saved my life before."
The blonde sannin crossed her arms, the faint smirk on her lips vanishing into a colder, harder line. "You expect me to believe you just felt your way to the last surviving Uzumaki child?"
The weight in her voice could have crushed stone.
Around us, the Fuinjutsu experts and Interrogation teams' jaws dropped. As if asking - Is this guy an idiot? At least make a better excuse. The silence in the room became suffocating. I could feel several chakra signatures flaring subtly.
I exhaled through my nose. "No, Lady Tsunade. I expect you to test me."
Her eyebrow rose slightly, the barest flicker of curiosity beneath suspicion.
"You think you can lie your way past me, boy?" she asked, stepping closer. "Your records say you're a tag-maker. Barely two years of experience as a genin. You just happened to wander into a wartorn land, find the only living heir of the Uzumaki, and claim it was a feeling?"
Her tone made it sound like an insult.
I didn't flinch.
"Then prove it," she added flatly. "If your 'feeling' is real—show me something none of my specialists can see."
That was my opening. The gamble I had been waiting for.
I smiled slightly, meeting her gaze without blinking. "If I do, you'll owe me a favor."
The words made the temperature in the room drop. Every shinobi present turned toward me like I'd just asked the Hokage for his hat.
Tsunade chuckled humorlessly. "A favor? You've got some nerve."
"Yes, it's a bet," I said calmly, trying to hook her legendary gambling addiction. "If I can show you something even your fuinjutsu masters missed—something valuable, hidden right under your noses in these very rooms—then you'll grant me one request. Just one. Within reason."
"The masters missed?"
"Yes, that feeling tells me there's something worth excavating left in these halls."
The masters took offense. "We have scoured the entirety of the halls and referenced the blueprints left by the clan head and Lady Mito herself."
Tsunade's golden eyes narrowed again, sharp and predatory. "And if you're wrong?"
"Then I'll take whatever punishment you see fit," I said without hesitation. "Including the kind that makes the man hanging there look merciful."
That earned me a flicker of interest from the sannin. Maybe even a trace of respect. She tilted her head. "You realize who you're gambling with, boy?"
"Yes," I said. "A woman who hates losing."
That did it. For the first time, her lips twitched in a faint, dangerous smile.
"Fine," she said at last. "Show me your miracle. If you fail, you'll be scrubbing the hospital floors until your fingers bleed."
"And if I win?"
"You would have proven your words."
"I could do that to the council. I want that favor now."
"What is it?"
"In the room we're going, I don't know what is there and what is not. And I honestly have no interest in its treasure. Just in one. The favor is that I will take one thing of my choice from what we discover, no questions asked."
She paused. This was tricky. Personal favors are one thing. But all of this is village property.
"All of this is village property."
"It's not if you can't even find it."
She smirked. "Fine, Agreed". A rising hand silenced the protests that arose.
We moved deeper into the sealed ruins of Uzushio's vault. The air smelled of old salt and scorched parchment—like the aftermath of a storm. We arrived at the main hall itself.
The ruins had already been combed over by some of the best seal-breakers in the alliance. Scroll racks stripped bare, floors carved with barrier symbols, even the blood wards had been dissolved.
To anyone else, the place was empty.
But not to me.
The moment I crossed the threshold, I felt it—a pulse, faint and rhythmic, like a heartbeat buried beneath stone. The system's icon flickered again, right in the corner of my vision. Quest — Pursuit of Power.
Tsunade stood beside me, arms folded. "Well? This is it. Everything's been cleared. Don't tell me your 'feeling' vanished."
I ignored her sarcasm and slowly traced my hand along the stone floor.
There—beneath the broken symbol of the Uzumaki spiral—chakra threads hummed. Weak. Fragmented. But still alive. Suddenly, I saw my SS plummet, and A rune pattern emerged from the system. Can they be used as emergency power? I was shocked. But I had a job to do right now.
I reached for my brush, channeling chakra through the bristles, and began sketching a reversal pattern. The seals shimmered faintly, like ink remembering its shape after years of sleep.
One of the specialists scoffed. "We already checked that—"
The floor clicked.
A low vibration rumbled through the chamber. Dust fell from the ceiling. And then, with a deep grinding noise, a square panel of stone slid open, revealing a narrow stairway spiraling downward into pure darkness.
Every shinobi in the room froze.
Tsunade's expression shifted—first surprise, then grudging acknowledgment. "I'll be damned," she muttered. "A secondary vault. Even the fuinjutsu teams missed this."
I stepped aside and gestured. "After you, Lady Tsunade."
She gave me a sharp look. "You first, Kurosawa. You're the one with the feelings."