Sasuke fell silent, lost in thought.
As Arata and Sasuke spoke, Naruto and Sakura were completely confused.
They had no idea what the two were talking about.
All they knew about the Uchiha clan was:
They'd been a powerful family—
and now, they were gone.
Sasuke looked at Arata, hesitating.
"Maybe. His Sharingan was very strong."
Arata could tell Sasuke had begun to accept that there really was a Sharingan above the three-tomoe form.
He continued:
"Maybe your clan's books recorded something about it."
From how Sasuke behaved after the Fourth Great Ninja War in the original timeline, Arata knew one thing for sure:
Danzō hadn't taken all of the Uchiha's documents.
He'd probably focused on anything related to the Sharingan.
Clan history? Traditions? That kind of thing wouldn't interest him.
Sasuke suddenly remembered something.
"Our clan's shrine might have records on this."
Arata asked:
"You know where it is?"
"Want to go check it out?"
Urged on by Arata, Sasuke stood up.
"Let's go find it."
Arata got up as well.
"Then let's go. There might even be something about your brother's Sharingan written there."
Sasuke's brows knit instantly.
"He's not my brother."
He hated hearing Arata call Uchiha Itachi "his brother."
That man had slaughtered his entire clan.
No matter how good their relationship had been before, Sasuke could never forgive him now.
Arata raised a hand slightly.
"My bad. Let's just go. I'd like to learn more about your clan anyway."
He turned to the others.
"Naruto, Sakura—are you coming?"
Naruto and Sakura, who'd been wearing the same blank expression for a while now, immediately snapped out of it.
"We're coming! Of course we're going!"
To them, this whole thing just felt like a dungeon exploration game.
In the past, the Uchiha Shrine never would've allowed outsiders in.
But now the Uchiha were gone.
Sasuke had no reason to care.
Before long, he brought them to the shrine.
It was a bit weathered, but clearly still being maintained.
Most likely by people from the village. After all, this had once been the Uchiha's shrine.
Even if it was just for show, Konoha couldn't let such an important building fall apart.
They arrived at the entrance.
The atmosphere here was even more oppressive than the empty streets outside.
Sakura and Naruto were terrified.
Sakura couldn't stay calm anymore—she gripped Sasuke's sleeve tightly.
Naruto clung to Arata's arm, looking around nervously, as if something might jump out at any moment.
Arata was speechless.
But he knew Naruto's personality very well.
For all his loud bravado, his courage wasn't actually that big.
So Arata let him cling.
Inside, the shrine's main hall was lined with memorial tablets for the ancestors of the Uchiha.
Sasuke stared at them, dazed.
He hadn't come here in a long time.
Nothing had changed.
Arata stood before the row upon row of tablets, each carved with a name.
He could feel how powerful the Uchiha had once been.
Anyone with a tablet here had to have been a clan powerhouse.
There were over a hundred tablets—
which meant over a hundred strong Uchiha had once fallen in battle.
Facing them, Arata bowed deeply.
He wasn't just here to dig up the Uchiha's secrets for Sasuke's sake.
He was genuinely interested in their history.
The public library in Konoha had records on the Uchiha, sure—
but nothing detailed.
Seeing Arata bow to the tablets, Naruto and Sakura, not really understanding, still followed his lead and bowed a few times as well.
Sasuke watched them, moved despite himself.
He remembered coming here as a child—
the way his clansmen would solemnly offer prayers to these tablets.
But now…
No one came anymore.
After the quiet offering, Sasuke led them to the back of the shrine.
Behind the main hall, there was a huge stone slab lying flat against the floor.
Sasuke pointed at it.
"I used to see clansmen entering the lower levels from here. There's a chamber beneath the shrine—that's where we kept clan records."
"But I don't know how to open it. Back then, my father brought me down."
Naruto and Sakura didn't say a word.
They didn't understand—but they felt they were seeing a completely different world.
For the first time, they truly sensed the enormous gap between ninja clans and ordinary civilians.
Arata studied the stone slab in silence, then turned to Sasuke.
"I think the method to open it is written right on the stone."
"Those strange characters are probably the key."
"Try reading them with your Sharingan. You should be able to understand them."
Sasuke froze.
He'd come here several times before, but had never managed to figure it out.
And he'd never once thought to use his Sharingan on the text.
But with Arata saying this, it suddenly didn't seem impossible.
He stepped up to the stone, eyes narrowing.
Chakra surged into his pupils.
"Sharingan."
In an instant, his eyes turned scarlet.
When he looked at the stone again—
The previously unreadable script suddenly made perfect sense.
Sasuke's face lit up.
"Arata, you were right. The method to open it really is written here."
Arata smiled.
"I figured. Your clan would definitely use a method only Uchiha could interpret."
Sasuke nodded.
"I really never thought of this before."
"So that's how it is…"
Reading the inscription, he quickly grasped the unlocking method.
When he'd finished, he turned to Arata.
"I know how to open it now."
Arata knew exactly what he wanted to do and tugged Naruto and Sakura a few steps back.
Both of them had been confused this entire time.
Weren't we supposed to be training?
How did this turn into an adventure quest?
To them, this was now a full-blown secret-base exploration.
And the gloomy environment only made it feel more like a game.
Sasuke stood in front of the slab, forming hand seals.
"Seal Release."
He slapped his palm onto the stone.
Chakra poured into the slab—
And it began to move.
Boom… boom… boom…
The heavy stone rumbled as it slid forward.
Dust shook loose from the ceiling, filling the air.
When the slab finally moved aside, a hidden passage appeared beneath it.
Sasuke's eyes shone.
He was finally going to learn the secrets of the Sharingan.
Arata was just as excited.
He was about to learn the true history of the Uchiha.
He had no real interest in their ninjutsu.
Most of the Uchiha's techniques were built around the Sharingan—
and he had no Sharingan to use them with.
But their history?
That, Arata was very interested in.
His memory of it from his previous life was already patchy, blurred by time.
And even back then, the anime had never gone into truly detailed depth on the Uchiha's full history.
Beside him, Sakura and Naruto felt like they'd just unlocked a hidden treasure vault.
In their minds—
This wasn't research.
This was a secret dungeon.
And they'd just opened the door.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 50 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/MrSenpai0