Chapter 94: Fireplace

For Naruto, the last months have been much better than before joining the Academy. Then he felt terribly depressed and every day he experienced intense melancholy and loneliness. The Nine-Tailed Fox sitting inside the boy only intensified these unpleasant feelings. He made the boy feel the hatred of those around him. I tried to suppress him and hurt him as much as possible. But, Naruto held on ... All this resentment, loneliness and pain quickly turned into complexes, which he unconsciously tried to overcome. He wanted a family, he wanted recognition, and thus his desire to become Hokage was formed. For a boy who did not understand why he was treated this way, this was the only method. Naruto often felt angry, but unconsciously, he always calmed down. He was unforgiving and just tried to avoid trouble.

After joining the Academy and meeting Shikamaru shortly before, things changed a lot for Naruto. Before that, he tried to train, throw stones, run and pull up. But, he never observed the regime, did not have the correct technique and proper guidance. Therefore, his successes were not particularly outstanding. After meeting a new friend, everything changed.

Of course, Shikamaru didn't give it to him on his own. He only gave the boy motivation, gave a goal to strive for. For a child burning out from loneliness, the desire to know at least the name of his parents, it was a ray of light. Then he met a new friend - Chоji. He was also a friend of Shikamaru and, in contrast, quite helped Naruto with training. In many ways, this is thanks to that slightly lazy fat man Naruto learned so much so quickly.

Of course, the boy's main goal has not changed. He still wanted recognition. He wanted adults who despise him to understand how wrong they were. Even after making friends, he still dreamed of becoming Hokage.

Upon learning today that he had a clan that had long since disappeared, he felt bitter. He didn't know them, nobody. But, nevertheless, he was sad. It is sad to realize that in this world he no longer has a single relative.

From the long and tense silence, Shikamaru turned his head and noticed Naruto's condition. The boy leaned his back against the wall and looked sadly at the photograph. At the sight, Shikamaru sighed and then shook his head and said:

- Maybe your clan and Naruto disappeared, but in this world there are still Uzumaki besides you, you can believe me. Besides, a clan is a clan ... - Shikamaru smiled encouragingly. - For the Hokage, the villagers are family, right?

Naruto looked up in surprise, and noticing Shikamaru's smile, he even felt a little relieved. He began to understand his words about the village. At that moment, his dream of becoming Hokage was strengthened even more.

Feeling that the guy felt better, Shikamaru continued his search. On the account was already the tenth box with various junk. Fortunately, there were many Fuin seals that survived here.

At that moment, Naruto looked at the photo again and smiled sadly, after which he looked at Shikamaru's back.

- Shikamaru?

- Mm? - the guy turned his head and raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

- What was her name?

Glancing at the photo, Shikamaru turned around again. After a moment, he replied:

- Mito Uzumaki is the wife of the First Hokage and the first jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. They say she was a very strong and wise kunoichi. Sealing the bija on your own is not an easy task. Unfortunately, as far as I know, the seal was imperfect ... And the death of her children, her husband, and then the extermination of the clan shook her spirit. Ultimately, she died.

The room fell back into silence again, all that could be heard was Shikamaru's rattling and disgruntled growls.

At the same time, one of the clones in another room found something interesting, and then immediately dispelled, giving a signal to Shikamaru. He was sitting in an office on the second floor with his legs thrown on the table and reading a curious book. When the clone's memories entered his head, he closed the book with a sigh, laid it with the others on a small white scroll, and then folded the seal with one hand:

- Seal!

With cotton, a dozen books disappeared immediately. Having rolled up the scroll, the guy immediately put it in his belt bag and left the office with shining eyes. What he saw from the memories of the clone interested him, he immediately wanted to see it personally.

There were still three of his clones in the building, he did not bother or recall them, but decided to check everything himself.

Going down to the first floor, Shikamaru turned into a room opposite the kitchen. It was a large room, like a living room. Right there, near the center of the fireplace, the clone found something interesting.

Getting closer to that very spot, Shikamaru sat down and examined the inside of the fireplace. Surprisingly, it was absolutely clean, there was absolutely no soot, only a little dust accumulated at the very bottom. But it looks like the fireplace has never been used for its intended purpose. It was brand new, lined with gray bricks, almost all of which had the same markings, in slightly light gray ink. They stood out slightly against the gray brick, but it was still difficult to spot them, especially from a distance.

Shikamaru came here largely because of this and something else ...

On this mantelpiece was a white wood clock covered with a lustrous varnish that hadn't even faded over the years. The watch was as good as new, without any scratches or marks. They were as tall as two palms and as wide as one. The dial was not numbered, rather instead of numbers there were various incomprehensible fuin hieroglyphs that Shikamaru could not understand. In addition, the clock apparently opened, but it was on the handle itself that a yellow piece of paper was stuck, along the edges of which were visible strange marks, and in the middle there was a circular fuin seal. Shikamaru guessed it was a sealing seal, they usually looked the same. But, since his knowledge was terribly scarce, he was not at all sure of this. The printing process was out of the question.

This clock rested peacefully on a gray brick mantel and was the only object in the area that clearly stood out and attracted attention. And the room was empty, as was most of the house. Shikamaru suspected that he was simply cleared of unnecessary things and locked up. But, if there was still a barrier here and Kushina talked about it with the Third, it was definitely not just that.

Shikamaru didn't touch the clock and try to do something stupid, he continued to examine the fireplace. It was clearly not simple, it definitely had some kind of secret or cipher. It remains only to find a clue ...

After activating the Sharingan, Shikamaru quickly ran across the room, and then carefully examined the fireplace, trying to discern even the slightest clues.

"Eighty-eight exactly" - counting the seals on the bricks, Shikamaru smiled. He finally noticed something. The sizes of the seals were different ...

It looked like a weird puzzle, going from largest to smallest, Shikamaru quickly found the smallest seal. But then he frowned again. There was nothing special about her, she was just a smaller version of the others. It looked like an eight, only the shape of this eight was more flattened, and the edges, which should have been rounded, were sharp like spikes.

Frowning, Shikamaru followed the direction of the small seal, it led straight ...

"Hmm, maybe ..." - grinning, Shikamaru stepped forward to the fireplace and pressed his hand almost to the very middle, carefully placing his fingers in a certain sequence. Carving a sharp figure eight out of unsealed bricks.