I, Uchiha, will not be whitewashed!

The Hokage's office, afternoon.

Shuimen pushed a border patrol report onto the corner of the table and looked up at Shuoge. "You've been coming in a bit more often lately."

Shuoge stood before the table, his knife resting against the chair, his mask tucked into his waistband. "There's something I need to tell you."

Shuimen leaned back in his chair, waiting for him to speak.

"Sealing technique," Shuoge said softly. "I need a stronger sealing technique."

Minato's brow twitched slightly. "Why?"

"During the Third Shinobi World War, I faced the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. The Sharingan could only temporarily interfere, not truly suppress him." Sakugo paused for a moment.

"If I had a stronger sealing technique on the night of the Nine-Tails' rampage, Kushina might not have died."

Minato's fingers tightened slightly. Kushina's name came out of Sakugo's mouth very softly, like a blade slicing through paper.

He was silent for a moment, then stood up and walked to the window.

"You want to go to the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools."

Konoha Village has no shortage of sealing techniques.

The Reaper Death Seal, the Four Symbols Seal, the Eight Trigrams Seal—Minato mastered each of them to the highest level.

Shuoge didn't mention any of that; what he asked for was "a stronger sealing technique."

Minato understood.

It's not that Konoha's sealing techniques aren't strong enough; it's that the cost of those techniques isn't low enough.

The Corpse Demon Seal requires a life to be exchanged, while the Four Symbols Seal can only seal for a time.

What Sakugo wants is a power that requires no sacrifice, no compromise, and can truly stand invincible against the Tailed Beasts.

Minato guessed his true thoughts.

"Yes." Shuoge nodded.

Minato looked out the window at the Hokage Rock, his portrait on the far right, his golden hair gleaming in the sunlight.

The Land of Whirlpools, the homeland of the Uzumaki clan, and Kushina's hometown.

Her people's heritage is buried there, as is a part of her childhood.

"The ruins are located in the eastern part of the Land of Fire, surrounded by the sea on three sides. After the fall of the Land of Whirlpools, the area has been abandoned for decades. Other villages may have sent people there as well, but they may not have left anything behind."

"How will we know if we don't go and see for ourselves?"

Minato turned around and looked at him.

Shuoge's expression remained unchanged; his eyes were black and as calm as a still pool.

Minato didn't immediately agree. He leaned back in his chair and looked at Sakugo. "How long will it take?"

"With the travel to and from the destination, plus the search, I hope I have plenty of time."

Minato was silent for a moment, then picked up a pen and wrote a few lines on the blank mission sheet. He signed his name, stamped it with the Hokage seal, and pushed it forward.

"Reconnaissance mission, eastern coast of the Land of Fire. To be carried out independently by the Dark Division. Time limit: one month."

One month. This wasn't the length of time required for a reconnaissance mission; it was the maximum autonomy Shuimen had given Shogo. Shogo took the mission sheet, folded it, and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Who should I take?"

One person is enough.

Minato did not object. "Be careful. Although the ruins are abandoned, it cannot be ruled out that people from other villages are still active there."

Shuoge nodded, turned and left.

……

……

……

Eastern coastline of the Land of Fire.

Shuoge walked alone on the deserted ancient road.

The road was lined with waist-high weeds, which rippled in the wind. In the distance, the sea was gray, and the sky was gray too, making it impossible to distinguish where the water ended and the shore began.

The Land of Whirlpools was once a prosperous island nation, renowned throughout the ninja world for its powerful sealing techniques.

However, in the war of annihilation decades ago, it was divided up by powerful nations, and its people were scattered.

In the decades that followed, waves of people from the five great nations, small ninja villages, and wandering ninja flocked to this ruin, pecking at the legacy of the Uzumaki clan like vultures.

Everything that could be moved was moved, and everything that could be dug out was dug out.

Today, only rubble and weeds remain on the ground.

Before Shuoge came here, he knew that there probably wouldn't be anything waiting for him.

He walked along the ruins for two hours but found nothing.

Only faint carvings remain on the stone slab, the walls are riddled with holes, and even several layers of plaster have been scraped away.

He crouched down, touched the pebbles on the ground with his fingers, and his three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotated behind the mask. There was no trace of chakra, no sign of any sealing technique.

Every inch of this place has been ransacked more than once.

He stood up and kept walking.

---

At dusk, he discovered a camp at the edge of the ruins.

They weren't from Konoha, nor from the Anbu; they were a group of wandering ninjas.

Three people were gathered around a campfire, with an iron pot on top of it. The water in the pot was boiling and bubbling.

They were wearing tattered vests and their ninja tool kits were shrunken; they looked like stragglers who had nowhere to go after the war.

"A wandering ninja, huh?"

Shuoge made no attempt to hide himself and walked straight over.

The first person who saw him placed his hand on a kunai.

The second person stood up, while the third was still stirring the water in the pot. They saw Shuoge's mask—white with a red knife mark—and their hands froze.

"The Anbu..." the first person's voice tightened. "From Konoha?"

Shuoge stood outside the firelight, his knife behind his back, his hands hanging at his sides. "What are you doing here?"

The three men exchanged glances. The one stirring the pot spoke first: "Scavenging. Finding something valuable to sell. There's nothing left here. We've been searching for two days and only found a few broken stone slabs; we can't move them."

"Has anyone found a scroll containing sealing techniques?"

The man laughed, a brief, bitter laugh. "Sealing technique scrolls? They were all looted by the five great nations decades ago. We haven't even seen a single piece of paper."

Shuoge didn't speak. He could tell these people weren't lying. He turned and walked into the darkness.

"Hey!" a voice called from behind. "There's nothing here, don't waste your time!"

Shuoge did not turn around.

---

Night had fallen. Moonlight peeked out from behind the clouds, casting a pale glow on the ruins, making it look like a vast graveyard.

"Minato said that if there is anything left, it can only be in that place."

Sakugo sat down against a collapsed stone pillar, his sword resting across his knees, and closed his eyes. He wasn't sleeping, just letting his body rest. His Sharingan was still spinning, scanning the surrounding chakra fluctuations.

He sensed something.

It wasn't human chakra, but the remnants of a sealing technique. Very faint, it emanated from deep underground, like a heartbeat, rhythmic and gentle. He opened his eyes, stood up, and followed the pulsation.

The disturbance originated from a partially collapsed building in the center of the ruins.

The walls here are thicker and the foundations are deeper than elsewhere, suggesting some important location.

Shuoge entered the building and looked around. In the corner was a stone slab, larger than the others, with no engravings on its surface, but a crack along its edge.

He used the tip of his knife to pry open the stone slab, revealing a downward stone staircase below.

The stone steps are very narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time.

The walls on both sides were inlaid with luminous pearls, most of which were broken, with only a few still emitting a faint light. The air was damp, carrying the smells of mildew and the sea.

He walked for about five minutes, and at the end of the stone steps was a stone door.

The door was engraved with a sealing array, the array patterns gleaming faintly with a blue light in the darkness.

It wasn't an offensive technique, but rather a concealment and sealing technique. He had seen this technique in Konoha's records—the Uzumaki clan's "Sealing Array," used to hide important locations.

The array patterns are intact, indicating that the door has never been opened.

Shuoge crouched down, his Sharingan fixed on the array patterns.

He couldn't understand the Uzumaki clan's ancient script, but he could understand the flow of chakra.

The principle behind the sealing array isn't to prevent entry, but rather to make people forget its existence. If he hadn't deliberately used his Sharingan to search for residual chakra, he wouldn't have discovered this place at all.

He needs to be unsealed.

He hadn't learned the Uzumaki clan's unsealing techniques, but he had the Sharingan, and the Uchiha clan also had sealing techniques.

Moreover, Minato had anticipated this situation before coming, and he taught Sakugo some methods.

"What a terrifying guy, he actually anticipated this much in advance."

Shuoge took a deep breath.

As the three tomoe spun, he analyzed the structure of the technique layer by layer.

It's not cracking, it's imitation.

He adjusted his chakra to the same frequency as the technique, penetrating it layer by layer.

The first layer, the alert lifted. The second layer, the blockade loosened. The third layer, the core of the sealing array unfolded before him, like an intricate net.

He found that crucial point, condensed his chakra into a needle, and gently pricked it.

The array patterns flickered, and the stone door slid open.

Behind the door was a stone chamber.

It wasn't large; the four walls were covered with sealing incantations, and in the very center was a stone coffin.

It's not a coffin, but a container for storing important items.

Sakugo walked over and scanned the stone coffin carefully with his Sharingan. There was no seal on the coffin, and the lid was only slightly ajar.

He pushed open the coffin lid.

Inside lay four scrolls and a skeleton. The bones were yellowed and blackened, and the clothes were tattered to pieces.

Judging from the slenderness of the bone structure, it's a woman.

They might be descendants of the Uzumaki clan, who hid here with the clan's last secret scroll when their kingdom was destroyed, and then died inside.

Shuoge paused for a moment, then picked up the scroll.

The first one, the Vajra Lock. The second one, the Sealing Magic Array. The third one—, the fourth one—

He put the four scrolls into the ninja tool bag and closed the coffin lid.

"A good harvest."

---

As soon as Shuoge stepped out of the stone gate, he heard footsteps.

It wasn't just one person, it was many people.

A surge of chakra descended from above the stone steps, indicating the presence of at least seven or eight people, some of whom were quite powerful.

Sakugo's Sharingan caught their silhouettes—not wandering ninjas, but ninjas from Kumogakure. The cloud-shaped markings on their headbands were particularly glaring in the light of the luminous pearl.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a scar on his face and a short knife in his hand. He saw Shuoge walk out of the stone gate, and his lips twitched slightly.

"Konoha's Anbu? They moved quickly." His gaze swept over the ninja tool pouch on Sakugo's back. "What did they find?"

Shuoge did not speak.

"We are the Cloud Village's investigation team. The Cloud Village has a stake in these ruins." The scarred man took a step forward. "Hand over the items, and I'll let you go."

Shuoge looked at him. The Mangekyou Sharingan activated silently, and three black crescent moons slowly rotated in his red pupils.

The scarred man stopped in his tracks. The people behind him also stopped.

"Kaleidoscope...this sword..." The scarred man's voice changed. "You are Uchiha Sakugo."

Shuoge did not answer. He walked towards the stone steps.

The scarred man took a step back, raised his hand, and gestured for his men not to move.

Shuoge walked past him, his footsteps echoing in the narrow stone staircase.

No one stopped him.

Emerging from the ruins, the moonlight bathed him, casting a long shadow. He walked towards the coastline without looking back.

The people from Yunyin did not chase after them.

---

Back in Konoha, Sakugo handed the scroll to Minato. Of course, he kept a copy for himself.

Minato took it, but didn't unfold it immediately. Instead, he looked at Sakugo. "Have you run into trouble?"

"The ninjas from Kumogakure. There was no fight."

Minato nodded and put the scroll back into the drawer. "I'll take a look at it. If it's useful, I'll let you know."

Shuoge turned and left.