Chapter 560: Treasure Hunting
"You actually found a treasure map?"
Kenichi looked at Sasuke with a strange expression.
For a moment, he genuinely did not know what to say.
Hadn't they just talked yesterday about the Uchiha Clan having no treasure maps?
How had one suddenly appeared overnight?
Could this little brat have drawn it himself?
"Well, while I was tidying up last night, I remembered what Naruto said, so I went through some old things and accidentally found this."
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
He could clearly see the suspicion in Kenichi's gaze.
Did Kenichi seriously think he was that kind of person?
Would Sasuke really draw a fake treasure map just to trick Naruto?
Kenichi scratched his head.
He had not expected Sasuke to adapt so quickly after awakening his Sharingan and learning the truth about the Uchiha Clan.
Of course, deep hatred was still hidden within the boy's eyes.
Naruto immediately crowded closer.
Sasuke unfolded the paper in his hand.
An incredibly old looking map appeared before them, with a route marked across it along with several strange characters.
Kenichi stared at the writing.
He could not read it.
He had absolutely no idea what those characters meant.
"Whoa! This has to be a treasure map!"
Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement.
Kenichi really wanted to tell him that it probably was not.
Unfortunately, he knew very little about the map himself, and the terrain drawn on it differed somewhat from modern maps.
"This is Naka Shrine, the ancestral shrine of the Uchiha Clan."
Sasuke pointed at one location.
"My father once told me that the Uchiha Clan compound used to be around here."
Kenichi examined the map.
Judging from the relative coordinates, the location indicated on it seemed to be roughly twenty kilometers away from Konoha.
That was not particularly far.
Kenichi remembered visiting somewhere near that area during one of their previous missions to capture a runaway cat.
It was a valley surrounded by steep cliffs and difficult terrain.
If the map really pointed there, then it was certainly possible that something had been hidden in the area.
The terrain was extremely rugged.
Aside from the river flowing through it, there was practically nothing there.
There was not even much reason for anyone to visit the place for fishing.
"Do you two want to go?"
Kenichi scratched his head.
He was not particularly interested in treasure hunting himself.
But when he saw the excitement on his younger brother's face, he could not bring himself to refuse.
That would feel a little too cruel to Naruto.
Besides, it was rare for Naruto to become this interested in doing something.
They still had plenty of time today.
Going there would not interfere with training either.
Once they found the treasure, or whatever was actually hidden there, they could simply come back and continue accepting missions.
"Yeah!"
Naruto nodded immediately.
Sasuke also wanted to go.
He wanted to see whether they could find anything connected to the Uchiha Clan.
More importantly, the map had fallen from an old book while he was rapidly flipping through its pages.
It had been hidden extremely well.
If Sasuke had not been going through the book so hastily, he probably would never have noticed it.
That made him believe there really might be something belonging to the Uchiha Clan at the marked location.
Whatever it was, Sasuke wanted to see it.
He wanted to know what his ancestors had hidden and why even his own father had apparently known nothing about it.
"Then let's go."
Kenichi shrugged.
"Twenty kilometers isn't far."
And so Kenichi, accompanied by the excited Naruto and Sasuke, prepared their things and set out.
However, Naruto and Sasuke were both genin.
Under normal circumstances, they would need to report to their jonin instructor before leaving Konoha.
Kenichi knew that reporting the treasure map directly might create unnecessary complications.
After all, this involved a possible secret of the Uchiha Clan.
There were plenty of people in Konoha who had taken an excessive interest in the Uchiha.
Danzo Shimura had been one of them.
He had kept an especially close watch on the clan and had even entertained thoughts of interfering with Naruto.
So Kenichi simply brought Naruto and Sasuke to the mission hall and accepted an ordinary D-rank assignment.
Once again, their mission was to find a cat.
"Grandpa Hiruzen, isn't Kakashi-sensei coming with us?"
After accepting the mission, Naruto looked at Hiruzen with exaggerated curiosity.
"There's no need."
Hiruzen chuckled.
"You're already ninja who have successfully completed a C-rank mission. A simple D-rank assignment like this doesn't require your jonin instructor to accompany you."
Hiruzen had assigned Kakashi to deal with other matters.
The Chunin Exams were approaching, and Konoha had a great deal of preparation to handle.
Then Hiruzen smiled and deliberately asked whether they really needed a jonin instructor for such an easy mission.
Naruto immediately took the bait.
"Of course not! We can handle it ourselves!"
That saved Kenichi some trouble.
Hiruzen watched the two young members of Team 7 leave with Kenichi.
Then he turned away.
With Kenichi accompanying them, there was nothing he could realistically do.
Send someone to secretly follow them?
That would simply be courting death.
And so, Kenichi successfully slipped Naruto and Sasuke out of Konoha.
The guards at the village gates found nothing unusual about it.
After all, runaway cats sometimes hid in the forests outside the village.
"Sasuke, where's that Naka Shrine you were talking about?"
Naruto asked curiously.
Ever since they left Konoha, he had transformed into a walking question machine.
"It's Naka Shrine, and it should be around there."
Sasuke corrected him before pointing in one direction.
Kenichi recalled the treasure map and pointed toward the approximate location.
"It should be somewhere over there."
Then he casually added, "Let's race. Whoever loses has to wash the socks."
The instant Kenichi said the word "loses," Naruto and Sasuke's expressions changed dramatically.
Both boys shot forward without hesitation.
As they ran, they glanced at each other.
For one brief moment, there was perfect understanding in their eyes.
You don't want to wash big brother's stinking socks either, right?
Comrade.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
Then he crouched slightly.
Bang!
He kicked off the ground with tremendous force and instantly leaped more than ten meters.
And he was still wearing his weighted training gear.
By the time the scorching sun had soaked Kenichi in sweat, the three finally reached the location marked on the treasure map.
A river rushed through the canyon below.
A cool breeze passed through the valley, causing Kenichi to release a long, satisfied breath.
"All right, Sasuke. You lost."
Kenichi smiled.
"Remember, you're washing the socks."
Sasuke was sprawled across the ground.
He had actually lost to Naruto!
Naruto triumphantly raised two fingers in a victory sign.
He knew perfectly well how terrifying his older brother's physical abilities were.
So from the very beginning, Naruto had never considered competing with Kenichi.
He only needed to beat Sasuke.
As long as he ran faster than his teammate, he would not have to face the hell known as washing stinking socks.
That was absolutely worth the effort.
"According to the treasure map, it should be somewhere around here."
Kenichi carefully examined the surrounding terrain.
The area itself was relatively flat, except for the narrow canyon running through the middle.
Its walls were steep, while the river below flowed rapidly.
Naturally, terrain like this posed no serious problem to a ninja.
For ordinary people, however, this was hardly a place anyone would choose to fish.
Even fishing from above would be inconvenient because the drop into the canyon was considerable.
Anyone genuinely interested in fishing would be much better off heading farther downstream, where the terrain became gentler and there were places to sit comfortably near the water.
Kenichi had to admit that this really was an excellent place to hide something.
"Big brother, why can't we find the X?"
Naruto ran around anxiously.
He had already searched for quite a while, yet there was no obvious X anywhere on the ground.
"I don't know."
Kenichi shook his head.
"Normally, there should be some kind of landmark or marker showing exactly where the treasure is hidden, but there's nothing like that here."
He could not find anything either.
In something like Pirates of the Caribbean, the map would lead you to a beach where you could simply dig until you hit the treasure.
But this area was far too large.
Most of the canyon was surrounded by solid rock, making digging impossible.
There was soil farther away, but it did not line up properly with the X on the map.
"Sasuke, are there any clues?"
Naruto finally collapsed onto the ground.
The weather was unbearably hot.
"No. Just the X."
Sasuke shook his head.
He pulled out the map again and examined it closely.
There were no additional markings.
Only a single X at this location.
Kenichi took the map from him and studied it.
Based on the exact position of the X...
Could the treasure be somewhere on the cliff?
"Naruto, use your tree climbing training and check the canyon walls for any hidden doors."
Kenichi pointed downward.
There was no point continuing to stand around up here.
He did not know what exactly the Uchiha Clan had hidden, but searching thoroughly was the only reasonable choice.
"Okay, big brother!"
Naruto immediately jumped to his feet.
If his big brother said the treasure might be down there, then the treasure had to be down there.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Naruto.
After spending so much time together, he had come to understand something.
Naruto had an almost blind faith in Kenichi.
Whatever Kenichi said, Naruto instinctively assumed it was correct.
Then Sasuke saw Kenichi climb down the canyon himself.
He immediately followed.
He could hardly remain standing up there by himself.
The three searched until the sun began to set and the worst of the heat finally faded.
Eventually, they climbed back onto the rocks above the canyon.
They had found nothing.
"Could it have been washed away?"
Naruto lay panting heavily.
He was exhausted.
"I don't know."
Sasuke had no desire to move either.
Spending so long climbing around the rock walls had consumed an enormous amount of chakra.
Kenichi took several deep breaths and adjusted his condition.
At the same time, he began thinking about what they might have overlooked.
Sasuke had discovered the treasure map hidden so carefully inside an old Uchiha text.
That alone suggested it should contain something important.
Surely the ancestors of the Uchiha Clan had not simply become bored one day and drawn a fake treasure map to prank their descendants.
That would have been far too ridiculous.
"It couldn't be underwater, could it?"
Naruto complained.
"If it is, wouldn't the treasure get completely soaked?"
Kenichi suddenly froze.
He picked up Sasuke's map again.
This time, he estimated a proper scale and carefully calculated the position.
Then he realized something.
The center of the X was indeed directly in the middle of the canyon.
And what lay in the middle of the canyon?
Nothing except the rushing river.
If every other possibility had been eliminated...
Could the map really be pointing toward something beneath the river?
Kenichi abruptly sat upright.
Naruto and Sasuke were startled by his sudden movement.
"Naruto, you really are smart."
Kenichi smiled and patted Naruto on the head.
Then he excitedly walked toward the center of the canyon.
They had found no hidden doors on the surrounding cliffs.
There were no landmarks nearby either.
That meant the river itself really was the most likely possibility.
There was only one problem.
The water was deep and flowed extremely quickly.
Searching the bottom would not be particularly easy.
Of course, that was only true for ordinary people.
For ninja, neither the depth nor the current posed a serious problem.
"I'm going down to check."
Kenichi immediately jumped into the canyon.
Naruto and Sasuke rushed toward the edge and watched him disappear into the raging river.
"Big brother, wait for me!"
Naruto jumped after him without the slightest hesitation.
Sasuke immediately understood what Kenichi intended to do.
He followed as well.
The moment Kenichi entered the water, he took a breath and dove beneath the surface.
The river was deeper than expected.
Visibility near the bottom was poor.
Still, Kenichi had a solution.
He surfaced again, pulled out a pair of goggles, put them on, then dove back beneath the water.
At the same time, he stretched his hands toward the riverbed.
The bottom was cold and covered with countless smooth pebbles.
Kenichi frowned.
After examining the area for a moment, he surfaced again.
Naruto and Sasuke emerged nearby.
"Big brother, there's no way we can find anything like this."
Naruto wiped water from his face in frustration.
Sasuke nodded.
They could barely see anything underwater.
And with the bottom covered in countless pebbles, how were they supposed to locate a hidden entrance?
"Looks like we'll have to divert the river."
Kenichi turned and looked upstream.
The simplest solution was to build a temporary dam.
If they blocked the river for a short period, the water downstream would drain away and expose the riverbed.
Then the three of them could quickly search the area before the water returned.
The river was deep, but it was not especially wide.
With three people searching together, they would not need much time.
"Sasuke, Naruto, you two climb back up first."
Kenichi patted both boys.
"I'll block the river."
Naruto and Sasuke returned to higher ground.
Kenichi then performed a high level Earth Release ninjutsu.
The earth surged upward and easily cut off the river's flow.
The barrier was sturdy enough to give them plenty of time to search.
Without fresh water feeding into this section, the water level inside the canyon began dropping almost immediately.
Before long, the riverbed was exposed.
"Quick, come down and help search."
Kenichi rubbed his hands together.
If they still found nothing after this, then he really would have to give up.
The three descended onto the exposed riverbed.
Smooth pebbles shifted beneath their feet.
There was also a layer of mud and silt covering much of the bottom, making it difficult to identify anything that might resemble a hidden door.
Naruto and Sasuke began searching rapidly.
Kenichi followed them with a faint smile.
In truth, he had already discovered where the hidden entrance was.
But if he simply solved everything himself, the entire treasure hunt would become boring.
So Kenichi leisurely followed behind the two boys, curious to see how they planned to find it.
Sasuke was already beginning to lose hope when Naruto suddenly shouted.
"Sasuke, over here!"
....
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