Chapter 2: The City of the Lost

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Naruto had found several bodies by the time he had stumbled across a weird seal that still held a moderate amount of chakra, carved into a stone floorboard that had yet to succumb to nature that had claimed most of the buildings so far.

During that time Naruto had found several ninja gears and old cloth that hadn't lost their quality. Placing them within the confines of his bag. The building he was in currently was one of the few that had managed to survive. Even though the top three floors were slightly collapsed.

Naruto crouched down, frowning. He had no experience with seals and had no idea what it was for. Perhaps it's activated with blood? Like in a few fantasy books he had read. He took out a kunai and pricked his finger, smearing the small amount of blood that gathered there onto the seal.

Only to scramble away as the very foundations of the building began to shake. Fear made adrenaline shoot through his veins, rushing like a waterfall through his very being. His body tensed ready to bolt at the first sign of the building crumbling. It didn't.

Instead, the stone floorboards began to sink in where the seal had stood, forming stairs that spiralled down into darkness. Shock shot through Naruto, for this, was the last thing he had expected he had thought that some age-old defence would activate. Of course, he was glad that that hadn't happened.

Slowly Naruto raised himself and took slow steps forward. Darkness greeted him. Naruto breathed in softly, the noise so loud within the dead silence of the broken village that it echoed back to him from every corner even as the walls that somehow still held blocked most of the place from sight.

The stairs were solid. Whole. There. Naruto pursed his lips and took the steps tentatively. The way down a lot up as if thousands of fireflies had suddenly filled the passage. He was tempted to turn tail and get as far away from there as he could. But what was the chance that there were bodies down there?

The city was peaceful in its slumber even as he made his way down, the structure didn't shake, didn't break. There wasn't a sound. And the hope that there may have been people that still breathed vanished as soon as Naruto caught sight of the seal that was carved and inked into the ground.

The thousands of paintings of the Tailed Beasts and realised distantly that this was most likely a temple of some sort. Uzumaki was known for their love of the Chakra manifestations after all. He was more focused on the feeling of something stirring and taking note of their surroundings. Its attention was immediately caught by the sight of painted versions of itself.

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