The shadows

ch47

Naruto was running as fast as he could. A few hours ago, the clones finally managed to find a path that went through a new section. Naruto summoned one of his foxes and informed her that they might need emergency reverse summoning in case something went wrong.

They headed through the tunnel that was discovered. Everything was fine initially, but soon, Shisui found some seals that messed up their plans. The seals were from a layered trap. If they used chakra past that point, they would activate.

The seal had too many layers for Naruto to decipher efficiently, so instead, he made a last batch of clones to go ahead, and they decided not to use chakra anymore. The boys were still going ahead since, even without Sharingan, they had years of training with their dojutsu and were more keen on picking up small details.

They were leading on steadily. Naruto was still completing his map. The clones would go ahead of them if they were suspicious of the existence of a trap or needed to check something. Their progress was slow, but with Naruto's calculations, they should reach an ending soon.

The pressure of the earth grows as people go down since the earth above them weighs down. The temperature would also rise due to volcanic activities in the mountain range. Naruto had rough calculations of how deep they could go based on the structure of the caves and the depth they were in.

They should reach an ending within half a day at their speed or at least head up again. His brain hurt from all the details, but he knew there was no room for mistakes. Naruto kept following the boys as they communicated by signs.

The path was getting narrower, and it was making Naruto worried. He had a bad feeling in his gut, and Kurama was on edge. They were passing through a narrow bridge over a spiked pit when it happened. They felt the ground beneath them shake and a rumbling sound behind them.

It was as if something was getting dragged and rolled behind them like a..... GIANT ROUND STONE. It was the

same size as a tunnel, so there was no escaping to the sides and avoiding the rock, so they started running.

They ran faster and faster, using chakra and Shunshin to get away. Naruto could hear explosions and traps getting triggered behind him, but none of them dared look back. They were following the only path forward, but the downward slope was helping the boulder roll faster.

Suddenly they started seeing some light at the end of the tunnel and pushed through just as the boulder closed the exit. They were kneeling on the ground, panting and taking a moment to take the new area in.

They were there. Finally, they were in an open area that stretched around. The clearing had approximately 20 wooden houses and a few more prominent buildings that were probably storage spaces. There was a rutting area in the whole area.

Naruto quickly took out special masks made for ANBU that also had air-purifying filters in them. They put them on and wore gloves and covers to ensure they would not touch something dangerous. None of Naruto's clones made it, so after a quick check around and not finding any seals, they decided to use chakra again. They weren't sure how safe it was, so Itachi and Shisui turned their Sharingans on, but Naruto didn't make any more clones. They started going through the clearing.

The houses were mostly empty. There weren't any signs of life in the village for a long time. Most of the things were destroyed by the passage of time, but they finally found it. One of the houses had a trapdoor on the ground, which led to a cellar.

Inside was a vault protected by seals. Naruto got started on breaking the seal while Itachi and Shisui went to check the rest of the area.

It took a few hours, but when Naruto finally cracked the vault, they had a better understanding of what happened to the village. Itachi found the notes of the chief in one of the houses and read through them. It started years ago.