Konoha: This Uchiha is extremely sneaky

Chapter 67 Basement

That evening, at the rear hall of the Uchiha clan's inner shrine,

The "Solution" was completed with the hand seal of an elderly man with gray hair and a kind face.

A soft rumbling sound, like stones rubbing against each other, rang out. Then, a huge stone slab, nearly a foot thick and almost two square meters in area, slowly rose up.

"Toshiro, come with me!"

After saying this, without waiting for Toshiro's reaction, Fugaku Uchiha nodded to the old man beside him and led the way towards the basement.

This is the shrine of the Uchiha clan, where many deities worshipped by the clan are enshrined, such as the god of destruction Susanoo, the fire god Kagutsuchi, Amaterasu, and Takemikazuchi, among others.

This is also the ancestral hall of the Uchiha clan. After each clan member's soul returns to the Pure Land, a memorial tablet is erected here for relatives to mourn.

This old man was appointed by the family to be the priest and head priest of this shrine. His main duties were to worship the gods who had been worshipped throughout the generations and to pray for the deceased members of the family. He was also responsible for guarding the family's secret meeting place and this secret room.

Of course, he wasn't the only priest at the shrine; he also had a priest and four shrine maidens. They were responsible for receiving clansmen who regularly came to offer incense, draw lots, and pray for blessings, as well as the occasional tourist from the village.

In the shrines of the Land of Fire, there is usually a chief priest, and below him is the acting chief priest. When the chief priest is not present, there is the acting chief priest, who is the second-in-command and is responsible for handling shrine affairs when the chief priest is not present.

Below the Chief Palace Officer is the Assistant Palace Officer, who is similar to the Palace Officer's secretary and mainly plays an assisting role.

Below the 禰宜 is 权禰宜, who is responsible for handling and completing the tasks assigned to the aforementioned positions.

The chief priest is primarily responsible for all sacrificial matters. Sometimes, the priest may also serve as the chief priest, but in terms of status, the chief priest is not as important as the priest.

Next is the priest, a staff member of the shrine. The priest is also a staff member (although this position is usually appointed by the government).

A shrine maiden is a common shrine employee responsible for selling amulets, exchanging fortune slips, and performing Kagura dances. While generally female, this is not an exclusive female religious position.

Of course, this only refers to the shrine staff within the Uchiha clan, so some reduction is to be expected.

After a hurried bow to the old man, Toshiro followed Fugaku down the steps.

We passed through a dark tunnel.

Then we arrived at the main room of this basement, which was square in shape. The area was not large, but it was not small either, about forty or fifty square meters.

There was a candlestick in each of the four corners, and the candles on them had already been lit by Fugaku, who had come down earlier. The dim candlelight entered his eyes and illuminated the entire basement.

In the center of the basement are two enormous sandalwood bookshelves and a granite pedestal with a black flame relief.

Unlike the somewhat cluttered archives within the family compound, every book, scroll, and note here is neatly categorized and arranged.

Even the materials used to record this knowledge are quite different from those used in regular archives; they are significantly more durable, easier to preserve for a long time, and also more valuable.

[The Uchiha clan's confidence is truly extraordinary!] Looking at the furnishings in the basement, Toshiro couldn't help but sigh.

One of the bookshelves was labeled with five elements: fire, thunder, wind, earth, and water. Under each label, there were anywhere from several hundred to several dozen scrolls stacked quietly.

These are all various elemental ninjutsu collected by the Uchiha clan over a thousand years. Possessing the Sharingan, they have an unparalleled advantage in this area.

Among them were more than a dozen scrolls, quite different from the others. They appeared much thicker, and the information wasn't recorded on paper, but rather on the leather of some unknown creature. The bearings were also made of a jade-like material. Toshiro couldn't help but secretly wonder, were these all S-rank?

Another bookshelf is labeled with sealing techniques, runes, curse seals, and illusion techniques. There are also many exquisite scrolls, like the one next to it, that appear to be S-rank ninjutsu, but without specific labels, it's difficult to determine their authenticity.

On the central stone platform were several enormous scrolls, each over half a meter long. These scrolls were also unmarked, but their size alone indicated that they were extraordinary.

"These are all secret techniques collected by the family over the years!" Fugaku's voice rang out as his gaze moved back and forth between the bookshelves, signs, and scrolls.

"The first bookshelf contains the family's collection of standard ninjutsu over the years. All of them are at least C-rank, with more than a dozen reaching S-rank."

Seeing Toshiro looking over, he introduced them one by one. His eyes were filled with pride and self-satisfaction.

He merely glanced at the boy's expression, ignoring his surprise, and instead began to introduce him in a proud tone.

"The other bookshelf contains records of sealing techniques, barrier techniques, common illusion techniques, and some secret techniques collected by the family. However, some of these secret techniques are incomplete, but they are still of great reference value!"

"And on this granite platform, those enormous scrolls contain records of Fire Release scrolls, Illusion Scrolls, Yin-Yang Release scrolls, and forbidden techniques!"

The scrolls containing these secret techniques were accumulated little by little by the Uchiha clan since the Warring States period.

The Fire Release scroll is the culmination of countless Uchiha predecessors' efforts in the nature and form transformation of Fire Release.

The Genjutsu Scroll records exclusive Sharingan genjutsu that can only be used by those who have awakened their family's bloodline limit.

This Yin-Yang Release scroll contains the Yin Release portion, which is virtually unique in the entire ninja world. While the Senju clan has achieved considerable success in Yang Release, it still lags behind in skill.

As for the last section on forbidden techniques, it not only records "Izanagi" and "Izanami," but also some ninjutsu with extremely high risks and exceptionally tragic outcomes.

"Apart from the 'Illusion Scroll' and the 'Forbidden Scroll,' which can only be practiced after awakening the Sharingan, you can choose any of the others, copy them here, and take them home to practice."

"Given your outstanding performance in the graduation test, the clan leader specifically instructed that you cherish this hard-won opportunity."

Upon hearing this, Toshiro turned his head to look at the hidden treasure in the entire basement.

In the dimly lit basement, looking at the large bookshelves and several huge scrolls on the stone platform in front of him, Uchiha Toshiro was momentarily overwhelmed by indecisiveness.

He genuinely wanted to move all the documents in the entire basement to his own home so he could slowly peruse them one by one. However, things don't always go as planned.

(End of this chapter)