Chapter Thirty-Five: The Clan's Secret Grounds
On the afternoon of the second day, Ryūya arrived at the Akimichi clan's secret grounds.
"Uncle Rōu."
At the entrance to the secret area, Ryūya saw Akimichi Rōu already waiting there and immediately stepped forward to bow respectfully.
Toward this uncle who had supported and protected him at every turn, Ryūya felt genuine respect from the bottom of his heart.
"Kid, make good use of this opportunity. Don't disappoint the clan head's expectations!"
Looking at the calm and steady Ryūya, Akimichi Rōu patted him on the shoulder with a sigh of emotion and offered his encouragement.
Rōu had witnessed Ryūya's dramatic transformation firsthand, and he was also looking forward to Ryūya bringing unexpected surprises to both himself and the clan.
"Don't worry, Uncle Rōu. I definitely won't let you or the clan head down."
Ryūya nodded solemnly.
Those words were not only for Akimichi Rōu, but also for himself.
He was both surprised and deeply grateful that the clan had agreed to his request so readily.
This favor—Ryūya would remember it.
"Mm. Go on."
Akimichi Rōu nodded and gestured for Ryūya to enter the secret grounds.
Ryūya did not hesitate. After nodding back to Akimichi Rōu, he strode into the secret area.
Upon entering, Ryūya discovered that the clan's secret grounds were not particularly mysterious—merely a hidden underground chamber constructed in the core area of the clan.
At the entrance stood two Akimichi clan ninja on guard.
Both were powerfully built, wearing masks engraved with butterfly patterns. They had red armor on their chests marked with the character "Food," standing like two guardian deities protecting the entrance.
Seeing Ryūya arrive, neither of them stopped him. One of them simply nodded and led him deeper into the secret grounds.
Clearly, they had already received instructions from the clan.
The guiding ninja spoke not a word along the way, leading Ryūya several hundred meters inside before stopping in front of a sealed chamber door engraved with the character "Nin."
"Ryūya, right? The clan head has already told us about your situation. This is the clan's secret chamber. You have two days to study here.
During these two days, you must remain inside at all times. We'll deliver meals on schedule. Cherish this opportunity."
Stopping before the chamber door, the clan ninja pressed a hand against the wall. The door slowly opened automatically, then he turned to Ryūya and spoke.
"Thank you, senior."
Ryūya bowed in gratitude.
Although the mask hid the ninja's face and expression, Ryūya could still clearly sense the goodwill directed toward him.
In the Naruto world, where strength reigned supreme, clans with an atmosphere as tolerant and kind as the Akimichi were exceedingly rare.
"Mm. Go on in."
The guiding ninja nodded and said no more.
Seeing this, Ryūya quickly entered the chamber.
The moment his figure passed inside, the heavy door behind him slowly closed once more.
Ryūya wasn't alarmed. Instead, he began carefully surveying the entire scroll chamber.
The Akimichi clan's scroll chamber wasn't large—only a few hundred square meters—but rows of shelves lined the interior, densely packed with various scrolls, numbering in the thousands.
From the information Ryūya had gathered beforehand, most of the scrolls stored here recorded the cultivation experiences of successive generations of Akimichi ninja regarding the clan's secret techniques. There were relatively few actual ninjutsu scrolls.
Before coming, Akimichi Rōu had specifically pointed out several cultivation journals written by particularly powerful clan members—especially those concerning the fundamentals of chakra extraction and release.
By absorbing energy from daily food intake and storing it within the body's fat, then rapidly burning that fat in battle to obtain massive amounts of chakra—this was the true foundation of the Akimichi clan's powerful secret techniques.
In Akimichi Rōu's view, with Ryūya's current abilities, learning the clan's advanced techniques was nothing more than wishful thinking. Building a solid foundation was what truly mattered.
For that reason, while Ryūya had been asking for information, Rōu had repeatedly emphasized these points to him.
What Rōu didn't know, however, was that Ryūya's ultimate goal was to "take away" all the data within the secret grounds.
This opportunity to study inside the clan's sealed chamber was exceedingly rare—there was no guarantee he'd ever get another chance like it.
Because of that, Ryūya had even spent a large sum to purchase two packs of Soldier Pills, to replenish the chakra consumed by the bio-chip while recording data.
After entering the chamber, Ryūya went straight to the shelves marked with the clan's secret techniques and picked up a scroll to begin reading.
Over the next two days, Ryūya completely immersed himself in an endless cycle of reading scrolls, retrieving scrolls, and reading again, unwilling to waste even a moment.
Even when clan jōnin came to deliver meals, Ryūya merely ate enough to fill his stomach before immediately resuming his copying work.
As a result, over the two days, more than eighty clan scrolls were recorded in Ryūya's mind—covering all of the Akimichi clan's secret techniques, numerous cultivation experiences, and even some important historical records of the clan's development.
The harvest was immense.
However, Ryūya paid a price for it.
"Kid, what happened to you?!"
Two days later, when the clan jōnin guarding outside the chamber saw Ryūya, he was so shocked that he instantly flashed forward to support him.
At that moment, Ryūya's body was trembling, his spirit extremely drained. Before he even stepped fully out of the door, he collapsed backward as if completely exhausted.
"I'm fine, senior…"
Leaning in the ninja's arms, Ryūya gave a weak smile. After saying that, he fell unconscious.
After two days of nonstop recording, the chakra in Ryūya's body had been almost completely drained. By the end, he had been relying solely on sheer willpower to persist.
Seeing this, the masked clan ninja flashed away from the chamber.
One day later, Ryūya slowly woke up.
"That was far too reckless! What on earth did you do inside the chamber to deplete your chakra to such an extent? If Torifū hadn't gone in early to check, you might have died there without a sound!"
The moment Ryūya woke up, an enraged voice sounded beside him.
Turning his head, he saw Akimichi Rōu standing by his bedside, arms crossed, glaring at him.
Beside Rōu stood Kyōko, timidly looking on, her eyes filled with worry as she watched Ryūya.
"Sorry to trouble you, Uncle Rōu."
Ryūya didn't argue. Supporting himself with his hands, still weak, he thanked Akimichi Rōu.
"Hmph! You really are a troublesome kid!"
Akimichi Rōu frowned, tossed out that curt remark, and turned to leave.
From the intense light in Ryūya's eyes, it was clear that although his body was still somewhat weak, he had recovered considerably after a day of rest.
There shouldn't be any serious problems.
Reassured, Akimichi Rōu didn't linger. As a clan jōnin, he still had plenty of matters to attend to.
"Ryūya-san, are you feeling better?"
After Akimichi Rōu left, Kyōko—clearly relieved—stepped forward and asked with concern.
"Kyōko, don't worry. I'm fine."
Ryūya shook his head reassuringly, then asked:
"How long was I asleep?"
"Ryūya-san, you were unconscious for a whole day. Uncle Rōu and I were really worried."
Kyōko let out a breath of relief and patted her chest.
"A whole day already…?"
Murmuring softly, Ryūya's thoughts sank into his mind.
In the depths of his memory, the clan scrolls recorded by the bio-chip appeared one after another, like books neatly arranged on shelves in a library.
Clear beyond doubt.
A flash of delight passed through his eyes, and only then did Ryūya's heart truly settle.
The efforts of the past two days had not been in vain after all.