The third week of April began in the same way. She spent more time out of the house than in it, so she barely had time for anything other than training, working at the hospital, reviewing theory, and resting. Naruto and Sasuke received some unexpected news.
"What?! We're getting another teammate?" her brother yelled, somewhere between angry and indignant.
"Don't you remember that the chunin exam requires teams of three?" Kakashi-sensei explained one evening when they all gathered for dinner. "Both your team and Team 10 need a third to sign up for the exams."
"Who is it?" asked Sasuke, getting straight to the point.
"There are only two possible candidates. A girl named Matsuri… and Sasuke's admirer, Sakura."
"Ugh…" Sasuke groaned, slumping into his seat. "Can we choose?"
"Neither candidate seems like a perfect fit for your team dynamic, so I chose Matsuri simply because she won't cause you any issues, Sasuke. The last thing you need is poor coordination in an official exam."
Seina suddenly recalled Sakura's fixed stare when they'd seen her at the restaurant weeks ago. Had Sakura been considering taking the chunin exams even back then? Had she been thinking about replacing her for weeks? She wasn't sure, though it didn't bother her much. At the time, she'd thought Sakura had matured a bit, considering that she clearly saw Sasuke by her side, hiding behind the menu to avoid being seen, and she hadn't said or done anything. But now, she wasn't so certain.
"You'll need to train with her from now on to see what her level is," their teacher informed them. "You don't want to be stuck with dead weight in the exams just because you don't know her abilities. Plus, you'll have some C-rank missions with her so you can learn to work together."
"What happened to her team?" she asked.
"Nothing bad. They just decided not to keep advancing and work with their families' businesses in the village."
Seina frowned as she thought about it. She had never considered remaining a genin for life or working in the village as a civilian. Then again, it made sense. Ninjas earned considerably more than civilians, regardless of rank. Being a genin meant low-risk missions, and combining it like this, many people could live more comfortably as genin than working full time as civilians.
After that, Naruto and Sasuke started meeting a couple of times a week with Matsuri. It turned out her level was ridiculously low compared to Sasuke and Naruto. She wasn't particularly skilled in taijutsu, genjutsu, or ninjutsu. According to Sasuke, Matsuri had confided that she only wanted to become a chunin so she could teach at the academy. Since she had no military ambitions like Sasuke and Naruto, she had focused on mastering academy-level knowledge without stepping out of her comfort zone. In fact, her strength was her theoretical knowledge, so at least she'd help them pass the written portion without much trouble. Oh, and her mastery of shurikenjutsu. Apparently, she could hit targets from tens of meters away with a quick glance.
"In the end, we decided that the dobe and I will handle close-range attacks while she attacks from afar with kunai and shurikens. Plus, her jonin sensei offered to help her learn to set traps, so she can serve as our rear-guard."
"Not bad…" she thought aloud. "Though in Suna, it's harder to set up traps. There's almost no place to hide."
"And how's it going with you?" Sasuke asked.
They were dining alone since Naruto and Kakashi-sensei were on a mission. It was Thursday, so she'd spent the whole morning at the hospital, and in the afternoon, she'd gone to the dojo to train with new opponents.
"Good. I can hardly believe that in a month—or less—I'll be taking the exams…"
"Me neither, honestly. These past few weeks have been total chaos. Since April started, really."
"Tell me about it. I haven't even opened the chest with the things we took from Uzushiogakure. I think I'll take it easy tomorrow and start going through it."
The next day, after returning from the hospital, Seina took the chest and enlarged it in the middle of her spacious studio. As soon as she looked inside, she realized it would take her weeks to organize it, so she summoned a few clones to help her. Most items were economic and legal documents, scrolls with ninjutsu, memoirs from some ancestors, scrolls for learning fuinjutsu, and stolen scrolls. She noticed that although there were many scrolls on fuinjutsu, there were hardly any explanations of fuinjutsu techniques. Could they be in that vault?
"Look at this!" one of her clones said, handing her a scroll. "There are locations marked on a map."
Seina took the old-looking map. It was somewhat yellowed but had been well preserved. She restored it with a bit of magic, watching as the colours brightened and the areas scratched and torn by rubble repaired themselves. It was a map of the Land of Fire and nearby areas. She noticed, in surprise, that there was a mark just a few kilometres from Konoha—maybe 10 or 20 kilometres? Unfortunately, the map didn't indicate what it was. Perhaps it was a safe house, a grave, or a cave with more scrolls… She had no idea.
"Interesting…" she murmured.
She dismissed her clones and stored everything back in the chest, now organized. The chest, of course, was kept in the safest place—her pouch. Honestly, the thought of the map stayed with her over the next few days. If the marked location had no value, they wouldn't have risked including it on a document that could be stolen. They had taken the risk so that another Uzumaki would find it instead of the information being lost to time. By that logic, she felt she had to find out what it was. Whatever it was near Konoha, she knew that if Kakashi-sensei or Lady Tsunade had known about it, they would have told her.
The penultimate Sunday of April, while alone at home, she was called to another mission.
"Another delivery?"
"It's essential documentation for some contracts. The merchant left it behind here. Today we received a note from the jonin we sent to escort him."
"He needs it delivered as soon as possible, right? Where is he?"
"In the Land of Rice Fields. Be careful."
Seina bid farewell to the jonin commander. She sighed, seeing how her day of rest was interrupted. She arrived there with the hiraishin. Then it was just a matter of finding the Konoha jonin escorting the client. It only took her about ten minutes of running to reach them. She found them in a village. The client was nervously sipping sake, while the jonin stood by silently. He noticed her as soon as she slightly lowered her magical shield around her chakra. Using a chakra fluctuation pattern, she made it clear she was from Konoha. She watched as he relaxed, unfolding his arms, and stepped out to meet her in the alley across.
"I assume you have the documents," he said as soon as she was beside him. Seina handed them over. "For a moment, I thought they wouldn't make it in time. Thank you."
"No problem. If that's all, I'll head back to Konoha."
The unknown jonin nodded. Seina left, finding a secluded spot to use the hiraishin back. She had completed a mission in just half an hour that would have taken another person at least a day. The hiraishin was impressive. She started walking to Konoha's gate when she stopped short. She could use the fact that she was already outside Konoha to go check on the map.
She felt a bit guilty as she debated going or not. After all, this was the first time she'd done something not implied or stated in her orders. But, of course, she didn't want to tell anyone what she was looking for because: (1) she didn't know what she was looking for, and (2) if it weren't confidential, someone would have told her there was something related to her clan nearby.
"Go for it. I want to know what it's all about, too," Kurama urged, like a devil on her shoulder.
"Ugh. Fine!"
She quickly took the map from her pouch and set off invisibly toward her destination. First, she used the hiraishin to get to the southern gate and then ran another ten minutes to the marked location. She circled the area, but it was such a large map that the point covered quite a bit of ground. Since she didn't know what she was looking for, she couldn't use her locating spell, so she had to search the old-fashioned way.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."
She climbed onto her thestral to see anything unusual from the air. As soon as she rose above the treetops, she spotted something strange. There was a half-ruined, Japanese-style house just a few hundred meters from where she had taken off. She headed there, feeling a growing excitement, like an archaeologist in search of treasure. Circling the structure, she knew she was in the right place as soon as she saw the spiral above the main door.
The structure was built on wooden beams, likely to keep animals from entering easily. Part of the facade had collapsed, and the wooden fence had fallen to the ground on the right side. The roof was in reasonably good shape except for a few broken tiles and a corner that had lost much of its covering.
"Reparo."
She watched as the structure seemed to turn back in time, repairing itself until it was as good as new. She reinforced all the beams and walls before entering. With her spells, she checked to make sure no one was around, then slowly climbed the stairs. She sent a couple of clones ahead to trigger any protective barriers if there were any, but nothing happened.
It looked like an abandoned home hidden in the middle of nowhere. Had she not seen it from above, she would never have found it; it was extremely well hidden, which only piqued her curiosity further. When she crossed the large door, she realized immediately that this was no safe house or abandoned home—it was a temple. From the doorway, she felt a cold, heavy atmosphere. She froze when her gaze landed on the far wall, several meters ahead, covered in at least a couple dozen demon-shaped masks.
A high-pitched ringing filled her ears, a sound she hadn't heard in over a century. She walked forward slowly, hoping more than anything that this wasn't what she thought it was. As she went deeper, she noticed a stone ritual altar on the floor.
"It's been used recently!" she exclaimed to Kurama, who was silently taking it all in.
The place looked like it had been cleaned recently, though she noticed a few dry leaves that suggested it hadn't been used since last fall. She walked around the altar and stopped a few steps from the wall of masks. One of them stood out, far more powerful than the others.
"Seinaa…"
Seina shivered as a voice came from one of the masks. It had two horns, deep, sunken eye sockets, and an open mouth lined with sharp teeth and two large fangs. Even its ears ended in pointed tips. It was eerie—especially because she could sense it wasn't just any object.
"That mask... it's alive."
Another shiver went down her spine. She used a spell to bring the mask down; it didn't resist. When it was in front of her face, she closed her eyes to try to uncover its truth. In the darkness, she could hear the whispers from the object even more clearly. It wasn't until she touched the mask with her magic, probing its properties, that she realized the truth... it was a horcrux.
The mask dropped to the floor without her letting go, clattering on the wooden floor as it landed face down. But she didn't care—she was horrified. It was the most powerful horcrux she had ever encountered. Suddenly, she felt an intense cold in the room. All her magical senses told her this was no ordinary temple. What had her clan been involved with all those years ago? Not even Orochimaru had managed to create a horcrux with his seal! How could it be possible that this mask was even more powerful than Tom Riddle's diary?
"Don't you see? This mask contains more than one soul."
Her heart raced wildly as she absorbed her discovery and Kurama's words. Could it be possible? Whose souls were inside? How did they end up here? Why? She glanced at the altar on the floor in front of the wall of masks, and her blood ran cold. Could it be that…? Her mind raced.
"It's best if you return before anyone misses you," Kurama advised, with a hint of worry in his voice.
Seina returned the mask to its place with a spell and left the place in a hurry. Before leaving, she, of course, concealed the temple with the Fidelius Charm. She wasn't entirely sure if anyone had been there recently, but the cleaned altar—and not the rest of the floor—suggested that they had. Someone else knew about the temple, and she was almost certain they had used the altar for something. She had so many questions that she didn't even remember how she arrived at Shikaku's office. She had to use her mental barriers to ensure that nothing seemed amiss.
That day, she didn't train anymore. The next day, she used the other genins as a distraction, missing her team back at home. Surprisingly, Kakashi-sensei returned to Konoha from his mission on Tuesday. She found him in the clearing, chatting with other anbu members.
"Good morning, Seina."
"Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?"
"I knew I'd find you here, so I wanted to see how much you've improved."
Seina did her best not to disappoint. She raised her mental barriers to their highest level while she fought four anbu members at once, using her magic to level the playing field in a fight she was otherwise bound to lose. When they finally stopped, all of them breathing heavily, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that her teacher was watching her, his eyes narrowed, calculating. She said her goodbyes, her stomach growling with hunger.
"Is something wrong?" Kakashi-sensei asked as soon as they were alone, walking toward her house.
"Why do you ask?"
The jonin raised an eyebrow, pointing with his eye toward her tense shoulders. As soon as she saw it, her muscles relaxed automatically, but it was too late. He had noticed something was up, of course.
"I'll tell you later."
They walked to the house in silence. Naruto and Sasuke were still on their mission, so she debated whether to tell him what was going on or wait. In fact, did she even want to share what she had discovered?
"You're frowning again," Kakashi-sensei interrupted her train of thought. He placed a hand on her knee, stopping her knee from bouncing.
Seina blinked when she realized her leg had betrayed her again.
"Seina, what's wrong? You're worrying me," Kakashi-sensei said seriously, kneeling in front of her with his hands on her knees.
"Do you remember the documents we went to retrieve in Uzushiogakure? I was organizing them the other day and found a map. There were a few points marked on it," she explained, her teacher listening closely, nodding. "The thing is, one of those points was very close to Konoha, so when I left on a mission on Sunday, on my way back…"
"You went to check it out."
"Yes. It was a ruined temple. I restored it and went inside. There were about 30 demon-shaped masks and a stone altar on the floor. I picked up one of the masks…"
"Seina!" Kakashi-sensei exclaimed with a serious expression. "You didn't pick it up with your hands, did you?"
"Of course not! I'm not an idiot," she shot him an indignant look, though she knew he was speaking out of concern. "The thing is, they aren't normal masks."
"What do you mean?"
"They're alive. At least one of them is a horcrux. A... multiple horcrux. I didn't even know something like that could exist. And worse, I'm certain someone was there recently. Maybe less than a year ago. I think they used the altar," she said in a low voice.
A tense silence fell as both of them processed what that could mean. Kakashi-sensei rose from the floor and sat beside her on the couch.
"Let's take this one step at a time. About the horcrux—you told me one of those is an object with a soul inside, correct? So, that mask you saw had multiple souls, according to you?" She nodded. "Why do you think someone used the altar and that someone was there?"
"They cleaned the altar, but the rest of the floor was littered with debris. Also, I saw a couple of dry leaves on the altar, but nothing else, so I imagine they fell through the broken roof after it was cleaned and used."
"..."
"There are only two ways to use an object like that: to place a soul in it or to extract one," she continued.
"I see. You think someone used it for one or the other."
"Exactly. For now, the temple is hidden under the Fidelius Charm, so no one else can find it. There weren't any masks missing from the spaces on the wall. Probably because they can't be used anywhere else; the altar is required. Taking them would be pointless," she thought, remembering the fuinjutsu inscribed on the altar.
"Good. Then you can put this mystery aside for a few weeks."
"And that's it?" she asked, her nerves on edge.
"Answer this: can anyone find this temple? Does it make any difference if you investigate it now or later?"
"I suppose not... I didn't even know it existed until a few days ago," she blinked, surprised to realize he was right.
"If I were you, I'd wait until after your jonin exams. Forget about it temporarily. No one can access the temple now, so half the problem is solved. We'll look into everything about the masks later."
"You're right."
For the first time in days, she felt her body relax. Kurama had seemed uneasy since they'd discovered the temple, but he hadn't spoken to her. She sensed that he was deeply lost in thought about something she couldn't quite grasp.
"Listen to Kakashi... Sooner or later, we'll uncover the truth about that temple."
Seina yielded to the majority opinion. They were right. Now that she'd hidden the temple, whoever had used it wouldn't be able to do so again. There was no point in worrying when she had plenty of other things to focus on. She was surprised to realize that the nerves she'd been carrying for days had faded within 30 minutes in her teacher's presence.
When Naruto and Sasuke returned from their C-rank mission with Matsuri, she shared her memory of the map, the temple, and then her conversation with Kakashi-sensei. To say her team was astonished by her discovery was an understatement. They accepted that they had neither the time, nor did she, to investigate it right now, though Seina knew none of them would forget about it.
She also remembered the other marks on the map. One of them near Amegakure, another in the south of the Land of Waterfalls. She considered the possibility that they might be other temples, but had to set the thought aside when she realized there was nothing she could do for now. If she were ever sent somewhere nearby, she'd seize the opportunity. Until then… she'd take it easy.
On Thursday afternoon, a couple of days after her talk with Kakashi-sensei and the others, she locked herself in her study to answer the practice exams Shizune had given her. It took a couple of hours to write down everything she thought necessary in the blank spaces. Every time Naruto saw her taking exams, he'd go pale and shiver. But for her, it wasn't that hard. She remembered the exams she'd taken at muggle university... Now that was a new level of difficulty.
"Honestly, every time I see you, I feel less like taking the exam myself," Sasuke confessed that afternoon, "but at the same time, I don't want to be a chunin forever."
"Then you don't have a choice," Seina chuckled dryly. "Besides, weren't you studying theory for the chunin exams?"
"Yes, but I don't have half the material you do. There's no comparison. Luckily, with clones, I study four times faster."
"If only Naruto would start studying ahead of time too."
Seina could already imagine what would happen when Naruto wanted to be promoted to jonin and realized he'd need to study all the required texts. He'd probably try to rope Sasuke and her into tutoring him. She could see it now!
When the last weekend of April arrived, about 15 days before her jonin exam, Kakashi-sensei dragged her to the training grounds. Except for mealtimes, they spent the entire weekend reviewing and training: setting traps, hiding, stalking a target, defensive fuinjutsu barriers, building a shelter, crafting improvised weapons, hunting methods, fishing, and foraging. By the end, Seina was exhausted, even her brain hurt.
She knew that she probably wouldn't need to use most of these skills since she had her magic, but it wasn't bad to brush up on them—and learn new things—just in case.