"This place…" Ino, wearing a thin green sweatshirt and a hood, looked back at the dark red torii, "How long has it been since anyone's been here?"
Hearing this, Naruto thought for a moment and realized that the last Uzumaki Clan's member in Konoha was probably Kushina.
"About ten years, maybe more."
"Huh?" Ino shivered a bit. "It's only been ten years and it's already this rundown?"
"Isn't it possible that it was already abandoned over a decade ago?" Naruto couldn't help but correct her, "This is the shrine of the Uzumaki Clan. No one has been here for a long time."
"Huh? The Uzumaki clan?" Ino looked at Naruto.
"I just found out about this myself." He said with a smile, "Even though I share the same surname, that's all there is to it. I don't know anything else about them."
A broken water tank in the yard caught Ino's attention. She was about to walk over when Naruto grabbed her.
"Where are you going?"
"There's a water tank over there." She pointed to a corner filled with rubble. "Something seems off about it."
"Don't wander around here." Naruto glanced at Ino with a complicated look, "That thing is not a water tank. Look again."
"But that clearly a water tank…" Ino was a little confused and turned around to look again.
In the overgrown corner, there was no water jar, only a pile of white bones that could belong to either a human or an animal. Surrounding the bones were several eerie purple flowers.
"Ah!" Ino was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat. She didn't expect that it was actually an illusion.
"I could've sworn I just saw..."
"It's fine. Just don't get close to it." Naruto pulled her back and held her hand. "This place isn't particularly dangerous. Just stick with me and you'll be okay."
This is a dilapidated shrine, and to put it bluntly, it is just an empty grave. Naruto wasn't too concerned, as the only thing he wanted was the masks hanging in the shrine.
He lightly kicked the door open. The shrine was empty, with only some fallen debris on the floor. The hollow interior was so quiet that the only sounds were their footsteps.
A gust of wind blew through, making the broken door creak.
"Naruto, did you… do you hear that? It sounds like someone's laughing." Ino gulped and kept repeatedly glanced behind her as if something was following them.
"I don't hear anything." Naruto replied without change of expression.
"Now it sounds like crying." Ino almost pressed her whole body against him, gripping his hand tightly, "Naruto, should we leave this place first?"
Ino's voice trembled, and Naruto could feel Ino's grip on his hand growing stronger. She was still quietly trying to back out, and her mumblings echoed faintly in the empty hall.
She suggested that they should bring Shikamaru and the others next time, thinking it might be safer with more people. Naruto just listened, while his gaze was fixed on the twenty-seven masks on the wall.
In response to Ino's mumbling, he occasionally nodded or hummed.
Some things cannot be avoided, and they are already here. Crying, laughing… it didn't matter.
Right now, Naruto had set his mind on the Uzumaki Clan's legacy, and not even the Sage of Six Paths could stop him.
Twenty-seven demon masks hung on the wall, each one grimacing fiercely. The Shinigami mask was positioned in the center.
"Just stand here and don't move." Naruto suddenly said.
"Huh? Then what are you going to do?" Ino was a little scared. Thinking of the crying, her face turned pale. "You want me to stay here by myself?"
"I'm not going anywhere. I'll just be here." Naruto reassured her, letting go of her hand. He looked around and picked up a long stick from near the base of the wall.
Ino obediently stood still. Just an hour ago, she thought she was accompanying Naruto to a shrine for some simple prayer or offering. But now, she was feeling anxious.
She didn't expect things were taking a strange turn. She stood trembling in the center of the shrine's main hall.
The door continued to creak, though there wasn't even a breeze this time. Ino noticed footprints appearing on the ground, and the masks on the wall seemed to stare at her menacingly.
'There is definitely something wrong with this shrine!'
The footprints stopped about three meters from Ino, then started moving straight toward Naruto. Ino tried to warn him, but she found herself unable to speak.
Naruto seemed to be completely unaware that something was wrong with the surrounding situation. He stood under the wall of masks, holding a long stick he had picked up, poking and prodding at it, trying to poke the masks off.
Ino clearly saw that the set of footprints had already stopped right behind Naruto. She was frozen in place, unable to move or speak, only able to watch helplessly.
Suddenly, with a snap, one of the masks fell from the wall.
Naruto bent down to pick it up and suddenly heard a gust of wind behind him. He turned abruptly, but by the time he did, Ino saw the demonic mask that had fallen was already on his face.
Whoosh!
All sounds vanished, and the shrine's main hall returned to complete silence.
Ino suddenly felt that she could move again, and she took a deep breath, as if she had never breathed before.
"Naruto, behind you!"
But as she spoke, she froze. Because when Naruto turned around, there were no footprints in front of him. It was as if everything from before had been an illusion.
"Behind me? What are you talking about?" Naruto took off the mask and asked in confusion.
"… Nothing." Ino replied uneasily, "Can I come over to your side now? I'm a little scared."
"Sure, come on over. It's fine." Naruto waved her over, indicating she should come over.