Chapter 858 : An Abomination! (Patreon)

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. Unlike Hiruzen, Kakashi, and Jiraiya, she had never seen Fujin's house or his compounds or the monstrosity that surrounded it. She felt the three were confident about Fujin's skills and knew he wouldn't fall so easily.

She said, “Whatever it is, we need to check on Fujin.”
She glanced at her Anbu Guard and said, “Enter his house and check whether he is alright.”

The Anbu Guard immediately became nervous and said, “Umm… I don't think I can do that.”
His reply caught Tsunade off guard. She didn't think her Anbu Guard would refuse to follow her orders.
Annoyed, she asked angrily, “Do you want me to go down there and break his door?”
Her Anbu Guard became even more nervous and advised, “I wouldn't recommend that either, Lady Fifth.”

His reply angered her further. Luckily, Hiruzen coughed before she could completely lose her temper and said, “Tsuna, he's right.”

“What do you mean he is right? Sasuke is kidnapped and we don't know whether Fujin is safe or not! And you want me to sit here and do nothing?” Tsunade barked at her sensei, who could only blame himself for jumping in the line of fire.

Luckily, Jiraiya said, “It's not what you think, Tsunade. It's Fujin's house. It is…”

For a moment, Jiraiya didn't know how to describe it. During all his decades of travels, Jiraiya had never seen anything similar. He wasn't even sure whether the dictionary had any words to describe what Fujin had done with his house. Kakashi and Hiruzen wanted to help him, but they faced the same problem.

“What is it? What's the matter with his house?” Tsunade asked, wanting answers. Had the situation been different, she would have been amused by seeing Jiraiya at a loss for words. Unfortunately, the situation was too serious.

Jiraiya muttered, “His house is…”
Even though a few seconds had passed, Jiraiya still didn't know how to explain it.
Finally, Hiruzen sighed and muttered, “It's difficult to explain. You should take a look at his house yourself. It'll be easier that way. Just send a Shadow Clone.”
Kakashi nodded, agreeing with Hiruzen's words.
Shizune wondered, ‘Exactly what is the matter with his house? Why are all three of them speechless?’

Helpless, Tsunade could only accept Hiruzen's suggestion. She created a Shadow Clone, who was about to flicker when Shizune said, “I'll come too, Lady Tsunade.”

Unable to suppress her curiosity, she created a Shadow Clone too and the two clones flickered.

Within a few seconds, they reached Fujin's compounds. When their eyes fell on his compounds, both saw an elegant but normal house surrounded by several more elegant buildings. However, Tsunade's clone suddenly felt uneasy. She wondered, ‘Something feels strange. It feels like the seals. What sort of seals were used to protect his house?’

Tsunade's clone concentrated chakra in her eyes to check out the seals on Fujin's house and compound. As soon as her eyes glowed, Tsunade's clone froze! The sight was so bizarre and shocking that her face failed to display the shock she felt!

“Hmm, this house looks ordinary. Even though the design is good, why were they so speechless?” Shizune's clone muttered before looking towards Tsunade's clone for answers. However, Tsunade's clone didn't react. It was almost as if she didn't hear a single word Shizune's clone spoke.

“Lady Tsunade?”
“LADY TSUNADE?” Shizune's clone spoke slightly loudly and shook Tsunade's clone on seeing her frozen like a statue. Broken from her trance, sweat appeared on Tsunade's clone's face. Concerned, Shizune's clone asked, “Lady Tsunade! What's the matter? Why are you so pale? What's wrong with the house?”

Tsunade's clone didn't answer, instead taking deep breaths. She finally formed coherent thoughts as she wondered, ‘What an abomination! Who built such an abomination? Did Sensei order it? No, he isn't this extreme. I don't think Danzo would do something like this either…’

Her eyes moved towards the compounds once again. She couldn't see a single brick. Instead, her eyes were blinded by the innumerable seals carved on the compound. The light was the brightest at Fujin's house. Tsunade's clone couldn't even see how many layers of seals existed on his house!

“Lady Tsunade? Can you hear me?” Shizune's clone asked again.
“Calm down, Shizune,” Tsunade's clone finally said.
She took another deep breath and said, “That house isn't normal. No, the entire compound isn't normal.”
Shizune's clone wondered, ‘What does she mean? What did she see? I haven't ever seen her being this shocked and terrified!’
Tsunade's clone continued, “It's the seals protecting his house. You can't see it because you haven't focused on Fuinjutsu.”
Shizune's clone confusedly asked, “I still don't get it. Isn't it natural to have seals protect your house? What is so strange about his house? Did he use any special seals?”
Tsunade's clone answered, still in disbelief, “It's not whether the seals are special but how many seals are inscribed here…”

Shizune's clone followed her mentor's gaze and looked at Fujin's house. Her eyes widened as she heard, “A normal house barely has a dozen or so seals if any at all. If it is someone important, their house can have several dozen seals. The Hokage Building has several hundred considering how important it is. But this house…
I'm not sure how many seals are inscribed here but it is in the thousands. No, it should be tens of thousands. There might even be over a hundred thousand seals here!”

“A HUNDRED THOUSAND?” Even though Shizune wasn't a Sealmaster, she was aware of how strong Fuinjutsu was due to Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Seal. Though she didn't learn Fuinjutsu, she was aware of several seals. As such, she understood how ridiculous the number of seals on Fujin's house were. For a moment, she was happy they stopped so far away from the house.

Tsunade's clone muttered, “No wonder he was so scared. My command was no different from a death sentence. There's no way Orochimaru would attack Fujin here. I don't think anyone can break this seal formation. However, why was such an abomination created? What did Sensei want?”

The two Shadow Clones pondered over the implications of a house with so many seals. At the same time, they also wondered why Fujin hadn't exited his house for 3 days and still wasn't responding.

——

“There's another matter we need to address. Our village's seal formation is useless against Orochimaru. Even though some modifications were carried out, the skeleton of the formation is still the same. He's able to sneak inside undetected with ease.” Tsunade said in the office.

Hiruzen agreed, “Yes. It may be time to overhaul our defensive formations completely. I hadn't expected him to hold such hatred towards me and the village. He might sell the information to other villages to increase our troubles.”

Kakashi added, “It isn't just Orochimaru. Itachi did the same. It leaves us vulnerable to Akatsuki's attempts to kidnap Naruto. They might try to kidnap him just like Orochimaru kidnapped Sasuke. The new Akatsuki member Fujin discovered also poses a big threat.”

Since Kakashi wasn't aware of the truth, the three of them could only agree. Hiruzen and Jiraiya nodded, but Tsunade stopped mid-way. Shock and disbelief appeared on her face. A similar expression appeared on Shizune's face. As for the rest, none of them were surprised.

Jiraiya thought, ‘So she finally received the memories of her clone. Hehe, now you know what I felt like!’

Tsunade's eyes moved towards Hiruzen as she asked, “Why are there… Why were so many seals inscribed there???”

As shocking as the sight of the innumerable seals was, Tsunade couldn't help but wonder what they were hiding. Shizune thought, ‘Whatever the reason may be, the seals must be hiding a top secret!’

To their surprise, Hiruzen plainly answered, “Fujin inscribed them to keep his house safe.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. Needless to say, she didn't believe such a lousy answer and felt Hiruzen was keeping some things hidden from her. She sarcastically asked, “Protect the house from what? Another Kyubi assault?”

Hiruzen nonchalantly replied, “That may have been one of his considerations.”
Jiraiya thought, ‘More like he considered the 9 Tailed Beasts attacking at the same time!’

Tsunade frowned and said, “Okay, cut the act. Tell me why you had so many seals inscribed there.”
Hiruzen asked, “I? I have nothing to do with it. It was all Fujin, be it the decision to inscribe so many seals, the plans and formations or inscribing them.”
Not believing him, Tsunade asked, “So, you want me to believe that Fujin inscribed tens of thousands of seals without your approval and you never did anything to stop him?”

While Fujin had inscribed the seals on his house, he lived inside Konoha. Such a ridiculous number of seals would raise alarms throughout the village. Generally, the Hokage wouldn't allow something like that to be made. As such, Tsunade's analysis was correct. However, she simply failed to comprehend the absurdity of the situation.

To her surprise and annoyance, Hiruzen sighed and muttered, “That seems about right…”