The thirteen statues stood in a solemn row, and in front of each was a small wooden box. Haruto Saito had speculated earlier, when he first entered, that these boxes might contain secret scrolls or other valuable texts—and he had guessed correctly.
He didn't have time to examine the "Barrier Breaking Technique" in detail. Instead, he quickly rolled the scroll up, secured it, and turned his gaze toward the other wooden boxes in front of the remaining statues. One by one, he ran to them, opened them, and gathered all the scrolls inside.
Now clutching thirteen scrolls, Haruto Saito paused and scanned his surroundings. He should have stored them directly in his item space, but with Tsunade and Minato Namikaze present, it wasn't the best time to reveal that ability.
Tsunade was still busy prying open chests to the right of the stone platform, while Minato had moved to the pile of miscellaneous items at the front, holding an ancient bronze mirror and inspecting it curiously.
Haruto Saito hesitated for a moment before running toward the pile. He reached in and pulled out an exquisite black beast hide. The origin of the hide was unclear, but it likely came from a high-level ninja beast; otherwise, it wouldn't have remained intact for centuries without preservation.
He wrapped the thirteen scrolls in the beast hide, tying it into a bundle before slinging it over his back.
Now he could finally breathe easy!
Although he had only looked at one scroll so far, he was certain that these thirteen scrolls contained the forbidden and secret techniques of the Meiji Clan. This was the real treasure! Money was important, but as far as Haruto Saito was concerned, as long as he had enough to get by, he didn't need more. Secret and forbidden techniques, however, were invaluable!
With a grin, Haruto Saito turned to Minato and said, "So? Do you believe me now?"
Minato glanced up at him, nodding rapidly like a pecking bird.
He had no choice but to believe!
The Meiji treasure had been hidden for four hundred years—there was no way it could have been faked!
"Good, now that you believe me, you should listen to me and graduate early," Haruto Saito added quickly before shifting his gaze to Tsunade. Without another word, he dashed toward her.
Tsunade was still prying open chests. There were well over a hundred metal boxes of varying sizes piled together, and she had already cracked open more than twenty. Haruto Saito could see that five of them contained gold, while the rest were filled with silver.
Although gold and silver were no longer the primary currency in the ninja world—since the vast majority of civilians relied on smaller denominations for daily trade—gold and silver remained the ultimate hard currency.
For large-scale transactions between nations and major powers, gold and silver were still the standard. For example, in the current trade between the Land of Iron and the Hidden Leaf Village, the payment being transported was in gold and silver.
Moreover, the issuance of paper money was backed by reserves of gold and silver. A fixed exchange rate dictated how much currency equaled a certain weight of gold or silver. Overprinting money without sufficient reserves would lead to inflation and the devaluation of paper currency.
Haruto Saito crouched down beside Tsunade and joined her in opening the chests. Together, they moved the stacked boxes apart and spread them out. Before long, every chest had been opened. The last one Tsunade unlocked was a small box filled with dazzling gemstones of various colors.
"We're rich! We're rich!" Tsunade exclaimed, clutching the box of gemstones, her grin stretching so wide it seemed her face might split in half.
"Quit acting like a fool," Haruto Saito rolled his eyes. "We don't even know exactly how much all this is worth. Let's do the math."
"Yes! Let's calculate it!" Tsunade immediately agreed.
The two began tallying up the loot. It was a straightforward process but required patience and effort. Tsunade, being an avid gambler, was well-versed in estimating the purity and purchasing power of gold and silver. Naturally, she took charge of the calculations.
After a full thirty minutes, she arrived at an estimate.
"This gold alone, though it's only ten chests, is worth nearly one hundred million ryo. The silver, which there's much more of, is worth around one hundred and fifty million ryo. And this small box of gemstones is probably worth between thirty and forty million ryo. Altogether, this treasure is worth at least two hundred and eighty million ryo!" Tsunade declared, her voice trembling with excitement. Her entire body shook, her face flushed as though she were about to burst.
It was almost as if all that money belonged to her.
"And what about the rest?" Haruto Saito pointed toward the pile behind them. "That heap, plus those weapons and armor?"
"Those…" Tsunade glanced at the scattered weapons and armor before shaking her head. "They're not worth much. Even though they look well-crafted, after being stored here for centuries, the armor has lost its durability, and the weapons have rusted or deteriorated."
"What if we sell them as antiques?"
"As antiques, they might fetch a higher price. But since there's such a large quantity, they won't be as valuable. Rarity determines worth—when there's too much of something, it loses its value."
As they spoke, they moved toward the miscellaneous pile where Minato had been rummaging.
"These are harder to appraise," Tsunade said after briefly inspecting the pile. "Many of them are historical artifacts, so we'd need an expert to assess their worth."
"Yeah." Haruto Saito nodded. His eyes swept across the pile before landing on something. "This is odd. There's actually a coffin here."
The coffin was a deep, bluish-black color, seemingly made of metal. Due to its size, it had a heap of assorted items stacked against one side.
Tsunade's gaze flickered as she stared at the coffin. "It might contain a corpse—probably a high-ranking figure from the Meiji Clan."
"A corpse… Why would they put it here?"
"There could be many reasons. It's hard to say."
"Let's open it and find out!" Haruto Saito stepped forward, placed his hands on the lid, and pushed.
Creak!
The coffin lid was incredibly heavy, but Haruto Saito managed to slide it open with relative ease.
He peered inside—and froze.
There was no corpse.
Instead, the coffin was packed with books, scrolls, ancient bamboo slips, and animal-skin manuscripts. It was completely filled with written records.
Tsunade leaned in for a closer look before murmuring, "This coffin was sealed airtight before. The documents inside are well-preserved! My guess is that, back then, they needed to evacuate important records in a hurry but didn't have a better storage container, so they used a coffin."
She picked up a book and flipped through it.
It was a historical text detailing the early history of the Meiji Clan, including some classified events.
Haruto Saito also took a scroll and unrolled it. It turned out to be a military strategy map.
After briefly skimming through several documents and discussing their findings, the two confirmed their suspicions: the Meiji Clan must have been in crisis and had urgently relocated their most vital records, storing them here in a coffin.
The other items in the treasury had likely been stored here in advance, but the miscellaneous pile—these haphazardly gathered valuables—must have been brought in at the last minute. Their chaotic arrangement suggested that the situation had been too dire to allow for proper organization.
Haruto Saito put down a manuscript he had just examined, then casually picked up another scroll.
As he unrolled it, he said, "The Meiji Clan was wiped out by the Hyuga Clan, right? Given the circumstances at the time, I'd expect that the Hyuga—"
His voice abruptly cut off.
Tsunade glanced up, puzzled. Seeing Haruto Saito staring in shock at the scroll's contents, she leaned in to read it.
"Eight Trigrams Palm: Heavenly Rotation of the Great Moon!"
Tsunade gasped. The scroll contained techniques from the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist!
What the hell?
Why was a Hyuga Clan secret technique hidden in the Meiji Clan's treasury?