Haruto Saito bit down on the treasure card, shattering it. A brilliant stream of light entered his mouth, and instantly, guiding information appeared in his mind!
A very strong signal!
Haruto Saito froze in place.
Because... the distance between him and the treasure was zero!
It was right beneath his feet!
No, wait! Perhaps the treasure covered an extremely large area! That meant the ground beneath him was also part of the treasure!
Currently, Haruto Saito was in the central region of the Poison Punishment Forest. Using the treasure card here, the treasure should be within a two-hundred-kilometer radius. Of course, it could be directly beneath him, and the only reason he had come here was due to a randomly chosen location when he was in a lucky state!
"It's right below!" Haruto Saito muttered, looking down before leaping off the tree canopy and landing firmly on the ground.
How deep was it buried?
Now, he had two choices: either blow open the ground and dig continuously, or use the Secret Technique: Hidden Earth Diving to descend into the depths. But the latter was extremely dangerous!
With Haruto Saito's current mastery of Hidden Earth Diving, he could only go down about five meters at most.
Any deeper, and the pressure on his body would cause severe injuries.
Worse yet, he could die down there!
Digging, however, would take too long. It would be exhausting, make too much noise, and might alert others to his location.
Still, he wanted to dive down. If he left traces on the surface and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist arrived and discovered the excavation site, it would be disastrous!
"Go down... go down..." Haruto Saito muttered hesitantly.
If the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist weren't in the Poison Punishment Forest as well, this wouldn't be such a tough decision.
"Alright, I'll go down!"
He made up his mind, and his body shuddered as an exoskeleton formed on his surface, thickening and reinforcing—this was the power of the Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse)!
He had to fortify his body to reduce the risk of being crushed to death!
At the same time, he infused a massive amount of chakra into his bones, further strengthening them.
Maintaining this state required an enormous amount of chakra, and he wouldn't be able to sustain it for long.
He was ready!
"Secret Technique: Hidden Earth Diving!"
Haruto Saito disappeared from the surface, sinking into the earth!
He descended—deeper and deeper!
Thanks to the support of his exoskeleton, he reached twelve meters before sustaining injuries. His entire body creaked as if it were about to collapse.
At fifteen meters, his exoskeleton cracked, and his soft tissues were compressed.
At twenty meters, he was severely injured!
His head felt like it was about to explode!
At twenty-three meters, he was at his absolute limit. He could go no further, as he had hit a layer of solid rock instead of soil!
But Haruto Saito could sense that he was extremely close to the treasure!
Only a few meters away!
"Just a few meters?" His heart skipped a beat. He forced himself down just a little further until his head pressed completely against the rock layer.
Then—
Barrier-Breaking Technique!
******
A pitch-black underground space. Haruto Saito suddenly appeared out of thin air and collapsed onto the cold, hard ground.
The air was thin and filled with the scent of decay—his first impression of this place. Since there was no light at all, even his night vision ability was rendered useless.
His body had suffered multiple fractures—more than ten! Even the bones reinforced by the Shikotsumyaku had broken.
His left arm, however, was unharmed. He retrieved a mid-tier healing card from his storage space and swallowed it!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones mending echoed from his body as fractures healed, and his flesh rapidly regenerated.
Recovered!
Haruto Saito flipped to his feet!
"I'm about twenty-six meters underground... It's really that deep?" He estimated, then pulled out an oil lamp from his storage space and lit it.
The surroundings instantly brightened!
With a light source, his night vision now allowed him to see much farther.
He was in a narrow passageway, surrounded by solid rock on all sides.
The guiding signal in his mind gave him new directions!
Haruto Saito looked around and then followed the guidance forward.
After walking for over a hundred meters, he arrived before a massive stone door!
The door was engraved with ancient patterns—and bore the symbol of the Uzumaki Clan!
The Uzumaki Treasure!
It was real!
This was the legendary Uzumaki Treasure!
Haruto Saito placed his hand on the door, which immediately glowed with seals appearing on its surface—it was sealed! The Uzumaki Clan specialized in sealing techniques, so it was no surprise that this door was locked by an incredibly powerful seal—one strong enough to secure a treasure.
There was no way Haruto Saito could break the seal, and forcibly destroying it would take an unknown amount of time—perhaps it wasn't even possible!
"I should be able to phase through, right?"
Muttering to himself, Haruto Saito activated the Barrier-Breaking Technique!
In an instant, he consumed 30% of his chakra and vanished from in front of the door.
******
A massive underground palace. Haruto Saito reappeared before the stone door and immediately stowed away his oil lamp—because this chamber had its own illumination…
About sixty meters ahead to the right was a pile of treasure! Gold and silver artifacts, gemstones, and coins were heaped together, with some of the gems emitting a faint glow…
"The Uzumaki Treasure... I found it!" Haruto Saito grinned, but instead of immediately collecting the loot, he walked deeper into the hall.
Judging by sight, the hall was about a hundred meters long and wide—a perfect square. The surrounding stone walls were covered in intricate carvings, some of which looked incredibly ancient!
The Uzumaki Clan had likely started building this place in secret centuries ago.
Despite its size, the hall felt rather empty.
Compared to the Meiji Treasure Haruto Saito had found before, this place seemed disorganized, as if it had been ransacked.
It looked like someone had already rummaged through it.
Haruto Saito could imagine it—the Uzumaki Clan must have visited this place before their downfall, retrieving valuables, possibly money or wartime resources.
From the marks on the ground, he deduced that many treasure chests had been moved out of here!
Perhaps, during the later stages of the war, the Uzumaki Clan made desperate attempts to turn the tide!
War was expensive, after all!
Haruto Saito approached a pile of chests and spotted several corpses… desiccated mummies!
Judging by their attire, they were Uzumaki Clan ninjas!
From their posture and the wounds on their throats… it appeared they had committed suicide!
The unique conditions of this place had prevented their bodies from decomposing, turning them into mummies—nothing supernatural, just a result of temperature and humidity.
Haruto Saito glanced at them briefly before turning his attention to the chests.
Good! No seals on them!
He tore off a lock and opened a chest, revealing stacks of scrolls. Randomly opening one, he found a historical record from the First Shinobi World War!
No need to check further—this chest was full of historical documents!
He continued opening more chests, one after another!
They came in various sizes, piled chaotically. He kept opening them, but they all contained useless historical records…
After over ten minutes, he picked up a small chest.
It was only twenty centimeters in length and width, and ten centimeters high—tiny!
It also had no seal!
But its lock was sturdy. Haruto Saito simply tore it off and opened the chest, his eyes immediately lighting up!
Inside were stacks of money!
A thick pile, possibly hundreds of banknotes!