Chapter 71
Naruto picked up the decoded scroll and read the deciphered text aloud to the other two:
"Seek the place where the eyeless giant keeps watch. Climb high to behold the full view. The answer lies at the bottom of the reflection."
"Climb high? Reflection? Eyeless giant?"
Sasuke frowned immediately after hearing it: "Why is there still a riddle? Are Iruka-sensei and the others just messing with us?"
By now he was already impatient with the riddle-master behavior.
But this was precisely testing their abilities in ninja intelligence gathering and information processing.
Naruto rubbed his chin and looked at the towering trees in the surrounding forest: "Climb high… does it mean we have to climb a tree? Reflection—do we have to go to the river and look from underwater? And what the heck is an eyeless giant keeping watch?"
"No… I remember…"
Hinata suddenly spoke up. She recalled something she had glimpsed from a high vantage point earlier.
Now with her Byakugan already active, she wanted to check again.
Her field of vision rapidly rose and expanded, sweeping the northwest area of the training ground from a macro perspective.
"The highest point in the training ground isn't a tree—there's something taller than the trees… over there!"
Her finger pointed toward the northwest corner.
After hearing Hinata, Naruto and Sasuke both leaped onto a tree together.
Through the layered leaves, they could vaguely make out a blurry, slightly taller pointed roof outline above the treetops.
"It's a watchtower!"
"Right! That must be the 'eyeless giant'!"
Naruto instantly understood.
"The place where the giant keeps watch… the watchtower is the giant. The watchtower in Training Ground No. 7 is an old facility from long ago—it shouldn't be in active use anymore."
"So calling it an 'eyeless giant' actually makes a lot of sense."
Sasuke nodded, quickly accepting the deduction.
As long as one had a little knowledge about the training ground's facilities, this conclusion was easy to reach.
"Let's go!"
With a clear goal, the three immediately changed direction and moved quickly toward the northwest corner.
Before long, a dilapidated watchtower appeared before them.
The tower had weathered many years; the wood was somewhat decayed and looked precarious, but overall it remained structurally sound.
"This is the place!"
Naruto stood at the base of the tower, craned his neck to observe the entire structure, then declared: "Let's go up and take a look!"
The stairs creaked as the three carefully climbed to the top.
The tower top was small, with a bit of dust accumulation. In the center sat a black water bucket; clear footprints were visible around it.
After a quick inspection, they confirmed the prints belonged to an adult.
It seemed the teachers hadn't bothered to cover these traces.
Was it intentional for the students to see, or an oversight?
They suspected the latter—such a basic mistake wouldn't be made on purpose.
"The answer lies at the bottom of the reflection…"
Sasuke scanned the area, his gaze finally settling on the water bucket. He walked over, leaned down, and saw that the inside was still damp.
"There might be a clue here!" Sasuke called to his teammates.
Naruto and Hinata hurried over, trying to think like the teachers.
Hmm! This feels kind of tricky.
Was it because the teachers who set up this exercise had such strange ideas?
"Is it… that?"
Hinata was the first to spot the key point.
She raised her finger and pointed upward.
Right above them were crooked, jagged scratch marks—clearly carved in a short time with a kunai.
Still incomprehensible.
"Is it because there's no reflection?" Naruto thought of the final piece of the scroll's puzzle.
"Do we really have to go fetch water? That's too far. Does anyone here know Water Release?"
Sasuke curled his lip, once again feeling the teachers' malice.
Pure teachers, no malice!
"No need for that." Naruto signaled Sasuke to calm down.
Though he didn't know Water Release yet.
In a place like this, getting other things might be hard, but making some water? That was easy.
Naruto asked the two to wait a moment. He sat cross-legged on the ground and quickly entered a meditative state.
"Big Fox! Naruto's controlling the weather again yo! They're about to solve the next puzzle!"
In the seal space, Yuta giggled and chatted with Xuanming.
He loved watching Naruto break through challenges one after another.
And he especially enjoyed seeing Naruto practice and use the weather-creation ability that was connected to him.
On Xuanming's side, the new roommate had indeed kept the malevolent will constantly agitated, requiring stricter self-control.
But on the other hand, the innocent and pure Yuta's presence here also brought Xuanming a different kind of mental purification—mixed blessings.
"See? I told you—trust Naruto! Your friends are really smart."
Xuanming didn't open his eyes, simply praising Naruto and the others softly.
Just like Yuta no longer observed things with physical eyes,
Xuanming in the seal space didn't need to open his human-form eyes either.
He could directly sense everything Naruto had done outside.
Soon, once Naruto had absorbed enough weather-type natural energy,
he converted it into rain clouds and gathered them above the water bucket.
Splash splash—
It began raining like a shower head, letting every drop fall into the bucket.
This wasn't chakra-created water from Water Release that would only exist temporarily.
This was real, naturally cycled water.
The bucket filled quickly.
The three gathered around and looked at the water's reflection.
From the special angle of the bucket and the scratches overhead, the marks distorted and connected on the water surface.
They formed a simple map.
It outlined the basic terrain of the circular training ground, with three or four clearly marked points—definitely related to mission scrolls.
If there were more riddles hidden after this, someone was going to get punched!
"Ha! They really made it complicated!"
Naruto let out a relieved breath.
"First they don't tell us the hidden rules, then hide a code inside the prop beast, the code turns into a riddle scroll, solving the riddle leads to the watchtower, normally we'd still have to run to get water, then use the water reflection to see the map…"
"Iruka-sensei and the others really put a lot of effort into messing with us."
"But… Naruto-kun figured it all out. You're amazing!" Hinata said softly.
"No—it's all of us together. Hinata, you played a huge role here too."
Naruto would never take all the credit: "Without you, me and idiot Sasuke would've wasted way more time."
"Idiot Naruto, who're you calling dead weight?" Sasuke instantly got annoyed.
But he didn't fully refute Naruto: "Getting here, Hinata really did contribute a lot."
Though Sasuke's mouth wouldn't let Naruto off easily, a spark of excitement flashed in his eyes.
This kind of interlocking puzzle-solving was indeed more fun than just searching for scrolls alone.
Provided you could actually solve it.
Hinata once again used the Byakugan's advantage. Standing at the edge of the tower, she cross-referenced the newly obtained map and re-observed the training ground's layout.
She quickly confirmed the corresponding areas in the real training field.
Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke—having climbed high—could observe the surrounding terrain distribution quite well with the naked eye.
"Do you think the first code riddle we got might be the hardest one?"
Naruto looked at the distant scenery and suddenly had this guess.
The entire Training Ground No. 7 had only one watchtower—it was hard not to suspect that this was the only chained riddle.
Though difficult to find, solving it granted multiple target locations at once.
Might the prop animals elsewhere hide more direct and effective intelligence?
"We need to move fast. If the intel we worked so hard for overlaps with others and someone beats us to it, that'd be bad." Naruto urged the two to hurry.
"That way… there's one point… it shouldn't be far from where we are now."
Hinata pointed out the direction she had judged.
Though her tone was still slightly uncertain.
"Alright, we trust Hinata's judgment—let's head that way!"
Naruto patted Sasuke's shoulder, signaling the next target was confirmed.
"Move out!" Naruto declared full of energy.
Three figures swiftly left the watchtower and dashed toward the decided target point.
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