Hearing Fumori Masaki's call, everyone except the miko, who was still deciphering, rushed over. They looked at the blank stone tablet next to Fumori Masaki, all with puzzled expressions.
"Mr. Kazamori, is there anything special about this stone tablet?" Kana bent down and carefully examined the tablet, confirming that there were no characters on it, and it wasn't just that the writing was too faint, she asked.
"I'm not sure, but the position of this stone tablet is very unique. I don't think it's just a simple stone tablet," Fumori Masaki said, touching the tablet. Its texture was no different from an ordinary stone tablet.
Everyone carefully observed the location of the stone tablet. Given the layout of the room, the tablet was in the center, as if to emphasize its presence. It was hard to believe that it was just a plain stone tablet. Even if it truly had no writing, it should have some other purpose.
"Captain Kazamori, what do you think the purpose of this stone tablet might be?" Yamanaka Takuma asked.
"I'm not sure. If it truly has something special about it, there should be a trigger condition, but I can't be certain what it is," Fumori Masaki slowly said. "I believe this place was established by the first generation miko, and the trigger condition for this stone tablet might be related to the miko's power, or another possibility is that it's related to the Sage of Six Paths' teachings."
"Then we'll have to ask the Miko-sama to take a look," Kana nodded slightly and turned to see the miko.
The miko had already deciphered a rough outline of the text on the scroll. When Kana mentioned a strange stone tablet, she temporarily set aside the scroll and went to examine the tablet. Arriving in front of it, she listened to Fumori Masaki's analysis. After a moment of thought, she nodded in affirmation and said, "I think so too. Let's try the power of our miko lineage first."
With that, the miko extended her hand to touch the surface of the stone tablet, injecting her chakra into it. The miko's method of chakra cultivation differed from that of current ninjas. It leaned more towards the Sage of Six Paths' focus on spiritual power, rather than the ninja's chakra, which incorporates physical strength to amplify power. Therefore, in some aspects, its manifestation also differed from ninja chakra.
However, the stone tablet showed no changes, remaining as it was before. After a while, the miko stopped injecting chakra and shook her head, saying, "It seems it has nothing to do with our miko power."
"So, is it the power of the Sage of Six Paths? But I remember that the miko's power seems very close to the traditional cultivation methods of the Sage of Six Paths," Hyuga Kei mused.
"Indeed, how exactly is this stone tablet triggered?" Senju Risa asked, looking confused.
Everyone began to ponder, but they couldn't find any clues. The miko's power and the Sage of Six Paths' teachings had both been ruled out. What else could the items in this former Sage of Six Paths' headquarters, established by the first miko, be related to?
Seeing everyone's expressions, Fumori Masaki felt it was time and said, "Speaking of which, what was the identity of the first miko's husband—Ashura, the leader of the Sage of Six Paths? Not everything here has to be related to the first miko. Perhaps some things belong to that leader of the Sage of Six Paths."
"That Lord Ashura?" The miko was slightly startled and recalled, "That lord seems to have been an early leader of the Sage of Six Paths. There isn't much documentation about him, but it seems to have mentioned that he was the successor of the Sage of Six Paths."
"The Sage of Six Paths was founded by the Sage of Six Paths, so as its leader, he would naturally be the successor of the Sage of Six Paths," Inuzuka Shigeru said.
"No, perhaps there's another meaning. It might not refer to the lineage of the Sage of Six Paths, but rather a direct inheritance from the Sage of Six Paths," Hyuga Kei's eyes lit up, and he quickly said.
As if a word had awakened them from a dream, everyone quickly considered this possibility. If Ashura truly was a direct inheritor of the Sage of Six Paths, then Ashura's identity would be intriguing. He could very well be a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths—although an organization like the Sage of Six Paths might not necessarily be hereditary, if Ashura was the second successor, the possibility of him being a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths was very high.
The possibility of a student of the Sage of Six Paths inheriting the Sage of Six Paths cannot be ruled out.
But if Ashura truly was a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths, and this stone tablet was also left by Ashura, then the trigger condition for the stone tablet could be imagined—in ninja families, some important secrets are sealed in special ways and must be deciphered by family bloodline. This method has been passed down from a long time ago, and its origin is also the Sage of Six Paths.
The speculation had no evidence to support it, but it was worth a try, as everyone had no other leads. One possibility was one possibility, and it made logical sense. Coincidentally, there was currently someone here rumored to be a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths.
Everyone's gaze focused on Kana. After snatching the Bashōsen during the battle with Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the rumor that the Senju clan was a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths spread within the village's ninja families. This subtly amplified the mythical aura of the Senju clan.
Kana, of course, knew about this. It was even personally attempted by Fumori Masaki's wife and confirmed by her uncle Tobirama. She glanced at Fumori Masaki, and seeing him nod at her, she took a deep breath and slowly walked to the front of the stone tablet, injecting her chakra into it.
The nature of chakra is very special; it's like a fingerprint, unique to each individual, and can clearly reveal one's identity. On the other hand, as long as people share the same bloodline, the nature of their chakra will be very similar in certain aspects, which is very obvious to sensory ninjas and can be used to confirm whether someone is a family descendant.
Fumori Masaki knew that the Senju clan inherited the Sage's "body," which manifested as powerful vitality and chakra. The trigger condition for the stone tablet was likely this. He watched Kana's reaction expectantly, and then saw her reveal a shocked expression.
No one knew what Kana felt. After Kana injected her chakra, she felt as if the stone tablet had come alive, and some information entered her mind. Kana felt it was similar to the Yamanaka clan's mental secret techniques for transmitting information to others' minds, and the underlying principle should be similar. What surprised her even more was the content of this information.
Seeing Kana's body motionless, Tsunade asked somewhat worriedly, "Aunt Kana, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," After a while, Kana gently exhaled and turned to face everyone. "I just saw something incredible."
"So that's it, this stone tablet is used to record information," Upon hearing Kana's description, Yamanaka Takuma immediately reacted. This kind of secret technique had been used in their family. "Miss Kana, what information did the stone tablet record?"
Everyone else was also curious. Information recorded in such a way must be very important, making them eager to know its contents. However, Kana's expression was somewhat evasive. Meeting everyone's gaze, she slowly said, "This is a letter of apology, written by Lord Ashura to his father and elder brother—his father being the Sage of Six Paths. Because the Sage of Six Paths designated Lord Ashura as the successor of the Sage of Six Paths, it caused dissatisfaction from Lord Indra, his elder brother. After the Sage of Six Paths' death, a conflict erupted between the two sides. After decades of strife, Lord Indra and his followers were ultimately defeated. Lord Ashura exiled him, no longer allowing him to approach the continent. Lord Ashura always felt pain and helplessness about exiling his elder brother, longing for the days they lived together in the past. Therefore, in his later years, he wrote this letter of apology, repenting to his father for not being able to reconcile with his elder brother and feeling pained by his elder brother's hatred for him."
Everyone had originally expected to hear about the hidden secrets of the Sage of Six Paths era, and they did, but it was not quite what they had imagined. It turned out to be a conflict between the descendants of the Sage of Six Paths. Although they were ninjas, they were not entirely unfamiliar with such matters. After all, as a large family, conflicts over succession rights were not uncommon. In Konoha Village, there were two very rare cases—one was the Hyuga clan, which maintained its main and branch family system with the Caged Bird seal. Through this system, the Hyuga clan had never experienced succession disputes for a thousand years, maintaining unprecedented stability, to the extent that even local nobles admired and emulated their family system. The other was the Uchiha clan. Perhaps due to their family's nature, or their pursuit of power, the family's successors were basically those who rose through sheer strength. If they couldn't gain the approval of the entire family for the leader's strength, tragic incidents of kin-slaying often occurred, even leading to a change in leadership, at the cost of weakening the family. Of course, after a period of decline, the Uchiha clan would once again flourish with the ascension of a powerful leader.
Uchiha Kagami was very fortunate. In his youth, he established his position as clan leader through Uchiha Madara's immense strength. Even after Uchiha Madara became a traitor, he maintained his position with the support of the Senju clan. With his current strength, he no longer needed the support of others to ensure his position remained unshaken.
"I never thought such things would happen even in the era of the Sage of Six Paths," Hyuga Kei sighed softly. As a member of the Hyuga clan, he was very concerned about succession disputes. The main and branch family system effectively ensured that the Hyuga clan would not decline due to internal succession struggles. While other families experienced fluctuations in strength due to succession issues, the Hyuga clan consistently maintained an average position. This stability allowed the Hyuga clan to continue for a thousand years.
Upon seeing the tragedy of the Sage of Six Paths' family, he couldn't help but lament that although the main and branch family system was built on the oppression of the branch family, it effectively solved the successor problem that even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't resolve.
"Even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't do anything about such matters," Inuzuka Shigeru shook his head. "It seems even Sages are human and cannot solve everything."
After a period of discussion about the tragedy of Ashura and Indra, everyone's attention shifted away from the stone tablet. Although it was an ancient secret, it wasn't very important to ninjas. They would rather look at the information recorded in the other secret scrolls.
Fumori Masaki looked at Kana, who was still standing next to the stone tablet. Her expression seemed somewhat lost and bewildered. It was as if she had been stimulated by unexpected information. He felt that the stone tablet must have revealed more, not just Ashura's repentance to his father, the Sage of Six Paths, and his elder brother, Indra. For some reason, Kana found it difficult to speak about it in front of others and kept it to herself.
Fumori Masaki thought to himself, it seems I'll have to find a way to ask what else was recorded on the stone tablet that made Miss Kana so distraught.