togophonebook Chapter 519 The Secret Exposed
Chapter 519 The Secret Exposed
Satsuki and Naruto entered the staircase behind the hidden door one after the other.
The staircase was narrow and steep, stretching downwards and disappearing into the unknown darkness. Footsteps echoed in the enclosed space, carrying a secretive tension, the kind that comes with trespassing into someone else's forbidden territory.
As Naruto walked, he pondered to himself that there might not be any need to be so secretive.
Kankuro is a puppeteer, and puppeteers always need some secluded space to develop new puppets, store intricate mechanical parts, or conduct experiments they don't want to be disturbed. This kind of dark room might just be Kankuro's workshop.
It's not a strange place.
"Satsuki, I think this place is probably just..."
"It's alright," Satsuki's voice came from ahead. "If Kankuro gets angry, apologize to him later."
She didn't stop walking. "We're here to ask about Gaara."
Naruto watched his wife's retreating figure; in the darkness, he could only make out a blurry outline, but he could sense her determination to "go on once she's made up her mind." He nodded and said nothing more.
The stairs finally came to an end.
A door appeared before them, no different from an ordinary room door, except that it had no latch and opened with a gentle push.
Behind the door was utter darkness.
Naruto stood in the doorway, his eyes slightly narrowed, trying to adjust to the sudden darkness. But there was no light source whatsoever; not a single ray of light could be seen.
"It's so dark..." he murmured, his eyes searching the darkness. "Isn't Kankuro here?"
The room was large, he could sense that, but that was all. He didn't know what kind of room it was, what was inside, or what it was used for.
The surroundings were deathly silent, with only his and Zuoyue's breathing echoing in his ears.
Of course, there is no danger.
For Naruto and Sasuke now, they can instantly sense anything that might be detrimental to them, any threat lurking in the shadows.
Safety is guaranteed, but darkness remains darkness.
Naruto was preparing to mobilize his chakra to create some light and find the light switch in the room when Satsuki had already taken action.
She didn't activate the Rinnegan or Sharingan; she simply stretched out her hand and gathered chakra in her palm.
Then, a gentle burst of lightning appeared.
The light was not as violent and dazzling as the lightning release during battle, but was precisely controlled, emitting only enough brightness to illuminate a small area around it.
There were no crackling sounds, no blinding arcs of electricity, just a quiet, gentle light.
Zuo Yue walked forward, the gentle lightning in her palm pulsating softly, illuminating the path beneath her feet and the surrounding darkness.
The basement was larger than she had imagined. The air was filled with the smell of a mixture of machine oil and sawdust. She could vaguely see the outlines of some shelves with things piled on them, but they were not clear in the dim light.
She continued walking forward, lightning flickering and light and shadow shifting.
Finally, she saw a table.
It was a large workbench piled high with various tools and materials, casting messy shadows in the lightning.
Satsuki's gaze swept over those things.
Then, she saw it.
In the very center of the workbench, there was a... head.
That was a human head.
Eyes closed, golden hair, a familiar face.
She had seen that face countless times. In battle, on missions, every morning when she woke up, in every moment of intimacy. The deep blue of those eyes when they opened, the distribution of the lines on that beard—
That's Naruto's face.
That was her husband's face.
It sits alone on the table, like a display item.
"……ah--!!!"
A scream burst uncontrollably from her throat, piercing the deathly silence of the entire basement.
Zuo Yue's body suddenly went limp, and she almost collapsed to the ground. Her heartbeat seemed to stop for a moment, blood rushed to her head, and her mind went completely blank.
"What's wrong? Satsuki? Are you alright?"
Naruto's voice came from behind her, and then a pair of arms reached out from the side and steadily supported her. The touch was warm, real, and carried a familiar scent.
Satsuki gasped for breath, her chest heaving. She turned her head and saw Naruto looking at her with concern, his blue eyes filled with confusion and worry.
It really is Naruto.
It's Naruto alive.
It was Naruto, who was just talking to her.
If Naruto hadn't caught her immediately, and if she hadn't heard his real voice, Satsuki really didn't know what she would have done.
She almost lost control and activated her Rinne Sharingan, summoned Susanoo, and razed the entire place to the ground!
Her fingers were still trembling slightly, and her back was soaked with cold sweat.
The scream woke up the people who were resting upstairs.
Gaara abruptly sat up in bed, quickly pushing Naruko, who had been nestled beside him, behind the bed to hide her. He stared at the door in astonishment, his heart pounding in his chest.
The sound was coming from downstairs.
From the direction of the basement.
That place that only Kankuro would go to.
What happened?
He quickly got up, ready to go out and check the situation.
In the other room, Temari was also jolted awake. She opened her eyes abruptly, instantly becoming fully alert. A scream had suddenly erupted from the house; this was clearly an accident!
She threw off the covers, jumped out of bed, and rushed toward the direction from which the sound came.
In the dark room of the basement.
Satsuki's breathing finally calmed down. Her heart was still pounding, but the feeling of suffocation had passed.
But then, another emotion welled up inside.
I felt immense shame and anger.
It was the anger of her lover being desecrated that swept over her entire body like a volcanic eruption!
She was so scared she almost collapsed! She screamed! Her heart stopped beating!
What made her lose her composure was that thing—that head that looked exactly like Naruto's, which was sitting on the table as if mocking her!
Satsuki's eyes changed instantly.
The left eye turned a deep purple, with six jet-black tomoe slowly rotating within its wavy pupil. The right eye retained its scarlet base color, but the pupil itself also transformed into layers of rippling waves, with nine tomoe inlaid on that scarlet background.
Lightning Release burst forth uncontrollably from her body!
It was no longer the docile lightning used for lighting, but a violent, destructive force. Blue arcs of electricity danced and crackled around her, illuminating the entire basement with flickering light!
Then--
"boom!"
The lightning struck the room's electrical circuits. The lights that had been switched off suddenly switched on, instantly illuminating the entire basement!
The lights were on.
Naruto finally saw everything clearly.
Then, he froze.
The rest of the room resembled a normal puppet workshop. Shelves were piled with various materials—wood, metal, and mechanical parts. Tools hung on the walls, and unfinished puppet parts were scattered on the floor.
Everything seems normal.
Then, his gaze fell on the worktable in front of him.
He saw himself.
Not a person, but a... Shang Yang version of "self" disassembled into parts.
A complete head, with a face exactly like a real person, golden hair, and three clearly visible whisker lines on the face.
Next to the head is the torso. Next to that are the limbs. Each part is neatly arranged on the table, following the structure of the human body.
Naruto stared at that "himself" and felt a chill run down his spine.
It's so similar, it's chilling.
But he was no longer the naive young man he once was. At this moment, he was still able to remain calm and think things through. He took a deep breath and forced himself to observe carefully.
He soon discovered something was amiss.
At the joints of those components, some mechanical structures were exposed—precise joints, ingenious latches, and fine textures. These were not things that should be found in flesh and blood, but rather… the traces of a puppet.