Directly beneath the Hokage Building sat the ANBU detention center.
Inside one of its clean, well-maintained cells, Reiji lounged on a not-so-soft bed in a pair of bear-print pajamas, one leg crossed over the other.
The room was a simple square space, no more than ten square meters. There were no windows—just a heavy door made from a special material with a sliding slot barely wide enough to pass a plate through.
The furnishings were sparse: an iron bed, a metal table. On the table, a dim oil lamp flickered, casting light over a few greasy, empty plates and some books with cartoonish covers.
Reiji reclined sideways on the bed, a book in one hand, a skewer of takoyaki in the other, reading peacefully by lamplight.
"Screech!"
A metallic scraping sound broke the silence. The hatch on the door slid open.
A familiar dog-faced ANBU mask appeared.
"Number 233, dinner time!" came the voice he knew well.
Hearing it, Reiji casually tossed his book aside and sprang off the bed with a kip-up.
"Yo! Dog bro! What brings you here?" he greeted brightly, walking to the hatch and craning his neck to see outside.
Outside, Tsuchigami took a few steps back warily. Behind the mask, the corners of his mouth twitched with frustration.
What do you mean "what brings me here"? I'm bringing you your damn food!
This brat—he's in a high-security ANBU cell and still acts like he's ordering room service.
Look at this guy. Is this how a prisoner lives? Meals delivered, clothes provided, even someone handing him toilet paper when he takes a dump!
Other inmates get one soldier pill a day. But not this guy—seaweed rice balls for breakfast, a mixed platter of skewers for lunch, grilled meat for dinner.
At this rate, five hundred ryō doesn't even cover a single meal!
The more Tsuchigami thought about it, the more it pissed him off. He glanced through the slot at the greasy books scattered around.
Damn it! Take care of my collection!
If he hadn't begged, there's no way I'd have lent him my full "Tale of Genji" series.
And seriously, you're not even fully grown—why are you reading adult books?
Unaware of the internal rant he was sparking, Reiji looked up at Tsuchigami, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"So what's for dinner tonight, Dog bro? That charcoal-grilled meat from Nara Hill, maybe?"
At those words, the expression under Tsuchigami's mask twisted. He glanced at the black, unidentifiable chunks on the plate in his hand and said in a low, muffled voice:
"Nope. Your sister sent you a... heartfelt homemade dinner. Heh... heh... heh... heh..."
Without another word, he shoved the plate through the hatch, slammed it shut with a clank, and walked off.
Outside, the sound of smug laughter echoed down the hall.
Reiji's expression darkened.
To make things worse, whatever was on the plate... was even blacker than his face.
What the hell is this stuff?!
For a second, it felt like he was back in that Jashin cult dungeon, holding that first bottle of poison in his hands—hesitant, nervous.
He sighed, picked up the plate, and downed the unknown lumps in one go.
His tongue hanging out, eyes squinting, he staggered back to the bed, picked up his adult novel, and flopped down again.
His ears, however, twitched slightly from time to time.
...
A day and night passed in the blink of an eye.
Above him, the Hokage Building was completely empty.
All confidential documents had been relocated to the Intelligence Division's underground vault. Aside from a few necessary guards, the once-bustling halls were now silent.
As dusk settled in, Reiji remained on the bed, eyes shut, counting his heartbeats, muttering softly to himself.
"It's been two days and a night since I got locked in here.
In that time, ANBU patrols have been running around the clock, but the intervals are all over the place.
Sometimes they pass by every thirty seconds; sometimes it takes five minutes—no pattern at all.
Tobirama Senju really knows what he's doing. Looks like ANBU patrol routes reset randomly each day.
Honestly, the fact that Naruto managed to sneak into the Hokage Building and steal the Scroll of Seals—it had to be because old man Sarutobi let him.
Though, come to think of it, maybe that scroll was a fake. What if it only contained the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique?
Most of the jutsu listed in it aren't exactly beginner-friendly—things like Five Elements Unseal, Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Eight Inner Gates... none of that's suitable for kids.
If the scroll was fake, then yeah, it adds up.
Even if Mizuki ran off with it, no big deal.
If you can't retrieve the jutsu, just retrieve the guy who learned it."
As Reiji continued his muttered analysis, thousands of kilometers away in the Land of the Moon, Tobirama Senju sat in a temporary office, intently reading over a scroll while an ANBU agent knelt before him.
The intel had just arrived from the village.
Its subject—Reiji.
It wasn't so much a report as it was a tragic chronicle of ANBU suffering.
Reiji might've been quiet, but when it came to mealtime, he was deadly punctual—always hungry right on the dot, not a second off.
Whenever ANBU was even slightly late with food, the bastard would start pounding on the door like mad, shouting nonstop for his meal.
Worse still, once Reiji started yelling, the entire cell block would join in.
And the most absurd part? Those other prisoners had picked up Reiji's routine—and started chanting menu items right along with him.
Stuff like steamed lamb, steamed bear paw, steamed deer tail, roasted duck, roasted spring chicken, roasted goose, braised salted duck, soy-braised chicken, cured meat, preserved duck egg, pork tripe, air-dried meat, sausages, assorted Su-style cold cuts, smoked chicken, pork belly, steamed Eight-Treasure Pig, glutinous rice-stuffed duck…
Half those names sounded made-up. Worse yet, the brat never repeated a single dish.
Even reading through the scroll, Tobirama Senju could feel Reiji's chaos radiating through the ink.
Suppressing a surge of exasperation, Tobirama glanced at the ANBU kneeling before him.
"Double the watch. Keep a 24-hour eye on Reiji Sakuhō. I've got a feeling that kid's cooking something up."
"Yes, sir!" the ANBU nodded firmly.
...
Time ticked by. From 6 p.m., the hours slipped away until it was already 2 a.m.
In the silent cell, the candle on the desk had burned to its base, its tiny flame now no bigger than a soybean, casting a dim glow over the immediate area.
In that faint light, Reiji's eyes suddenly snapped open.
A crooked smile curled at the corners of his lips.
"Scroll of Seals, here I come."