"It is past midnight. Today I am going to explore the shrine from the inside."
The natural energy within the Guard Tower could no longer satisfy Senya's Sage Body cultivation.
With war about to break out, many Uchiha had already left for the front, and the shrine's defenses were at their thinnest.
With his quasi Kage strength, discovery was unlikely.
Even so, for safety's sake he waited until now to move.
After confirming his shadow clone was fine, he vanished in a flicker.
PAT...
A shadow slipped past, and Senya slid into the shrine.
Ahead lay Naka Shrine.
The mysterious tablet was hidden in a secret room under Naka Shrine.
He carefully felt the flow of natural energy.
As expected, the shrine was the source of that dense power.
No one guarded the grounds around it.
Only the first floor held a small barrier.
That was nothing to someone with intermediate barrier skills.
After studying the layout, he gathered chakra underfoot and took a light step.
In one smooth rise and fall, he landed on the second floor.
With the Sage Body and Sharingan, he saw the barrier clearly, set near the first-floor altar.
He guessed the switch for the secret passage was within it.
He dropped to the first floor.
Using a special method, he opened a slit in the barrier and examined the altar closely.
After a series of tests, he found the mechanism.
CLICK!
As he turned it, the wall behind the altar parted, revealing a narrow door.
A rush of thick natural energy washed over him.
After a quick look around, he stepped into the passage.
A circular stair of stone spiraled downward. After a short descent he reached the chamber.
Shelves on both sides held clan secrets and training notes for Uchiha Fire and Lightning styles.
Senya spared them no interest.
His gaze circled the room and settled on the ancient tablet at the rear.
"So this is the stone left by the Sage of Six Paths."
He walked up and stopped before it.
He did not try to read it with ocular power.
Its contents had long since been altered by Black Zetsu.
There was no point.
"System, start today's check-in."
He sat cross-legged and called to the system.
DING! Check-in successful. Congratulations, host. Reward: Mangekyo Sharingan.
A brilliant sphere of light flared in his mind.
Mangekyo Sharingan: an all-seeing eye of three realms and earth-shaking ocular arts. The evolved form of the three-tomoe Sharingan. It greatly amplifies the Sharingan's existing power and awakens special abilities.
At last.
After two years of dull check-ins, the Mangekyo had come.
A rare smile touched his otherwise placid face.
With a Mangekyo, Kage level was within reach.
He could not help wondering which abilities his eyes would awaken.
He did not choose to fuse it here.
This was a forbidden place, and the chamber was meant for the clan head alone.
If he began the fusion and was interrupted, that would be bad.
He did not forget his original purpose for coming either.
He picked a quiet corner, sat down, and began drawing in the dense natural energy.
His body worked like a pump, streams of pure power pouring in and converting at speed.
He absorbed so fast that he matched the tablet's output.
The Sage Body, stalled for so long, began to move forward again.
He sank into cultivation.
...
Two hours later, Senya stopped.
He had taken in enough for today. Every cell felt full. He would digest more back at the tower. This was not a place to linger.
"Good thing this tablet exists. Without it, even with the system's energy, who knows how many years it would take to finish the Sage Body."
Muttering, he slipped up to the first floor, closed the passage, and repaired the barrier.
He was about to slip away.
Just then, a faint ripple of chakra came from the courtyard behind the shrine.
"Someone came in. Was I discovered?"
His brows drew together as he faded from sight.
He focused his senses.
The presence was not strong, around elite chunin in reserves.
His Sharingan locked onto the newcomer.
The person stopped in the courtyard and did not move on.
"Looks like they are not here for me."
Senya was surprised. Who would come here at this hour?
The route did not match a patrol.
Without thinking, he edged closer, intent on seeing more.
Past two stone gates.
A black figure, lit only by weak moonlight, was drilling fiercely on the practice ground within.
"Why are these things here?"
Last time, this space had been empty.
Was this set up for that person?
After a while, the figure turned in an attack, and Senya finally saw his face.
A youth with a solemn air, features calm and hard.
Sweat soaked the black training suit as he worked at his ninjutsu.
It was the future clan head, Uchiha Fugaku.
...