She told her siblings what she had learned thanks to Kakashi.
"Do you think they'll attack the others soon?" Naruto asked, his face serious and worried.
"I imagine so. We don't even know who's dead and who's still alive, except Gaara and us."
"What are those guys planning?" Sasuke frowned. "What do they want the bijuus for? Itachi, do you know anything about that?"
"The only thing I know is that they take the jinchurikis alive to a secret chamber in order to extract the bijuu," he told them, sitting at the top of a tree. "I didn't ask too many questions about why."
"Where is that base?"
"It's pointless to look for it. None of them are stupid. They must have changed location the moment they realized Kisame and I ran away. As far as I know, Akatsuki has more than one base available precisely to prevent situations like this."
"He's right," she said, wrapping an arm around Naruto's shoulders. "Besides, I don't think we're exactly the best ones to find out what's going on."
"About what they're planning… I can tell you a couple of things about that," Kisame suddenly cut in. "We should call the pervert to talk about it."
Jiraiya, who was in his room doing who-knows-what, came outside after Naruto sent him a clone. They summarized what little they had talked about so far.
"At least you had the brains to tell me," he said, then motioned at Kisame. "So, what do you know?"
"Before I joined Akatsuki, that guy Madara told me about a plan called the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Madara, Tobi, told you about a plan?" Itachi asked, somewhat surprised, blinking.
"He didn't tell you?"
"No. What's it about?"
"Apparently, Madara plans to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the moon to trap the entire world in a very powerful genjutsu in order to end all wars."
"What? That's his plan?" Jiraiya asked, serious and exasperated. "Is that why he needs the jinchurikis? To use their power to activate the genjutsu?"
"Yeah. He didn't tell me much more, just that he had it all figured out and that it would work."
"That's it? Huh. You're not giving me much to work with," Jiraiya muttered, then sighed wearily.
"Actually, we have another clue. Madara, or Tobi… I'll call him Tobi for convenience. Tobi must have learned that genjutsu from the Uchiha's stone tablet," Itachi said with a grave expression. "I read that tablet myself with the mangekyo sharingan and more information was revealed to me than when I read it with the regular sharingan."
"Do you think now that you have the eternal mangekyo sharingan you'll be able to read something new that wasn't visible before?" the pervert asked.
"That's the most logical conclusion. Otherwise, how would Tobi know how to carry out his plans? Either he read it on the stone tablet, or he has some other unknown sources. First, we should rule out that it's not written on the stone, so I need to return to the Land of Fire to find out the truth."
"Are you insane?" she asked with growing anger. "Tobi told his stupid plan to Kisame but not to you, probably to manipulate you. Would you have agreed to follow him if you'd known what he was planning? Probably not, and he knew that. What do you think he would do knowing that you might eventually find out and think the same thing you're thinking now?"
"She's right, nii-san. You can't go alone. It could be a trap."
"Are you saying you want to go with Itachi?" Jiraiya said incredulously. "You, who are being hunted by Orochimaru and Danzo, and Seina and Naruto, who are being hunted by Akatsuki."
"Then what are we supposed to do? What are we going to do for the rest of our lives? Hide?" Naruto shouted, with his usual intensity. "We're not cowards! And we've trained for a long time to survive any danger! I refuse to just sit here while others risk their lives for us!"
"We refuse," Sasuke nodded, and then she did too.
"Besides... Right now, it's Danzo, Orochimaru, and Akatsuki, but tomorrow it might be Kumogakure, and the day after that, aliens from a neighbouring galaxy," she scoffed sarcastically. "We can't stay here for the rest of our lives, even if it means dying."
A silence followed as the older ninjas considered their words. Kisame, of course, was on their side. He had accepted a long time ago that death was inevitable and simply lived by his own morals. Itachi, on the other hand, knew how stubborn his brother was, how stubborn Naruto and she were, and he knew they wouldn't let him go alone; and that if he tried to sneak away, they would follow him. In the end, Jiraiya only sighed, a tired expression on his face.
"You're right. This year, you'll turn 15. We can't keep hiding you forever. Fine. We'll all go search for that stone tablet."
And so, the next day, they packed everything and set out to return to the Land of Fire. Itachi, the only one who knew where the stone tablet was hidden, marked the coordinates on a map. Luckily, there was a sealed stone nearby, so she allowed them to hold on to her, and she teleported them.
"This jutsu of yours is really handy," Kisame said. "If I could use it, I wouldn't walk anywhere."
"You'd be fat in two days."
Seina dodged a jab, moving behind Itachi, who ignored both of them and started running eastward. The others followed close behind, senses alert. She used her spy and aura spell, but there was no one else in the forest. He led them to a kind of hidden place between hills.
"Genjutsu?" Jiraiya asked, undoing the illusion when he saw Itachi slip between two narrow ravines.
"Yes. This way."
They walked along a hidden path, invisible from the sky. Even she wouldn't have seen it from atop her dragon. They arrived at a small grassy clearing surrounded by rock walls. There on the ground, atop a gray stone altar, was a heavy-looking grey stone tablet. From afar, she could see the kanji carved into it, but it was clear that Sasuke and Itachi were seeing something else. Naruto and she, using Sasuke's eyes to witness what was happening, read the inscriptions.
One of them caught her attention:
"'When one who possesses the power of the Rinnegan approaches the moon, an Eye shall open and reflect upon the Moon to grant the Eternal Dream.'"
Seina, after confirming they were truly alone, approached Sasuke and Itachi, who examined the tablet using various forms of the sharingan. With no success. Then, she wondered if she might be able to reveal the tablet's secrets with her magic. Sasuke looked at her, sensing her thoughts, and nodded in her direction.
"Do you think it'll work?"
"No harm in trying. Besides, I'm not sure that's everything it says... What does it mean by the power of the rinnegan? Is it possible that the eternal mangekyo sharingan isn't the final form of the sharingan?"
Itachi turned to look at her, slightly puzzled. Then looked at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow, looked back at her, and raised another eyebrow.
"How did you read that?"
"I read it," Sasuke said casually, waving a hand, "and Seina and Naruto read it through me."
"...How is that possible?" Itachi looked at her again. "You managed to connect to Sasuke using your powers?"
"Yes. I'm surprised you didn't notice sooner."
"...We'll talk about that later."
"The rinnegan is an extraordinarily powerful dojutsu, but very peculiar," Jiraiya explained. "I know a little about it, but I don't know how it manifests. Does the tablet say anything else?"
"Let me try," she said again, half-listening to Jiraiya.
She used her magic to make the stone tablet fully reveal its secrets. Suddenly, everyone could read the kanji engraved in stone with their own eyes. Jiraiya began writing down what was written while Itachi and Sasuke copied it with their sharingan, and she did the same with her mental barriers.
"It talks about controlling the tailed beasts..."
"What's this about the story of the Sage of Six Paths and Kaguya?" Naruto asked. Seina also wanted to know.
"This tablet... is unreliable," Itachi finally said with a serious expression and a thoughtful frown. "It talks about Madara Uchiha's body even though it was supposedly written hundreds of years ago."
"Great," Naruto threw his hands in the air. "And now how are we supposed to know what was written recently and what was written before?"
"That's not the point, midget," Kisame said, speaking for the first time in a while, "the question is what's true and what's false in everything that's written here."
"Let's return to the base. There's no point in staying exposed out here any longer."
Seina and the others obeyed Jiraiya. They left after she returned the tablet to its original form. Hours later, they were discussing what they had read. It contained secrets about the sharingan and its advanced form, the way to control the bijuu, the life of a man called the Sage of the Six Paths, Kaguya and the "God Tree," as well as secrets about Madara's body, warnings about the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the supposed "cure" for the Uchiha, clan secrets, and the consequences of using the sharingan.
"Itachi is right. We have to take this information with a grain of salt. First, we'll need to verify everything it says to know what's true and what's false."
"Clearly the cure part is false. I've confirmed myself that neither Itachi nor Sasuke have any active or passive curse now," she scoffed, irritated. "That means either someone doesn't know how to fix the problem or is manipulating the Uchiha into using that infinite genjutsu."
"Or the 'curse' refers to something else."
"I repeat what I said. We need to investigate and study each entry on the tablet before we try to figure out what the hell is going on. This is no small matter," said Jiraiya, completely serious. "Half of what's written on that tablet seems to encourage the Uchiha to gain more power through… not-so-normal means. Like killing loved ones or stealing their brothers' eyes."
"Or using the bijuu to put humanity under an infinite genjutsu."
Seina suddenly remembered the Uzumaki secret chamber. Was there something valuable or some documents inside that could help them with what they'd just discovered? She hadn't wanted to open it without knowing how to do so without accidentally destroying it, and because it contained secrets of her clan, but now… Now it seemed they might need help. Even Kurama was quiet, thinking about everything they had uncovered.
"Jiraiya… Maybe you should see something else," she said, sighing. Naruto and Sasuke looked at her in confusion. "It's about a secret chamber right here in Uzushiogakure, protected by the Uzumaki clan even after their death."
"A secret chamber? And what's inside?" he asked with interest.
"That's the thing. I don't know. It's surrounded by hundreds of layers of fuinjutsu. One wrong move and it would destroy whatever's inside, so I haven't tried to open it yet."
"I have to see this."
"This way."
She ran toward the forest on the other side of the village. The others followed without question. In a few minutes, they reached the entrance of the cave, protected by her magical barriers. She temporarily deactivated them. Jiraiya immediately sensed what she had felt months before. He took a deep breath as he approached the cave, examining the surroundings critically.
"Do you think we could open it?"
"It should be possible. All barriers are designed to open one way or another. What worries me is what might be inside, to be honest. At this point, I'm expecting the worst after everything we've uncovered."
"Wouldn't it be better not to open it?" asked Kisame.
"Seina will end up opening it sooner or later. She's too curious, and it's her clan's legacy. She has the right to know what's inside."
They spent some time at the cave's entrance, examining it. When night fell and they realized they weren't going to make any progress, they returned to the tent for dinner. Seina hesitated—she had another secret related to her clan. That temple of masks she had found near Konoha. Honestly, could it be related to what they'd discovered in the Uchiha stone tablet? Would she lose anything by telling Jiraiya what she knew?
"Might as well. Whatever is happening with my brothers and the other jinchuriki is important enough to mention it. Maybe it's nothing, and it's unrelated, but… what if it is?" said Kurama seriously. "According to that tablet, there's a plan to use us and put all humans under a genjutsu… A plan I didn't even know existed. For it to work, they'd need to get me, and for that, you'd have to die, and I refuse to let that happen."
"Alright. I'll tell him."
While Itachi was preparing dinner—his turn in the rotation—accompanied by Kisame, who wasn't helping much and mostly just talking, Seina sat next to Jiraiya at the dining table. As soon as she did, her teacher knew something was off. He looked at her, waiting silently for her to speak. Seina sighed.
"There's one more thing."
"Of course there is… What is it?" he said, setting aside what he was doing to give her his full attention.
"We found this map one of the times we searched the ruins before starting reconstruction," she said, handing him the map. "They seem to be important locations for our clan."
"Have you visited them?"
"Just one. The one near Konoha. But Jiraiya… There was something terrible there…"
"What was it?" he asked, frowning with a tired and serious expression.
"A bunch of demon-shaped masks. One of them contained several souls."
"…What?" he asked, stunned. "Are you telling me the Uzumaki clan has… a-"
"A temple."
"…-a temple with demon masks, one of which contains the souls of multiple people?"
"Yes, and there was an altar to use them, obviously. From what I could tell at the time, someone had used the altar recently."
"My head hurts."
"I have the temple hidden right now, so no one can enter without my permission."
"Great. We'll talk about it once we deal with everything else we've got going on."
Seina blinked in surprise when she saw he didn't seem interested in doing anything about it, then shrugged. She had tried. Why did everyone always brush off the topic whenever she tried to talk about the temple? People always seemed to magically forget it soon after. It was fascinating and exasperating.
The rest of March passed relatively quickly. They kept training and trying to figure out more about what they had discovered in the Uchiha stone tablet, with little success. The only one who had any real information was, interestingly, Kurama. He told them about the Sage of the Six Paths or, as he knew him, his father.
"You're telling us Rikudo Sennin is, or was, real?" asked Jiraiya, incredulous and sceptical.
"That's right. His real name was Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Honestly, I don't think he was human. He had an enormous number of abilities and was incredibly powerful. Much more powerful than my siblings and I combined. After all, he created us."
"But how did he create you? Why?"
"I didn't ask. I didn't have to. All he told us was that maybe one day we would be 'one' again, so I assume he made us from a single entity. One I don't know," Kurama explained, sitting in her lap like a cat. "According to him, he predicted that if that ever happened, someone in the future would gather us all to show us what 'true power' really is. He died shortly after creating us due to an illness, but before that, with the help of his followers, he built temples in various places where we could live peacefully under the protection of his monks. After that, over time, his teachings were forgotten, and people began to fear us. The rest, as they say, is history."
"And do you know anything about Kaguya or the 'God Tree'?"
"No."
"Well… at least we know part of the tablet's information seems to be real."
The problem was, if not even Kurama—who had been alive back then—knew whether some parts of the tablet were true, how were the rest of the mortals supposed to know?