"-It is from the Uchiha compound. It is unusual for genin to survive an encounter with an S-class ninja. I said in my report that you awakened the sharingan. I prefer not to lie."

"- Thank you. This will help me awaken it, then?" He flips open the cover.

"It is a meditation manual. This was the typical method used by the clan, as I understand it. It was less common to awaken the sharingan in combat."

"That'll be helpful, yeah. Odd this wasn't in the books I inherited - unless it's one of the ones I didn't get to?"

"It was removed. Before you were granted access."

He nods. "Makes sense some were." A pause, and then: "Speaking of my clan - do you want to join me in searching the compound for any symbols, or wait for me to find something? Might help if I have the sharingan first, but."

He's actually unsure if he should keep lying to her - he dislikes lying to children on principle, and doesn't want to break her trust... But even though the full truth is too dangerous to share, that doesn't mean he can't talk around it.

"-I will wait."

Nod.

Makes it easier for him to plant something, at least.

"I'll try to work quickly, then."

"Good luck." She slips back out the window.

And he turns to read the book.

Apparently, in order to awaken the sharingan, one needs a strong, clear, pressing focus on awareness. A desire to absorb every minute detail and clue in one's surroundings. The book describes several meditations, mantras, and training regimes that have proven to be effective, and step-by-step instructions for following through.

He's worked in investigations long enough it's an intimately familiar mindset, so falling back into it - not something he'll manage perfectly sitting here, but the pre-dawn before training is as good a time as any to start searching the compound.

He walks through the streets, gazing around, settling himself into the mindset of clues, that if he misses anything some asshole he's tracking might hurt another kid, that he needs to find a woman who might as well be a ghost...

And, of course, he catalogs the buildings. What they're likely for. What places are quiet, soft, places his young self may have hidden from the sheer noise of existence...

The compound is effectively a village in miniature. Shops, houses, food stalls, a quiet park, a small lake. All intermingled, all run down from six or seven years of neglect.

The park, and then - paths leading out of the compound but away from the village. Places a small child who dislikes people might explore...

(He's settling, a bit, taking in as much detail as he can. He needs to pay attention, it's been years and clues will be old...)

There is a path into the woods that leads to a small clearing. The trees are covered in dozens of tiny scratches.

Training place, likely. Makes it one possibility...

He keeps looking. For out of the way buildings, especially - somewhere it's more likely someone would've been keeping old documents or artifacts.

Along the back wall, there's a small shrine building. Very traditional, old style construction. Removed from the other buildings by the remnants of a rock garden. A somewhat higher foundation, compared to other buildings.

Sugira likes both history and quiet. Assuming the culture here didn't change too much, he would've loved that as a kid.

He goes inside. He's looking for low places, like a child lying on the floor might spot, or better yet hidden caches, or collections of historically interesting but not actually relevant artifacts like oracle bones...

There are scrolls of the names of family members and death masks lining the walls. The woven mats making up the floor are covered in dust, but there's a peculiar pattern around one of the segments, like grooves that outline it.

...He kneels down to investigate.

There's a small crack he could fit his fingers into. He might be able to lift the tile up.

This is probably stupidly reckless. He does as thorough a check as he can for any protective seals before lifting it.

There are none he can see.

Then he supposes next is to see what's under it.

There's a stairway down, into a darkened basement.