"Kare wa shinu… kare wa umareta… soshite kare wa shutsugen suru."
In the infinite darkness of the night, among the dying and dry trees of the Yugakure forests, there was a plain where the earth was stained red. Hundreds of bodies decorated the horrible scene, all crucified and naked—men, women, and children of all different ages.
In the center of that gloomy place, there was an altar containing a large vessel, big enough to hold an adult man. Around the vessel was a complex system of seals that wrapped around the container and part of the floor. The most chilling thing was that the seal was drawn with blood.
"Kare wa shinu… kare wa umareta… soshite kare wa shutsugen suru."
Within a ten-meter radius, there were more than two dozen people, twenty-five of them wearing only white robes. Among them were both women and men of all ages. "Kare wa shinu… kare wa umareta… soshite kare wa shutsugen suru." The members of this sect were repeating that phrase over and over again, loudly and euphorically, as if they were calling someone with their chant.
In the distance, on a hill camouflaged by trees, was Team Four, commanded by Uzumaki Naruto, who was now kneeling and carefully watching the strange scene. His two companions behind him seemed worried, and Kimi was the first to say something.
"What are you doing?" she asked fearfully, seeing the members of the sect speaking louder and louder. Those chants were causing a cold chill to run down the teenager's spine.
"Some kind of ritual," a serious Takashi deduced doubtfully, looking through a handheld telescope. "You sons of bitches... they were just villagers," he growled hatefully, seeing the bodies that were everywhere. "They were just children." Choking with rage, he stopped looking and passed the telescope to his sensei, who was nearby.
"..." The veteran shinobi focused solely on the peculiar seal that was drawn around the vessel.
"What do you think?" Putting down the telescope, he turned to look at his best apprentice, who was analyzing the seal in great detail.
"I don't know," the younger blond boy said, raising his ring finger. He touched the ground and closed his eyes for a few seconds, concentrating and using his sensory abilities, which weren't nearly as good as his father's but were at least decent in this area.
"What the hell?" he asked, opening his eyes. A bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead. "I don't know what's in that vessel. I don't sense any signs of life whatsoever... but..." Frowning, he earned the confused looks of his companions. "There's a lot of chakra inside that thing," he said gravely, knowing how strange that might sound.
It's not normal to sense chakra if there isn't a living being that has it, thought Hamura sternly, who had a bad feeling.
"I've never seen anything like it. Some parts of that seal are somewhat similar to a summoning jutsu, but the rest... it's nothing I've ever seen before," Naruto said in frustration. He felt like a novice for not recognizing those seals. Ever since he learned to read, he had studied the seals and everything the Uzumaki Clan had created.
"But what I do recognize is that some of these seals are similar to those my ancestors used to create the Shinigami mask... Are they trying to summon their god?" Naruto concluded, reaching into one of his pockets and pulling out a sheet of paper. A puff of smoke revealed a katana.
"We mustn't let them finish this ritual."
Just as he was about to order his team to descend, he was stopped by the only kunoichi in the group.
"Wait... look at that." Stopping her captain, she made him look at what the sect was doing.
"Kare wa shinu… kare wa umareta… soshite kare wa shutsugen suru…"
The chants grew louder and louder, and Jashin's followers stood up, pulling daggers from their clothes.
"Kare wa shinu… kare wa umareta… soshite kare wa shutsugen suru!"
With that last cry, they all took their daggers and, in a grotesque scene, slit their own throats, causing their blood to splatter. After a moment, they all fell, dead.
"What the hell happened?" The incredulous dark-haired teenager looked at his captain, who was just as confused as he was. Swallowing hard, Takashi took the telescope to clearly see how all the members of the sect, in their agonizing states, writhed, only to die seconds later.
"We should retreat. We don't have enough information, and we don't know if this is anything more than just a suicide pact." Kimi looked hopefully at the Uzumaki, urging him to decline and simply opt for retreat. She didn't know why, but she felt her own cold sweat running down her entire body, and her heart wouldn't stop pounding like a drum.
"..." Ignoring his friend, Naruto noticed the blood of the sadistic suicides flowing into the vessel. To his dismay, the blood rose and now surrounded the container. The seal covering it began to glow scarlet.
"That... is..."
Increasingly confused, the younger blond suddenly heard a faint throbbing sound, which grew louder and louder. The entire ninja group knew that the sound was coming from the vessel, which was slowly cracking.
The blood flowing from the bodies, both those of the sacrifices and the cult members, pooled together, forming a vortex of gigantic proportions. It rose into the sky and then simply stopped, and like an apocalyptic scene, blood began to rain down upon the altar. Finally, the vessel exploded into pieces, scattering a dense, dark liquid that covered the ground.
"Is that... a person?" Kimi had to cover her mouth in disbelief when she saw that where the vessel had once stood, a seemingly human figure now rose. Finally, when the rain of blood stopped, an adult man could be seen standing. He was approximately 1.80 meters tall, thin, and slender, covered in blood from head to toe. His silver hair was barely visible. The man wore only dark pants and a necklace with a symbol of a circle with a triangle inside.
"Thank you, Jashin-sama!" The stranger, with a euphoric smile, raised his hands to the sky and tightly gripped his necklace. "For this gift! Now I will fulfill my mission! Your vision!" The silver-haired man, still smiling, turned to stare intently at the place where Team Four was hidden.
"Did he find us?" Tense, Takashi felt the penetrating psychopathic gaze of that subject, who seemed to be praying in a low voice with that strange necklace in his hands.
"Apparently, he had shinobi training. We must act, now!" With that order, Naruto left his hiding place along with his companions and sensei, landing near the altar. More than one of them felt disgusted by the blood-covered ground and the decomposing bodies.
"Well, well, fresh blood," the silver-haired man said, wiping the blood from his face. Looking down at the altar he stood upon, he pierced the wood with his right hand and drew a scythe nearly two meters long, with three long scarlet blades and what appeared to be a cable at its base. "I am Hidan… your executioner," he said, his smile fading. The newly recognized Hidan rested his weapon on his shoulder. But he coughed up blood as a sword pierced his chest. Surprised, he turned to see the blond brat behind him.
"And I am Naruto... the one who finished you off." The four silhouettes of Team Four disappeared in bursts of smoke, implying that they were only Shadow Clones. Among the still-hidden trees were Kimi, Takashi, and Tenko, who were watching everything from a safe distance and analyzing the situation.
"It's over..." the gray-haired Jounin sighed in relief. At least this was over before anything bad happened. Squinting, he noticed that his target didn't fall and instead just remained standing.
"Brat..." With a dark smile, Hidan grabbed the sword that pierced his chest and broke the blade with a speed the Uzumaki couldn't anticipate. The silver-haired man elbowed him in the face, breaking his nose, and, grabbing him by the neck, forced him to look him in the eyes. "You shouldn't have done that..." he threatened with a twisted smile, raising his scythe. He was about to kill the little blond pest, but he had to let go and back away when a katana almost cut his arm. "Another one!" With amusement, Hidan blocked a kick from Tenko, who had jumped to his student's defense.
"..." With a stern look, the veteran gripped his sword firmly and took his stance. Meanwhile, Kimi, with a bluish glow in her right palm, was healing her stunned captain, whose nose was healed within seconds. He stood up, drew his sword, and prepared to attack alongside his master.
"Jashin-sama, you sent these bastards to me as a test! Didn't you?!" shouted the silver-haired man jubilantly, staring at the sky and awaiting an answer that never came, or at least not for the others, as the cult leader smiled euphorically and, taking his weapon, pointed it at his future sacrifices. "You should feel honored! You will be part of something much bigger... by being sacrifices for-!" The man was interrupted when two walls of rock rose up and brutally crushed him.
"Kimi!" Near his team was Takashi, who now had his hands on the ground and gave the signal to his teammate.
"Hai!" With a long sequence of seals, the white-haired girl spat out a jet of water that, channeled like lightning, cut through everything in its path to reach its target and split the rocks into pieces. With a sigh, the teenager thought that it was all over.
"That hurt, you stupid little girl..." The rocks shifted to reveal Hidan, who had a few scratches and a large gash on his chest that was bleeding profusely. But it wasn't as if this bothered the silver-haired man, who simply emerged from the rubble to see all the shinobi who had been sent here. "But... what would life be without a little pain! Don't you think so?!" With that shout, he lunged at his prey, who had become defensive.
"Prepare yourselves!" Tenko was the first to be attacked and had to use his sword to stop a blow from the scythe, but the silver-haired man's strength was such that it made him retreat. But the Jounin, who had survived two wars, did not survive for nothing. With a 360° turn, he made a vertical cut that sent Hidan's weapon flying into the sky. Forming a hand seal, Hamura breathed a great burst of fire that hit his opponent directly.
Surrounded by fire, Hidan retreated and saw hundreds of kunai embedded in his body. Just when he thought it was all over, the veteran appeared before him.
"You son of a bitch!" the silver-haired man exclaimed in pain, feeling dozens of cuts all over his body. The old man was ridiculously fast; he could barely even see him. Trying to defend himself, Hidan counterattacked with blows, but all he managed to do was sever his right arm from his body.
Stunned, the follower of Jashin was bleeding from dozens of cuts all over his body, and when the Leaf Village Jounin finally stopped, he could only see the sword before his eyes. Repulsively, the blade pierced his head from side to side. An overwhelming silence fell over the area, and all the Jounin's students were in shock. Their sensei was, after all, one of the best Jounin; even if he wasn't quite an S-rank ninja, he was close.
"Wow," it all happened so fast that Naruto barely saw it happen. Impressed, he saw his master standing over the body of his target, surrounded by the fire that slowly spread through the dry, blood-soaked trees.
"It's done," Hamura said, drawing his sword. He saw the cultist's badly injured body. Sheathing his katana, he was about to leave, but noticed something strange: the man was smiling.
"Ahg!" In shock, he recoiled as a black folding rod was buried in his stomach. Stepping back, he saw Hidan slowly getting to his feet.
[ If you want to read advance Chapters then go to Pat reon and support me there as I have already uploaded advance Chapters there.
PAT REON I'D:- Skythe ]