Chapter 322: Ten Years, a Resurfacing Cult!
Year 12 of the Great Era, July.
Early in the morning, Naruto was sent off by Hinata and his four-year-old son, Boruto.
"Here we go!"
Waving his arm, Naruto, now twenty-four years old, smiled and turned. He then leaped away, quickly disappearing from Hinata and Boruto's sight.
Withdrawing her gaze, Hinata took her son's hand and walked towards school, gently admonishing him, "You must not bully Sarada anymore!"
Boruto pouted, "She's the one bullying me!"
Hinata patted her son's head and smiled, "Boruto is a man, so you need to look after the girls."
...
Meanwhile, Haruno Sakura also saw her husband, Uchiha Sasuke, off before taking their daughter, Sarada, to school.
However, Sarada, who was only four years old, wasn't going to the Ninja Academy. Instead, she was attending preschool, which had been officially implemented by the Alliance five years prior.
Preschool served two purposes: one was to care for the children of ninja families, and the second was early education, teaching the most basic literacy skills.
On the other side.
Naruto arrived at the teleportation hall. The space was vast, with various-sized teleportation platforms arranged in a circular fashion.
The further inward one went, the larger the platforms were, accommodating more people.
On the periphery, many were for single-person teleportation, or small platforms suitable for a four-person squad. Teleportation could be activated simply by injecting the user's chakra.
Only the larger platforms required the Sage Tree to activate.
"Teacher Naruto, over here!"
On one of the teleportation platforms, a woman with a long ponytail and the Byakugan waved her arm.
With a few flashes, Naruto landed on the platform.
Nawaki looked at the late Naruto and couldn't help but complain, "Teacher Naruto, you haven't developed Teacher Kakashi's bad habit, have you?"
"What bad habit?"
Naruto immediately retorted, smiling, "You need to understand what it's like to have a wife and kids!"
"Once you're married, you'll get it."
"Besides, I'm not late at all. Hinata always keeps track of time."
Nawaki was speechless.
It was infuriating how he flaunted his affection at every opportunity.
He didn't even consider that if Aunt Kushina hadn't intervened back then, this guy might still be a lone dog.
Nawaki grumbled internally.
Beside him, the Byakugan girl, Hyuga Kyoko, quickly chimed in, "We should hurry to headquarters. I just saw Sasuke-senpai and the others heading there!"
Another teammate, Uchiha Shii, quickly nodded in agreement.
Naruto's expression changed upon hearing this, "Sasuke's already gone?"
"Then let's go quickly, so we don't miss out on good missions because Sasuke beat us to it!"
With that, Naruto injected his chakra into the teleportation platform beneath his feet, and the four of them vanished.
Above a mountain range on the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Earth, a massive semicircular continent was suspended.
This vast, circular area, spanning ten thousand square kilometers, was lush with vegetation, and numerous high towers were hidden within.
Below, beneath towering ancient trees, there were also many wooden houses, not very tall and elongated.
At this moment, Uzumaki Karin was tending to flowers and plants here, sighing with frustration, "Failed again!"
"So troublesome!"
Honoka, not far away, couldn't help but laugh, "Cultivating high-yield, highly adaptable seeds isn't that simple. It requires some patience."
"Perhaps you'll succeed next time!"
Speaking of which, cultivating plant seeds was much easier than cultivating summoning beasts!
...
The third basement level, teleportation hall.
Naruto's team appeared on a teleportation platform. The four of them then exited the hall and took an elevator down to the fourth basement level, where the mission hall was located.
"Naruto!"
As soon as he entered, Naruto heard a familiar voice. Looking over, he immediately waved, "Shikamaru!"
He approached with his three disciples, "Shikamaru, what are you doing here?"
Nara Shikamaru had inherited his father's mantle and joined the Alliance's secretariat.
"I was waiting specifically for you."
Nara Shikamaru led the way as he spoke.
Naruto's eyes immediately lit up. "Eh, is there an important mission?"
Regular missions never came specifically for him.
Nawaki was even more excited and quickly asked, "Senior Shikamaru, what kind of mission is it? Could it be that the Ōtsutsuki Clan has attacked?"
"If it were the Ōtsutsuki, they wouldn't wait for you like this."
Nara Shikamaru shook his head, then said with a hint of solemnity, "A month ago, on a remote island in the Land of Water, the islanders were all massacred."
"Ah, I know about that."
Hyuga Kyoko exclaimed and asked, "Senior Shikamaru, haven't they caught the culprit yet?"
"We found them, but we also didn't."
Nara Shikamaru shook his head. "The squad previously sent to track them found some traces, but then the entire squad went missing."
"Continuing the investigation, we tracked them all the way to the Land of Wind. Just yesterday, within the Land of Wind, three oases in a row were destroyed."
What?
Nawaki and the others couldn't help but exclaim.
Since they started taking missions, they had never encountered anything so serious.
In fact, for many years, the Ninja World had been at peace, and they had never even heard of such a heinous incident.
Naruto's expression turned grim. "Who exactly is responsible?"
Nara Shikamaru didn't answer, as they had already arrived at their destination.
Naruto and the others walked into the office and found Uchiha Sasuke already there.
In addition to them, there was also Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten's squad.
Seeing this lineup, the three youngsters, Nawaki, immediately knew the situation was serious.
"Sasuke, Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten..."
Naruto greeted them one by one, then looked at Kakashi behind the desk and said impatiently, "Teacher Kakashi, who exactly is responsible?"
"Can't the alliance figure it out yet?"
Kakashi glanced at Naruto and said, "For now, we only know it's a group of evil ninjas."
"However, they used different methods the first and second times, so we need you to confirm it and then find them."
After hearing this, Naruto couldn't wait. "In that case, Sasuke, Neji, let's hurry and depart!"
Uchiha Sasuke didn't move and instead asked, "Teacher Kakashi, is there no more detailed information?"
"Not at the moment."
Kakashi said, "The two squads sent out have both gone missing. It's certain that the other party is very powerful."
"Understood!"
Uchiha Sasuke nodded, then turned and walked out with his subordinates.
Naruto and the others followed suit. The group returned to the teleportation hall and was directly transported to the scene of the incident via a medium-sized teleportation platform.
...
Land of Wind.
Compared to ten years ago, the Land of Wind was completely different.
Looking down from high above, it was impossible to tell that it was once a desert country.
Now, oases were densely distributed in concentric circles, radiating outwards from the original Sunagakure and Rōran, already covering the entire Land of Wind.
The entire Land of Wind no longer had any large-scale desert areas.
Even outside the oases, they had gradually transformed into semi-desert areas.
However.
At this moment, within an oasis, the once vibrant and lively village was no more, with collapsed and burned houses everywhere.
And on a patch of grass, corpses were laid out.
There were the elderly, women, strong men, and young children.
Not a single dog in the entire village had been spared.
When Naruto and the others arrived, this was the tragic scene they witnessed.
Nawaki and the other six youngsters had never seen such a scene in reality before. Their faces were a little pale, and they were filled with immense anger.
"Damn it!"
"Damn those demons, they're too cruel!"
"The alliance should have sent a Kage from the start!"
Nawaki and the other youngsters were extremely angry.
Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Neji, and the others looked grim but remained silent.
In front of the numerous corpses, medical ninjas in white, along with members of the intelligence division, were gathering information.
"Ino, what's the situation?" Neji asked as he approached.
Ino pulled down her mask, her expression grim. "There are no survivors."
"The ordinary villagers were slaughtered with ease."
"However, a few of the ninjas in this village were quite strong."
Saying this, Ino led Neji and the others to a corpse. She pulled back the white cloth covering it and said, "This corpse is the most peculiar!"
"Although he has wounds, none of them were fatal, yet he is dead!"
Naruto frowned upon hearing this. "What do you mean?"
"No other fatal injuries?"
Ino replied, "His heart was shattered."
At this moment, Neji had already activated his Byakugan, observing the corpse both internally and externally.
Naruto's subordinate, Hyuga Kyoko, also opened her Byakugan to observe. "Teacher Naruto, this corpse's heart is shattered, but there are no wounds on his chest or back. Not even a bone is broken. Such an injury completely defies common sense."
Neji, however, had already shifted his gaze from the corpse to Uchiha Sasuke. "Sasuke, what do you think?"
"It must be them!" Uchiha Sasuke stated.
Naruto, Rock Lee, and Tenten didn't immediately grasp what he meant.
Ino quickly asked, "Sasuke, Neji, do you already know who did this?"
Naruto was even more anxious. "Sasuke, Neji, quickly tell us what you know!"
"The Jashin cult!" Uchiha Sasuke declared.
Naruto, Ino, Rock Lee, and Tenten were still bewildered.
Neji could only explain, "More than ten years ago, there was a guy named Hidan in the Akatsuki Organization. He possessed immortality and could use a secret technique by obtaining an enemy's blood. By harming himself, he could inflict the same injuries upon the enemy."
"It's him!" Upon hearing Hidan's name, Naruto and the others finally remembered.
Nawaki and the others were shocked, never imagining such a bizarre secret technique existed. He's immortal, kills himself, and the enemy suffers the same fatal damage.
"This cult, I remember now, it's from the Land of Hot Water," Tenten recalled with a frown. "I remember the Fourth Hokage at the time ordered the eradication of this entire cult."
"And that guy Hidan was personally dealt with by Lord Asuma, right?" Rock Lee asked. "Was there a survivor who escaped?"
Neji replied, "That's unlikely."
"The Jashin cult was eradicated, and Hidan was dealt with by Asuma-sensei. However, I've never heard Asuma-sensei mention the Evil God behind the Jashin cult."
"Someone who could develop immortality and a secret technique to kill opponents using blood definitely wouldn't be simple," Uchiha Sasuke said. "We should report this to headquarters first. Kakashi-sensei should be able to inform Lord Asuma about this!"
Seeing how serious Uchiha Sasuke and Neji were, Nawaki couldn't help but ask, "Brother Neji, Senior Sasuke, is this cult really that difficult to deal with?"
Neji patiently explained, "If you have the intelligence, dealing with the Jashin cult's secret techniques isn't particularly difficult. But the key issue isn't the Jashin cult itself."
"It's the sudden reappearance of a cult that was supposedly annihilated. This matter must be related to the Evil God behind the Jashin cult."
"Asuma-sensei took action back then but couldn't kill the entire Evil God. This indicates that this Evil God is not simple, so we can't be too careful."
Nawaki and the other six children suddenly understood.
"Then another piece of information makes sense," Ino added. "We haven't found the bodies of infants or children aged two to three in this village."
"The same is true for the other two oases."
"The Jashin cult has likely taken the children to raise them!"
Naruto's anger flared upon hearing this. "Is there any way to find them?"
Uchiha Sasuke replied, "First, we need to transmit the information back to headquarters. With this intelligence, the Alliance's intelligence department can track them more effectively."
Ino nodded and immediately used her clan's secret technique to transmit the information to the Alliance headquarters.
However.
Before any message could be received from headquarters, a ninja descended from the sky riding a large bird, shouting, "There's been fighting in a village about thirty miles to the west. It's suspected to be those guys!"
The expressions of everyone present changed. Uchiha Sasuke, without hesitation, opened a Space-Time Door. "I'll go first, Naruto, you guys hurry!"
After he spoke, he had already disappeared. Naruto, wanting to ask Sasuke to take him along, could only swallow his words.
Thus, the group leaped forward, heading west.
An oasis thirty li away.
Figures clad in black robes were chasing and killing the villagers with strange cries. The few registered ninja present were fighting desperately, and their situation was already precarious.
Suddenly, a Space-Time Door appeared in the air, and Uchiha Sasuke stepped out. His gaze swept across the scene, and he flung the Chakra Blade in his hand. With a thwip, he impaled one of the black-robed figures to the ground.
"Don't let them get your blood!"
Uchiha Sasuke shouted a warning, and simultaneously, his figure vanished from the air. When he reappeared, he had switched places with an allied ninja. With a raise of his hand, the black-robed man in front of him exploded into a bloody mist.
Immediately afterward, the sound of Chidori's cry echoed. Uchiha Sasuke transformed into a streak of lightning, moving at high speed across the battlefield. The black-robed figures fell, most of them before they could even clearly see their enemy.
"It's Uchiha Sasuke!"
"Retreat!"
Someone recognized Uchiha Sasuke with a shout and ordered a retreat.
But in the next moment, Uchiha Sasuke appeared before him. Their eyes met, and the black-robed man's expression instantly froze, controlled by Uchiha Sasuke's Sharingan genjutsu.
By this time, apart from the black-robed man in front of him, all the other black-robed figures had already died by Uchiha Sasuke's blade.
When Naruto and the others arrived, Uchiha Sasuke had already obtained the intel.
"It really is that Jashinism cult!"
"These guys were all islanders from overseas. Someone preached the doctrines of Jashinism to them, taught them secret techniques, and had them slaughter indiscriminately, offering blood sacrifices to the Evil God!"
Neji asked, "Do you know where their base is?"
Uchiha Sasuke replied, "No, but there's a place where we should be able to get a lot of information!"
With that, the Space-Time Door opened once more.
-----------
Machine Translation by: beta.randomtranslator.com
Read 1400+ original & fanfic translations and Translate for Free at: www.randomtranslator.com