The Cult of Jashin was still fairly active in the Land of Hot Water. Their doctrine could be summed up in one phrase: "Kill everyone around you."
So whenever they met someone, they'd first ask if they wanted to join the Cult. If the answer was no, the person would be sacrificed to their so-called "Jashin-sama."
They were utterly rampant—completely disregarding the authority of the Hot Water Shinobi Village.
With the village in decline and its combat strength greatly diminished, they were powerless to deal with the cult. In the end, they had no choice but to hire Konoha's shinobi for assistance. After all, it was just a matter of paying a bounty, which was nothing compared to the cost of losing trained shinobi.
Raising a single shinobi was an enormous investment.
The Land of Hot Water, blessed with rich tourism resources, thrived in times of peace. The endless stream of tourists brought in massive economic benefits. To put it plainly, they were filthy rich and not short on cash.
That's the only reason they were able to hire Kiyosuke.
They had money—and they weren't afraid to use it.
With the mission accepted, Kiyosuke began searching for traces of the Cult. He deployed clone after clone in a swarm tactic. And sure enough, one of them finally turned up a lead—a Cultist.
Kiyosuke's main body grabbed the guy, who was already beaten to a pulp by his clones.
"Where's your headquarters?"
Minato had taken out their leader once already, and yet, these bastards were back again.
"I'll never talk!" the Cultist spat, incredibly defiant.
"Oh? Got some backbone, huh? I love guys with tough bones."
Crack! Crack!
"Where's your headquarters?"
"I said I'll never talk!"
Crack! Crack!
"Where is it?"
"Never gonna talk!"
Crack! Crack!
"Come on, just tell me already—where?"
"Never—!"
"Thought so."
After a final barrage of punches, Kiyosuke used a genjutsu—he wasn't great at it, but it would do—to try and force the location out of him.
Unfortunately, the guy was just a low-level grunt. All he knew was the location of a contact point. He had no idea where the actual headquarters was.
"You don't even know, so what the hell were you being tough for?"
Kiyosuke snapped the man's neck and fed him to the snakes. Then, he headed to the meeting point.
It was a small town a dozen kilometers away, known for its hot spring eggs. Not that Kiyosuke cared.
He stopped outside a dilapidated house with its doors shut tight.
Knocking on the door, he called out,
"FBI, open the door!"
No one responded.
He kicked the door open.
"Raid! Hands where I can see 'em! Men on the left, women on the right, anything in between stand in the middle. Show me your property deeds, IDs—any valid documentation!"
The place was dark, no lights on. Eerily silent.
"Yooo-hooo!!"
Just as Kiyosuke was about to begin sensing, a shadow leapt down from upstairs.
In their hands was a massive crimson scythe.
With a brutal swing, they cleaved Kiyosuke in two!
Looking down at the bisected Kiyosuke, the attacker sneered.
"Tch. That's it? Boring."
"Seriously. Boring."
On the floor, Kiyosuke's lower half stood up. His upper half propped itself up with both hands and reattached itself with a sickening snap.
The scene was grotesque—viewer discretion advised. Parental guidance suggested.
The Cultist who'd struck him stood frozen in horror.
"What the hell are you?!"
"I'm human, no doubt about that. But right now—I'm your death!"
"Your time is up. Hand over your head!"
Flames coalesced into a massive sword. Kiyosuke gripped it with both hands and brought it down.
Slice!
A massive head flew into the air, blood spraying in its wake.
It tumbled across the floor, landing with eyes still wide in disbelief.
Kiyosuke casually picked up the bloody scythe, gave it a few swings, and found it surprisingly comfortable.
Activating his heat sensing, he detected fifteen figures hidden in the house—and locked onto every one of them.
"They're awake. Time to hunt."
With a kick of his legs, he vaulted to the second floor.
The giant scythe slashed through a wall and pierced straight through a Cultist's body.
He pulled it free.
Three more Cultists charged in, each wielding a black short spear.
Their faces were twisted with fanatic glee.
"Come on! Become a sacrifice for Jashin-sama!"
"Hahaha! Embrace death!"
"Die! Accept this sweet death!"
To Kiyosuke, they were riddled with openings. He had a hundred ways to kill them.
But he chose the simplest.
He swung the scythe.
The blade effortlessly tore through their bodies.
Blood splattered across the floor—off they went to meet their "Jashin-sama."
"Looks like these freaks have expanded quite a bit in recent years."
Wading through blood and corpses, he continued the hunt.
Screams echoed through the house one after another.
Kiyosuke didn't bat an eye.
Like a reaper, he claimed their lives with the scythe.
He left one man alive—a middle-aged Cultist, blind in one eye.
Grabbing him by the throat, Kiyosuke slammed him against the wall.
"Talk. Where's your headquarters? I'd like to have tea and a little chat with your leader."
"I'd rather die than betray Jashin-sama!"
"Tsk. Looks like the Cult really does breed tough bastards. The last guy I interrogated said the same thing."
These people were all maniacs—and whoever led them had to be the biggest maniac of them all.
Kiyosuke hadn't expected the Cult Leader to be this effective, instilling such fierce loyalty.
"Tch. What a pain."
Crack! Crack!
"You gonna talk?"
"Never!"
Crack! Crack!
After a satisfying beatdown, he used genjutsu on the now-weakened man.
He wasn't great at it, but he didn't need to be. Beating someone senseless was the best way to lower their mental defenses.
Once he got the location, he burned the entire house down—along with the bodies.
"So the headquarters is in the south of the Land of Hot Water?"
Right now, he was near the border with the Land of Lightning.
Originally, this group had been stationed along the southern border.
Heading south now meant he was likely to run into those guys.
That reminded him—why had the Hot Water Shinobi Village reached out to Konoha and not the much-closer Kumogakure?
He didn't quite get it.
But since he had taken the mission, he'd see it through.
And if he ran into Kumogakure shinobi—well, he'd just have to face them head-on.
It's not like they could really do anything to him anyway.
With that thought, he began heading south.
Money wasn't easy to come by—especially the kind tied to S-rank missions.
If it were easy, it wouldn't be ranked S.
"Sigh. I guess I'm just fated to work my ass off."
With that, he picked up the pace.
At his current speed, he'd reach the destination in a day.
But that was fine.
A dark, moonless night was perfect for killing.
And if Hidan happened to be there—Even better.
He could stop Asuma from dying here in the future.
Now that he thought about it, wasn't Hidan from the Cult of Jashin too…?
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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