Uchiha Ci sighed and stood up.
He looked around at the three teammates before him, about to set off together.
It just felt a bit absurd.
Terumi Mei, the genius of Kirigakure, wielder of dual Kekkei Genkai, alias 'Gekkō Mei'.
Shennong, the mastermind behind Hidden Sky Village, hiding his identity while traveling the ninja world as a doctor.
And Hidan, a future Akatsuki member from Hot Water, currently in his wild child phase.
No matter how you looked at it, this lineup was baffling.
How did they even end up together?
"Forget it, let's go. Target: the Evil God Cult's headquarters."
"Hidan, lead the way!"
Meanwhile,
In the underground square of the Evil God Cult's headquarters, not far from Tang Yan City.
The bishop of the Evil God Cult gazed indifferently at the scene before him.
Watching a group of cultists drag terrified civilians from the Land of Hot Water,
Tie them to crosses,
Pile firewood at their feet, then take out awls, serrated chains, and iron nails from racks filled with torture tools, grinning widely.
Preparing for the grand Evil God ceremony about to begin.
He suddenly felt somewhat ridiculous and bored, turned, and took out a necklace bearing the cult's symbol from his robe.
His eyes grew distant as he stared at it for a long time.
Until a cult leader in black robes half-kneeled behind him and anxiously reported:
"Your Excellency Bishop, the three elites we sent to retrieve the child were killed."
"Killed, so be it." The bishop's face remained impassive, as if accustomed to such things.
He turned, glanced at the cultist with lavender eyes, then said lightly:
"That's how this country is—corpses everywhere, chaos everywhere."
"Hot Water ninja, great nation ninja, samurai, commoners, nobles, even daimyo—all get killed inexplicably one day."
"Haven't you recognized this tragic reality and this meaningless era?"
"But, Lord Bishop," the leader raised his head slightly and asked,
"What about the child needed for the ceremony?"
The bishop looked toward the darkness nearby and said calmly:
"Leave professional matters to professionals."
A bald man with a thick beard stepped out of the shadows, smiling:
"The bishop is right."
"Our Underground Exchange exists for precisely this purpose."
"Kidnapping, blackmail, bounties, intelligence, assassination—even if you want to become a noble of this country tomorrow—"
"As long as you can afford the price, we will serve you wholeheartedly."
The bishop closed his eyes and asked:
"How long to bring the person here?"
The bald man smiled slightly and said sincerely:
"Don't worry, we tortured the villagers in that village immediately and already learned about the guy who killed your cult members and the child's whereabouts."
"This is a big deal. Our most elite bounty hunters have already set off. Within half a day at most—"
"We will definitely bring back the child named 'Hidan'."
"Mm, that's all." The bishop waved a hand disinterestedly.
"Zakkyō, take him to get the deposit."
The cultist named Zakkyō nodded, then couldn't help asking:
"Lord Bishop, what if the guy who took Hidan comes killing his way here again?"
The bishop held the necklace against his forehead.
An emotionless voice faintly sounded: "Someone will handle it."
"Zakkyō, we are just an ordinary church that believes in gods. Don't always think about solving problems through killing."
As the words fell—
Not far away, a cultist holding an iron nail grinned and stabbed out an eyeball with a backhand motion.
A piercing scream erupted from the dense crosses behind him.
One after another.
This scene.
Even the bald man from the Underground Exchange, accustomed to the ninja world's darkness, saw it and froze.
God damn ordinary church.
Is this how your ordinary church worships?
"Huo, you said this is the Evil God Cult's headquarters?"
"Are you sure this isn't the palace of the Land of Hot Water's daimyo?"
On a cliff, Uchiha Ci looked down at the huge castle built on the hills below, somewhat surprised.
If Hidan hadn't explicitly stated this was the cult's headquarters,
He would have thought it was some Hot Water noble's territory.
"Actually, it's almost the same. This place was built by our Hot Water Ninja with the help of a Hot Water noble."
"You know Hot Water Ninja rarely get good missions. We're almost like those declining samurai, practically becoming private soldiers for the Hot Water daimyo and nobles."
Hidan explained, pointed at the castle below, then shook his head:
"However, there's a difference."
Uchiha Ci followed his gaze.
Outside the gorgeous castle below stretched nearly ten miles of shabby shacks.
Densely packed refugees from the Land of Hot Water crowded among them, huddling in wind-sheltered corners, legs folded, unable to sleep through the night.
It was like a massive refugee settlement.
Now, the night was dark, no light in the sky.
The team of four had traveled for three hours; by time, dawn should be near.
But in early spring, days were short, nights long—still some time until sunrise.
"What should we do?" Hidan asked, tilting his head.
As if worried, he added: "I came here once when the Evil God Cult guided me."
"Don't underestimate this place."
"The guards here are very tight, especially near the cave entrance to the cult's underground headquarters—almost a post every ten steps."
"Plus, the cult recruited many warriors and refugees as spies. Sneaking in from the refugee camp outside the city gate without alerting anyone inside is a bit unrealistic."
"Also, it's hard to say how much ninja power the cult has."
Hidan wasn't even a genin now, couldn't sense chakra.
Everyone seemed normal to him.
That is, when fishing for Uchiha Ci, he saw he was injured and wore a Konoha forehead protector, confirming Ci was a ninja. Further info was beyond him.
Uchiha Ci nodded, stroking his chin.
Joy surged in his heart.
As a true macho man, he naturally wanted to make as much noise as possible during an assassination.
If I kill all the enemies I see, no one will know I was here.
(Pushing up sunglasses, grinning with gold teeth.jpg)
So Uchiha Ci turned and declared resolutely:
"I'll attract the enemy's attention. You seize the chance to get in and open the city gate."
"Then we charge straight in!"
"If man blocks, kill man; if god blocks, kill god!"
"After rushing into the underground cave, I'll seal the entrance with a barrier to block their reinforcements."
"How about it? Perfect plan, right?"
Clearly, this plan didn't win his teammates' approval.
"Are you an idiot?"
Terumi Mei couldn't help but knock Uchiha Ci's forehead with a kunai hilt, saying angrily:
"We're ninjas! We're ninjas!"
"Do you think this is a kabuki theater?"
Then, Terumi Mei pointed at the cliff beneath their feet and the castle below, connecting them with two slender fingers.
"We can descend from this cliff to the city wall."
"Though it's high, we can use tree-walking. After scouting the wall, we can climb down."
"Attract as little attention as possible."
Terumi Mei's proposal was immediately endorsed by the other two.
But Uchiha Ci shook his head: "You overlooked a key issue."
"We can climb down. Heck, we could probably run down the cliff without much trouble."
"But," Uchiha Ci patted his little brother's shoulder, smiling cheerfully,
"This kid probably doesn't know tree-walking or water-walking."
Uchiha Ci glanced at Hidan, raised an eyebrow, and asked:
"What to do? Leave him here?"