7 people exited the cave. All had weird symbols on their faces and wore robes. One of them said, "We need to find around 175 children to complete the ritual. If we don't bring them here in time, then Zankoku sama will skin us alive!"
Another said, "But how can we do that? All villages in this country are on high alert. It's impossible to kidnap more of them."
The man standing in the center said, "In that case, we just need to go to the neighbouring countries and kidnap 175 children before they become alert."
However, the other members weren't entirely convinced. They said, "But reverse summoning over long distances will need a lot more chakra. It will be very difficult."
However, the man insisted, "There is no other way. We will kidnap children from the Land of Waterfall. We will focus on the villages close to the border area. So the distance won't be much larger."
As they were discussing, Fujin's mind was busy analyzing as well, 'Though I don't recall Hidan's tattoos well, their tattoos make me think of the marks that would appear on Hidan after he licked someone's blood. Safe to say that these guys are followers of Jashin. But, what the heck are they doing here? Wasn't Hidan from the Land of Hot Water?
Also, why do they already have those marks? Aren't they useless unless they stand in that diagram made from blood?
No, I don't think these guys are as strong as Hidan. Otherwise, their group would be too strong. I guess that they have just made the tattoos manually and they don't have the same mastery of whatever this craft is as Hidan.
Still, why are there so many Jashin followers? I thought Hidan was the only one. Or perhaps one of very few. That said, except for the one in the center, their chakra seems quite low. So I guess they just got wiped out before Hidan completed his ritual. Perhaps in this mission itself.
Another point to consider is, wasn't Konoha completely unaware of the existence of Jashin? Shouldn't this mission have made them aware of the existence of Jashin or at least his followers and their rituals? So did they not report this mission accurately or will Konoha be aware of them?'
Fujin thought for a bit and concluded, 'No, a religion that engages in kidnapping and sacrificing staying secret for so long in a world full of ninjas is unlikely. It's more probable that all 5 villages are aware of them. Just that either they didn't consider Jashin to be much of a threat or Jashinists managed to hide or escape from them.
There is also the matter of Orochimaru. He is exploring ways to attain immortality. So did he also experiment with Jashin? Hmm, that's one research I'd like to see. After all, though Hidan was weak, there wouldn't be any ninja who wouldn't want his survivability. Though Orochimaru left the Akatsuki before Hidan joined it, he should still be aware of Jashins. At the very least, he should become aware of them after Hidan joins the Akatsuki.
Oh well, I will consider this later. There is no point in thinking about this for now.'
As he was analyzing, Fujin saw them talk. Unfortunately, the distance between them was too high. So he couldn't hear anything. However, the same wasn't the case with his teammates. Each one of them understood the entire conversation by reading their lips. Shunko and Mieko frowned. Anger could be seen on their faces.
Shunko asked softly, "Can we kill them, Uncle?"
Akihiko replied, "Not yet. The kids should be alive. Our main mission is to ensure that the kidnapped kids are safe. Don't attack anyone impulsively."
Shunko nodded unwillingly.
Akihiko said, "The tents have 17 people. They are probably from this group. In addition to these 7, there are 20 more patrolling around the village and the mountain. However, my Sharingans can't observe any chakra inside the mountain. It looks like they have a seal master."
Sora said, "Unless this group is backed by one of the 5 villages, their mastery of Fuinjutsu shouldn't be too high. I'll deal with the seals. But, I will need some time. And my actions could be noticed by the ones outside that cave."
Fujin looked at Sora and thought, 'Is he a SealMaster? Or do those broken eyes also neutralize Fuinjutsu?'
Akihiko began analyzing a plan. Fujin said, "I could assassinate the ones under Elite Chunin levels silently."
However, Akihiko shook his head and said, "No, there is no guarantee of assassinating silently when dealing with ninjas. Just one miscalculation will blow up our cover."
He looked at Sora and said, "Sora, you take a look at the Seals and begin neutralizing it. Haru and Genji would go with you. For now, move under the ground so that your cover isn't blown."
They nodded and made a few hand signs and disappeared under the ground.
Akihiko said, "The guy in the center of the group is at Jounin level. And there is another Jounin-level opponent in the central tent. Fujin, how confident are you in assassinating at a quick speed?"
Fujin replied, "I can launch a dozen Air Bullets at the same time and accurately. Unless the enemy's reaction speed is very fast, they will die."
Akihiko said, "That's good. "
He observed the Jashin worshippers entering the central tent. Inside the tent, there was a big circular table. And there were 6 people, 1 of whom was the Jounin-level ninja that Akihiko had talked about. The others were at Chunin levels.
As they entered the tent, the Jounin-level ninja in the tent asked, "Datsuron, is there any command from the Grand Priest?"
Datsuron was the Jounin from the 7 kidnappers who had left the cave. He stood on the other side of the table, nodded and said, "Yes. We have to kidnap 175 more kids between the ages of 2 and 6, Yasuhiro."
Yasuhiro frowned. He understood the difficulty of the task. He looked at his followers in the tent. His followers understood that he needed some privacy to discuss something important. All but 2 left the tent. Datsuron too did the same. His followers also left the tent. So only Yasuhiro, Datsuron and 4 chunins were in the tent.
Yasuhiro said, "We need to discuss from which villages we should kidnap more children. And also need to consider how many people we will need to successfully reverse summon from that distance."
Datsuron nodded. He was about to speak when suddenly he felt something. He quickly turned around and looked behind.
A minute ago, when the majority of the chunins left the tent, Akihiko decisively said, "We will move through the ground and enter the tent from below. Fujin, use your Air Bullets on the 4 chunins in the tent. Leave the Jounins to me and Masaru. Mieko and Shunko, you two follow as well. If Fujin fails to kill his opponents, you two would step in. Don't allow them to make a lot of noise and alert others."
Everyone nodded and moved through the ground. Chakra glowed in Fujin's eyes as he noticed that the chunins were standing on opposite sides behind the Jounins.
He thought, 'I could target them all with Air bullets, but the ones who are away from me will have more time to see and dodge. If they do dodge it, my air bullets will pierce through the walls of the tent and alert others. So I will have to aim such that my bullets pass through the roof of the tent instead. That way, no one will be alerted.'
He made a shadow clone. Fujin's clone got in position under the 2 chunins standing behind Yasuhiro while Fujin got in position under the chunins behind Datsuron. Masaru stayed next to Fujin's clone while Akihiko stayed next to Fujin. At the same time, both used Air Bullet jutsu.
The chunins never saw the attack coming. All 4 were hit successfully. The air bullets pierced through their body and went through the roof of the tent.
At the same time, Masaru and Akihiko also made their moves. They left the ground and attacked Yasuhiro and Datsuron respectively. Yasuhiro and Datsuron both turned around quickly. However, they were disturbed by the sight of their followers being killed so suddenly.
They saw Akihiko and Masaru and became ready to fight. However, their eyes met with the three tomoe Sharingans. Both instantly fell into Genjutsu. They stopped struggling and stood still.
Fujin observed that and thought, 'I always knew how strong the Sharingan is. But seeing two Jounins fall under the Genjutsu so easily with just 3 tomoe Sharingans is still so shocking.'
Meanwhile, Akihiko and Masaru looked at Fujin and thought, 'Despite all the praises she had, Mieko probably still underestimated this kid. Killing 4 chunins in an instant at the mere age of 11. Very few could claim to have such an ability at that age.'
Mieko and Shunko left the ground. Shunko was shocked at how efficient Fujin was.
Akihiko said, "Good work, Fujin."
He looked at Masaru, who nodded and made a hand sign. The ground in the tent began moving. The bodies of the dead chunins and any blood in the tent began moving inside the ground and new soil was excavated out. Soon, all signs of them were buried under the ground.
Akihiko looked around and said, "There are still some blood drops on the tent. We won't be able to use this tent."
Masaru nodded.
