Within a couple of hours, Fujin and his squad reached the Mountain range and appeared where his clone was hiding. On seeing Fujin, the clone dispelled itself. Fujin received his memories.
In the last 2 hours, there was no movement into or from the base that his clone had detected. In addition, the mountain range's location was such that no major trading route passed nearby. As such, the clone didn't detect traders or ninjas passing by either.
While Fujin was analyzing the memories, his teammates were scanning the area. Shiro couldn't smell any scent while Hisao's eyes didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary. Both looked at Fujin with odd expressions on their faces wondering whether Fujin had brought them to the right place. As for Yamanaka Ken, Fujin had instructed him against activating his chakra field.
Hisao said, "I don't see anything odd."
Shiro added, "Same, I don't smell Hidan or anyone else nearby. Are you sure that they are here?"
Fujin replied, "I can't say for sure. Let's check."
He began walking towards the spot where his clone had disguised as a rabbit and inspected the seals. His teammates were surprised by the casual response. They followed him. Unlike his clone, Fujin didn't bother hiding his presence much. If his presence lured out the ones hiding inside, he would be glad instead of getting worried.
His eyes glowed as he observed the seals. Without the need to hide himself, Fujin could observe in greater detail. He saw a lot more than just the seals on the surface. Even the seals on the inner side of the walls were visible.
Fujin raised two fingers on his right hand. Four Vacuum Blades formed on top of his fingers. They flew and hit the wall in a way that none of the seals were damaged. Fujin wasn't sure whether his targets were inside the cave. As such, he wanted to leave the seals unharmed to study them later and avoid being left empty-handed on a mission that gave him so many headaches.
The four Vacuum Blades cut open a door in the mountain. Fujin's teammates were surprised to see a cave hidden behind the wall. Hyuga Hisao thought in surprise, 'Incredible. I didn't detect anything! It must be hidden with seals. Is Fujin a SealMa…'
A few seconds after the door was cut open, Shiro smelled a scent that made his expression grim. Despite not sharing his sense of smell, the other three noticed it as well and recognized what the stench was. It was the stench of dead bodies rotting! Hisao immediately activated his Byakugan, while Fujin and Ken activated their chakra fields.
All 4 immediately had grim expressions. Fujin muttered to himself, 'No wonder I couldn't sense any disturbances with my Space-Time Sensing Technique. Everyone inside is already dead. Sigh, am I too late?'
Fujin asked, "What do you see?"
Hisao answered, "Dead bodies… More than 300 of them. They are spread in 6 rooms. However, I don't see any clear injuries on their body. We will need to inspect it properly. There is no one alive inside unless they are hiding with the help of seals."
Fujin looked at Shiro and asked, "Did you notice anything?"
Shiro answered, "I can confirm that Hidan's scent was in this cave. He should have left. However, I can't find any trail of his scent. It looks like he can eliminate traces of his scent."
Fujin thought for a bit and instructed, "Send a messenger bird to Yugakure and inform the Daimyo. Ask him to deploy ninjas here and take care of the dead bodies."
Fujin looked at the cave and said, "Entering inside will be risky as there are a lot of seals inside. I will send my clones to investigate the cave. Shiro, you search for any traces of Hidan on this mountain range that could aid us in tracking him.
Hisao and Ken, you two inspect the remaining mountain range and check if we missed anything. Also, keep an eye out for any unusual activity or presence."
Everyone nodded and got to work. Meanwhile, Fujin created several Shadow Clones who entered the cave in two waves.
Fujin analyzed, 'Though the ritual is over, it shouldn't have been a long time. If that Bishop's body is still inside this cave, then I might still be able to read some of his memories. As long as I can find the location of their secret organization, I can always find more targets to read memories and learn about these rituals.
Unfortunately, there are two issues. The first is if the Bishop dying isn't something that always happens after a ritual. And, the second is if Hidan hid his body. In that case, I'll have to capture Hidan and read his memories. But, how do I do that with these three following me everywhere?
Sigh, so many complications once again. Couldn't he have just waited for a few weeks before starting the ritual? Why did he have to undergo the ritual exactly at this moment? If it had happened a bit later, I would have gotten what I wanted. If it had happened earlier, I wouldn't have cared much about this. This timing really feels like someone is messing with me, be it intentional or unintentional.'
The timing of the ritual felt too much of a coincidence for Fujin. As such, he couldn't help but be suspicious. However, he couldn't comprehend how anyone would have known that he would read Zankoku's memories and go after Hidan at that time.
While Fujin waited outside the cave, his clones got to work. The first wave of the clones was responsible for studying the seals. They recorded every seal in the cave into various scrolls that Fujin had handed them. In addition, they were also responsible for disabling any traps left among those seals and making the cave harmless to anyone else.
The second wave of Shadow Clones began inspecting the dead bodies. Fujin's main goal was to find the bodies of the Bishop and his priests. At the same time, he was also curious about how the people had died during the ritual and the seals on their bodies. In Zankoku's case, the people had died due to the blood being sucked out from their bodies. Fujin was curious about what they had to sacrifice to give Hidan such a broken ability.
The first wave of Shadow Clones progressed slowly but steadily. Though there were some seals and symbols that Fujin didn't recognize, those seals were related to the ritual and didn't have any offensive capabilities. As such, none of his clones were dispelled.
Once the pathways were secured, they continued recording the seals while the clones from the second wave began inspecting the dead bodies.
On observing, the clones immediately noticed similarities among the corpses. They analyzed, 'That's weird… According to the mission details, people of all ages were kidnapped. Still, everyone here is extremely old!
There are no signs of any injuries on them. It's almost as if they weren't killed. Instead, they died due to old age. Hmm, does that mean the ritual absorbed the life force or lifespan of these people? Would increasing life force by multiple times give the ability to become an Immortal like Hidan? Or are there more factors involved?'
The clones began studying the corpses more carefully. As soon as they touched the corpses, the clones immediately noticed another aspect. They thought, 'The cells in their body… So weird… The cells in their bodies don't resemble that of someone who died a few days ago. Instead, they have deteriorated to such a stage that it might look like these bodies died several years ago!
But why is this? Could it be that a ritual was conducted here a long time ago? No, Shiro said that he smelled Hidan's scent. Not to mention, the number of dead people here is similar to the number of kidnapped people.
So, did their cells deteriorate so quickly because their lifespan was sucked? Now that I think about it, Hidan would frequently harm himself, be it to act as a distraction or to activate his killing technique. Despite the damage, he is able to move around freely.
This should imply that he is able to heal very quickly. His ability to survive can be divided into two parts. The first is being able to survive attacks that would kill a normal person, such as a spear through his heart. The second is being able to recover from that damage.
There is only one way to recover from that damage, that is, cell regeneration. It should be at the same or higher level than Tsunade's Mitotic Regeneration. The only limit it has is when he is cut into two or more pieces like Asuma and later Shikamaru did. Or perhaps he isn't skillful enough to use this in that situation.
Regardless, it looks like they not only sucked the life force but also sucked out the cells' ability to regenerate themselves. This is why the cells in these corpses have deteriorated so quickly. My guess is that they will continue deteriorating at a high speed and completely decompose themselves. In a few months, it will become impossible to even identify these people.'
Fujin's clones who were studying the dead bodies began studying the seals inscribed on the dead bodies and copied them in scrolls. Meanwhile, the remaining clones from the second wave were searching for a body wearing the same outfit as Bishop Ketsueki.
