The man wore a leather jacket and pants, his shirt open to reveal a well-defined eight-pack. His skin was pale, and his expression was ever-changing and fanatical, making him look like a zealot.
The man was seated on a throne right in front of the cave but suddenly stood up with arms outstretched and shouted in a bewitching tone.
"Most faithful followers of the evil god! Two filthy Konoha ninjas have intruded into our sacred place without permission!"
"What should you do?!"
The remaining believers and cadres of the Evil God Cult gathered in the cave and immediately reacted to the man's words.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"For the evil god! For the leader!"
The believers raised their hands and shouted fervently.
The sound echoed within the cave, creating an unending chorus of fanatical cries.
Shintaro ignored the actions of these madmen, turned to Kurenai, and said, "There are still eleven believers and four cadres. You deal with the believers first and leave the rest to me."
Kurenai gripped her kunai tightly and nodded solemnly.
She understood that this was the final battle to destroy the cult, so there could be no mistakes.
Before the fanatical believers could attack, a red kunai was shot, breaking in the air and stopping the believers' cries.
The believers of the evil god immediately put down their hands and glared sharply at the perpetrator.
However, Kurenai was not afraid at all, and once again drew another kunai, assuming a defensive posture.
The believers crowded forward and rushed toward Kurenai and Shintaro.
Shintaro leapt over the ordinary believers below, heading directly for the cadres and the leader.
He trusted Kurenai could handle these people, so he chose to ignore them.
In mid-air, he twisted gracefully like a diver.
*Whoosh*
Several shuriken pierced the sky, attacking the four cadres below. Two of the cadres were instantly killed by the shuriken.
One cadre's neck was grazed, grateful to have escaped, only for a shuriken from behind to stab into the back of his neck, causing him to collapse by the hot spring.
The last cadre was the strongest and the luckiest. He dodged the frontal shuriken attack, and seeing the shuriken coming from behind in his field of vision, he leaned forward and fortunately avoided the blade.
However, his luck ended there.
Shintaro appeared in front of the cadre and used the same strike as he did in the previous cave.
Thus, this cadre met the same death as Kishida.
Shintaro shook his head slightly.
He initially judged the cadre's strength to be between Genin and Chunin based on their chakra aura.
However, the cadres' performance was truly unsightly.
He thought that these rogue ninjas were not as good as Konoha ninjas who had undergone comprehensive training since childhood, resulting in poor awareness and combat skills.
After Shintaro finished dealing with the miscellaneous warriors, he looked at the final boss of the Evil God Cult leader.
Faced with the death of all his cadres, the leader showed no trace of sadness or fear.
Shintaro then asked, "Your subordinates are dead, and you will soon die. Are you not afraid?"
"Afraid?" The leader was momentarily stunned upon hearing the word, then laughed heartily as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"Hahahahahaha!!"
"It seems you don't know! Killing and death are the goals of the Evil God Cult. Their deaths are also a kind of killing! It is the most sacred act in the world. They surely can serve the Evil God after their deaths!"
The leader said while drawing a scythe from behind the throne.
This scythe was blood-red and more than half the length of a human. The top consisted of three crescent blades that gradually diminished from top to bottom, and its tail was a telescopic steel cable.
"It is a sacrifice for the evil god, as are you and I."
After finishing his speech, the leader hurled the Three-Bladed Scythe at Shintaro. The Three-Bladed Scythe spun rapidly with great momentum.
The leader's chakra aura was at the Jonin level, unlike the ordinary believers and cadres.
Shintaro stepped back, and the Three-Bladed Scythe flew in, embedding itself into the stone slab on the ground. The leader pulled the steel cable, and the force transmitted to the Three-Bladed Scythe, causing it to detach from the stone's constraint and dislodge a piece of gravel.
The leader retracted the steel cable, holding the Three-Bladed Scythe in his hand again. He rushed toward Shintaro, smiling and waving the Three-Bladed Scythe continuously.
With such an attack method, even the leader himself might not know which part he was targeting.
The combination of disorganized movements and the earlier throwing of the Three-Bladed Scythe made Shintaro realize that the other party only wanted to draw his blood.
Shintaro still remembered the blood-based curse spoken by Kotaro.
Blood and curses were interrelated, and it was easy for Shintaro to think of the Kamo Clan, one of the three sorcerer families in the Jujutsu World in his previous life.
However, he now essentially confirmed that the so-called curse was not the curse he was thinking of.
This was because the Kamo Clan's Blood Manipulation Technique controlled one's own blood, not relying on the blood of others.
However, Shintaro was still willing to see what this so-called curse was.
After all, he was the Copy Ninja, Uchiha Shintaro, and he would naturally become stronger as he saw more things, like the last time he saw the Nara Clan's secret shadow technique and developed the Ten Shadow.
So Shintaro formed a seal secretly, and his Sharingan eyes were revealed.
The Genjutsu was activated, and the leader immediately showed a surprised expression, stopping and returning to the ground from the hot spring, licking the Three-Bladed Scythe.
Then he used the blade to cut his arm, letting the blood flow to the ground, and using his foot to draw a circle on the ground with a circle outside and a triangle inside.
The leader forced Shintaro back with the Three-Bladed Scythe, and at the same time, pulled out a dark and sharp iron drill from his sleeve.
"Evil God! I will offer you two sacrifices!"
*Thunk*
The iron drill pierced the left chest, and blood spurted, splashing onto the leader's face.
The leader had a look of satisfaction and happiness on his face, but he soon realized something was wrong.
"How is this possible? You haven't died!"
The leader's life quickly faded, he shouted his last words reluctantly, and then knelt on the ground.
Shintaro approached the leader and said calmly, "You are not worthy to die with me."
He ensured that the leader was dead, then looked back to see that Kurenai had also eliminated the last ten believers.
Kurenai came to Shintaro's side and looked at the leader's body, which was continuously bleeding on the ground.
"Everything should be settled, right?"
Shintaro smiled and nodded slightly, patting her shoulder and said, "Good job."
Kurenai then looked at him with a strange gaze. Shintaro understood and stepped forward to hug her.
"I won't forget this either."
At that moment, Kurenai finally smiled.
Shintaro then walked to the leader's throne, and his Six Eyes told him there was something unusual here, and perhaps the secret of the Evil God Cult was hidden here.
He looked up and saw the pattern of a circle with a triangle inside on the wall behind, then turned and twisted the throne.
With two clicks, the wall behind slowly began to separate, and the stones kept rubbing against the ground.
The pattern on the wall split in half, revealing a passage in the middle.
It seemed there was a cave inside.
They both entered, Kurenai still on alert, and Shintaro's expression was not good because he had already seen what was inside.
They entered the deepest part of the cave, greeted by a strange and nauseating smell.
They saw a statue at the deepest part of the cave, and many corpses piled up haphazardly in front of the statue.
The way these people died was by being nailed to death with iron hammers.
"A hundred and twenty innocent bodies, this is the blood debt committed by the Evil God Cult." Shintaro said heavily.
Kurenai covered her mouth in shock.
Shintaro stepped over the bodies and found a hidden compartment beneath the evil god statue.
After opening the hidden compartment, there was a detailed ancient book recording the curse, [Jujutsu: Shiji Hyōketsu].
[Shiji Hyōketsu] was the curse the leader wanted to use to kill each other. By licking the enemy's blood, they could complete the connection between the two people, and both would be injured and die together within the circle.
As for manipulating blood, a puppet was used to achieve the effect of controlling the blood's owner.
'I thought it was the Kamo Clan's Blood Manipulation Technique, but I didn't expect it to be more like the Cursed Technique of Soul Worship.'
In addition to the ancient books, Shintaro also found several human experiment records in this cave.
The Evil God Cult seemed to be conducting immortality experiments, trying to create an immortal human body, so it could cooperate well with the [Shiji Hyōketsu] technique.
He burned these sinful books to ashes and said, "Stop causing trouble for the world, evil god."
Then a kunai shot and shattered the evil god statue.
Shintaro saw a certain power dissipate from the evil god statue. This might be the source of the curse's power and the immortality experiments.
'It seems this world is not simple...' He thought to himself.
❀❀❀
At the same time, in the courtyard of a wealthy family in Yugakure.
A young boy with silver-gray hair and lavender eyes stood dazed under the moonlight. He was only two or three years old and didn't look very bright.
"Hidan, what are you doing out here so late at night?!"
The mother of the boy named Hidan ran out anxiously.
Hidan was quickly scolded for not sleeping properly.
The mother was very worried about Hidan. The child had a strange temperament and wasn't very smart. She was concerned that Hidan would cause her trouble in the future.
"Mom, I want to be a ninja!" Hidan suddenly said.
The mother immediately agreed and said, "Alright, can you sleep first?"
Hidan then nodded in agreement.
The mother then looked at the sleeping Hidan with a complicated expression.
"I don't know if it will be a blessing or a curse for this child to become a ninja..."
Sometimes, fate often changes without being noticed.