Evil God

A large group of people gathered around the gate next to the hot spring.

"Give me back my daughter!!"

"You will not die well!!"

The crowd seemed very angry. Shintaro and Kurenai heard many people cursing and crying.

"Hahahaha! It is an honor for them to be sacrificed to the evil god!"

Kotaro's laughter echoed from the crowd.

Shintaro and Kurenai pushed through the crowd and approached Kotaro.

"Do you still want to experience what you did before?"

Shintaro's cold words made Kotaro too scared to speak.

When everyone saw the forehead protectors on Shintaro and Kurenai, they understood that the two were Konoha ninjas.

The two girls from earlier also came out to identify them and said, "This man and woman are the ones who saved us and captured the bad guys."

Hearing this, an old man came out of the crowd, held Shintaro's hand, and said, "I am the mayor of the Hot Spring City. On behalf of everyone in this city, I want to thank you."

Shintaro nodded in greeting and asked, "What exactly is this Evil God Cult? Why are you targeting the Hot Spring City?"

The mayor sighed, let go of his hand, and stepped forward before the crowd and said, "We don't know either. The Hot Spring City has always believed in the cat god and the dog god. We have never heard of this evil god."

"As for why they focused on Hot Spring City, it may be because Hot Spring City is a tourist city with many people coming and going. A few missing people wouldn't attract attention. Besides the missing passengers, some relatives and friends of our city's residents have also disappeared..."

"Those damn people..."

Seeing the mayor's sad expression and the crowd, Kurenai's eyes reddened emotionally.

Seeing her dim look, Shintaro stepped forward to comfort her, then said to the mayor: "I will help you destroy the cult."

At this moment, Hikaru flew down from the sky and cawed several times.

"Did you find the cave?"

"Caw!"

"Alright, let's go."

Hikaru led the way in the sky, and Shintaro and Kurenai immediately set off, leaving under the watchful eyes of the town's residents.

Kotaro cursed viciously: "You will all become sacrifices to the evil god!"

"You bastard!" After hearing this, a man rushed forward and punched Kotaro in the teeth.

Then many villagers rushed and kicked and punched him. The mayor watched and did not stop them.

"You must return safely." The mayor prayed in his heart for the two of them.

❀❀❀

Shintaro and Kurenai traveled through the forest.

Kurenai said worriedly: "If you encounter danger, run, safety first."

Shintaro turned and said, "Don't worry, I never fight an uncertain battle."

Under Hikaru's guidance, the two headed straight into the cave and arrived at the cave entrance within minutes.

"A waterfall and a cave, this should be the place."

Shintaro let the shamisen drop in his arm, stroked its head with his fingers, then released the summoning technique and sent the crow back to Konoha.

The waterfall flowed down, falling into the river and creating a spray of warm water mist.

It seems the waterfall in the hot spring town is also a hot spring source.

Shintaro and Kurenai entered the cave one after another. They both smelled sulfur. It seemed the volcano that created the hot spring town was located here.

The outside of the cave was quite hidden and covered in water mist, making it impossible for ordinary people to find.

Inside the cave, there was a long, narrow, deep corridor with dimly lit candles on platforms carved on both sides, indicating it was indeed the headquarters of the Evil God Cult.

Kurenai drew a kunai and followed Shintaro closely. In the dark cave, only the kunai in her hand and Shintaro in front of her could give her a sense of security.

The two walked slowly for a while and saw a bright light ahead.

Shintaro turned and signaled her to be cautious, and Kurenai responded with a firm look.

The two approached the corridor exit and heard noises inside.

"Why hasn't today's sacrifice been delivered yet?"

"Isn't Kotaro the one finding the sacrifice today? All the cadres who went have returned, but he hasn't."

"Shh, someone is coming in."

"Kishida-sama."

"Gather! Kotaro was captured in Hot Spring City, be alert!"

Shintaro and Kurenai heard this and immediately rushed in, not giving the cult followers time to be on guard.

At this moment, the followers were just learning that Kotaro had been captured and were still confused.

Inside was a large cave, the size of a gymnasium.

Shintaro used his Six Eyes to instantly determine the number and strength of the Evil God Cult followers in the cave.

There was one cadre and forty-five ordinary believers in this cave.

The cadre's strength was between Genin and Chunin. Half of the ordinary believers were just commoners, and the other half had strength similar to Kotaro's.

With these commoners, Shintaro was not worried about any danger at all.

He rushed towards the cadre, Kishida, first.

Kishida reacted quickly and pulled out a black telescopic iron drill. The iron drill was more than a meter long.

Such a strange weapon might be related to the so-called curse of the Evil God Cult.

However, Shintaro wasn't interested in the small man in front of him and stayed close to him.

Kishida thought the other party was too arrogant and immediately grinned ferociously.

"Konoha ninja, go to hell!"

He thrust the iron pick towards his opponent, but suddenly stopped.

Kishida showed a shocked expression, but this was his last expression in life.

*Bang*

Shintaro's punch filled with Cursed Energy and chakra caused Kishida's chest to collapse. His whole body flew like a kite with a broken string and hit the cave wall.

He didn't even look at him and turned towards Kurenai.

Kurenai was surrounded by the believers, but she wasn't a weak woman. She used genjutsu to control five believers in one move and killed several more with shuriken.

Now she held a kunai and fought with several believers who joined forces to attack, always having the upper hand.

Shintaro quickly joined the battle and cooperated with Kurenai to use physical skills to swiftly clear the believers inside the cave.

There was another corridor at the end of the cave.

The two came to the corridor and saw an artificial stone tunnel inside. Shintaro asked Kurenai to retreat behind him, then formed seals with his hands.

"[Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu]"

A large, high-temperature fireball containing powerful force passed through the tunnel and hit the stone door.

The stone gate instantly shattered and collapsed.

Shintaro and Kurenai then quickly passed through the tunnel and reached the deeper cave.

Before fully entering the cave, Shintaro smelled the scent of sulfur from the hot spring mixed with the rusty smell of blood.

Entering the inner cave, there was a space larger than the previous one.

In front was a natural hot spring bath, the hot spring was not deep and only covered the ankles.

In the middle of the hot spring lay a corpse nailed to the ground with iron rivets. A circle with an outer circle and an inner triangle was drawn on the ground surrounding the body.

The blood flowing from the corpse dyed most of the hot spring red, making the whole scene look bloody and eerie.

And this corpse wore the same cadre uniform that Kishida had worn before.

"Today is the day of the Evil God's sacrifice. This person and the captured trash didn't complete their mission."

"So he was used as a sacrifice."

A man with a pale face spoke in a cold and eerie tone.