Evil God's Hymn

Nine-Tails Fox thought to herself, "This person is really strange. What's the point of getting stronger? I might as well have some wine."

Hinata, unaware of Nine-Tails's thoughts, patiently watched it finish the drink in the dish. After muttering a few more words, it stood up and waved goodbye.

After finishing Nine-Tails drink, Kurama returned to the apartment with practiced ease. After a few steps, she turned back to look at the Hyuga compound, a thoughtful expression on her face.

It has already drunk quite a bit of wine with Hinata on and off, though not much each time, but the quality is high. If it could drink large quantities and be full, it would have already switched to another master.

He wanted to drink; that woman seemed to like that brat. If he could please her, maybe... Nine-Tails shook his head, pondering a feasible plan.

A few more days passed.

The Fire Temple welcomed the ninjas from Konohagakure. Chiriku emerged from the still-unfinished main hall and greeted them with a solemn expression.

Asuma followed the monk into the inner hall, with Naruto trailing behind, glancing back at the dilapidated walls. He quickly assessed the strength of the Immortal Duo, and his body instinctively tensed.

Amidst a mix of excitement and anticipation, he had finally encountered the Akatsuki Organization again after more than a year. Even if it was a trace left by the Immortal Duo, he was mentally prepared.

He will definitely retaliate for the blows that Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

However, these two are probably currently hunting the Five-Tails, since their attempt to directly capture the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki has unsurprisingly failed. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki can't just take a vacation; the Five-Tails is the best target right now.

"What's wrong?" Ino tugged at his sleeve. "What were you looking at just now?"

"It's nothing." He waved his hand. "Just taking a look around. The Akatsuki Organization members are really dangerous."

"Hmm." Ino glanced quickly at the collapsed temple wall, her expression changing slightly.

Her understanding of the Akatsuki Organization was limited to the fact that they were powerful rogue ninjas; it was difficult to grasp the terror of the Immortal Duo from Asuma's simple description.

But the ruins before us are real; the unrepaired temple walls resemble huge, gaping wounds, looking extremely grotesque and terrifying.

The two lowered their heads and followed the group, entering the rear hall for tea as directed.

Although it was called the rear hall, half of it had actually been breached. It swayed precariously, resembling a dilapidated building. The group rested with tea in a slightly less dangerous side hall, wisps of white smoke illuminating Chiriku's serious face.

"They came for me."

Naruto's lips twitched. He thought to himself, even a blind man could see that. Master Jiraiya, there's no need to keep pretending to be a tough guy at this point.

Master, you've already called for Old Ma's help, and you're still acting all high and mighty.

Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, unaware of Chiriku's carefree nature, sat upright, as if carrying a heavy responsibility on their shoulders.

Asuma's expression changed, but his demeanor was clearly off; he seemed to be enduring something. He certainly knew what kind of person this once unrestrained, freedom-loving holy monk was, who worked two jobs a year.

But in front of his disciple, Old Ma couldn't very well embarrass his friend. He lit a cigarette with a snap and pretended not to have heard anything.

"But I wasn't there at the time, and I happened to be leaving the Fire Temple." Chiriku sighed and said, "If I had left a few days later, the Fire Temple wouldn't be in this state now."

Upon hearing this, Naruto's eyelids twitched slightly. He thought to himself, "If you had slowed down a bit, you would have turned into thirty million taels of silver by now."

"It's been over ten days now, and those two from Akatsuki Organization haven't shown any sign of returning. They've probably given up," Chiriku continued.

"Although I don't know the specific purpose of this organization, I heard that they have taken on a lot of bounty missions, probably to raise money to do something."

"Cough cough." Naruto couldn't hold it in any longer and coughed.

Realizing that all eyes were on him, he quickly banished the thought of six hundred billion Explosive Tag from his mind.

"Um, I need to go to the restroom."

With a splash, Naruto finished relieving himself but didn't rush back. He could ask Ino about what Chiriku had said later.

He leaped onto the towering stone pillar, using the momentum to jump onto the canopy of an even higher ancient tree in the temple. Taking advantage of the height, he looked down at the landscape surrounding the Fire Temple.

This place is still some distance from Konohagakure. If this investigation doesn't uncover many clues, we'll have to return to Konohagakure before the mission expires.

As he jumped down, he saw Ino walking towards him from a distance.

Naruto walked over and asked with a smile.

"Why are you out here too?"

"Master Jiraiya said those two from Akatsuki Organization might come back, and it's not safe outside," Ino said with her hands behind her back. "Teacher Asuma is smoking inside, and I felt a bit stuffy, so I came out for some fresh air."

"Are you worried about me?" Naruto tilted his head.

"No!" Ino retorted.

What did they say inside?

"It's nothing, I can't quite explain it. Master Jiraiya wasn't at the temple at the time. Most of the monks who witnessed it died, and not many survived," she said.

"All the leads have gone cold?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"Yeah, more or less," Ino replied, looking up at the well-preserved, towering tree. "What were you looking at just now? The surrounding area?"

As a ninja, this is considered one of the required courses.

"No, just looking around," Naruto said. "It's open space, not many things to hide behind. The target has already left, the chances of them coming back are slim."

That kind of thing is hard to talk about, so we simply stopped the topic.

The atmosphere at the Fire Temple was oppressive, and darkness was falling. Asuma took the opportunity to ask everyone to stay overnight at the Fire Temple, deciding to go out and investigate again the next day.

After several days of investigation, Team 10 found nothing. Several days had passed, it was summer, and a heavy rain a few days prior had further reduced the chances of finding any trace.

If the Team Eight, who are skilled at tracking, were to provide support, things might go much more smoothly.

However, there is some overlap in the auxiliary positioning of the Team 10 and Team Eight. Since the mission objective is merely to conduct an investigation, sending the Team 10 is not a problem.

After several days of fruitless progress, Asuma was at his wits' end, chain-smoking. Chiriku, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed and unperturbed.

High-altitude reconnaissance relies primarily on Ino's Mind Body Switch Technique, which allows her to control birds for large-scale searches. However, currently, Ino can only control one bird, and the flight distance is not very far.

As night fell, Ino finished washing up and saw Naruto standing in the corridor, staring blankly at one spot.

What are you doing there?

"It's nothing." Naruto's eyes darted around, as if he had been frightened by something, and his voice trembled slightly.

"What's wrong?" Ino, disregarding her composure, rushed over, slightly out of breath. "What's wrong?"

She was slightly out of breath, her brows furrowed, and she looked somewhat anxious. She asked twice, "What's wrong?" her eyes fixed on Naruto. Naruto was startled by her and quickly said that he was fine.

In Naruto's peripheral vision, a panel quietly appeared.

Option 1: Protect Chiriku / Asuma (only one person needs to survive tonight), Reward: Max level Wind Release Ninjutsu. (Choose one)

Option 2: Kill Hidan and Kakuzu tonight. Reward: Evil God's Hymn (Removes all Dōjutsu' effects once).

The panel popped up suddenly a minute ago. He didn't pay attention to anything except the two glaring words "Tonight." Tonight? Kakuzu and Hidan are coming soon?

Naruto stared at Ino with an unprecedentedly serious expression.

He hasn't figured out a good way to deal with Hidan yet; that Evil God technique is just too bizarre. He can't let Hidan take his blood; if he does, it's all over.

Spells, the Death Controlling Possessed Blood.

What a load of nonsense, and it comes from some ethereal Evil God! Damn it! What kind of idiotic nonsense is that? The effects are too overpowered, and it has absolutely no sense of martial ethics.

The technique of stabbing yourself to death while severely injuring others.

Looking at the reward in option two, Naruto was furious, but there was nothing he could do. This damn system has been having a penchant for giving out Evil God rewards lately, like "Evil God's Hound" or "Evil God's Blessing."

Now he's even come up with an Evil God's Hymn, which is pretty good, but the problem is that no matter where he goes, Kakuzu Hidan!

The best way is to kill Kakuzu first and control Hidan. He can deal with Kakuzu; he only needs to kill him five times. But he really doesn't trust Ino to Hidan.

This is so damn weird. If something happens to Ino, he'll really go crazy.

A jumble of thoughts flashed through his mind, and he immediately regretted not bringing Nine-Tails along. But he couldn't worry about that now, so he pulled Ino and headed into the temple.

"This isn't the place to talk. Let's go inside first," Naruto said.

Naruto gripped her hand tightly, Ino couldn't break free. Even though she was completely bewildered, she could only let him lead her. Her eyes blinked, and just as she was about to say something, she suddenly felt a tightness in her heart.

For no apparent reason, the ninja's sixth sense gave him a warning.

"Let's go!" Naruto didn't care about anything else and pulled Ino towards the back hall.

With Asuma and Chiriku in the back, holding off Kakuzu and Hidan shouldn't be a problem. As long as Ino is taken to a safe location, he won't be too constrained.

With a loud crash, the newly repaired courtyard wall collapsed.

"Oh? You've even fixed it? You're really not afraid of dying!" Hidan's arrogant voice rang out in the night wind.