Corpses.
A horrifying ritual.
A grotesque idol.
And a cult whose name practically screamed, "We're up to no good."
Lin Qing asked, "The Jashin Cult... have any of you heard of them?"
Kakashi had spent years carrying out missions abroad. Tsunade didn't take missions, but after leaving Konoha, she'd traveled all over the world.
Yet when they thought back, they realized they'd never heard of a cult called the Jashin Cult.
Kakashi analyzed the situation. "They're probably a recently emerged cult. At the rate they're killing people, they'd have been wanted criminals long ago if they were operating within the Five Great Nations. My guess is that the Jashin Cult is currently confined to the Land of Hot Water."
"Look here."
Lin Qing pointed to the corpse's chest in the photograph, where a long, sharp black needle had been driven in.
The corpse was a man, and men and women differed somewhat in height. But once you adjusted for their proportions, it was clear that the needle had been driven into the exact same spot as Tsunade's wound.
Lin Qing had a rough idea of the enemy's ability.
"Using cause and effect and a ritual, they can perform a long-range 'curse killing' at the cost of a sacrifice.
"They just didn't expect that their sacrifice would die while you stayed alive."
Tsunade took the photograph and studied it carefully for a long while.
"So the thing that's been making me bleed this whole time was a corpse that was already dead? Th-this is way too creepy!"
"That's not the only creepy thing."
Lin Qing said, "These cultists aren't planning to let you go, either."
Kakashi and Tsunade weren't fools. It only took a little thought for them to understand.
If the cultists had decided to let Tsunade go, they wouldn't