The Land of Hot Water, Crisis

The Land of Hot Water was known as "the Land That Forgot War."

It had beautiful scenery and a springlike climate all year round, along with many natural hot springs. It was a famous tourist destination.

After arriving in the Land of Hot Water, Genye's team escorted Jiraiya to the entrance of a hot spring and successfully completed the mission.

"All right, hurry back. I wasn't planning to invite you to bathe with me, hahaha!"

Jiraiya waved to them, then turned and strode into the hot spring without waiting for a response.

Sigh.

Asuma shook his head and sighed. "Easygoing, carefree—that's exactly how I imagine a hero."

"Too bad he's such a pervert."

Yuhi Kurenai ignored Asuma's lament and moved closer to Genye, looking a little concerned.

"Genye, you'd better not read those books Lord Jiraiya just gave you. You can tell from the covers that they're not exactly proper."

"Good. Who reads proper books?"

Genye put the books away and patted his chest. "Don't worry, Kurenai. Once we get back, I'll dispose of them. I promise I won't read them."

"Good." Kurenai finally relaxed.

With the mission complete, they headed back to the Land of Fire along the way they had come.

As they passed through a stretch of forest, Asuma casually snapped off a twig from a nearby tree and put it in his mouth.

"See? I told you this mission would be easy. You didn't believe me, Genye. You even said something ridiculous about how a C-rank mission could be more dangerous than a B-rank one."

"Tch." Genye rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with someone who'd never watched Naruto.

Asuma was about to tease Genye again when his expression suddenly changed. He spat out the twig.

"Wait, something's going on up ahead! I can smell blood!"

Asuma had an incredibly keen sense of smell. As Obito put it, the guy's nose was sharper than the Ninja Dogs at Kakashi's place.

At his words, Kurenai and Genye immediately grew alert.

"Byakugan!"

Without hesitation, Genye activated his Byakugan and looked ahead.

The scene that appeared in his vision made him suck in a breath. A moment later, he could barely suppress the urge to throw up.

It wasn't as if Genye had never seen a corpse.

But he had never seen anything so horrifying as bodies chopped into countless pieces and arranged into some kind of bizarre pattern.

A middle-aged man sat in the middle of the bloody design, repeatedly smearing blood over himself. His eyes were closed as he muttered something under his breath.

"Asuma, Kurenai, let's retreat and take another route!" Genye said quietly, fighting his nausea.

The man's chakra didn't seem particularly strong, but what he was seeing made Genye suspect the worst.

Asuma and Kurenai didn't ask questions. The three of them eased backward, moving as quietly as they could.

But just then, the middle-aged man abruptly opened his eyes. To Genye's horror, their gazes met!

The man's mouth stretched almost to his ears. He tilted his head as if listening to some instruction, a deranged smile on his face.

"...I understand. I'll go ask them right away if they're willing to become your loyal followers!"

The man sprang to his feet, snatched up a cleaver from the pool of blood, and charged toward Genye and the others.

"This is bad! Run!"

At Genye's shout, the three stopped hiding and fled at full speed.

"However..."

A few minutes later, as they raced along, Genye glanced at Asuma beside him. Asuma met his gaze with the same grim expression and gave a slight shake of his head.

Genye's heart sank.

If it were just him and Asuma, they could easily lose the man chasing them. But Kurenai...

They had to match Kurenai's speed, and the distance between them and the middle-aged man kept shrinking. There was no time to set a trap.

Explosive Tags and ninjutsu might slow the man down, but they wouldn't hold him off long enough.

Genye gritted his teeth. "Kurenai, see if you can affect him with genjutsu. Asuma, let's get ready to fight!"

Kurenai could only cast genjutsu at close range. If it didn't work, they would have to try to stop the man.

"Okay!" Asuma and Kurenai chose to trust Genye's judgment.

The three stopped. A moment later, the man with the cleaver appeared in their line of sight.

"Why do you run every time you see me?"

The man scratched his head with the cleaver, looking puzzled. But soon he was animatedly waving his arms around.

"Right, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rin-to. You three little ninja kids—interested in learning about the Jashin Cult?"

The Jashin Cult!

Genye's heart sank. He'd suspected as much, but he hadn't expected the man to really be part of the Jashin Cult.

The Jashin Cult was an evil, twisted sect that took pleasure in killing and in savoring the suffering of others.

The famous Hidan of the Land of Hot Water would later come from the Jashin Cult.

"This is bad. Is this guy immortal, like Hidan?"

Genye broke out in a cold sweat. Anyone would be unnerved by a lunatic like this.

Damn it, is Asuma going to die here?

...Strange, why hasn't Kurenai used genjutsu on him yet?

Genye looked over at Kurenai and saw that her face was flushed. The chakra within her was surging wildly.

The man named Rin-to curled his lip.

"Little girl, don't bother. My devout faith in Lord Jashin lets me ignore every illusion."

He rested the cleaver on his shoulder and pointed at them with his other hand, looking impatient.

"All right, I'll give you two choices."

"First, offer your souls to Lord Jashin of your own accord. Second, I'll offer them to him for you!"

The three said nothing and exchanged glances.

The next moment, Yuhi Kurenai turned and ran.

"Hey, hey, the least you could do is give me an answer! Why are you running again? You're making this really difficult for me, you damn idiots!"

As Rin-to shouted and cursed, Asuma and Genye attacked at the same time.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

Bang!

Rin-to dodged, but not completely. The flames grazed half his body.

This is incredible—the Great Fireball Technique actually hit someone!

"Got him!"

Asuma's face lit up, but the smile froze there a moment later.

Even after being hit by the Great Fireball Technique, Rin-to didn't fall. He kept shouting and cursing.

"Damn brats! So you've chosen to refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

Half of Rin-to's face was burned away. It was a gruesome sight, his skin hanging off the muscle and twitching as he spoke.

The scene was so horrifying that Genye and Asuma felt their sanity draining away. Their scalps prickled.

"You're all going to become offerings to Lord Jashin!"

Rin-to raised his cleaver. Like a demon crawling out of hell, he charged at them in a frenzy.

"Asuma, this guy is immortal!"

Genye shouted at Asuma, who was still frozen in shock. "Be careful not to let him hurt you. Don't let him get your blood!"

"Got it!" Asuma quickly snapped out of it and answered loudly.

He didn't know how Genye knew all this, but he trusted him.

"Brat, looks like you know a thing or two about our cult. Let me send you to meet Lord Jashin!"

Rin-to was fast. Before he had even finished speaking, he was right in front of Genye.

The blood-soaked cleaver flashed like a red bolt of lightning as it came slashing down at Genye.