Clues

"Hey! There's been a murder!"

Tsunade arranged the cards in her hand and casually glanced at Neji.

"Junior brother, you're hurt! Quick, let me treat you!" Shizune pushed aside the cards in front of her in a daze and stood up.

"Young master, where are you hurt?" Xiao Xi practically hopped over to Neji, reaching out to feel around his body as she spoke.

"It's nothing. I ran into a few fools and already dealt with them." Neji smiled and stopped the two of them.

Then he added, "I picked a mission. Take a look—this is the information."

As he spoke, he placed the scroll he had obtained from the Bounty Exchange on the table.

Seeing that he was unharmed, everyone suppressed their concern and looked toward the unrolled scroll.

"Traces of a ritual? It might be some kind of cult," Tsunade said after reading it.

"They slaughtered an entire village. That's far too cruel. We have to find the culprit. And the women and children—I don't know whether they're still alive, but we have to find them!" Shizune said angrily.

"What a terrible thing... Why would they kill civilians?" Xiao Xi's face showed pity.

"Heh. There's no reason. They just needed some blood... Hmph! What creature in this world is more cruel than humans?"

"There isn't one. Animals only kill when they're hungry. Only humans are constantly thinking of how to kill other people. Wasn't the profession of ninja born for exactly that?"

Neji answered with a smile. The two girls had little experience of the world and still held pure kindness in their hearts. Though Neji wanted to protect those pure hearts, this was the Ninja World, where ordinary reasoning did not apply.

Neji only hoped they would be more vigilant, enough to at least protect themselves.

"But isn't that because of mission requirements? It's different from slaughtering civilians!" Shizune raised her head and spoke seriously.

"Is it really different?" Neji's calm eyes were like a bottomless, icy pool, swallowing all the girl's hopes.

"It is different..." Shizune helplessly hugged Tonton tighter and turned toward Tsunade as if asking for help.

"Sigh..."

Tsunade let out a faint sigh and said wistfully, "It's the same."

Boom— Shizune swayed, her heart erupting in turmoil. It was as if a belief she had held for years had suddenly collapsed. Her gaze began to lose focus, while her lips continued murmuring something.

"Sister Shizune, are you all right? What's wrong? Don't scare me! Young master, look at Sister Shizune—what happened to her?"

Xiao Xi noticed Shizune's strange state and hurriedly supported her. Looking into her blank eyes, she seemed unable to understand why Shizune had suddenly become like this.

Xiao Xi had spent her life within the high walls of a great residence, without any unnecessary thoughts. Every day, she simply obeyed and did what she was told, so there was no belief for her to lose.

Shizune, however, had followed Tsunade since she was very young. Influenced by what she saw and heard, she had naturally embraced a standard: the traditional principle of putting missions first.

Though Tsunade's so-called "rebellious" behavior in recent years had shaken that belief somewhat, it had remained stable in the end. Yet today, Neji had abruptly knocked it down, causing a major change in her heart.

Don't go dark on me. Although going dark makes you ten times stronger and being redeemed weakens you by thirty percent, turning into a yandere would be troublesome too...

Neji muttered to himself inwardly, but there was no concern on his face. If the girl before him had been an evil member of the Uchiha Clan, he would have been thinking about where to bury himself later. Unfortunately, she was not.

The beliefs in Shizune's heart had already been shaken. This time, Neji had merely given a crumbling wall that was destined to collapse a casual shove. It was not a serious problem.

"Get lost. Why would a brat like you bring up something like that for no reason?" Tsunade shot Neji a fierce glare, then stepped forward and pressed the back of Shizune's neck. Shizune's eyes immediately rolled back, and she fainted.

"It's all right. She'll be fine after she sleeps," Tsunade told the anxious Xiao Xi.

Over the course of their daily interactions, Tsunade had gradually grown fond of this girl who always seemed to have no opinions of her own. Their personalities were completely opposite, yet Xiao Xi had become what Tsunade envied.

Maybe I have too many opinions of my own...

Tsunade smiled self-mockingly.

A charred torii gate stood crookedly at the village entrance, its vermilion lacquer flaking away in scab-like fragments. Neji ran his fingertips over the scorched earth. Those were traces left behind by Explosive Tags.

Murder and arson—after killing people, how could they not set fires? It was the carnival of a pack of lunatics, leaving devastation everywhere.

Tsunade kicked open the half-collapsed doors of the shrine. The instant morning light spilled inside, everyone froze where they stood.

Across the mottled floor of the main hall, three hundred and sixty corpses had been arranged into concentric circles, each chest carved open with an inverted-cross wound.

Even more horrifying were the bloodstains splattered across the walls—those seemingly chaotic sprays vaguely formed the image of a wild-haired evil ghost.

"Bleurgh—"

Having never seen such a scene before, Xiao Xi turned and ran outside to vomit.

Shizune swayed, as though she would collapse to the ground the next second.

Tsunade began to tremble. Neji looked at her.

A long time passed, or perhaps only an instant. At last, the trembling throughout Tsunade's body subsided.

Neji turned away, suppressing the intense discomfort in his heart as he began investigating inside.

No normal person could remain indifferent before such a tragedy. The corpses of his own kind deeply shook Neji's heart.

"This isn't an ordinary cult." Neji dipped a finger into the dried blood on the window lattice and rubbed it between his fingertips. "The blood sigils at the Kan and Dui positions have been reversed. This is a forbidden technique meant to reverse the cycle of life and death."

Thanks to the Main House's collection and Tsunade's teachings, Neji was no longer completely ignorant of formations.

"An ordinary cult couldn't do something this evil either." Tsunade clenched her fists until veins bulged across the backs of her hands, speaking through gritted teeth.

"Someone's coming. Ninjas from Hot Water Shadow Village. The leader is a Chunin!" Neji's Byakugan showed him the situation a kilometer away. His pure Byakugan gave him a range beyond that of ordinary Byakugan.

"I'm sorry. The village asked me to clean this place up three days ago, but I considered that the ninjas who accepted the mission would need more clues, so I took it upon myself to preserve the scene.

"As you can see, this place is not suitable for setting up camp, so we stayed some distance away. It took us some time to get here. I truly apologize. If you have any questions, you may ask me."

A short while later, the Chunin leading the arriving group spoke in a bleak tone.

"What do you think of this scene? Have you seen or heard of anything like it?" Neji asked.

"...It was probably the work of a wandering cult group. As for these rituals, I haven't heard of them. I'm sorry..." The Chunin leader fell silent for a moment, his words vague.

"Captain, it must have been the—"

"Shut up. Don't say another word!"

The leader harshly stopped the emotional Genin in his team, then told Neji and the others, "That's all I can tell you. If you're done examining the scene, we need to begin clearing it out."

Neji nodded thoughtfully, then said, "We have what we wanted. You may go in."

As he spoke, he stepped aside from the entrance and silently watched the team carry the corpses out, trip after trip.