Kaz, "Dying of Guilt"

Seeing Raiga Kurosuki, who had been unleashing his might and acting invincible just moments ago, get nailed to the wall and killed in the blink of an eye, Obito Uchiha stared wide-eyed in shock. "That was incredible. As expected of Big Brother Setsuna."

Kakashi was equally stunned. He was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, a major figure even in the ninja world, yet he had died so "carelessly."

Hizashi, however, remained calm. Setsuna had rescued Minato Namikaze from the Hidden Cloud Village forces; that was far more shocking than taking down one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

Hearing Obito's amazement, Setsuna shook his head slightly. It had mainly been a first-meeting kill. If Raiga Kurosuki had known his abilities and had not chosen to slash apart the throwing knives with his sword, he might not have survived in the end, but at least he would not have died so ridiculously.

Setsuna stepped forward and retrieved the Thunder Blade and the Thunder God Sword. "They really are genuine. They took my throwing knives head-on without so much as a scratch."

The Thunder God Sword currently stored in Konoha would, in the future, be cracked by Sasuke Uchiha's Chidori while he was still a Genin, then completely destroyed by Naruto Uzumaki's Rasengan. Its quality was utterly inadequate.

As Setsuna examined the legendary sword, he asked, "By the way, what exactly happened here? Why are so many people dead?"

"I don't know either. These samurai and ninja suddenly appeared and started slaughtering people. We couldn't stand by and came out to stop them, but we didn't expect there to be someone as formidable as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen among them."

As Obito spoke, he suddenly remembered something and pointed to one side. "Right, that guy was ordering around that Ninja Swordsman earlier. He might know something."

Setsuna looked in the direction Obito pointed and indeed saw someone sneaking away, preparing to flee.

Kaz's face was pale. He had not dared warn Raiga Kurosuki earlier because he had been afraid of drawing Setsuna's attention.

After all, he had personally witnessed how Setsuna had crushed the Hidden Cloud Village forces by himself. Raiga Kurosuki could never have been a match for him.

Right, I changed bodies. They shouldn't recognize me now. Kaz comforted himself with that thought.

Setsuna reached out with his right hand, made a grasping motion through the air, and pulled Kaz over from afar.

"I'm asking you, what is this—"

Before Setsuna could finish asking, Kaz impatiently blurted out, "This was all the plan of Kaz, leader of the Jashin Cult. He wanted to kill everyone in the Hidden Hot Springs Village and sacrifice them to Jashin."

Setsuna frowned slightly. The person before him felt strangely familiar, yet he could not place where that sense of familiarity came from.

Kaz said urgently, "I can report every hideout of the Jashin Cult. I know I deserve to die. I only ask that you ninja allow me one final prayer, so these pitiful civilians may rest in peace."

Might Guy scratched his head in confusion. "Could this guy actually be a good person?"

Kakashi was rather speechless. Might Guy was far too easy to fool.

Seeing that Setsuna remained silent, Kaz grew anxious and pleaded tearfully, "Please, let me pray first. You can watch me. I definitely won't run away."

He could not help being anxious. His body was already on the verge of collapse.

Although he could not perform a large-scale blood sacrifice now, many people had died in the Hidden Hot Springs Village. He could still conduct a small blood sacrifice to temporarily stabilize his body.

Seeing how desperately miserable Kaz looked, Setsuna frowned slightly. Could this guy be some kind of poison bug? Did the Naruto world have things like that too?

Though he did not know what was going on, the more desperate Kaz became, the less Setsuna was willing to let him go.

"No rush. You can pray anytime. Let me ask you, does your Jashin Cult have any ninjutsu that can make the body immortal?" Setsuna asked.

"Immortality Technique?" Kaz's heart skipped a beat. That was his greatest secret. How did this guy know?

"I don't know." Kaz forced himself to remain calm.

Setsuna said calmly, "But your heartbeat says otherwise."

Unless someone's mind was strong enough to completely suppress their bodily instincts, Setsuna could determine whether they were lying simply from their physical reactions.

"Fine, yes. Kaz created all this slaughter because he wanted Jashin to grant him an Immortal Body," Kaz said rapidly.

Setsuna pondered inwardly. In that case, the future Hidan had benefited from this blood sacrifice.

But Hidan's personality did not seem quite like Kaz's. Could it be that Kaz had wanted to experiment on children first, only to be killed by Hidan instead?

Setsuna could not be bothered to think further. No matter what, he had helped Asuma Sarutobi avoid a disaster.

Seeing Setsuna sink into thought again, Kaz asked anxiously, "Sir Ninja, could you put me down first? My heart is troubled. Let me find a small room and offer a prayer."

Setsuna said calmly, "No rush. Let me continue asking you—"

"Ask your ass!" Kaz finally erupted. His body twisted in agony as chunks of flesh fell to the ground, as though he were being sliced apart alive. He wailed in despair, a horrifying sight that was too disturbing even for ninja accustomed to death.

"Huh? Did he die from guilt?" Might Guy asked in shock.

"Idiot, this is obviously because of the Jashin Cult's ninjutsu." Kakashi rolled his eyes at him and analyzed seriously, "He was so desperate earlier because he likely wanted to perform the Jashin Cult's evil blood sacrifice. We don't know who he was, but he definitely wasn't a good person. There's no need to feel sorry for trash like him."

Setsuna wiped his hands. When Kaz had shouted in rage at the end, he seemed to have sensed the aura of that Kaz, but he could not be certain.

After thinking for a moment, Setsuna shook his head slightly. It did not matter. After suffering such a disaster, would the Hidden Hot Springs Village still dare claim they had not completed the mission?

Sure enough, after they dealt with the remaining samurai and ninja, the village chief of the Hidden Hot Springs Village came out and thanked them profusely, clasping their hands and refusing to let go.

Afterward, the village chief of the Hidden Hot Springs Village highly praised Konoha's leading role in ninja world affairs. He declared that the village would firmly follow in Konoha's footsteps in the future, unwaveringly support Konoha's core interests and path of development, deepen comprehensive strategic partnership and cooperation, and jointly safeguard regional stability and prosperity.

On the way back, Obito was still somewhat dazed. "What exactly was the village chief of the Hidden Hot Springs Village talking about just now?"

Kakashi put it succinctly. "Idiot, he wants to be Konoha's little brother."

"The way important people talk is way too roundabout. Can't they just be more direct?" Obito sighed helplessly, then suddenly realized something. "Right, Big Brother Setsuna, Teacher Minato Namikaze, how did you escape in the end?"

"Escape?" Minato fell silent for a moment, then smiled helplessly. "Once you defeat every enemy, you naturally escape."

"Defeat them all?" Even Hizashi, who had the most faith in Setsuna, could not help being surprised. He had thought the enemies simply could not catch up to Setsuna.

Minato nodded, deeply moved. "There were over a hundred ninja among them, including top-tier experts like Raikage candidates and the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki, yet Setsuna defeated them all by himself. If the Third Raikage had not arrived, perhaps not a single one of them would have left alive."

Everyone looked at Setsuna in shock. They knew he was strong, but they had never imagined he could be strong to such an extent.

Setsuna smiled. "You flatter me, Minato. Without the deterrence of your Flying Thunder God, I might not have been able to defeat them either."

"I didn't help much." Minato shook his head with a wry smile. "Also, stop calling me senior. It makes us sound too distant."

"That's true. We've been through life and death together, after all."

At that moment, Kakashi suddenly thought of something. "Senior, you don't seem to be a Chunin yet, do you?"

"Idiot Kakashi, you don't even know whether Big Brother Setsuna is a Chunin. We haven't even taken the Chunin Ninja Exams yet." Obito seized on Kakashi's slip and laughed loudly.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and sneered. "Then pray you don't get matched against Senior in the Chunin Ninja Exams."

Only then did everyone realize that they would still have to compete against Setsuna in the Chunin Ninja Exams. Was that really something they could do?