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Within the noble's estate, Lin Chuan and Fū Yamanaka slipped in under cover of night. Using Fū Yamanaka's sensory ninjutsu, they avoided the estate's guard samurai and hidden sentries.

Any hidden sentry with chakra was nowhere to hide from Fū Yamanaka's sensory ninjutsu. Sensory ninjutsu was damn useful—Lin Chuan wanted to learn it too. Unfortunately, he first needed to master chakra's Yin nature transformation. The Yamanaka Clan's mind-based secret techniques were Yin Release ninjutsu.

Once inside the estate, the two released the insects again. They released only one, keeping the other in reserve in case something went wrong. The insect led them to the entrance of the estate's basement, where two sword-wielding samurai stood guard.

Then Lin Chuan saw Fū Yamanaka conceal himself in the darkness and raise a hand at one of the samurai, using the Mind Body Switch Technique to control him and make him draw his sword at the other guard.

While the guards focused on their out-of-control comrade, Lin Chuan used the Body Flicker Technique from the corner to appear behind them. He drew his sword and infused it with chakra. The pale blue blade pierced through the samurai's armor and heart alike, then he pulled it free and finished off the other controlled samurai.

Only after both samurai had been stabbed through the chest did Fū Yamanaka step out from the corner, smiling. "Chuan, you're still so fast..."

"You can't just say that," Lin Chuan said, shaking his head lightly. How could a man be called fast? He sent chakra through the blade to shake off the blood, then slid the chakra sword back into its sheath.

"How did you train your Body Flicker Technique? We're about the same age, yet you're this fast?" Fū Yamanaka was genuinely curious. He and Lin Chuan were only two or three years apart, but Lin Chuan's Body Flicker Technique was faster than everyone else in their cohort. It was downright unbelievable.

"Now isn't the time for small talk. Shouldn't we head down and take a look?" Lin Chuan gave him a polite but not awkward smile, reminding Fū Yamanaka that they were still on a mission. There was no way he could tell an outsider about the Grind Panel.

"You're right. Follow me." Fū Yamanaka formed hand seals at the entrance and sensed the basement. Finding neither ambush nor danger, he took a torch from the wall and headed underground.

Lin Chuan moved the two samurai corpses to the basement entrance to keep anyone from discovering them. Then he took a torch from the wall and followed Fū Yamanaka down into the basement.

After descending a spiral staircase, they found a massive stone altar underground. The four unlucky men they had been searching for were tied to stone pillars at its four corners, bleeding out. A white-haired old man knelt atop the altar.

"Lord Jashin, please heed your follower's summons. Grant your follower eternal life. These four ninjas are sacrifices offered to you. Lord Jashin, please grant immortality to your most loyal follower..."

Hearing the Jashin Cult's prayer, Lin Chuan and Fū Yamanaka remained hidden in the shadows. Other than the white-haired old man on the stone altar, there was no one else present.

When the old man finished praying, the blood of the four unlucky men flowed continuously into a triangular stone trough at the center of the altar. Red light then rose from the old man's body. His white hair gradually faded into long black hair, while his shriveled, thin hands slowly filled with blood and became plump. At the same time, the four sacrifices withered, aged, and had their muscles contract.

Lin Chuan and Fū Yamanaka were both secretly alarmed by the sight. They had not expected the Jashin Cult to be capable of restoring youth in addition to granting immortality.

Just as the old man basked in the red light and enjoyed his body growing younger, the light abruptly stopped. Discovering that the ritual had ceased, he roared in displeasure, "Lord Jashin, why did it stop? Your most loyal follower feels it isn't enough! I'm still not young enough, Lord Jashin..."

"A life force exchange? And there's even a middleman taking a cut," Lin Chuan thought with a silent curl of his lip. Four Genin still were not enough to make the old man young again. This Jashin was far too stingy, skimming off the top during the life force conversion. He refused to believe the forbidden technique's natural loss could be that high.

That was right. The Jashin Cult's so-called immortal body and miraculous restoration of youth were probably effects of some forbidden technique. The details of that technique were unknown, though. After all, Kishimoto had never drawn it, so how could Lin Chuan know what forbidden technique it was?

As the red light vanished, the old man reverted to his aged appearance. He merely looked more spirited than before; nothing else had changed.

"Tch, it really is a scam," Lin Chuan grumbled inwardly. The old fool probably had not installed an anti-fraud app, and so he had been scammed by the Jashin Cult.

Even if he wanted eternal life, Orochimaru had his body-snatching route. What kind of worthless trash was the Jashin Cult, daring to compare itself to Orochimaru, the ninja world's mad scientist? Trust in science.

"Let's move," Fū Yamanaka said. Having seen this much, he felt there was no need to watch any longer. He leaped down onto the altar and slashed the old man across the back. Until his death, the old man never knew who had attacked him; all he saw was the blood-red blade protruding from his chest.

Lin Chuan also jumped down onto the altar. He gave each of the four gaunt, aged classmates tied to the pillars another stab through the heart, wanting to see whether he would gain any Life Points. After stabbing all four, he found nothing. His Life Points had not increased at all.

"There's a hidden door over there. Go take a look. I'll collect the bodies," Fū Yamanaka said, taking out a sealing scroll and storing the four classmates' corpses in it. He then saw Lin Chuan emerge from the hidden door, shaking his head.

The moment Lin Chuan opened the hidden door, he saw a bedroom with a large bed and all sorts of adults-only tools. On the bed lay a young girl, bound and gagged, looking at him with pleading eyes.

Seeing the room's arrangement and the girl, he could roughly guess what the noble old man had intended to do after completing the ritual and regaining his youth. If they had not appeared, the girl's fate would have been grim.

He only left the girl a kunai before closing the door and leaving the room. He shook his head at Fū Yamanaka, who had finished storing the bodies, indicating there was nothing inside. Then the two left the basement, retrieved the four unlucky men's weapons, and quietly departed the grand estate without drawing the guards' attention.

By the time the estate guards discovered the noble old man's corpse, it was already the next morning. The girl had long since used the kunai to cut her ropes and escape the basement, then fled the grand estate. She had originally been a maid in the estate, so no one noticed her departure. After all, people often died there.

After returning to the Land of Fire border outpost, Lin Chuan looked at his personal panel and found it unchanged. Even the beef-eating mission had not been completed. He knew it would not be that simple.

He did not know that girl, which meant she was another passerby without even the status of a background character. Saving her would not complete the mission. It seemed that if he wanted to complete it, he could only wait for the Chunin Ninja Exams. There would be plenty of people who had shown their faces before dying then.

Next, they would be returning to the village. After Leopard finished handing over the mission to the border ninjas, he led this group of ANBU trainees back toward the village.

The team had lost another four people on this mission, shrinking from sixteen to twelve. They had no idea how many more would be eliminated, or how many would remain in the end.

But it was not all bad news. After returning to Root at the end of this mission, they would each have an opportunity to choose a ninjutsu and learn something new. Everyone was excited.

Lin Chuan was also considering what ninjutsu he should choose this time.

He still had the Shadow Clone and Water Release: Heavenly Weeping to grind. Those two B-rank ninjutsu were close to breaking through to Chunin level, while he had not had time to grind Water Formation Wall and Water Dragon Bullet. If he chose another B-rank ninjutsu, he really would not have enough time to grind them all.