Upon entering the Land of Hot Water, Kazemori Masaki and his companions encountered an inspection by border soldiers. With the campaign to purge the cult underway, the Land of Hot Water had been subjecting travelers to strict scrutiny. All known bases of the Evil God Worshippers had been destroyed, but there was no guarantee that some stragglers had not escaped.
"I heard the border inspections in the Land of Hot Water suddenly became stricter. So this was why," Hyuga Qi said.
"Yes. I expected the Land of Hot Water to launch an operation like this sooner or later, but not so soon. Teacher Tobirama certainly acted decisively, and the Land of Hot Water's swift response was unexpected as well." Kazemori Masaki nodded.
"It looks like the Land of Hot Water really takes the Evil God Worshippers seriously." Kana turned her head slightly, avoiding the sight of the horribly mangled bodies hanging beside the city wall.
Apparently, they had been Evil God Worshippers attempting to slip out of the country. Once the border soldiers discovered them, they had killed them on the spot and hung their bodies outside the city as a warning. The gruesome condition of the bodies made the soldiers' hatred for the Evil God Worshippers plain.
"With inspections this strict, the Evil God Worshippers probably have next to no chance of escaping the country," Yamanaka Takuma said. "Still, this isn't good news for us either. We'll have to be careful not to get mistaken for Evil God Worshippers."
Following standard shinobi practice, Kazemori Masaki and the others had traveled to the Land of Demons in secret and had no official travel documents. They also looked clearly capable, so the soldiers might well mistake them for concealed Evil God Worshippers. It was already common knowledge that Evil God Worshippers