Yatagarasu

"I'm an Uchiha, after all."

Uchiha Gen merely smiled confidently at that. Asking an Uchiha whether he could use genjutsu—how was that any different from asking a human whether he could breathe?

"Then that makes things simple. We'll disguise ourselves to enter the city, then infiltrate Chuntai City's Security Office. After that, we'll be relying on Gen's genjutsu."

"Since Chuntai City is a border city, its Security Office won't have many samurai stationed there, so using genjutsu to get the information we want shouldn't be difficult."

Maruboshi Kosuke took a map of Chuntai City out of his clothes. He lightly tapped the Security Office's location on the map with a finger as he spoke quietly.

"Also, I'll leave contacting the Anbu Ninja to you, Shibi. Have them keep acting normally as much as possible. Don't let it slip that we've already arrived in Chuntai City."

As he spoke, Maruboshi Kosuke turned toward Shibi Aburame and gave him those instructions softly.

"I've already sent out the insects to make contact."

Shibi Aburame answered quietly.

As soon as they had reached the vicinity of Chuntai City, he had already released many ordinary kikaichū into the city. Tiny insects wouldn't attract any attention.

"I do have a question. Searching blindly for clues like this is too inefficient. If I remember correctly, Konoha's Yamanaka Clan can read memories from corpses, right?

"Didn't you say earlier that the bodies of that Chunin squad had already been found? Didn't their memories yield enough information?"

Beside them, Uchiha Gen frowned slightly at this. Although Chuntai City was only a small, remote city, it was still a city. While it couldn't match Konoha's area, it was definitely still expansive.

Searching for an unknown number of killers in a city packed with people couldn't be very efficient, no matter how he looked at it.

Besides, Uchiha Gen didn't think the enemy would be stupid enough to remain in Chuntai City after killing Konoha Ninja, waiting for Konoha to send more people.

At that, Maruboshi Kosuke rubbed a finger along the edge of the map. The calluses on his fingertip scraped against the rough paper with a soft rustle.

He fell silent for a moment, the anger at the corners of his eyes appearing deeper in the dusk.

"The Yamanaka Clan's ninja did try reading those three children's memories, but... the memories in those bodies were like something soaked in strong acid. They weren't blurred; they had been forcibly gouged out. And something like this...

"Decades ago, someone from Konoha encountered it while on a mission in the Land of Demons. That time, the Konoha Jonin Sarutobi Ke'er was carrying out a mission in the Land of Demons to eliminate a cult called the Three-Crow Church.

"The Three-Crow Church was an evil church that worshipped the ancient god Yatagarasu. They believed their god Yatagarasu could carry away all the suffering in the world with his wings.

"It was a fine sentiment, but the things those followers did were wanton slaughter and plunder in the name of purification. So the Land of Demons' priestess at the time asked Konoha to go there and purge the cult.

"The ones who accepted that mission were Jonin Sarutobi Ke'er of the Sarutobi Clan and his three subordinates. The result was... Jonin Sarutobi Ke'er was seriously wounded in a sudden ambush. The three children accompanying him were also attacked while temporarily separated from him, and in the end... they never left the Land of Demons.

"Afterward, to avenge his subordinates, Jonin Sarutobi Ke'er also sought out ninja from the Yamanaka Clan, hoping to find out exactly who had attacked them.

"But... the final result was exactly the same as this time, so... we didn't obtain the relevant information either."

"Gouged out? Yatagarasu? The Three-Crow Church?"

Uchiha Gen raised his brows, his scarlet Sharingan turning slightly in his eyes.

Wait, was this still the Shinobi World?

Wasn't the only cult in the Shinobi World that Jashin Cult or whatever? Hidan's cult.

"So, you're saying that this time, it was that Three-Crow Church again?"

Uchiha Gen frowned slightly and asked quietly.

"No. Konoha completely eradicated the Three-Crow Church. And because the Three-Crow Church could destroy memories, Lord Hokage's student Orochimaru specifically interrogated its members at the time about how they did it.

"However... what he ultimately learned was that they had no idea they had destroyed anyone else's memories. In their account, they had simply killed Jonin Sarutobi Ke'er's subordinates using the power Yatagarasu bestowed upon them."

Maruboshi Kosuke's voice sank.

"So someone else intervened?"

Uchiha Gen was a little puzzled. Why did he feel more confused the more he heard? So... what exactly had erased the memories? Surely it couldn't have been that Yatagarasu's power?

"No. They were the culprits-or rather, the power Yatagarasu had bestowed upon them was. Lady Mito herself said so back then.

"Many so-called gods once existed in this Shinobi World, but for some unknown reason, all these gods eventually disappeared from it.

"But gods must exist through faith or memories, so various churches worshipping these gods came into being.

"According to Lady Mito, those three children's memories disappeared because the power originating from Yatagarasu directly devoured part of their memories.

"And this was information Lady Mito obtained after personally questioning the Reaper under the Uzumaki Clan's command. So our targets this time are most likely another cult established by those vanished gods."

Finally, Maruboshi Kosuke gave Uchiha Gen an answer.

Listening to such absurd words, Uchiha Gen couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his mouth.

He did know that gods existed in the Shinobi World. After all, the original Naruto had opened with a Reaper Death Seal summoning the Reaper, and later there was Hidan's immortal evil god.

It had even mentioned that Kaguya Otsutsuki had brought an era of darkness to an end.

Hmm...

Then it wasn't hard to guess. Taking a bold guess, those so-called gods had disappeared because Kaguya Otsutsuki had wiped them all out.

And some could still establish churches because those gods weren't quite dead.

"So our targets this time are also an evil god's church, something like the Three-Crow Church."

A trace of excitement involuntarily flashed in Uchiha Gen's eyes.

He really did want to see more of the different things this Shinobi World had to offer.

"Most likely. So, although this approach is extremely inefficient, sometimes the clumsy approach becomes the best one when your safety is at stake."

Looking at Uchiha Gen, Maruboshi Kosuke smiled faintly. He would absolutely never let another teammate die before his eyes.