Chapter 30: My Jashin Cult Doesn't Accept Illiterates!
Tsukasa's sharp shout didn't make the Jashin cult leader hesitate for even a moment. His cold eyes remained unmoved as he thrust the spear straight toward Yuko.
Seeing this, Tsukasa threw all caution about concealing his ninja identity to the wind. He mobilized his chakra and suddenly darted in front of the little girl.
In his desperation, he had no choice but to reach out and firmly grasp the stabbing black spear with his bare hand.
The razor-sharp blade cut deep into his palm, and blood flowed from between Tsukasa's bandaged fingers, dripping to the ground.
Tsukasa looked at his bleeding palm and frowned slightly.
Having your blood taken by Jashin cultists was definitely not a good thing.
"I said, STOP!"
He raised his head slightly, his crimson Sharingan glaring coldly at the Jashin cult leader before him.
"Sharingan? An Uchiha?" The cult leader narrowed his eyes, halting his attack as recognition flashed across his features.
What was an Uchiha doing here, instead of watching over the Chinoike Clan savages in Hell Valley on their own territory?
"Tsukasa! What are you doing?!"
At that moment, Hidan witnessed the scene and trotted forward, positioning himself between Tsukasa and the cult leader. He explained frantically:
"Sir, this man is my friend, and he's also hoping to join our cult!"
The cult leader fixed Tsukasa with an icy stare, as if waiting for an explanation.
Seeing the situation calm down slightly, Tsukasa's eyes flickered with calculation before he spoke immediately:
"Hidan's right. Let her go, and I'll take her place as the sacrifice!"
Everyone present gasped in surprise, staring at Tsukasa in astonishment.
This kid was actually willing to sacrifice himself?
Just to save a little girl he didn't even know?
In the crowd,
a hooded figure calmly observed the unfolding situation. She was shrouded in the shadows of her black cloak, with only a few strands of reddish-brown hair visible around her ears.
Earlier, when the cult leader had attacked the little girl, she had been about to intervene herself. But upon seeing Tsukasa step forward, she slowly lowered the hand seal she had already begun forming.
She stared at Tsukasa in bewilderment.
How could someone be so foolish? How could they sacrifice themselves to save others?
"Wait, Tsukasa, what are you talking about?!"
"Didn't we agree to go to the altar together? Why are you trying to cut in line?!"
Hidan was the first to break down after hearing Tsukasa's words. He stared at him in shock.
With an expression that screamed 'I knew it!'
Hidan looked like a desperate job applicant watching someone else interview for the last available position, terrified that this idiot would steal the opportunity right from under his nose.
Deep down, he was already wailing in despair.
This guy really is trying to steal Lord Jashin's favor from me!
"You... you want to be a sacrifice?"
The cult leader was stunned upon hearing this. He took three steps backward, slowly withdrawing his spear, and examined Tsukasa as if seeing him for the first time.
His eyes repeatedly focused on the crimson Sharingan in Tsukasa's eyes, and he couldn't help but feel a chill.
An Uchiha had come to the Jashin Cult, demanding to be sacrificed?
The cult leader wondered if he was having some kind of bizarre nightmare.
"That's correct," Tsukasa strode forward confidently, declaring:
"I do want to be a sacrifice!"
"Sir, please take me to the Jashin Cult headquarters!"
However,
the cult leader wasn't happy at all. Instead, he looked stunned, his features twisting into a complex expression of horror.
At that moment, he stared at the brat before him, his face twitching. It was like ordering a premium steak online and receiving a live porcupine instead—not only completely wrong, but dangerously spiky!
If the Uchiha clan discovered that their cult had sacrificed an Uchiha child on their altar,
they wouldn't have to wait until tomorrow.
That very night,
the entire Uchiha garrison from Hell Valley would storm across half the Land of Hot Water.
They'd skin him alive, string him up, and use him for target practice!
The cult leader pondered for a moment, his expression growing increasingly grim.
Finally, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, despite his obvious reluctance, he asked in a professionally dry tone:
"Are you a shinobi?"
"Yes," Tsukasa nodded.
"Well then, we don't accept shinobi," the cult leader immediately seized the opportunity and declared.
"What did you say?" Tsukasa glared, turning his head to look at Hidan with questioning eyes that clearly asked: "Buddy, what's going on here?"
You invited me to join the Jashin Cult like it was some kind of exclusive club, but now they're saying the roster is full? What gives?
Are you looking down on me?
Hidan was equally taken aback, unable to help but step beside the cult leader and remind him:
"Sir, I remember we ARE recruiting shinobi. Didn't you ask me just last time to capture one more?"
The cult leader looked at Hidan, his confident smile faltering.
I told you to capture shinobi, and you brought me an UCHIHA?!
Don't you know the Uchiha clan ranks second on the list of 'Top Ten Groups You Never Want to Mess With' in the Land of Hot Water?
"Ah, maybe I remembered wrong, haha..." The cult leader's nervous laughter didn't reach his eyes.
But there was no way he could bear the responsibility of sacrificing an Uchiha brat.
His eyes suddenly turned cold as he quietly signaled to the two subordinates standing behind him.
Then, with a stern expression, he turned back to Tsukasa and asked coldly:
"Do you even understand what the purpose of our Jashin Cult is?"
Tsukasa was stunned, wondering if the recruitment process had really become this demanding.
Can't I just be a simple sacrifice waiting to get stabbed?
Do I need to take a class and study "Five Years of Scripture, Three Years of Faith" first?
"Oh, wait a minute, I think I've got this." Tsukasa's expression grew serious as he secretly pulled out the booklet Hidan had given him earlier, nervously flipping through a few pages.
He was trying to turn this interview into an open-book exam.
But then—
Suddenly!
Two black spears shot out from either side of Tsukasa!
The cult leader's mask dropped completely as he released the black spear Tsukasa had been gripping. With fluid movements, he drew two more pitch-black spears from the weapon pouches of his robe.
He glared at Tsukasa coldly and shouted:
"Hmph! You don't even understand the most basic principles! How dare you seek Lord Jashin's gospel?!"
"The Jashin Cult doesn't accept illiterates!"
The two black spears pierced through the air toward his face, the incoming attack instantly making every hair on Tsukasa's neck stand on end.
A massive sense of crisis washed over him.
Tsukasa instantly realized that all three of these Jashin cultists were master-level fighters!
The next moment, two system messages flashed before his eyes:
[You are being attacked by Jashin Cult operatives (Cloud Village chunin-level missing-nin). The leader has bluntly called you an illiterate fool!]
[Talent: Combat Intuition, S-Rank, Activated.]
A surge of electrical energy instantly coursed through his body.
In the next instant, Tsukasa twisted his head and leaped, his crimson Sharingan flickering left and right, tracing a trembling red arc that immediately locked onto the trajectory of both black spears.
He spun in midair and hurled the blood-soaked spear he'd been holding, shattering one of the incoming projectiles.
However, the other spear whirled straight toward his vital points!
Tsukasa, recalling the techniques of the future Hidan, narrowed his eyes in concentration.
But still airborne, he no longer had the leverage to twist and dodge the incoming attack completely. He could only try to avoid his vitals at the last second as the black spear approached.
This would inevitably result in injury!
Once wounded, his blood would be spilled—and combined with the cuts he'd already sustained when desperately blocking the cult leader's initial spear attack, the cultists could simply collect the weapon or scrape his blood from the ground to potentially cast their deadly curse: Death Controlling Possessed Blood.
Under that terrifying technique, he'd be nothing more than a puppet dancing to their tune!
Tsukasa's eyes widened slightly, thinking that the Land of Hot Water truly was a dangerous place.
Even a random group of Jashin cultists possessed such terrifying ambush capabilities!
However, at that critical moment—
A hooded girl in the crowd frowned, slapped her hand against the ground, and leaped out from the crowd.
The brown tassels at the tips of her hair swayed in the wind as she pulled a kunai from beneath her black robe and brought her hands together to form the Snake hand seal.
She fixed Tsukasa with a pair of clear green eyes like precious gems and shouted loudly:
"Idiot, duck your head!"
"Water Style: Water Bullet!"
End of Chapter 30
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