"Or maybe you'll join us?"
"Where?" The White Fang was asking not Satoru, but his summoned dogs, of course.
"Seems they used something to mask their scent. Can't smell anything," Minato and Satoru were extremely surprised—the dogs... were talking! This shattered their prior worldview completely.
"There!" the reincarnator pointed at the waterfall itself.
"Didn't expect a sensory ninja among you? Oh! What a surprise! And a kid at that!"
"Not bad! Looks like a good haul this time!"
"Who are you? No pretending or luring us here. What do you want?" Sakumo demanded right away. But his hand already gripped the White Fang's hilt, ready for battle anytime.
Satoru turned to Namikaze immediately:
"Minato, no matter what, we stay here and protect Yoshime."
"Got it!"
"Ha! Fine, behold our esteemed faces!" That strange voice rang out again, and a bunch of tall people emerged from behind the waterfall.
Both men and women among them. Aside from their private parts, their bodies were fully naked. From their mental state, something was off with them.
"We're not pretending. We're just a small religious cult."
"We're the Jashin Cult, worshippers of the Great Evil God. You can call us simply the Evil God Cult."
"We're all followers of the Great Evil God. Since you're here, why not join us? Huh?"
The speaker was a man with a rather vile appearance. At that moment, he licked blood from the corner of his mouth, and Satoru clearly saw they'd apparently taken blood from Yoshime's wrist.
"This guy... it's that Hidan cult!"
"Bad! Gotta beat him now!" The system holder felt a twinge of panic. Only he knew what tricks they planned.
"Jashin Cult?" The White Fang frowned. He'd never heard of such a cult.
But that didn't stop him from seeing these weirdos as enemies.
"Worshipping an Evil God? Sounds like some sinister cult!" Hatake's stance was crystal clear: he drew a hard line between himself and these Evil God cultists.
The Evil God cult leader smirked:
"Ha, the Great Evil God granted us immortality. Join, and he might grant it to you too."
"That way, you won't have to give your pathetic lives," the Jashin cult leader laughed loudly, his laughter utterly sinister.
"Teacher White Fang! Under no circumstances let these creatures get the blood! Or it's over!" Satoru warned immediately.
Satoru's words instantly drew the cultists' attention.
"Snot-nose! Seems you know all about the Great Evil God's power! We'll grab you first!" The Evil God cult leader waved, and cultists surrounded Satoru and Minato.
As for the White Fang, plenty of Evil God cultists surrounded him too. Clearly, they planned to convert or kill them.
"I won't let you take Satoru," the jonin stated calmly. His voice was utterly steady. With his power, forget some minor cult leader—even a whole village's Kage couldn't take him down that fast.
"Watch out, Satoru! Something's off with these guys!" the blond warned, gripping his kunai tighter.
"Kill!"
The cultists were true madmen. They charged en masse, closing in rapidly.
With such short distance, Satoru skipped Shadow Clone Shuriken Technique or Fire Release ninjutsu. Instead, he activated Armament Haki right away.
Minato had picked up some Armament Haki use from Satoru too and repelled enemy attacks alongside him.
Yoshime was still unconscious at that moment.
*Dong-dong-dong!*
Both Namikaze and Satoru kept knocking back attackers. But they just rushed in again, as if feeling no pain.
Gradually, both the young genius and the transmigrator started tiring.
"This won't do. Teacher White Fang probably noticed something's wrong too. If we keep this up, we'll just die of exhaustion!" the future Hokage said.
"These things feel nothing, like zombies. Normal methods won't work," Satoru replied.
"What other methods?!" Minato kicked another attacking cultist away and asked immediately.
"Use Lightning Release!" At that moment, Satoru decided to stop hiding his Goro Goro Fruit abilities and use them in this crisis.
"Lightning Release..." Namikaze was about to ask when his friend mastered Lightning Release, but swallowed his words the next second.
Satoru's whole body crackled with lightning discharges. Layers of sparkling lightning enveloped him; he seemed lightning incarnate.
"Such... such Lightning Release level... Satoru, you Raikage or what?!" Minato was stunned, unable to believe his eyes.
"Since it's come to this, Minato, no more hiding. Truth is, I've been training Lightning Release all along. Turns out I'm a Lightning Release genius," Satoru had no choice but to use this excuse to convince his comrade.
"Lightning!" The system holder casually raised his hand, and the cultist in front turned to ash.
"What?! How?!"
"Great Evil God! We're immortal!"
The cultists couldn't believe their eyes. They'd never faced such a terrifying foe before.
"Scum! You wanna shame the Great Evil God?! Believe in him! No retreat! Charge! Destroy this man!" The speaker was, naturally, the Jashin cult leader.
Hearing the leader, the cultists dared say nothing more and charged Satoru again.
"No matter how many times you attack, same result!"
Satoru's lips curved slightly. After all, killing these cultists netted him plenty of Points.
"Almost time for another draw! I'll wipe you all out!" Satoru roared inwardly.
"Watch out! Satoru!" Minato shouted loudly. Satoru immediately noticed that several cultists, taking advantage of the fact that he had zoned out for a moment, suddenly rushed at him from behind.
"Raijin!" the transmigrator easily used this technique of Enel, the possessor of the Goro Goro Fruit.
Although the power of this technique wasn't that great, the supersonic shockwave from the air bursting with lightning still knocked back those two cultists who had tried to attack him from behind. They fell to the ground, coughing up blood.
"Minato, just take care of Yoshime. Leave the rest to me."
"Who's next?! Attack all at once! Don't waste time! Our fight has to end, right?!"
At that moment, Satoru transformed into a god of war enveloped in lightning. His entire body crackled with electric discharges. These lightning bolts didn't require chakra, so the boy could use them without any restrictions.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan