Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 167 The Evil God Cult's Large-Scale Operation

Children were kidnapped one after another on the streets, and cultists set fire to many places, leaving the streets and alleys in chaos.

The ninjas in Tang Village were few in number, numbering only a hundred or so, and their strength was mediocre. Even with their best efforts to rescue them, the results were minimal.

Four Konoha ninjas darted through the streets and alleys, so busy they barely had time to breathe.

Just then, Shisei Aburame, who was flying in mid-air, noticed the chaos below. Hideyoshi, who was flying alongside him, hesitated to speak.

Seeing this, Aburame Zhicheng sighed softly, "It seems we need to get rid of these troublemakers first."

Hideyoshi didn't know how to express his gratitude, and finally only uttered two words: "Thank you."

The two fell from mid-air and charged straight into the crowd.

Hideyoshi, wielding the Three-Star Blade, swiftly subdued his enemy with a single, powerful strike.

A single scythe strike would sever either a hand or a leg, and those with bad luck would have their throats cut.

But right now, the situation is critical, and he can't worry about anything else; saving lives is his top priority.

Aburame Shisei was even faster.

Because of the Wind Immortal Technique, he can drift wherever the wind blows.

Wherever they went, all the murderers fell to the ground, and without exception, they all stopped breathing.

During their cleanup, they encountered the Minato Namikaze squad, who were also fighting against cult members.

Minato's approach was to primarily knock them unconscious, especially when facing ordinary people with no chakra; he would hold back as much as possible to avoid killing them.

The two sides had different approaches, but both acted extremely quickly.

At first, there was no communication, only a brief exchange of glances. Minato nodded slightly and then led the group away quickly to the next rescue location.

Clearly, they did not want to clash with Shisei Aburame and his group.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya, who was gathering intelligence, was quickly discovered by the cultists of the evil god because he was injured and smelled of blood.

During his battle with two cultists, he suddenly came up with a plan. He deliberately feigned weakness and pretended to be no match for them, and was eventually taken deep into the stronghold by the two cultists.

His goal was to use this opportunity to infiltrate the core area. As expected, he was taken to the underground palace of the Evil God Temple.

He was tied up and thrown on the ground.

"These are the legendary Sannin of Konoha. They're not all that great."

An old man wearing a mask walked up to him, his hands forming strange hand seals. A blood-red sealing spell landed on his dantian.

In an instant, the chakra within his body completely froze.

Jiraiya's expression changed drastically. He never expected that he, who was proficient in all kinds of ninjutsu and sealing techniques, and even mastered Sage Mode, would stumble over a mere sealing technique.

He tried to sense it and discovered that although the sealing technique contained a certain amount of chakra, its main body was not in the chakra, but rather attached to those blood-red energies.

That energy appears to be natural energy, but upon closer inspection, it is quite different.

The old man chuckled and said, "Stop struggling. This is a divine technique of our Evil God Cult. You have no divine power and cannot break free. Just obediently become a sacrifice."

"Oh dear, I never thought that I, the mighty Toad Sage, would actually stumble!" Jiraiya feigned a bitter smile, but in reality, he was still secretly trying to break the seal.

In fact, the sealing process is not complicated; the key lies in that strange energy.

The old man snorted coldly, ignored him, and turned to preside over another ceremony.

On the other side of the cell, dozens of young children were imprisoned separately on stone platforms engraved with strange runes. They cried their hearts out, their cries echoing through the cave.

Upon witnessing this scene, Jiraiya's heart sank: "So, kidnapping children and holding bizarre sacrificial rituals was your true purpose."

He struggled again, but to no avail. He could only watch helplessly as one child after another was thrown into the pool of blood, and the ritual failed time and time again.

The old man's voice was almost furious. High-end offerings were running out, yet they still hadn't managed to create a holy son.

"Failure! How could it fail again? It must be because the offerings weren't of good enough!"

"Yes, we also have one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha here. Using him as a sacrifice will definitely ensure he is of sufficient quality."

"No, no, such a fine offering must be paired with a good container. These children are not qualified enough."

The old man appeared to be insane, talking to himself.

Then, he picked up a child, preparing to throw him into the pool of blood. The child was only a few months old, and when he was lifted high into the air, he immediately started crying loudly.

Just then, Jiraiya, who had been lying prostrate on the ground, finally managed to mobilize a trace of natural energy.

Sure enough, with the help of this energy, the power within the seal—which resembled chakra but was not chakra, and was close to natural energy but chaotic and mixed—dissipated in an instant.

His seal was mostly broken, but he still couldn't use his hands to perform ninjutsu.

But he couldn't wait any longer.

With a sudden burst of strength, he slammed his shoulder into the cultist beside him, then bent down and bit the back of the nearest child's collar with his teeth before turning and sprinting back the way he came.

He would save as many as he could; he had already memorized the location of the stronghold.

After he escaped, a large group of followers of the Jashin cult gave chase. But Jiraiya had already disappeared into the jungle.

"He got away! He got away! How awful!"

"Sacrificial offerings! Those are top-quality sacrificial offerings! Bring them back! Bring them back!"

The frantic roars behind them grew louder and louder, but in the end, no one caught up.

……

Meanwhile, the battle on Aburame Shisei's side was nearing its end.

Hundreds of cult members lay dead on the ground. Only a few of them could use rudimentary ninjutsu, while others possessed a small amount of chakra but did not know how to use it. The rest were ordinary villagers.

In addition, hundreds of cultists were captured. The vast majority of these prisoners were captured by ninjas from Yugakure and Konoha, and the group originally planned to deal with them together.

Aburame Shisei suddenly appeared and offered to do it for him.

Upon hearing this, the village chief looked troubled, glanced at the ninjas coming from Konoha, and then took a step back with a bitter expression: "Then I'll have to trouble you, sir!"

At this point, some of the cultists removed their masks; many of them were just ordinary villagers, and even young children and women.

"My lord, spare us! We were just tricked!"

"Yes, they give us food; we're just doing their errands for them, trying to get something for nothing!"

"We do not truly believe in evil gods."

"We know we were wrong, please forgive us!"

Aburame Shisei remained expressionless as wind-style chakra began to spin and compress rapidly at his fingertips, gradually forming a wind-style shuriken.

Just then, a golden flash appeared, and Minato Namikaze suddenly appeared between him and the prisoner.

In an instant, the spiral shuriken, compressed to its limit, was moved to another location.

"Senior," Minato said earnestly, bowing politely, "most of these people are merely misled civilians and did not truly participate in the core crimes. Could you spare their lives?"