Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 168 No Follower of the Evil God is Innocent

"Do you think it's right to assist in the abduction of children, looting during chaos, and committing murder and arson?"

"Of course not," Minato replied immediately. "But they've already admitted their mistake. Couldn't they be punished in other ways? Isn't this punishment too harsh?"

"They know they're wrong? No, they don't know they're wrong, they just know they're going to die."

Just then, a series of sounds rang out from the mountains and forests several miles away. It was the location where the immortal wind escape technique, the Rasengan, had been moved.

Even after the transfer, it continued to differentiate, turning into a storm of swords.

As the sounds in the distance subsided, Shisei Aburame slowly turned around and fixed his gaze on Minato Namikaze.

"You want to fight me?"

"I wouldn't dare." Minato Namikaze's breathing quickened slightly, but he remained rooted to the spot. "This junior simply feels... feels that you, senpai, are not bloodthirsty. Perhaps giving them a chance to repent..."

"Minato!" Nara Shikaku couldn't help but shout from afar, already sensing the chilling killing intent surging beneath that calm gaze.

But Minato Namikaze, seeing the trembling women and bewildered youths among the prisoners, finally took a step forward.

"Do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?" Aburame Shisei asked again.

The Wind Release: Rasengan shuriken condensed once more, smaller in size, but its energy was condensed to the extreme, causing the surrounding air to hiss in unbearable strain.

The next instant, Minato Namikaze appeared behind Shisei Aburame, his hand already on his shoulder—Flying Thunder God Guided Lightning!

Aburame Shicheng reacted extremely quickly, turning around and smashing the attacker with a palm strike, but only dispersing a cloud of smoke.

Shadow clone.

However, Minato Namikaze had already used that moment of contact to quietly imprint the spell mark. Although it was only a shallow layer, it was enough to move a person ten miles away.

Seeing himself suddenly appear in an unfamiliar place, Aburame Shisei muttered, "Space-time ninjutsu, what a nuisance."

Besides, he was even more surprised by Minato's talent, which allowed him to improve the Flying Thunder God Technique so quickly.

At this moment, Shisei Aburame finally realized his own shortcomings. He now desperately wanted to master ninjutsu related to space, whether it was ninjutsu that allowed him to move or that could seal off space.

He didn't linger. He summoned Xiao Qing, merged with her, unfurled his wind wings, and soared into the sky, heading back towards the place where the prisoners were gathered.

Minato appeared on the spot, panting, and immediately directed his companions to untie the prisoners.

Just then, Jiraiya came running back, biting the child's collar: "Minato, I've found the exact location of the Jashin Cult. You guys better hurry over there."

"Teacher, what about you?"

"I'm sealed, and I need to break the seal. I'll track them down myself in a bit, you guys go ahead." After putting the child down, Jiraiya continued to refine natural energy.

Minato Namikaze wanted to help Jiraiya break the strange seal, but he found himself powerless to do so.

Finally, they could only turn their attention to the village chief of Tangren Village: "The rest is up to you. Please untie the ropes binding the ordinary people and let the children and women blend into the crowd. As for the others, find a place to hide them first."

After saying that, Minato Namikaze quickly left the place with his three teammates and headed to the headquarters of the Jashin Cult.

He felt that in this way, at least a group of people could be saved—at least these bewitched teenagers and women did not have such great evils, and they did not deserve to die.

He didn't think anyone could remember the faces of these hundreds of people, and Senior Shiraki didn't seem like the kind of person who would massacre a village, right?

After they left, the village chief led the others to begin their operation, mixing the prisoners among the ordinary villagers, while those with distinctive facial features were quickly hidden in cellars and caves.

However, just as the crowd dispersed, Aburame Shisei reappeared. The place was now empty, except for Hideyoshi, who walked out from a distance and told him everything that had happened after the relocation.

After listening, Aburame Shicheng smiled slightly.

He didn't care, because the swarm had already left pheromones on every target they had come into contact with. He couldn't remember every face, but the insects did.

"Hideyoshi, go to the Jashin Cult's stronghold first," he instructed calmly. "I'll be there shortly."

Without hesitation, Hideyoshi turned and sped away.

Aburame Zhicheng then entered the village streets and alleys, like a silent grim reaper, following the guidance of pheromones, eliminating them one by one.

Screams, pleas, and angry curses echoed through the village once again.

"A devil! He looks like a god, but his heart is black!"

"Sir, please spare us! You've got the wrong people, we're not cultists!"

"You devil, you are a devil! I curse you to a horrible death!"

Their curses and cries could not stop Aburame Shisei's killing spree, because they were all marked, none of them were innocent, and he would not admit his mistakes.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him; it was Jiraiya, who had already completed his Sage Mode transformation.

"Stop it, they already know they were wrong."

"You still want to fight me?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't stand by and do nothing."

This time, Jiraiya, who was prepared, displayed a completely different level of strength.

With his speed, strength, and reaction all improved, he actually managed to keep up with Shisei Aburame's movements and keep him locked in a grappling battle.

Yu Nu Zhicheng was not in a hurry.

His Sage Mode relies on the natural wind; as long as there is wind in nature, his energy is virtually limitless. Jiraiya's Sage Chakra, however, will eventually run out. Time is on his side.

However, an unexpected change occurred.

Just as Shisei Aburame was being held back by Jiraiya, the cultists of the evil god, who had been holding back their true intentions, finally dropped their pretense inside Yugakure.

The seemingly kind-hearted village chief was actually the mastermind behind this plan.

While the two were locked in a life-or-death struggle, dozens of high-ranking members of the Tangren Village put on masks and donned red robes.

The believers who had been rescued earlier now bared their fangs and took out knives they had hidden at home.

"Heh, the ninjas of Konoha are really naive!"

"Believers, let us offer our blood as a sacrifice! Let us give our lives to the evil god!"

"Yes, we will offer the Land of Hot Springs to the evil god."

The eyes of the twelve-year-old boy were filled with madness, and there was not a trace of the cowardice that had appeared before.

He plunged a steel knife into a woman's stomach, ripped it open without blinking, and her intestines spilled out onto the ground.

"Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!"

Some frail women would lift their children high and slam them to the ground—because "the child is too weak to bear the blessings from the gods." They believed their children were unworthy of living and only fit to be sacrifices.

As the two fought further and further apart, a massacre ensued in the village. More and more members of the cult, posing as villagers, dropped their pretenses and turned their knives on their former neighbors.