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"Prime"
The voice of one of Ryuu's other four clones, the ones that were drawing seals around the quarter, was heard as they approached Ryuu.
Ryuu looked at them, and his current happy mood dulled slightly upon feeling their emotions. While they seemed happy and excited by Neko's survival, they also emitted feelings of hate, pity, sadness, grief, and an immense feeling of anger.
"Here you go, Prime. All the secured intel, scrolls, and books." The clone said as it handed Ryuu a scroll along with the scroll that contained the sealing equipment, with the other three clones standing right behind it.
Ryuu looked at the scroll in his hand before looking at the clones that were looking directly at him.
"Just a heads up, Prime. You won't like what you get to know." The clone said before dispelling in a puff of smoke, followed by the other clones.
For a moment, Ryuu stood still before chakra started to leak from him. His newfound anger made his heavy and dense chakra leak out of him, causing the ground beneath him to crack and a wave of oppressive feeling to emanate from him that startled Inu and Tenzo.
Ryuu's hand tightened around the scrolls in his hand while his other hand balled into a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white.
He glanced at Phoenix, who was looking to the side, away from Ryuu, as she knew exactly what he received from the clones' memories.
"Ryuu, what is it?" Inu asked with a slightly strained voice as he and Tenzo, along with Phoenix, sweated slightly behind their masks from how dense and heavy Ryuu's chakra felt.
Ryuu took a calming breath as he got his chakra back in control.
"I apologize for the outburst. I had to go through some very… disturbing memories from my clones." Ryuu said with a cold tone.
"What did you find?" Inu asked as he looked between Ryuu and Phoenix, only for them to say nothing.
Inu was pretty sure it was something horrid since Phoenix was unsettled when she was about to tell him minutes ago, only to be interrupted by Ryuu's lightning jutsu.
"Let's talk after we leave. I don't want to stay here any longer, and I want to use medical equipment to make sure that Neko's situation is fully stable." Ryuu said with a blank tone, breaking the silence.
Tenzo and Inu looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Ryuu and nodding.
"Phoenix," Ryuu called as he looked at her. Phoenix looked at him upon hearing her codename.
"Given her current state, it would be better if you carried Neko back to Konoha," Ryuu said, to which Phoenix agreed to without saying a word.
For the next minute, Ryuu helped Phoenix secure Neko onto her back. Ryuu even made sure that the blanket covering Neko was secured so that it wouldn't come off due to how fast they travel.
With that done, the two teams left the living quarters and made their way to the cave's entrance.
A few minutes later;
The two teams had already left the cave and were hopping from tree to tree, making their way towards the land of fire, when Ryuu stopped on a tree branch about a kilometer away from where the cave was located before turning to look in the direction of the cave.
Seeing him stop, the other stopped too and looked at Ryuu before looking in the direction of the cave, knowing what was going to happen.
Ryuu raised one hand that he weaved into a half-ram seal before an enormous wave of chakra erupted from his body.
A few moments later...
Boooooom
Crack x99
Rumble x99
The sound of a huge yet muffled explosion reached their position, followed by the sound of cracking and rumbling, accompanied by the ground shaking beneath the trees they stood on.
The two teams watched as the ground and trees sank into the earth in the distance, destroying the massive cave beneath them, burying everything there with the intention that it never see the light of day.
Ryuu relaxed his hand as the shaking and rumbling seemed to subside, while a huge cloud of dirt and smoke rose up in the air from where the cave and the cliff edge used to be.
"Well, that coastline needs to be redrawn now; maps will be slightly inaccurate," Phoenix said without any humor. The devastation they are seeing is really that strong.
Ryuu turned and looked back at the others, only for Inu and Tenzo to look at him intently, causing him to let out a quiet sigh.
"Let's talk while we move," Ryuu said before starting to move again.
A day and a half later, in the Hokage's office:
Team Shi and Team Ro, minus Neko, stood in front of Hiruzen, who had a grim look on his face.
"That is too disturbing even for our bloody way of life," Hiruzen said with a dark tone.
From what Ryuu and Phoenix found out and later told Inu and Tenzo, what they encountered was a cult that followed a supposed deity called Jashin that seemed to be the main pillar of a fanatic religion based on blood, madness, and sacrifices.
The followers believed that the greater the sacrifices they perform in the name of Jashin, the better the connection with him, and the better the gift he bestowed upon them.
The abilities start with things like pain tolerance before becoming pain negation, along with becoming very hard to kill, where they only die from getting their heads separated from their bodies.
The next level is that they are granted a form of immortality, making them immune to any external damage. No matter where you hit them or cut them, they won't die, but they wouldn't be able to move if their heads got separated from their bodies, needing external help to reattach their heads to their bodies.
The final level is similar to the last, with the addition of the ability to control blood from their bodies or any other blood they come in contact with. This also helps them to reattach their heads back to their bodies if they ever get separated.
The cult is a hierarchy with the cult leader attaining the last level of abilities, high priests with the second-highest level of abilities, and finally, dedicated followers or disciples who have the lowest levels of abilities.
The disturbing part wasn't the abilities, even though their abilities would have been a living nightmare for regular shinobi, especially the cult leader, as the mission would have taken a dark turn if it weren't for Ryuu, who had taken him down.
The horrific and disturbing part is how they come to acquire their abilities.
To be continued.
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