Seeing this man shedding tears, even the normally composed Kurenai had her eyes slightly reddened.
Watching her reaction, Sora inwardly sighed. "In the end, she's still just a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl."
He interrupted Kumaichi, who was sobbing uncontrollably, and said, "First, tell us clearly about their abilities, or we won't be able to rescue your fiancée!"
"After they started worshipping the Death God, each of them gained a strange ability that makes people lose consciousness, and their speed and strength kept increasing."
Kumaichi wiped his face and continued, "As the number of sacrifices increased, their powers also grew. The ability that initially only made people faint eventually became lethal."
"They said anyone hit by their powers would have their soul taken by the Death God."
Kumaichi told Sora everything he knew without withholding anything.
Unfortunately, as just a captive, he didn't have much useful information. He had no idea about the number or specific strengths of the Death God cultists.
Still, this information was already enough. Hearing this, even the carefree Might Guy turned serious.
This was the soul, after all. Being hit meant certain death—it was simply too overpowering. If it were in a game, it would be a guaranteed kill skill!
Even Sora couldn't confidently say he could resist such an ability. He knew better than anyone else how terrifying the "Reaper Death Seal" was.
Now, Sora finally understood why Minato had specifically assigned him, Guy, and Kurenai to this mission.
Guy's Taijutsu, Kurenai's Genjutsu, combined with his own versatile and formidable power, would provide the best possible resistance against such tricky abilities!
Now that they had the basic intel, the rest could only be planned after observing with their own eyes.
Thinking of this, the trio began to hurry at full speed. Unfortunately, Kumaichi was just an ordinary person, significantly slowing them down.
When Guy's speed reached a certain level, Kumaichi couldn't bear the air resistance at all.
Even so, it only took them half a day to arrive at a small village near the border of the Land of Fire.
This village was already deserted; all the villagers had been taken away by the Death God cultists, leaving nothing but an empty ghost town.
Judging from the dust in the houses, these people had likely been gone for several days already.
"We'll rest here tonight and investigate tomorrow," Sora decided after cleaning out a room.
The place where the villagers were held was known as Mount Death God, located roughly five kilometers away.
However, the sky had already turned dark, making it too risky to proceed immediately.
Although the night offered an advantage to shinobi, none of them were as specialized as Kakashi in infiltration.
Guy was a brute-force fighter, specialized only in head-on combat. Kurenai relied on genjutsu, requiring teammates to create openings, and lacked close-range combat strength. Sora himself was essentially a powerful ranged attacker, not at all suited for stealth missions.
Moreover, the enemy's mysterious abilities meant they had to be cautious. Attacking at night without proper intel would be suicidal!
The importance of good intel was clearly shown by Asuma's fate in the original storyline when he faced Hidan. Sora had no intention of repeating that tragedy.
Sora didn't believe for a moment that the enemy hadn't noticed Kumaichi's successful escape.
Kumaichi understood this as well. Although anxious, he didn't push the trio to attack immediately. Instead, he busied himself preparing food and cleaning to ensure they could rest well.
The night passed quietly with the three of them taking turns to keep watch.
After getting detailed directions to Mount Death God, Sora finally instructed Kumaichi, "Stay here. We'll investigate Mount Death God on our own."
Without waiting for a response, he took Guy and Kurenai and left.
The trio was incredibly fast, vanishing from Kumaichi's sight almost immediately.
Five kilometers wasn't short, but they covered it in just fifteen minutes.
"Mount Death God is just ahead," Sora reminded them carefully. "Be cautious. Avoid getting hit at all costs. We must dodge every attack."
Unsure about their opponents, Sora could only offer this warning to the other two.
Seeing them nod, the three began carefully approaching the mountain.
Although it was called Mount Death God, it was just a regular small hill, densely covered with trees. It looked ordinary.
"No, something's wrong! It's completely silent—no bird calls at all!" Sora suddenly stopped, his expression extremely serious.
In such a dense forest, it was abnormal to hear no birdsong whatsoever. Besides the rustling of leaves, it was eerily quiet.
"We should pull back first!" Sora gestured quickly, and the three immediately retreated.
If Sora had been alone, he'd have risked taking a look. But with Guy and Kurenai here, he couldn't take unnecessary risks.
Especially Kurenai—who only became a Jonin at the start of the original storyline—she wasn't even among the strongest Chunin yet, and could easily get into trouble.
After exiting the mountain area, Guy impatiently asked, "What do we do now?"
"You two stay here. I'll fly overhead and scout," Sora replied after some thought.
If he said he was going alone, Guy would never agree. It would be easier to simply leave them behind for a bit.
"Remember, don't enter Mount Death God until I return!" Sora emphasized.
"Understood!" they both agreed.
Satisfied, Sora activated his Lightweight Rock Technique and slowly lifted into the air.
Only after ascending about a hundred meters did he move toward the mountain's interior.
He wasn't overly cautious, but since arriving here, he'd had a bad feeling.
As he ventured deeper, the trees below became taller. By the time he reached the midpoint, the trees were already nearly fifty meters high.
Sora's vision was as sharp as an eagle's as he scanned below, but unfortunately, nothing unusual appeared.
However, he wasn't discouraged. He was only halfway there; surely, there would be something ahead!
After flying for another five minutes and reaching the inner region of the mountain, he finally spotted dozens of civilians working in a clearing below.
These people were thin, pale, and covered with clearly visible whip marks.
Not far from them, two men were lazily sunbathing, occasionally waving their whips to prevent the villagers from slacking or escaping.
Sora resisted the impulse to capture and interrogate them immediately. Instead, he continued circling around to survey the surroundings.
There were too many civilians here. If anyone raised an alarm, the consequences could be disastrous.
Continuing his reconnaissance, Sora soon saw two more people patrolling the area. Judging by their clothes, they were identical to the previous guards—obviously also members of the Death God Cult.
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