Hearing the sudden voice, everyone else was startled, but soon, surprise naturally showed on their faces, because the owner of this voice was Fumori Masaki, whom Tsunade and the others had been eagerly awaiting.
Fumori Masaki stood at the door of the room, looking at everyone, his gaze fixed on Miroku, with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
He already knew that the Land of Demons retained a considerable degree of the Ninshu tradition, but he hadn't expected them to even preserve the original use of chakra.
It was said that due to tradition, the Land of Demons used chakra differently from samurai and ninjas, but with the changing times, they had to make some compromises and began to learn nature transformation of the Yin Release.
However, it seemed that the priestesses still maintained the traditional cultivation methods.
Perhaps because of the priestesses' exalted status, they weren't required to fight enemies, so ninjutsu for combat was never learned, which allowed the original use of chakra to be preserved to this day.
Of course, compared to the chakra of Ninshu in the past, there should still be some slight differences.
Nevertheless, the existence of the priestesses of the Land of Demons had a huge impact on the revival of Ninshu.
Fumori Masaki could imagine what role they could play in this movement.
Because of this, he intended to establish a friendly relationship with the Land of Demons, and this would also be true in future ninja world relations.
"Masahiko, you're finally back.
Why did it take you so long?" Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief and quickly asked.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Fumori Masaki gave a slightly apologetic smile: "Because the enemy was a bit troublesome, it took a lot of effort to investigate the detailed intelligence."
"The enemy is indeed a ninja, isn't it?" Heizo Hattori immediately understood Fumori Masaki's implication.
"It seems you've guessed it.
Yes, the enemy is a ninja." Fumori Masaki nodded slightly.
"I didn't expect them to be ninjas.
Which country are they from…" Miroku couldn't help but frown.
She couldn't imagine which country's ninjas would target this place.
Although she had anticipated the true nature of these people in her dreams, she had never seen other ninja villages after all.
"Are they ninjas from the Land of Lightning?" Tsunade voiced their guess.
"Ninjas from the Land of Lightning?" Fumori Masaki was slightly taken aback, feeling a bit amused and exasperated.
"So that's what you thought.
Indeed, if we look at it logically, only the Land of Lightning would dare to do something like this in the current ninja world."
Even in later generations, the Land of Lightning was constantly collecting various secret techniques and Kekkei Genkai, continuously expanding its armaments, which put great pressure on other countries at the time.
This aggressiveness was deeply ingrained in the hearts of the Land of Lightning's residents and could not be smoothed out by conventional means.
However, due to the rebellion of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the Second Raikage began to ponder the drawbacks brought by the martial spirit.
After the cleansing of the civil war, the Second Raikage changed the previous ninja village policy and embarked on a peace policy similar to that of the Hidden Leaf Village.
Although it was unknown whether the Second Raikage would change his mind in the future, at least for now, the Hidden Cloud Village was on such a path.
"It's not the Land of Lightning?
Then which ninja village is it?" Tsunade didn't know the current policies of the Hidden Cloud Village.
She had only assumed it was the Hidden Cloud Village based on past impressions, but now it seemed it wasn't, so she didn't know which ninja village it was.
"It's the Hidden Hot Spring Village." Fumori Masaki's answer surprised everyone, including Miroku.
Although Miroku didn't know the specific situations of other ninja villages, she had heard a little about the ninja villages within the Land of Hot Water.
After all, the Land of Hot Water wasn't far from the Land of Demons, and her mother had mentioned the Land of Hot Water's military contraction.
It was incredible that this country's ninja village would secretly send ninjas here.
Tsunade and the others felt the same way.
The current ninja world situation was constrained by agreements, and the great nations didn't dare to act rashly.
Even if they acted covertly, only the great nations should have the guts, but the result was the Land of Hot Water, a country that had already begun to contract its military.
"Teacher Kazamori, could you have been mistaken?" Sakumo Hatake couldn't help but ask.
"No, they are indeed people from the Hidden Hot Spring Village, but it probably has nothing to do with the Hidden Hot Spring Village itself, but rather the independent actions of certain individuals." Fumori Masaki explained, "They are very likely an organization that worships an evil god, which has recently emerged within the Land of Hot Water.
I originally thought they were only spreading their doctrines among the common people, but now it seems even the ninja village has been infiltrated by them."
"An evil god?
I've heard of these people!" Miroku exclaimed, "They harbor great hostility towards the Land of Demons.
My mother told me that those who worship the evil god believe that the Land of Demons' faith should not exist.
Some of them even ran into our country to kill people, but they were all ordinary people, so they were quickly caught.
But even in the ninja village…"
Miroku's surprise was understandable.
If they were just ordinary followers of an evil god, the Land of Demons, even if not a particularly martial country, wouldn't be helpless against them.
However, now that ninjas who worship an evil god had appeared, it was not something the Land of Demons could handle.
Although with the ninja power of the Hidden Hot Spring Village, any great nation wouldn't need to use ninjas, but could simply send an elite samurai unit to wipe them out, the Land of Demons did not have such elite samurai.
"But is this organization that worships an evil god really that powerful?
Even the ninja village has their people, which is a bit unbelievable." Sakumo Hatake frowned.
"What's so unbelievable about that?
According to legends, during the heyday of Ninshu, every country in the ninja world revered it as their national religion.
It's just infiltrating a ninja village; it's far from what Ninshu was back then." Heizo Hattori said in a muffled voice.
"Comparing such an organization to Ninshu is a bit…" Sakumo Hatake shook his head.
He felt that Ninshu was much better than any evil god, and the two could not be compared.
"But their nature is the same.
If there are countries that believe in Ninshu, it's not surprising that there are ninjas who believe in an evil god." Heizo Hattori, though small in stature, was the oldest of the three, more mature than both Tsunade and Sakumo Hatake.
"Instead, we should be grateful that it's only a portion of ninjas who believe in an evil god, and not the entire ninja village."
"If the entire Hidden Hot Spring Village believed in an evil god, I'm afraid the ninja world war would start again.
No, even just a portion of these people already poses a risk of another ninja world war, because these people are lunatics, and these lunatics appearing here means their intentions are definitely not good." Fumori Masaki said.
Miroku nodded in agreement, supporting Fumori Masaki's statement: "Lord Kazamori is right.
The doctrines of the evil god are about harming life, unlike the Ninja Temple and Ninshu which guide people towards good and maintain peace.
War is what they desire, and lost lives are their sacrifices to the evil god.
My mother once personally met those caught evil god worshipers.
She told me that these people cannot be reasoned with by conventional means."
"In short, we need to eliminate all these people.
Teacher Kazamori, what is the enemy's level, can we handle it, or do we need to request support from the village?" Heizo Hattori spoke at this moment.
Honestly, Heizo Hattori initially also harbored the idea of personally confronting the enemy, but Fumori Masaki himself said that the enemy was troublesome.
The same word meant different things coming from different people.
If Heizo Hattori said it was a bit troublesome, Tsunade and Sakumo Hatake might still win, but if Fumori Masaki said it was troublesome, then it was highly likely that they couldn't handle it.
Fumori Masaki silently glanced at Heizo Hattori and said, "Although I wanted you all to get some experience, this mission has gone beyond the scope of training.
Unfortunately, I have to request support from the village, because…"
Recalling the person with five hearts, Fumori Masaki's voice became a little solemn: "There's a guy among the enemies this time that we must take seriously."
Everyone didn't know who Fumori Masaki was referring to, but Tsunade and the others could imagine that the person must be a master in the ninja world, otherwise Fumori Masaki, who couldn't even be defeated by Ginkaku, known as the 'Light of Hidden Cloud', wouldn't show such an expression.
"Although you cannot go and confront the enemy, you can observe and gain some experience." Fumori Masaki said, "Aside from that one person, you should still have room to observe the battles of the others."
This statement slightly invigorated the three of them.
They didn't want to just wander around the Land of Demons.
Even if they were just watching, they could at least learn something, which was better than nothing at all.
"Alright, it's late, it's time for you all to rest." Fumori Masaki stopped elaborating, clapped his hands, indicating it was time for the children to go to bed.
"Okay—" Tsunade drew out her voice, ran to the door, turned around and said, "Masahiko, you should also get some good rest.
See you in the morning." Then she ran out, back to her and Kana's room.
"Lord Kazamori, would you like to meet with my mother?
The enemy seems to be somewhat beyond imagination, so we should discuss it with her." Miroku walked out of the room with Fumori Masaki and said.
"Let's do it in the morning.
You and your mother have been training until now, you must be tired.
You should also go to rest early; at your age, lack of sleep is not good for your health." Fumori Masaki said.
"I'm already used to it, and the priestess's training can maintain energy.
I'm not as tired as Lord Kazamori imagines." Miroku said.
Fumori Masaki was slightly taken aback.
Could it be that the priestess's cultivation method, in addition to retaining the traditional uses of Ninshu, also had some amplification effects of Sage Mode?
Although it didn't significantly boost her combat power, in terms of mental aspects, the priestess's cultivation method was truly formidable.
Fumori Masaki felt an urge to learn it, as the Sage Realm he had summarized was primarily based on mental cultivation.
He had a wish to lower the learning threshold for Sage Mode, not requiring the step of the body adapting to natural energy first, but rather through mental cultivation, subtly sensing natural energy, thereby drawing in a limited amount of natural energy, so as not to impose a huge burden on the body, slowly adapting to natural energy.
Although it might be slower than conventional Sage Mode training, it was safer.
"That's good, after all, a child's body can't bear too much burden." Fumori Masaki smiled, then bid farewell to Miroku and went to his own room.
In the room, Fumori Masaki unrolled a ninja-specific intelligence scroll and began to write down the ins and outs of the matter, indicating that he hoped to receive some support from the village.
This time, the only dangerous enemy was Kakuzu, so there was no need for Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others to come, but rather for Hajime Hyuga and his team.
Hajime Hyuga and his team were known as the 'Kazamori Squad' in the village, not only because they were a team during the Ninja World War, but after the war, Fumori Masaki also liked to use these old subordinates in handling daily affairs.
To outsiders, they bore a strong resemblance to Fumori Masaki.
Because they were very familiar with each other, Fumori Masaki trusted their abilities and believed they could handle the others, as for Kakuzu, he would take care of him alone.
With the last stroke, Fumori Masaki let out a slight breath, took out another scroll.
This was a summoning jutsu, which didn't require a contract to be signed, only chakra to be injected to summon.
Of course, that was because what was summoned was not some summoning beast, but a ninja eagle trained by the ninja village to deliver messages.
Fumori Masaki tied the scroll, released the ninja eagle, and it immediately flew into the sky, heading towards the Hidden Leaf Village.
He stood quietly in the courtyard, contemplating what he should do before the reinforcements arrived.
The next day, Fumori Masaki went to meet the priestess.
The priestess had already learned the true identities of those people from her daughter.
After Fumori Masaki took his seat, she sighed and said, "Alas, I was too ignorant and failed to recognize those people as ninjas.
If I had known earlier, this mission should have provided more detailed intelligence."
"That's unavoidable.
You've done your best." Fumori Masaki had no intention of blaming the priestess, after all, the Land of Demons simply didn't have that capability, and Fumori Masaki had already investigated it early on, with no ill consequences, so he could forgive her without any reservations.
"Mr. Kazamori, are the enemies difficult to deal with?" the priestess asked.
"They're not easy to deal with, but not too troublesome either.
If you are willing to provide us with support, I can definitely capture them all in one fell swoop." Fumori Masaki thought for a moment and said.
"Good!" The priestess nodded without hesitation.
"If Mr. Kazamori needs anything, the Land of Demons will fully assist.
These people who worship the evil god have been active in the Land of Demons for a long time, successively killing some innocent civilians, and now, we don't know what else they plan to do, so we must not let them get away."
"Thank you for your support.
Then, my idea is…" Fumori Masaki presented some of his thoughts, and after discussing with the priestess, they reached a final conclusion.
Subsequently, the priestess issued orders, instructing the officials of the shrine and the capital to begin their actions.
What Fumori Masaki and the priestess didn't know was that among those who received the oracle, one person silently delivered all the intelligence of this operation to the evil god worshipers at the old Ninshu site.