The cultist was placed in an isolated room and heavily guarded. To prevent him from committing suicide, his limbs were completely bound, rendering him unable to exert any strength. His mouth was also gagged with cotton cloth. Even so, some people still felt it wasn't secure enough, so they also drugged him, keeping him in a daze all day long.
Entering the room, Fumori Masaki looked at the bound cultist. He still seemed quite disoriented, but it didn't matter, because the Yamanaka clan's secret technique didn't require the target to be conscious. In fact, the target's confused state of mind was a good thing, as it lowered their resistance to mental intrusion.
"Is this the cultist from Yugakure? From his appearance, you'd never guess he worships such an organization," Yamanaka Takuma, who was the main force this time, observed the man and said.
"You can't judge a book by its cover. For a ninja, you shouldn't simply judge a person by their appearance," Fumori Masaki said, then pointed at the man. "Takuma, you go ahead and try."
"Alright," Yamanaka agreed, stepped forward, and knelt down to be at the same height as the cultist's head. Then, he reached out and placed his hand on the cultist's head.
Yamanaka Takuma was performing his clan's secret mind-reading technique, invading the other person's spiritual world to read their memories. Half of a chakra's composition is spiritual energy, and the earliest chakra was even purely spiritual energy. Using this characteristic, the Yamanaka clan's secret ninjutsu was formed. Even without this secret technique, some experts could purposefully transform a portion of their chakra into their will, to be used when necessary, such as the chakra Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki left within Naruto Uzumaki, and the chakra the Sage of Six Paths left in the world after resealing the Ten-Tails. They all demonstrated the ability to act as independent consciousnesses.
Although the mind-reading technique is very powerful, its requirements are also very high, because it involves invading another person's mind with one's own spirit. The spirit can sometimes be more fragile than the body, especially in the mysterious realm of the spiritual world. According to Yamanaka Takuma, even the clan's experts know that some areas within the spiritual world should not be easily ventured into. Therefore, those who can confidently and boldly use the mind-reading technique are, without exception, the clan's top experts.
Yamanaka Takuma was one such individual. He wasn't the current head of the Yamanaka clan, but he could be considered the head's right-hand man. Whenever a difficult person needed to be investigated for information, he would accompany the Yamanaka clan head to conduct the search.
As he placed his hand on the cultist's head, the previously dazed cultist suddenly shuddered and opened his eyes wide, as if he had sobered up. In reality, his gaze was very dull. Yamanaka Takuma's chakra invaded his brain, searching his memories through the mind-reading technique.
Fumori Masaki watched silently. He couldn't help but recall the Human Path ability of the Rinnegan—the Soul Absorption Technique—which was identical to the mind-reading technique. After touching someone's head, one could directly invade their mind, completely read their memories, and then, when the hand was released, extract their soul directly, not only gaining information but also killing the opponent simultaneously. This merciful method was truly terrifying.
In comparison, the Yamanaka clan's secret technique seemed like a crude imitation of the Soul Absorption Technique. Fumori Masaki didn't think this was a coincidence. Indeed, the Rinnegan's abilities were incredibly miraculous. Those who possessed the Rinnegan didn't need to deliberately practice to easily learn chakra nature transformation.
Nagato in the original story is a living example; he learned six chakra nature transformations during the three years Jiraiya taught him. It's worth noting that even a genius like Hiruzen Sarutobi took decades to learn five chakra nature transformations.
The Rinnegan is like a true Eye of God; all its powers don't require theoretical validation and can be used instinctively, like breathing. At the same time, its various abilities exceed the imagination of ninjas, but it seems they are not unreplicable.
Fumori Masaki remembered that the Deva Path's Shinra Tensei technique, according to its settings, could only be used by those who had mastered all six chakra nature transformations, proving that the Rinnegan's abilities are also built upon the use of chakra. Theoretically, as long as someone can skillfully use and combine all six chakra nature transformations, they could also use Shinra Tensei even without the Rinnegan!
Of course, this would undoubtedly be an extremely difficult task. Just mastering five chakra nature transformations required a genius like Hiruzen Sarutobi, let alone six, and then combining all six. Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't even combine two chakra nature transformations, and only Onoki managed to combine three.
However, Fumori Masaki felt that it at least proved one thing: there was a possibility of human imitation of the Rinnegan's abilities—though the process would be very difficult. Thus, the mind-reading technique might genuinely be a secret technique created by imitating the Rinnegan's Soul Absorption.
After all, the ninja clans that still exist today either have ancestors who were descendants of the Sage of Six Paths or important figures of the Ninshu. The ancestors of the Yamanaka clan might have been followers of Ninshu who, while accompanying the Sage of Six Paths, imitated the power of his Rinnegan.
While Fumori Masaki was deep in thought, Yamanaka Takuma had already made progress. He skillfully used the mind-reading technique to meticulously extract the cultist's memories, reading out the important parts. Then, as expected, he encountered a restriction, but it was too crude, completely incomparable to those powerful restrictions.
Perhaps they hadn't expected Konoha ninjas to be involved, or maybe they simply didn't possess those advanced restrictions. Yamanaka Takuma didn't want to dwell on the reasons; the easier the restriction, the less cautious he needed to be. When dealing with powerful restrictions, not only did he have to prevent triggering them, which could destroy the subject's brain, but he also had to be careful not to let his own mind be damaged by the triggered restriction, which could truly be fatal.
Although the secret techniques of the Yamanaka clan were formidable, after such a long history of ninja confrontations, methods to counter them had long been developed. Even if they couldn't be completely blocked, they prevented the Yamanaka clan from acting with impunity.
—Come, let me see what your true purpose is.
Yamanaka Takuma mumbled to himself. In his mind, a blurry image began to appear, then gradually became clear. It was the sights and sounds the cultist had personally witnessed. He saw this person's life experiences in Yugakure, then how he encountered the Jashin faith due to the suffering of war, and subsequently became captivated by it, becoming a loyal follower. After that came the secret spread of the faith, and finally... Yamanaka Takuma's eyes suddenly widened, his expression momentarily terrifying, causing the others to be slightly startled. Senju Risa quickly asked, "Takuma, what have you found out?"
"Whoa, whoa, these guys are really lunatics, to actually come up with such an idea." Cold sweat ran down Yamanaka Takuma's face as he stared intently at the cultist. "I really don't know where they get the confidence to execute such a plan; it's just too insane."
Just hearing Yamanaka Takuma's words, everyone knew he had seen something unbelievable. Senju Risa then asked, "Takuma, what exactly is their plan?"
"How should I put it…" Yamanaka Takuma scratched his head, seemingly unsure how to phrase it. "Simply put, they hope to summon the evil god they worship and then have the evil god bestow power upon them."
"Huh? Summon an evil god? How do you summon something that's a figment of imagination?" Senju Risa looked utterly bewildered.
"That's why it's a lunatic's idea," Yamanaka Takuma spread his hands helplessly. "According to the information this person obtained, the inspiration for this idea comes from the legend of the Shinigami."
"Shinigami?" This familiar name made Fumori Masaki's heart stir slightly.
No one knew Fumori Masaki's thoughts. The others, upon hearing the name Shinigami, showed thoughtful expressions. Hyuga Kei paused for a moment, as if recalling something: "Ah! You mean the guardian and punisher of the Underworld, as mentioned in the Ninshu scriptures, right? It is said that some extremely evil souls must undergo the Shinigami's trial. Only by cleansing their past sins can they proceed to the Pure Land, find peace, and then be reincarnated to be reborn."
"Yes, in some myths and legends, there are rumors of the Shinigami appearing in the human world. In some versions, it's summoned through rituals. Of course, whether this is true or false is unknown, but those cultists seem to believe it," Yamanaka Takuma shrugged. "In their doctrine, the evil god seems to be an existence on par with the Shinigami, so if the Shinigami can be summoned, then the evil god can certainly be summoned."
"That sounds completely unreliable. It's a logic nightmare," Fumori Masaki didn't know what expression to make in response to the cultists' ideas.
"Although I don't know what Captain Kazemori means by 'logic nightmare,' this idea really is…" As a woman, Senju Risa only felt that the cultists were already quite abnormal and should be taken to try the psychological therapy being tested in the medical department—this was something Fumori Masaki had proposed after the war, to care for those who had suffered psychological trauma due to the war. Because some people indeed had psychological problems, this plan was approved.
"I think they're beyond help," Fumori Masaki saw through Senju Risa's thoughts, sighed softly, then looked at Yamanaka Takuma. "What method are they going to use to summon the evil god?"
"It's a ritual," Yamanaka Takuma replied. "It seems they require specific individuals as sacrifices, and the ritual must be performed at the entrance to the Underworld. Because it's an evil god, it also needs to carry the meaning of blasphemy and the annihilation of other gods. That's why they chose the old Ninshu site to begin the ceremony, I suppose. They are extremely meticulous about the evil god's rules; there must be no mistakes, and both the people and the time must be exact."
"I see, so that's why they didn't choose to leave here? Such dedication can sometimes be quite helpful," Fumori Masaki nodded slightly.
"In other words, are they just waiting for the time to come, or are they still capturing the sacrifices needed for the ritual?" Inuzuka Shigeru, who appeared rugged, asked.
"From his memories, neither the people nor the time were ready, but now, I think they might have already prepared the sacrifices and are just waiting for the time," Yamanaka Takuma said.
"After all, they didn't choose to leave, nor did they plan to kidnap Kana-nee again. They must be scouting for sacrifices," Fumori Masaki said.
At this moment, he saw the gazes of the others looking his way and immediately realized what he had said. Senju Risa, who was from the same clan, immediately asked, "They wanted to kidnap Kana-nee?"
"Yes, they did, but they didn't succeed. We've also tightened security these past few days, so she's fine," Fumori Masaki replied.
Senju Risa breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank goodness. If anything had happened to Kana-nee, Captain Kazemori wouldn't have been able to explain it to the Second Hokage and Lady Mito."
—No, even if she's fine, there's already some trouble.
Fumori Masaki knew that after such an incident, Tobirama and Mito would likely worry even more about Kana's safety. Unless she learned how to protect herself, she probably wouldn't be allowed to travel easily again, at most only to safe places within the country. While it wasn't a major problem, it would still be somewhat troublesome.
However, what they should be concerned about now wasn't that, but the cultists' problem. Fumori Masaki asked Yamanaka Takuma when the evil god's summoning would take place. Yamanaka Takuma replied, "In three days."
"Time is tight," Fumori Masaki said. "We need to investigate their current setup and then formulate a battle plan. By then, we can't let a single one of them escape."
"Understood." The others replied.
At this moment, the cultist slowly regained consciousness. The pain of having his memories forcibly searched negated the effects of the drugs, bringing him back to full awareness. He saw the people around him, his expression a mix of shock and anger. Fumori Masaki already knew this, and as for the others, their headbands showed they were all from Konohagakure, just like Fumori Masaki.
"Hmph, don't think you can get information from me just because there are more of you!" the opponent yelled, unaware that the information had already been exposed.
"Alright, don't talk if you don't want to." Fumori Masaki had no interest in such a lunatic who disregarded human life. Although he too had blood on his hands, he never found killing to be a pleasant experience. Even for those he had to kill, he would try his best to ensure they died quickly, without any meaningless torture. On the battlefield, Fumori Masaki believed this was the only mercy he could offer an enemy. Moreover, he would always strive to reduce the number of casualties whenever possible.
Out of respect for life, no matter how much Fumori Masaki disliked the cultist, he had no intention of torturing him. Instead, he directly plunged a kunai into his heart, watched the light fade from the cultist's eyes, then withdrew the blade, turned around, and said, "Let's begin."