"And they call us ruthless…what a waste of 2 good sacrifices." One of the men said and the other 2 laughed as well. Just as they were about to say something to Yami, he disappeared.
"Huh? Where did he go?"
"He was in front of us just a moment ago." The men said as they looked around. The third one was also searching for Yami but none of them jumped from the ship onto the land.
"Who are you guys looking for?" a voice came which made the three of them turn back immediately.
"W-what are you doing here? How did you come here so fast?" one of the men asked.
The other one wasn't as afraid as the first one and said "You seem to be a pretty strong shinobi. You are tasked with the escape plan which means you are trusted by the higher-ups and the Priest. Why did you kill them like that?"
"What do you mean?" Yami asked. He was already surprised that they didn't attack him.
The 3rd one tapped Yami's shoulder and said "He meant that each human life is a valuable sacrifice so if you wanted to kill them then just tell us first so that his life essence can be put to good use…haha"
Yami nodded as he heard that and said "Ohh…I didn't know that. But it's good that you told me already. Then why don't you guys get ready for the next sacrifices."
The three men looked at each other happily and asked "Just as I thought. These two may not be the only people who had this task assigned. There may be more of them on the other side still digging. You can kill them but not before we mark them as our sacrifice. So how many are they?"
Yami gave a big smile and showed three fingers to the men standing before him. The number 3 didn't alarm the 3 cultists but the smile on Yami's face did because that is the smile he gave the 2 mist shinobis before killing them. The 3 cultists were already at the edge of the ship so they had to jump sideways. Unfortunately, only 2 of them were able to jump while the 3rd one wasn't that lucky.
Yami had already caught up to him and lodged his hidden blade through the man's chest which killed him instantly. Yami used his enhanced senses to see if there was anyone other than these 3 on the ship. Seeing that there was no one else, Yami looked at the man he just killed and said "I hope you are not the leader of the three as I won't have anyone to interrogate."
Yami looked at the 2 who were ready with their weapons in hand and said "Is any of you the leader?" As he said that the 3rd one instantly looked at the second one which made Yami also look at the 2nd one.
"We will attack together. I don't know why the mist shinobi has chosen to betray his own but he could be from the bloodline faction so don't hold back and kill him." The 2nd one said and he along with the 3rd one activated the tattoos on their body. There were no tattoos on their face like the ones he had seen before. Yami could also tell that they were weaker than the cultists that he had fought before. He could see that the two were visibly scared which meant they were completely dependent on the strength provided by the tattoos.
"You two aren't that good at fighting are you?" Yami smirked to which the two looked visibly afraid and were about to say something but this hesitation is what Yami wanted from them. He quickly lunged at the 3rd one with Chidori in his left hand and successfully jabbed it in the man's chest. With his hand still in the man's chest, he looked at the 2nd guy who was sweating bullets now "D-Don't k-kill me…I am just in charge of the ship."
Yami pulled out his hand from the man's chest and body flickered right in front of the 2nd cultist. This made him fall back on his ass in fear.
"So tell me where are you from and what are you and this ship doing here? " Yami asked. He knew that Ji arranged this ship to get him and his people out if they aren't able to win but he always felt that he was missing something.
The cultist gulped his saliva in fear and said "I am from the Land of Hot water which is where we all came from. We were sent by the high priest here to take Priest Ji and the others back to our land in case the feast fails."
Yami nodded as he heard that but they suddenly he frowned and looked back at the cultist and said "You didn't call it a sacrifice or ritual, you called it a feast…why?"
"I-I don't know but that's what the high priest said to us when we were given this task."
Yami's expression became extremely serious and he immediately pulled out his sword which was now vibrating with purple electricity behind it. Horror welled up on the cultist's face as he saw that. He didn't know what he said wrong but he could see that Yami was angry. As the light of the purple lightning chakra shone on his face, that's the last thing he saw as Yami slashed his sword toward him.
The next second the man's body split in half but not just his body but the entire ship was cut in half. Yami jumped back onto land and looked at the cave in front of him. He took in a deep breath and sighed heavily. The purple lightning on his sword also disappeared with that. The ship had already sunk to the bottom of the ocean now. Yami planted paper bombs at key places in the old cave and the tunnel that the 2 mist shinobis had dug. He went up from the hole and lit paper bombs one by one making them collapse on themselves. The place where the digging was taking place was pretty remote so the sound was also very muffled. Seeing that the explosions hadn't compelled anyone to come here and check, Yami set a few deadly traps near the tent and the hole just to make things difficult.
'The plan was to create a series of distractions that would put the whole base in disarray and create a big fire that would be the signal for the bloodline clans that it is time to attack. But I need to clear my doubts first. Why did that man call the ritual's sacrifice a feast?' Yami thought. He dispersed into multiple bats that flew straight toward the bloodline clan's temporary HQ. He didn't care about the Mizuzkage faction finding it suspicious that so many bats are traveling together. Yami's mind was occupied somewhere else.
At the bloodline clan's HQ, Riko and Kakashi were looking at the enemy tents through one-eyed binoculars. "I saw the first explosion almost 20-25 minutes ago. Where are the other ones?" Riko asked to which the old man said "He must have used that explosion for some other reason…it would be impossible to create a chain of distractions so fast. Give that kid some time Riko…you are being impatient as always."
Riko closed the binoculars, and looked back at the old man and the other three clan leaders, and said "Alright…what is the status of our forces? Are they ready?"
Asami nodded and said "Yes they will march at a moment's notice. The injured are already been taken care of so I'd say we are prepared for the fight."
"Something's wrong." Kakashi said while looking at the faraway sky through his binoculars.
Hearing this Asuma frowned and asked "What's wrong Kakashi? Did the enemy make some movement?"
Kakashi looked back at Asuma and the others staring at him with curiosity and said "Yami is coming back and he is coming straight toward us. He is too cautious of a person to make such a big blunder. You must be ready for anything…Prepare some medical nims in case he is injured or poisoned." Kakashi said. He couldn't think of a reason why Yami would come back like that.
Mei nodded and instructed the 2 guards behind her to call a few medical nims. Within seconds, Yami materialized in front of them. Seeing the serious look on his face, told them that something was definitely wrong.
"What happened Yami?" Kakashi asked.
"I will answer your questions later. For now, I need a tent where I can sit quietly for a few minutes." Yami said which confused everyone. This was a very odd request and the timing was extremely wrong.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE?" Riko stepped forward and shouted in anger. According to him, Yami had chickened out of a mission and was now thinking of a way to escape from all this.
Before Riko could say anything further, the old man raised his hand indicating him to stop talking. "Riko, mind your tone and realize who you are talking to. Do you think this kid would joke at this phase of our conflict? Yami you can use this tent which is beside us. It is a small tent but we will make sure that you are not disturbed."
Yami nodded and quickly entered the small tent. It was just 10-15 feet away from where all the clan leaders and leaf jonins were standing.
Seeing that there was no one around him and it wasn't noisy at all, Yami guessed that the old man had someone use a barrier kind of seal to keep the surroundings quiet.
"Now old man, it's time to have a talk again. You were able to chat through my heart once, let's see if it is possible to do it again." Yami muttered as he closed his eyes and focused his chakra in his heart.
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