The light spread, and the air seemed to ripple in layers.
Kakashi, who was very close, was lit up by this white light, and his face froze slightly.
Some time ago, he learned the real identity of the masked man, and Orochimaru-sama reminded him that he should break ties with Obito. Although his mind was set on this, he couldn't help but feel some resentment and frustration.
But at this moment, these negative emotions seemed to be washed away by the light, and his mind suddenly felt relaxed.
"No wonder the villagers of the Land of Demons respect the priestess so much, even though she's just a little girl of about six years old."
Kakashi suddenly understood. When he went to welcome Shion before, he felt that the attitude of those villagers was really strange.
You know, even the Konoha Hokage, the object of everyone's respect, is only the Third Hokage himself. Even his son, Sarutobi Asuma, gets some preferential treatment, but to make everyone admire him from the bottom of their hearts, he has to do something real himself.
"With this kind of power, it's no wonder that the Land of Demons, although small and without many ninja, has survived from the Warring States period until now."
Kakashi was thinking about the origin of the Land of Demons villagers' unity when a scream awakened him.
In front of him, the monster, no matter what happened to it, always had a wild arrogance, but now it seemed to be suffering great pain.
The shrill voice seemed to be squeezed directly from its throat, and its limbs and neck kept struggling. Its red tongue, bound by stone locks, was even cracking, blood red and mucus mixed together, dripping onto the wooden platform.
"This is truly unbelievable."
Kakashi's eyes widened slightly.
If it weren't for the warm and gentle light as always, he would almost suspect he was having a hallucination.
One person's honey is another person's poison… this is almost the best explanation for the scene before him.
What surprised Kakashi even more was that the monster's screams were so disturbing and unsettling to him, and the ordinary villagers underground had even blocked their ears, but the little girl, who was just a little nervous, was surprisingly calm at this time, with a maturity on her childlike face that didn't belong to her age.
"Is it really as that Miroku said, that Shion is a once-in-a-century genius priestess?"
Kakashi felt that it was more than that. When the transparent container was broken just now, he clearly felt a strange fluctuation.
Although 'Spiritual Transformation Technique' is not suitable for his fighting style, his mental strength seems to have been strengthened a lot by using it to enter and exit the Pure Land many times.
So he could clearly perceive that this priestess was very much like Orochimaru-sama, who had used Senjutsu, and the change in her own aura just now.
"There seems to be something else about this little girl..."
Just as he was thinking, a strange sound of flesh tearing suddenly rang out from the high platform.
The monster Kappa, his mouth full of blood, pecked fiercely at Shion who was close at hand with his sharp beak, as if in the next moment her brains would burst and she would die on the spot.
Kakashi reacted quickly, almost immediately taking action, but someone was faster than him.
The red stone held in the little girl's palm vaporized and dissolved at an extremely fast speed, and in contrast, the light on her body shone brightly.
The screams stopped abruptly, and the monster Kappa froze on the spot, its body vaporizing and dissolving like ice and snow encountering the scorching sun, disappearing into wisps of white smoke.
"This is really..."
Kakashi's movements also stopped, and he stared at everything in front of him, his eyes widening a little.
Although he knew that monsters were different from humans, the impact of the way the other party died still surpassed the common sense of ninjas.
But just when everyone thought the exorcism ceremony was over and their tense spirits relaxed, the long tongue that had been torn off by the Kappa suddenly floated up with an invisible force, lashing down like a whip, the target being the chief priest, Shion.
At this time, with the power of the red stone exhausted, Shion no longer had the former majesty, and was as weak as a normal little girl, unable to react in time.
Kakashi's reaction was also a beat slow because of the impact just now, but fortunately the distance between the two sides was close enough, and he was still confident that he could rescue her in time.
But as before, a ghostly figure came in front of Shion one step ahead, and grabbed the red tongue.
Chichi chichi…
Hot heat came from the palm of his hand, but Orochimaru used even more force, and clenched the long tongue.
However, just like the Kappa that had disappeared before, the monster's remaining organ also turned into black smoke, as if that whip had exhausted all its energy, and it was just a last flash.
"Orochimaru-sama, are you alright?" Kakashi looked a little guilty.
The protection of the priestess of the Land of Demons was supposed to be his duty.
Orochimaru looked at the black mark on his palm and shook his head slightly.
"You need to take care of this."
At this time, Shion, who had recovered from the sudden change, ran over in small steps. She didn't care that her head was covered with sweat, and hurriedly took out some strange ointment from her priestess's pocket.
"There's no need for that, I'm really fine."
Orochimaru glanced at Shion, and suddenly took a step towards the direction where the Kappa had disappeared.
He casually pushed aside the ash-like residue, and found a light blue crystal from it.
This was very similar to the one hanging on Shion's bracelet before, but the red one was only the size of a bean, while this one was almost the size of a quail egg.
But with Orochimaru's eyesight, he naturally saw more than just the difference in size. He carefully looked at the crystal and narrowed his eyes slightly, "This is actually a crystal of natural energy."
He had been given a snake scale by the White Snake Sage, and later gave it to Yakushi Kabuto. That thing and the crystal in his hand now could be said to be of the same kind.
It's just that one contained secondarily digested White Snake natural energy, and the other might be said to be ordinary natural energy.
"This aura is somewhat similar to the natural energy that was forcibly absorbed when I was cultivating breathing techniques back then."
Just as he was thinking, Orochimaru suddenly heard the little girl's timid voice, "Um, can you give this back to me? This is what's left over from exorcising the monster, it's the reward we agreed on."
Orochimaru lowered his head slightly and glanced at her, and the little priestess immediately lowered her eyes.
It could be seen that she was a little afraid of Orochimaru's aura, but it was clear that getting this crystal was a must, so she didn't flinch at all.
At this time, the guard Ashiho also stepped forward and said solemnly, "Orochimaru-sama, this is one of the rewards for the priestess's exorcism of the monster, please don't make things difficult for us."
"Heh…"
Orochimaru chuckled and threw it over casually.
The natural energy contained in this crystal was, in a sense, more suitable for ninjas to absorb than the snake scale, but it wasn't enough to arouse his desire.
Nothing else, the quantity was too small.
If he had seen this kind of thing before he practiced Senjutsu, he might have tried to use it to come into contact with natural energy, but now it was just a chicken rib.
Thinking of this, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly, "Could it be that the priestesses of the Land of Demons rely on this thing to try to cultivate that witchcraft?"
If that's the case, it's not surprising that the priestesses have continued to decline.
Without monsters, the priestesses who use the products obtained from purifying monsters to practice witchcraft will naturally disappear as well.
After all, even a Senjutsu genius like Yakushi Kabuto, if he hadn't been lucky enough to survive the First Hokage cells transplant surgery, he would most likely have died a terrible death if he rashly came into contact with natural energy.
"However, the means of exorcising monsters are indeed valuable."
Orochimaru looked at Shion, and a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed in his mind, and he disappeared on the spot.
Seeing Orochimaru leave, Shion breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.
"Shion-sama, please put it away."
The guard Ashiho carefully held the light blue crystal and respectfully handed it over.
"Oh, okay... this one is quite big." Shion rummaged in her sleeve pocket for a while before taking out a suitable container and placing the crystal in it.
The crystals formed by monsters are certainly solid, but on the other hand, the energy within them is easily dissipated, and if not stored properly, it can easily become a waste product.
...
"The monster, it's been killed?"
On the roof of a lodging house, Naruto smacked his lips, looking a little regretful.
Although he had never seen this scene before, and it could be called wonderful, it ended too quickly, which made people feel very unsatisfied.
After complaining casually, he found that Karin didn't complain like before, but was staring blankly ahead. Naruto was surprised and said, "What are you looking at? It's all over, Orochimaru-sama is already gone."
"No, look over there..."
Karin's face was a little flushed, and she pointed forward and shouted, "Look at that kid... so cool."
"..." Naruto was immediately unhappy when he heard Karin say this, but when he saw that the young man had calm eyes and a maturity on his face that didn't match his age, his breathing stagnated slightly, "This guy is indeed a bit cool."
"Not that one, the smaller one."
Karin hurriedly corrected Naruto's misunderstanding.
"Little one?" Naruto's eyes moved down slightly, and he saw the boy Karin was pointing at, and couldn't help but let out a soft snort.
The smaller one and the bigger one looked very similar, and both had a cold feeling, it could be seen at a glance that they were brothers.
But it was very obvious that the older brother was really cool, while the younger one was just imitating, acting cool from the inside out, what was so great about that.
But Karin seemed to like the little one more.
"Karin, your taste is really bad." Naruto said casually, and was met with an angry glare, so he had to shut his mouth awkwardly.
But looking at the boy, he couldn't help but feel a bit of comparison, and thought to himself, "Really, what's with the cockiness, one day I'm going to teach you a lesson."…
"..."
Itachi felt a bit of hostility, and turned his head to look in Naruto's direction.
It didn't matter to him if it was directed at himself, after all, as the eldest son of the Uchiha Clan Head, this kind of thing was just commonplace, but the hostility directed at Sasuke was a bit strange.
But after seeing the other party's identity clearly, Itachi suddenly understood, "So it's that kid."
He knew the current Nine Tails Jinchuriki, and he even knew that his mother seemed to have a good relationship with the deceased previous Jinchuriki.
"Brother, is there something over there?"
Sasuke looked at Itachi, who was suddenly deep in thought, strangely.
"It's nothing, I just saw a cat." Itachi shook his head and continued, "Now the monster has been exterminated, let's go home, Mom should have dinner ready soon."
"That's right." Sasuke immediately became excited, and turned his head to put the previous doubts behind him.
...
In the Hokage's temporary office, the Third Hokage took time out from dealing with village affairs to take a look at the report that Orochimaru had just submitted.
"Senjutsu... the priestess of the Land of Demons is really using some kind of technique that utilizes natural energy?"
The Third Hokage took a puff of his pipe and narrowed his eyes slightly, "Letting Orochimaru go to confirm on my behalf was the right thing to do."
If it were someone else, even Tsunade, they probably wouldn't be able to see anything. Expertise has its own limitations, and what one person knows well, another may not.
"But it's really surprising that after the monster is purified, it can leave behind that kind of thing."
The Third Hokage was also quite interested in the crystal, but it was only an interest.
After all, even if they managed to get the means to use the crystal from the Land of Demons, the priestesses... had no fighting power.
Although they could be called natural enemies of monsters, dealing with people, dealing with ninjas... the effect was very average.
It could only be said that it was a useful... tool in certain scenarios.
"Exorcising impurities, purifying people's negative emotions, the priestess's ability might also have some effect on the Box of Paradise."
The Third Hokage slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, "Orochimaru's speculation does have some truth to it. In this case, we can't easily let this priestess go back."
Although there wasn't much Chakra in the Box of Paradise now, some of the remnants were still very dangerous, and it was an unstable bomb for Konoha. For this kind of thing, if they could deal with it, the Third Hokage would never let go of this opportunity.
After pondering for a moment, the Third Hokage drafted a letter, called a contact ninja, and ordered, "Send this letter to the priestess of the Land of Demons."
Shion was still in Konoha now, and it was just a few additional matters, so there was no need to be as formal as before.
"Yes." The Konoha Anbu took the letter and disappeared directly.
...
"What... we're going to stay here for a while?"
In the embassy's small building, Shion was shocked to hear this news, "Didn't you say that this time it was just to exterminate the monster?"
"This is the order given by Miroku-sama. Your previous performance has satisfied Konoha, so they will add some requests."
The guard Ashiho paused slightly here and asked, "Do you hate Konoha and don't want to live here for a while?"
"It's not that."
Shion sat on the chair and leaned back, "It's just that there are so many people here, and it's not as familiar as the Land of Demons."
"I see."
The guard Ashiho immediately understood that this repulsion was just because the child was afraid of strangers, so he said, "Actually, besides a lot of people, there are also a lot of delicious and fun things here. Between work, we can try them all."
"Is that so..." Shion stood up from the chair and said happily, "That's great."
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