Before leaving, Tsunade looked meaningfully at Sunagakure's old Shinobi.
She didn't say a word, yet her gaze seemed to convey, 'I'm taking this Uzumaki Naruto brat back with me.'
'As for containing this so-called 'Cult Mechanicus'... that's your problem now.'
Chiyo and Ebizo looked at each other with grim expression on their faces.
Truth be told, they weren't confident they could suppress the Cult Mechanicus.
However, now that the ringleader, Naruto, has been taken away, things might at least become more manageable.
Meanwhile, the muscular believers of the Mechanicus watched in despair as their Cult Leader was taken away.
"Cult Leader!!"
"We can't lose you!"
"The purification of this world's heretics still needs your guidance!"
Even Gaara felt as if the sky had fallen over Sunagakure.
"Naruto!"
"Damn you Hokage! I will definitely bring him back!"
Bang…
Unfortunately, before he could finish his words, he was knocked unconscious and taken away by Chiyo's forces.
Naruto was originally reluctant to leave those believers who worshipped him, but when he saw the muscular men clinging to each other and wailing his name, he was so scared that his body tremble several times.
'Damn it!'
'I can't stay in this place for a moment!!'
'Besides…'
'Tsunade and Jiraiya gave me so much.'
'Both Impure World Reincarnation and Senjutsu...'
'I just hope that the Cult Mechanicus will disintegrate after losing its spiritual pillar.'
'Or it could become normal with the correction of Sunagakure's older generation of Shinobi.'
'At worst…'
'I can also join Akatsuki and let my good senior brother lead Akatsuki to stop this damn cult.'
'I guess organizations that want to destroy the world would hate competing fanatics, right?'
Naruto sighed softly. For the first time, he genuinely sympathized with Hiruzen's struggles.
'Don't worry!'
'Old man Sandaime, when I learn the Impure World Reincarnation, I'll make sure to use you as my test subject first.'
With a lot of thoughts in his mind, Naruto took Hinata's hand under her father and cousin's watchful eyes and stepped through the glowing portal.
Tsunade waved her hand, and all the Konoha's Shinobi followed Naruto's footsteps and were teleported back.
It's worth mentioning that...
Shikamaru took Temari, who seemed a little abnormal, back with him.
This guy kept grumbling about 'women are troublesome', and also said he wanted to take Temari back to Konoha for treatment.
He is the epitome of a Tsundere.
In the days that followed, Sunagakure launched a brutal crackdown on the cult.
Because of the large number of people in the village, they even hired Shinobi from Konoha.
With the joint efforts of the two Great Shinobi Villages, the Cult Mechanicus suffered the double blow of losing its Cult Leader and being suppressed, and its rapid development momentum finally stopped.
One night, Gaara and Kankuro gathered a group of cult's core members in secret.
"Everyone! Our faith faces unprecedented persecution!"
"The Shinobi World is rejecting us now! They fear our visionary ideals!"
"From this day forth…!"
"The Cult Mechanicus shall operate in the shadows!"
Gaara, who was elected as the 'Holy Son of the Mechanicus', spoke with fiery conviction, without any trace of his past self.
Naruto's departure had only made him more determined to develop the cult in a low-key manner.
'The current Mechanicus... is still too weak!'
'It will take a very long time to grow strong enough.'
'Just wait!'
'As long as we are given some time, we will definitely go to Konoha and bring Naruto back!'
"I agree!"
"But our current technology has reached a bottleneck."
After Kankuro finished speaking, the room fell into a long silence.
The development of new technology some time ago made them overconfident, but after being beaten by Tsunade, everyone suddenly woke up.
Gaara pondered for a moment, and suddenly remembered the bounty for a certain Missing-nin he'd seen in the office...
"I have an idea..."
"Has anyone heard of Sunagakure's S-Rank missing-nin... Sasori of the Red Sand."
"As long as we find him..."
"Our technology will surely advance by leaps and bounds!"
After discussing it, everyone found that this idea was feasible, and they immediately prepared to send people to look for Sasori in secret.
Although it was a secret development, the core members of the Cult Mechanicus decided to continue recruiting believers.
However, they need to find a Shinobi Village that is not very strong but has a large population.
So, after discussing with Kankuro, Gaara decided to choose the Land of Grass as the place where the Cult Mechanicus would start their development.
…
Meanwhile, far away in the Land of Snow, Sakura was dragged home by her parents.
Her Scientific Truth Society had also suffered an devastating blow, and like the Cult Mechanicus, they decided to go underground and develop in a low-key manner.
After all, their ideologies are unacceptable to the current Shinobi World.
But coincidentally, the place they chose for their missionary work was also the Land of Grass...
Hoshigakure…
Sasuke and Naruto's shadow clone were currently restraining a Hoshigakure's Shinobi, and used Genjutsu to interrogate him.
"So that's how it…"
"It seems that turning Chakra into wings is not difficult."
Naruto's clone glanced at Sasuke and casually retorted, "You idiot, their technique is called the Mysterious Peacock Method."
Sasuke glanced at the yellow-haired man and felt a little angry.
If Naruto hadn't told him before that the clone was specifically used for communication, that if an emergency happened and the clone was destroyed, Naruto's real body would open a portal to come find him, he would've kicked the clone to death already.
"Alright, done."
"Let's go back."
Sasuke packed up his things and turned to leave, but Naruto's clone suddenly stopped him.
"Wait."
"I remember there's something good in Hoshigakure..."
"It might even strengthen your Heavenly Flame."
Naruto's clone thought of the strange stone in Hoshigakure and guessed that this thing was probably something with a huge amount of radiation.
However, since he was just a clone, taking the whole stone back would be difficult.
But if they chisel it a little, he felt it shouldn't be a big problem.
Sasuke turned his head and grabbed Naruto's clone's hand tightly, his face full of urgency.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go now!"
"I feel like I'm about to get my third Heavenly Flame!"
When Sasuke thought about using the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame to defeat Itachi in the future, he wanted to raise his head and burst into maniacal laughter.
Fortunately, Naruto's clone quickly covered his mouth, cutting off the Uchiha's trademark laughter.
'Damn it!'
'We are sneaking into Hoshigakure as thieves!'
'Don't make this turn into an all-out rampage on the way back.'
After that, things went much smoother than expected.
The two of them easily chiseled a fist-sized piece of the stone and returned to Orochimaru's branch hideout in the Land of Grass.
As for why they went back to the branch hideout in the Land of Grass...
Let's just say Sasori and Deidara had been a little too enthusiastic lately. They blow up every Orochimaru's hideout they see, leaving Orochimaru with no peace for research.
"Naruto, can't I take this suit off yet?"
After returning to the hideout, Sasuke pointed at the bulky hazmat suit he's wearing, his tone full of disdain.
Wearing this made him look like a bear, it's too ugly.
Naruto's clone sternly refused.
"No!"
"If you don't want to die young or grow a few extra arms and legs, keep it on!"
"You have no idea how radioactive this thing is..."
But as he spoke, Naruto's clone's thoughts diverged like the main body, and he began to mutter to himself.
"Though, now that I think about it..."
"In a way, nuclear radiation could unlock genetic lock, right?"
Sasuke remained silent, as he was already used to Naruto saying strange things from time to time.
Right now, he just wanted to use this broken stone to create his own Heavenly Flame as soon as possible.
After muttering for a while, Naruto and Sasuke walked into Orochimaru's laboratory.
At this moment, Orochimaru was standing at the corner.
He heard everything the yellow-haired kid said just now.
He licked his tongue excitedly and murmured to himself, "The stone from Hoshigakure?"
"Radiation? Genetic lock?"
"Heh heh heh heh..."
"How interesting."