"Jashin? Are you sure?"

"Mhm... I read their lips."

Jiraiya thought for a moment... He knew these people… They were an extremely secretive, religious group from the land of hot water. 

Konoha had been tracking them down for ages, but never came up with anything solid.

"She's right. I saw them in the castle lord's memories… They're a group that's led by a man called Onigetsu... They somehow managed to convince the Wagarashi family that they would bring them eternal prosperity, if they handed them sacrifices…"

Hearing Jun's words, Jiraiya got a headache.

"If that's true… Then this mission is at least A-rank… Normally, I'd order a retreat, but…"

Seeing his students' angry expressions, Jiraiya gave up. Even he couldn't let a bunch of little girls get massacred in front of him. 

"Alright… We're going in, but listen to me first…"

---

Onigetsu. 

A devoted follower of Jashin, he traveled all the way to the land of tea, taking advantage of their weak strength to horde sacrifices.

'I can feel us getting closer… The main branch will definitely benefit from all the experimentation I've been doing here! Soon enough, we'll create the perfect follower…'

Raising the chin of one of the new girls, Onigetsu licked his lips, enjoying the sight of her despairing expression. Slowly moving his hand to her neck, he raised her up in the air as she struggled to breathe.

"You… Consider yourself lucky! Soon, you'll be sacrificed to lord Jashin, isn't that amazing?!"

"Mph...Mmph!"

Seeing her struggle, he became furious as his voice thundered throughout the cave.

"NOD YOUR HEAD! I SAID TO BE THANKFUL!!!!"

Throwing her back into the pile of girls, Onigetsu massaged his forehead in frustration… These girls really didn't understand how lucky they were.

"All of you! Ready the sacrifice!"

The hooded men obeyed him as they raised their hands, chanting eerie curses. As if awoken by them, the symbol on the ground glowed once again.

Just as they were about to finish, three figures appeared out of the shadows. Minato and Nozomi started knocking out every follower one by one, whilst Jiraiya ran directly towards Onigetsu.

"Who dares?!"

Onigetsu furiously screamed as he took out his scythe, preparing to fight Jiraiya head-on. Getting close, Jiraiya moved swiftly and started attacking him, frog-kata style.

Onigetsu immediately got pushed back, unable to keep up with Jiraiya's strength, speed, and precision. Inevitably, Jiraiya hit him with a perfect punch in the stomach, sending him flying. 

Before he got sent back though, Onigetsu swung his scythe and drew a tiny bit of blood.

Jiraiya hit him with so much strength that it had crushed some of his organs and incrusted him into the nearby wall. Landing on the ground, Onigetsu struggled to even breathe.

Jiraiya didn't speak, as he walked towards him, preparing to knock him out completely.

Seeing this, Onigetsu smiled viciously and drew his scythe closer to his mouth, in an attempt to lick Jiraiya's blood off of it.

Just as his tongue was about to come into contact with the blood, Jun emerged from the ground and quickly took the scythe, throwing it a distance away. 

With his Sharingan, he had detected Onigetsu's chakra flaring up the closer he got to the blood, so he decided to take action.

"NO!"

Onigetsu's scream was futile, as Jiraiya arrived and slammed his hand on the ground.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu: Gama Kōsoku Shita!" (Summoning Technique: Toad-binding tongue!)

With a puff of smoke, a man-sized toad appeared and wrapped Onigetsu up with its tongue. Struggling, he tried to move but found that his limbs were not responding.

"It's useless… This one's tongue secretes a potent, paralyzing poison... There's no way that you'll be able to get out, or even use your chakra for that matter."

---

#

"Ngh!"

Even after hearing Jiraiya's words, Onigetsu still struggled to get free. 

Seeing this, Jiraiya sighed… Behind him, Minato and Nozomi were finished, having knocked out every single follower.

"As you can see, your 'sacrifice' has been foiled... I suggest that you start talking, or I'll have to force you. Where are the rest?"

"Hahaha... As if I'd speak! Lord Jashin will save me anyways… You people are ignorant! You may have stopped us today, but you will never extinguish us, for we are devout to our lord!"

Laughing maniacally, Onigetsu bit his tongue.

"Crap! He's trying to kill himself!"

Jiraiya tried to stop him, but it was too late. Blood-red markings covered Onigetsu's skin as his body burned under scarlet flames. Feeling pain, the toad released him and he burned to ash.

"Fuck… He's destroyed his body so that there's no evidence…"

If this hadn't happened, they could've brought him back to the Yamanaka and get his brain searched... Disappointed with himself, Jiraiya sighed.

"Jiraiya-sensei! The followers… They're burning too!"

Hearing Nozomi's words, Jiraiya turned around, but again, there was nothing he could do. Clicking his tongue, he walked over to the girls to get them out.

Just as he was about to untie them, the cave started shaking.

"What's going on?"

Minato got a bad feeling as he struggled to keep his balance. Next to him, Jun was already looking for ways to get the girls out safely.

"Gamagakure no Jutsu!" (Hidden Toad Technique!)

Performing another summoning, Jiraiya summoned a small, red toad. 

"Please take all of the girls, quickly!"

The toad nodded and hopped over to the girls, eating them up one by one. The three Genin stared in confusion, watching the small animal take in tens of girls into its stomach.

After it was done, it burped and hopped into Jiraiya's arms.

"Let's get out of here!"

The four of them ran away, narrowly escaping the boulders. Looking around the hall they had previously been in, they sighed in relief. 

Patting the toad, Jiraiya smiled.

"Well, at least we saved the girls… It's a shame that we didn't manage to get any intel on the Jashinists… That would've been extremely useful to the village."

---

The next morning, Jun woke up early. After they saved the girls, all of them went back to their respective houses, and the city was restored to normality.

That night, the whole city threw a party, celebrating the occasion. Of course, team Jiraiya were treated like true heroes. 

After so much celebrating, they had gone to bed very late. Looking around him, Jun noticed that his teammates were still asleep.

Taking care not to wake them up, he merged into the floor, reappearing on top of the castle's roof. From there, he could see the whole city.

Although the mission had gone well, he had been left frustrated. There was no one that even posed a challenge, making him desolate in his own way.

'Well, I guess it's already a step in the right direction…'

Sighing, he watched as the sun rose above the land of tea, making for an extremely beautiful sight.

---

Later that morning, almost the entire population of Edo gathered in the same place, seeing off the ninja who had become local heroes. 

At the forefront, Yamanoue stood next to his daughter, who was the girl Onigetsu had picked up by the neck. She hugged her father's arm as she watched the people who saved her.

Yamanoue bowed towards the four ninja, as tears flowed down his cheeks.

"Jiraiya-dono, Jun-dono, Nozomi-dono, Minato-dono… You have mine, and all of the village's thanks! We shall remember you for our entire lives… Please come back and visit yours truly every now and then, degozaru!"

"Quit it, man. You're embarrassing me here…"

Jiraiya scratched his head as he helped Yamanoue back up, but was met with unexpected resistance. Yamanoue just refused to stop bowing.

"Thank you, heroes!"

All of the girls bowed in unison, then their parents, followed by the rest of the townsfolk. Seeing this, team Jiraiya didn't know what to do.

Sighing, Jun looked up at the sky.

'I never thought that I'd have so many people thanking me like this… I guess I've really changed, huh?'

Instead of pleading for mercy, they were thanking him. This wasn't something he was used to.