Dark Phoenix of Konoha by White Angel of Auralon

Part 40 - Jashinists

Naruto looked over all of the filled sealing scrolls. They now had twenty four filled scrolls full of water. That should be enough to erase the seal on the ground. It would still be hard getting the water on all parts and then waiting for it to be ruined before the Jashinist interfered. And he would bet that he was close to act. In his place he wouldn't set up the seal until he was ready to act. It was an unnecessary risk.

"Alright, we need to go," Shimon told the group and they nodded, setting out immediately to the location of the seal.

It was about fifteen minutes at running speed away from their camp, which meant that it should be outside of normal senor range. They didn't speak during the run, as they didn't know when an opponent would appear, no matter if Hinata kept watch with her byakugan. They reached the outer part of the seal and the new group was shocked how large it actually was. The diameter had to be at least ten metres.

"He was busy. Those structures all around weren't there last time, when we found the seal," Kotetsu commented gravely in a low voice.

"What could they be for?" Hinata whispered.

"There are twenty five of them and from how they look like, they are large enough to hold two people each. They are probably for the ritual to tie up the sacrifices," Shikamaru commented.

"We really need to hurry," Shimon grumbled, "Set to work."

He had just given the order, when the ground outside of the seal broke open and some kind of black vines lifted unconscious people from the ground. The vines then proceeded to stick the people to the structures, hanging with their heads down and the arms spread to the sides. Then a black-clad woman with long violet hair appeared inside the seal's centre, also from the ground, riding on a black vine. She was clad in tight black leggings, high healed black boots, a black bra with a blood red shawl around her otherwise bare upper body.

"Shit, that has to be the Jashinist," Shimon cursed, "Can we still dissolve the seal before she starts?"

"Improbable. Shit, if we only had enough sugar to turn the water sweet, we could try to substitute the blood with something sugary," Naruto cursed.

"Would treacle do?" Izumo asked suddenly.

"Yes, but where would we get that?" Naruto asked.

"I have a jutsu that turns the ground into treacle. I use it as a trap normally," Izumo answered, "I can hide in the treacle and normally attack from it, surprising my opponent."

"It's probably our best shot. We will use the water to attack the Jashinist. That way we may be able to delay her enough that the seal is ruined. Target the places under the structures first. There are the absorbing parts," Naruto hurriedly replied.

"Shikamaru, try trapping her in your shadow, Hinata, disable her with your gentle fist. We will only have one proper shot at this," Shimon ordered, "Kotetsu, you will cover for Izumo while he uses his jutsu. Dark Phoenix and I will attack the Jashinist directly."

"Understood," they all replied and moved.

"Ah, the rats that thought they could stop my ascension," the woman greeted them, looking more or less bored, "You truly think that you can stop me from becoming a high priestess of God Jashin."

She laughed crazily.

"As if I didn't notice you sneaking around here. Hm, let's see. Konoha pests. How would you like to see how to truly use plants to your advantage?" She asked cackling and a large number of black vines attacked the group from all kinds of places underground.

The Konoha group jumped away to avoid being impaled by the vines. Kotetsu and Izumo tried getting close to the places where the planned sacrifices were held, but the vines were really nasty and sharp as razors. Naruto decided to cut them down, literally. He flew through a sequence of handseals.