This was absolutely not the form any living being should take. If Kakashi had to describe it, he felt it bore more resemblance to the ghouls or demons spoken of in legends.
He certainly hadn't expected to encounter something like this when he set out.
Apart from the half of its face still covered in mangled flesh and blood, the rest of its body was skeletal, save for the joints, fingers, and soles of its feet, which were clad in exposed, deep-red muscle, stripped bare of skin.
Beneath the silent night sky, a mournful, spectral wail echoed, interwoven with the heart-wrenching, raspy screams of human agony.
The infamous "Uncanny Valley" effect plunged the hesitant pair into a strange state of dread. Even Kakashi found himself averting his gaze, unable to look directly into the creature's eyes. Mei Terumi gripped Kakashi's arm tightly, the contact offering her a sliver of psychological comfort.
According to Kakashi's senses, the entity above possessed not a single trace of chakra. It was as if only a void existed where it stood. If not for the evidence of his own eyes and ears confirming its presence, the silver-haired boy would never have detected it.
In terms of concealment, this thing surpassed any shinobi.
Waving black claws, easily over half a meter long and sharp as knives, it began to move slowly, targeting the two below. Deep, dark marks were left wherever its feet clung. It circled them in a wide arc, forcing Kakashi and Mei to pivot, constantly keeping it in their direct line of sight.
Visibility was poor in the darkness, they couldn't sense it properly, and fighting without knowing its abilities put them at a severe disadvantage.
Humans truly were visual creatures; the instant the young shinobi laid eyes on it, any thought of communication vanished.
Was that earlier intrusion of unknown energy one of this thing's techniques? If so, their situation was dire.
Where had the people on the ground and the scattered remains gone? And what happened to that intact Jashin cultist?
Fragments of information flashed through Kakashi's mind, but he couldn't piece them together, couldn't grasp the true nature of the entity before them.
"Click-clack-clack-clack!" Its head twisted a full ninety degrees, upper and lower jaws snapping together rapidly with the grating sound of bone on bone. Unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer, Mei Terumi made the first move.
"Water Release: Water Formation Pillar!"
A torrent of subterranean water surged upwards, striking the creature and slicing the base of the giant mushroom clean through, dividing it into five even sections. As the pillar of water receded, Kakashi signaled Mei to stop the jutsu.
"It's not there!"
They scanned their surroundings. The scene from moments ago felt like a hallucination. Besides the shattered remnants of the giant mushroom and the soaked ground beneath, there was no sign the monster had ever been there.
This unsettling feeling, hovering between observable and unobservable, deeply troubled Kakashi. This thing was incredibly difficult to handle; he couldn't immediately conceive of a way to fight it.
Compared to this, Hidan's crude rituals seemed like mere child's play.
The original accounts never mentioned the Jashin cult being this formidable.
But if it existed, it had to have a weakness.
An idea flickered through the boy's mind.
Chakra wasn't the world's original energy source. Before chakra emerged, what did people conduct sacrifices to? Could the equally native natural energy harm this bizarre entity?
As he pondered, a black spot began to form in the center of the moon, which illuminated the sky. Kakashi and Mei's pupils contracted simultaneously as they leaped sideways in opposite directions.
A kunai sliced through the large tree and the parasitic mushroom growing on it as easily as tofu, splitting them in two. The monster reappeared, its form changed. The flesh on the other half of its face was regenerating at astonishing speed. Kakashi's left eye precisely observed fleshy, worm-like tendrils squirming across its musculature, enveloping the bone. Even an eyeball materialized within the socket.
At the same moment, its chakra signature, previously non-existent to his senses, began to skyrocket.
This was good news. Kakashi's earlier guess was wrong. It proved this thing wasn't some obscure native god or an intangible entity like the Shinigami.
If it possessed chakra, it could be killed with chakra!
Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. Finally, after the surge, its chakra level stabilized, equivalent to the combined total chakra of all the Jashin cultists from before.
And as its face fully regenerated, the monster revealed its true identity: it was the very same Jashin cultist who had been intact earlier.
Unlike his original appearance, however, white stripes now marked his face, while the rest of his body turned black. White lines traced the pattern of ribs across his chest.
He was still terrifying, grotesque even, but the overwhelming pressure from before had lessened.
"It must be some kind of special ninjutsu," Mei Terumi commented, frowning at his current state. "A technique that sacrifices others to claim their power for oneself. Records of such ninjutsu exist from the Land of Water's past, but this is the first time I've seen it in person."
"No, this isn't ninjutsu," Kakashi corrected, his gaze fixed intently on the creature's movements. Although its appearance now resembled Hidan's ritual state, there were still significant differences.
"Nin... jut... su...?" the transformed cultist repeated Mei's words, its voice a strange, quavering tone. Its mouth stretched into an unnerving grin that nearly reached its ears, splitting its face in two.
Its tongue writhed, constantly sprouting fleshy tendrils that filled its mouth, only to be torn apart as it opened and closed its jaws.
Casually, it ripped its own tongue out, stuffed it back into its mouth, chewed for a few moments with a sickening sound, and swallowed.
This gory display was even more horrific than the earlier sacrifice.
Forget Mei; even Kakashi deeply regretted eating dinner before coming here.
"A thing like you... truly needs to be put down."
"Put... down...?"
"So, it can only repeat what others say?"
"Hiss... Hiss..."
Unsure how it could still speak without a tongue, Kakashi maintained a calm facade while swiftly making his move in secret.
Five lightning-infused senbon struck the monster with pinpoint accuracy: forehead, heart, thigh, and both eyes.
It was like throwing stones into the sea. The monster made no attempt to dodge, fully absorbing the attack. It even nonchalantly pulled the senbon out. The silver-haired boy noted with alarm that the parts of the senbon that had penetrated the creature's body were already heavily corroded.
«No pain receptors. Flesh or blood likely corrosive. Incredible speed. Possibly possesses the same curse ability as Hidan.»
"Mei, don't let it touch you, not even once."
"I understand."
"Take this." Kakashi pressed the spare healing potion he'd acquired earlier into Mei's hand.
"If you get injured, you know what to do."
"Right."
Signaling Mei to fall back slightly and prepare for support, the silver-haired boy's left eye, glinting metallically, assessed how best to launch the first decisive strike.
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