Sitting crossed-legged on top of a tree branch, Kuroto was cleaning his Kusanagi Sword.
Although his heart was filled with a sense of guilt and irritation, Kuroto was not influenced by these feelings and did his best to restrain his killing intent.
Kuroto's face was extremely calm, similar to the light wind in which his half Kimono swayed, giving off a calm and peaceful aura.
In this war-trodden shinobi world, blindness led by emotions and misjudgment because of the lack of knowledge are the two biggest enemies of a shinobi.
No matter what one is doing, he must always have a clear goal in mind, and Kuroto's goal in coming to the Land of demons is not to indiscriminately slaughter those cultists but to find the Miko-sama, unless and until her situation is not confirmed, Kuroto would obviously keep a restrain.
Besides, it's not like these cultists will be able to live to see the next Sun, so Kuroto was patient, as he knew that these people didn't have much to live anyway.
Looking in the direction of the temple, Kuroto's expression condensed.
As the night fell, the village darkened, and rows and rows of bright lamps that used to illuminate the Miko's temple were no longer there, instead, there were was gloomy red lights lighting the walls of the temple..
Although the cultists are still patrolling through the walls and corridors non-stop, their vigilance was undoubtedly lower compared to the daytime. Giving a perfect opportunity to sneak inside.
But Kuroto still did not act rashly, he was patiently waiting, waiting for a better opportunity, that he knew would present itself soon enough.
As the night darkened, the patrolling formations began to disorganize, the guards at various outposts also yawned one after another, the quiet night coupled with a colorless tasteless and odorless sleeping gas of extremely low potency that was flowing inside the temple with the night breeze prompted the guards to drop their vigilance.
"It's time." – muttered Kuroto as he slowly got up, and immediately disappeared from his position.
Like an unnoticeable and untraceable shadow, Kuroto sneaked into the shadow of the outer wall, past the sleepy guards one after another, avoided some of the active ones, and in just a few moments he was already at the inner temple.
Kuroto lived here for a few days at the time of recovering from his injuries, therefore, even if he did not know the entire structure of the temple, Kuroto was more than familiar to move around the temple and also knew where to look for what he was searching.
Passing through several corridors, Kuroto arrived near a broad passageway, looking forward to the left turn that leads to the left passage, Kuroto muttered, "Miko-sama's residence is in the core areas of the temple, let's start searching from there… as the most likely place where I will be able to find something should be in her private quarters"
Walking through the broad passageway, Kuroto further walked through several corridors and arrived at the place he had to be, as for the reason why he was not stopped midway by anyone?
It's easy! Kuroto simply used the transformation technique on himself to look like one of those cultists.
The place he stopped was just before the corridor where Miko-sama's sleeping quarter was located, as for the reason why Kuroto stopped here?
Because there were about 16 cultists in this small passageway.
Such tight security of her sleeping quarters?
'Is it possible that she is still alive and kept on house arrest in her sleeping quarters?' – thought Kuroto.
If that is true then Kuroto must hurry.
Thinking so, Kuroto observed the guards, then printed hand signs.
Poof… Poof… Poof… Poof…
And subsequently, four Shadow Clones appeared next to Kuroto.
Nothing was needed to be said, Kuroto just nodded towards the four clones and rushed into the small passageway as he drew out his Kusanagi Sword.
Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh…
Kuroto and his four clones rushed out at the very same instant, and with extremely high speed all five of them rushed towards their intended targets.
Even before the enemy noticed them, five were already dead, as the enemy noticed the intruders and hurriedly took out their weapons, five more were dead, and the very next instant five more were dead.
The last one of the cultists knew that he won't stay alive for much longer and tried to alert the other guards in the temple.
"It's an en-…" – However, that was all he managed to speak as a sword that came flying towards him pierced him through his mouth, effectively nailing him on the wall, and he was dead all of a sudden.
With all the guards neutralized, the four clones disappeared in clouds of white smoke, while Kuroto indifferently walked towards the last guard who was nailed on the wall.
Without even looking at him, Kuroto drew out his sword from the other party's throat and walked past him towards the gate of Miko-sama's sleeping quarters.
When he arrived in front of the gate, Kuroto noticed several Fuinjutsu techniques printed on the gate.
Kuroto studied their mechanism and their roles in split seconds and since they were already deactivated, so Kuroto did not bother tempering with them and pushed open the gate.
As the gate opened, Kuroto did not rush inside, but stayed outside and carefully observed the area with his Tenseigan.
Aside from a simple regal residence, which includes furnishings and other things that were probably necessary for Miko-sama's living, there doesn't seem to be anything strange, or out of the ordinary in the area.
"Strange, no one is here!" – But what confused Kuroto, even more, was that there was no one inside. So, what was the purpose of keeping so many guards here?
Kuroto initially thought that even if Miko-sama is not imprisoned inside, he should at least find Yomi here, but it appears that Kuroto was wrong.
Carrying his Kusanagi Sword, Kuroto walked inside, but as soon as he entered inside Kuroto noticed some minute Charka signs and looked up at the roof.
The roof of Miko-sama's sleeping quarter was very high, by a mere estimation, Kuroto guessed that it was probably about thirty meters high.
At the center of the hexagons shaped roof was a beautiful crystal chandelier.
And the minute chakra signs that Kuroto felt were coming from the crystal chandelier.
If it was someone else, they may not notice these minute chakra signatures, but Kuroto with his Tenseigan easily noticed them.
In the vision of his Tenseigan, the core part of the crystal chandelier contained energy, and this energy was a mixture of Chakra and Natural Energy, it was similar to the Ryuumyaku's Gourd Artifact that Kuroto keeps with him.
Whiiish…
Just as Kuroto was about to float upwards to further satiate his curiosity about that core crystal, a golden light suddenly lit the chandelier, and the very next moment, the shadow of a familiar figure came out of the core crystal.
This familiar figure was none other than Miroku, the Miko of the Land of Demons!
Staring at the translucent figure before him, Kuroto asked, "Miko-sama… your state…"
Miroku nodded, "As you guessed Kuroto-Kun, this is part of my spirit body that I sealed inside that crystal chandelier."
"Right…" – After a nod, Kuroto's face had that guilty look, and he bowed towards her, "Please forgive me Miko-sama, I failed in killing Yomi."
The fact that Miko-sama's spirit body was before Kuroto clearly means that she is already dead.
And this obviously made Kuroto sad, after all, the other party is like his teacher. And it was his failure that killed her, if he had killed Yomi, neither Miko-sama would have died, nor the Land of Demons would have been destroyed.
Miko-sama saw Kuroto's guilty appearance and smiled gently, "You don't have to blame yourself Kuroto-Kun… somethings just cannot be changed."
Kuroto asked, "Was it related to a prediction?"
Miko nodded and said, "In the past few years I have delved deeper into future telling, and now instead of just predicting my death, I am able to see some other things too, for example, reactions influenced my own actions in the attempts of trying to change the fate.
And trust me, when I saw my death, I thought of many ways to change them, but every method had several other consequences, and they were much worse than what you see happening to the Land of Demons and me, so I choose death instead of cheating it anymore."
"What!?" – Kuroto was shocked, and immediately asked, "Could you explain more?"
Miko-sama shook her head, "From all of my research, I have come to realize that it's better to not meddle with time and fate until you become independent of it, or at least, strong enough to resist the passage of time and the lines of fate.
So it is still not the right time for you to learn these things Kuroto-kun… maybe you will have a better opportunity in the future if you preserve."
Kuroto was silent after hearing Miko-sama's words.
At this time Miko-sama said, "Besides everything, I am still very happy, I was supposed to have died at that time, but you and that Uchiha child did not let me die, and I was able to be a part of Shion's childhood, although I feel a little saddened leaving her now, I am still content with the time I spent with my daughter. So you do not need to blame yourself. If anything, I should be grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to watch over Shion, you may not be able to imagine what this means to a mother, so I am telling you that this was something that I will remain eternally grateful for, and no amount of effort will ever be able to repay this favor."
Miroku is very clear, even if Kuroto saved her as a part of a deal he made with her, but this still did give her the opportunity to spend a few years with Shion, watch over her, and love her.
Kuroto sighed, 'Parental love is unconditional.'
At this time, Kuroto said, "You left behind a part of your soul, were you… were you waiting for me?"
Miko-sama nodded with a knowing smile, "Yes I knew you will come."
Kuroto asked, "Even after you sent that warning through the scroll?"
"Of course." – Miko-sama nodded, and said, "I knew you will come regardless."
Kuroto was with a curious expression, "Was it also a prediction?"
Miko-sama shook her head and said, "With Ryuumyaku by your side, predicting your future is no longer possible."
Kuroto was taken aback and asked, "Why is that?"
.
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Read up to Chapter - 540 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations