Chương 106: The Rite of Ascension

'Come on, come on,' Inner Sakura muttered. 'Any day, now…'

The footsteps were coming closer, but Sakura was no closer to infusing even a single drop of chakra. Each time she'd try to marshal her spiritual energy to meld with her physical energy, her concentration would just fizzle away, due to the drug's effects…

The footsteps suddenly came to a stop; not far too away from Sakura, from the sound of it.

"My, what a splendid specimen!" the man named Ryūki said with admiration. "Jashin-sama will surely be pleased by this offering of young blood!"

Sakura had no idea if Jashin was simply a figment of a delusional man's imagination, an actual outer deity or even an Otsutsuki, but one thing was clear: whether this god of theirs was real or fake, they were going to sacrifice her to him— and it was a well-known fact that people died when they were killed.

"I am certain that Ryūki-dono's devotion will be rewarded soon," the woman named Koremitsu said devotedly. "I can only pray to be blessed with a revelation as well…"

"With the three women we captured last night, we should have enough sacrifices to replicate the ritual that granted Hidan-senpai immortality!" Ryūki exclaimed with feverish devotion. "The hour of my ascension is at hand, and soon—"

Ryūki suddenly shut up, and a deathly silence fell upon the room. A moment passed, followed by another, and then…

"There's someone creeping about upstairs," Ryūki hissed. "Koremitsu, go check it out— if it's guests, turn them away. If it's shinobi from Yugakure, keep them occupied. If anyone tries to come down here, stop them at any cost."

And upon saying so, the cultist seized Sakura and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, causing her plush breasts to slam painfully into the man's lower back. Normally, Sakura's pillowy breasts would have provided better cushioning than that, but since they were tightly bound in tortoise shell bindings, her pliable flesh had nowhere to escape…

Sakura bit back a yelp, and she cracked open one eye to check on her surroundings. The cultist had shoved his head inside a wardrobe, and as far as Sakura could tell, he appeared to be fiddling around with something back there— until suddenly, the wardrobe's back panel popped open, swinging outwards.

A hidden passage had been dug into the wall behind the wardrobe!

But just as the man was about to step through the secret opening in the back of the wardrobe, Sakura heard a woman's scream, followed by a tremendously loud crash; all originating from upstairs.

A glimmer of hope flickered to life in Sakura's breast; help was on the way— whoever they were, they had to be better than cultists!

"DOWNSTAIRS!" Sakura bellowed. "THERE'S A SECRET PASSA— Oof!"

Ryūki slammed his elbow into Sakura's sides, before hurriedly scrambling through the hidden passage. They emerged on the other side into a dimly lit tunnel, and the man broke out into a run.

"Pretending to be unconscious— think yourself clever, little girl?" Ryūki said breathlessly. "I've half a mind to just leave you here— a heathen such as yourself is not worthy of receiving Jashin-sama's grace!"

"You know, that doesn't sound too bad," wheezed Sakura, "Why don't we do that, instead of sacrificing me to your imaginary friend?"

This snarky comment earned Sakura another elbow blow, so she wisely decided to shut up. Talk-no-Jutsu clearly wasn't working, so she went back to trying to mould some chakra, but to no avail; the drug was still circulating in her system.

As they descended farther into the depths of the earth, the temperature and the humidity began to steadily increase to an uncomfortable degree. Furthermore, the faint smell of sulphur and rust that Sakura had smelled earlier in the air was also becoming much more noticeable…

Eventually, they reached the end of the tunnel, emerging into a brightly lit cavern. It was an underground geothermal spring— the ground was almost completely covered in water, which kept bubbling up from deeper underground. There was only one part of the cave that was still dry— a small island, at the centre of the ankle-deep lake of hot water.

The cultist began fording the lake; clumsily wading through the water to the island, without even bothering to gather chakra under his feet to keep his shoes dry.

As they approached their final destination, Sakura noticed the numerous figures on the island, standing motionlessly in a circle. They were wearing black robes and pure white zōmen paper masks that covered the entirety of their faces, but judging by their curves and their long hair, all of those figures belonged to women.

But even though Sakura's practised eyes had immediately jumped to their chests, there was no way that she could have missed the bright red markings at their feet— Jashin's symbol, the upside-down triangle within a circle!

'I'd know those boobs anywhere,' said Inner Sakura. 'That's Senju Tsunade, no doubt about it!'

One of the women wasn't standing, but rather sleeping peacefully on her side, judging by her loud snoring. And even though the black robes were making it hard for Sakura to see the outlines of the women's curves, Sakura could very plainly see mountains on the sleeping woman's chest.

The System had previously issued a bounty on famous busty kunoichi, promising fabulous rewards if only Sakura could lay her hands on Tsunade's bust. And to make the deal even sweeter, Tsunade was even unconscious! Her breasts were right there, ripe for the picking— and they would have been within reach, if only Sakura's arms hadn't been pinned behind her back!

Fortunately, the cultist seemed too distracted to notice what Sakura was about to do— he kept staring into the passageway from which they had come, holding his red double-bladed scythe close to his chest…

"Who goes there!?" he cried out furiously. "I know you're there— show yourself, or face Jashin-sama's wrath!"

Sakura rolled herself over to Tsunade until she had her back to her, making it so they were spooning, and she wriggled her fingers, desperately trying to reach into the older woman's clothes.

'Got her!' said Inner Sakura triumphantly. 'Now, I just need to skim just a little bit off the top…'