Priest Kuraki, who was almost beaten again, wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and began his own narrative——

Meisui Town is a small, peaceful and beautiful village hidden in the mountains.

Although the "Anwa Shrine" located in the town is not famous elsewhere, there is no doubt that the local villagers have very deep feelings for the gods and the shrine. The priests who manage the shrine are also selected through a selection system.

It is a non-inheritance system. When the previous one dies, the next one is selected from the villagers, and then everyone worships the next one. At the same time, the girls in the village also willingly go to the shrine to become the official shrine maiden or the assistant shrine maiden.

"Then why isn't there a shrine maiden in the shrine now?" Uzumaki Naruto asked curiously.

Priest Cangmu sighed slightly: "Do you still remember what the task I entrusted is?"

"...Exorcise ghosts." Uchiha Sasuke whispered.

"Yes, exorcism." Priest Cangmu nodded, "Everything started half a year ago..."

There is an ancient rumor hidden in Misui Town. It is said that the location of the shrine has a "ghost cave" sealed away.

The shrine daily suppresses the ghost cave located in the back mountain, and the villagers use annual pious sacrifices to continuously replenish and maintain the power of the seal.

Half a year ago, a group of young tourists came to the village. For some unknown reason, they came to the shrine to hold a courage test in the middle of the night. Then, they sneaked into the back mountain where the ghost cave is located.

"This group of young people were really wanton. Originally they just wanted to hold a courage test in the back mountain. However, after accidentally discovering a cave where ghosts were sealed, they actually used knives to cut off all the hangings hanging at the entrance of the cave.

He attached the rope, and then entered it in batches."

"...Of course, what happens next?" Haruno Sakura swallowed and said nervously. Perhaps because what Priest Kuraki said was so graphic, her sense of empathy was filled up unconsciously.

"There were eight young people in this group, so they were divided into four teams. They agreed that after each group entered the cave, they would go as deep as possible until they didn't want to leave, so they put down their tokens and turned back. Second

After the team enters, if they get back the first team’s token, it’s their victory; if not, it’s their loss. And so on..."

"However, after the first group of people entered the cave, they did not come out. The remaining people waited for a long time, and the people of the second group said they went in early to have a look, and then they did not come out. Then, the third group

People also went in..."

"I guess they didn't come out, right?" Tsunade crossed her arms and asked with a bored look on her face.

"...Yes." Priest Kuraki updated, then looked decisively at Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura, who had the most cooperative expressions, and continued to speak vividly, "At dawn, the fourth group of people who have been waiting at the entrance of the cave

They couldn't help but walked in, but what they saw was...clothes and bloody limbs belonging to their companions scattered on the ground, as well as huge scarlet eyes hidden in the darkness. They yelled and turned around

Just run! Just a second before the monster is about to capture them! It’s dawn..."

"Escaped, escaped?" Haruno Sakura, who subconsciously held her breath, asked softly.

"...Well, the monsters in the cave seemed to be afraid of the light, so they retracted their sharp claws that were as big as two people. However, the two people who escaped from the cave also went crazy because of the excessive fright and collapsed on the ground.

We cried and screamed outside the cave until we were discovered by the shrine maiden in the shrine the next day. These facts were also pieced together by us from their crazy words." Priest Kuraki said this and sighed, "

After that, I used my spiritual power to strengthen the seal again, and urgently organized the villagers to conduct a sacrifice. But... it was too late. There should have been relatively weak ghosts that escaped from the cracks in the seal that night.

The remaining ghosts have already devoured the flesh and blood of the six people, and are working hard to break the seal every day and night. Because of this, I have to wait there every night until dawn, trying to strengthen the seal to prevent them from escaping.

"

After speaking, he looked at the reactions of several people.

"Awesome!" Uzumaki Naruto said with sparkling eyes.

"It looks so scary..." Haruno Sakura said with emotion.

Uchiha Sasuke: "..." He always felt that this was a bit nonsense.

Hatake Kakashi:= =

Tsunade: = =

Jiraiya:= =

Of course, it is the client's business to talk nonsense. As a conscientious ninja, Hatake Kakashi still asked: "So, Mr. Priest, what exactly do you want to entrust us with?"

"That's it." Priest Kuraki, who just spoke a lot in one breath, took a sip of tea and explained, "I've said it before, right? Some ghosts escaped from that night. During the day, because they were afraid of the light, they would

Hiding in a corner that cannot be found, I will not appear until after nine o'clock at night when the darkness is thickest. However, at that time, I had to stay in the shrine to suppress the rioting ghost cave. Because of this, from that night on, the people of Misui Town

The night became less peaceful.”

Immediately afterwards, he described many things one after another, in short -

Meisui Town is haunted.

The first to see the ghosts were the shrine maidens, followed closely by the villagers.

The direct result of these things is that no one in Misui Town goes out after nine o'clock at night, and every household hangs amulets on the doors and windows to invite people home from Anwa Shrine.

"The amulets used by the villagers can be replaced over a long period of time. As for the travelers who come to the town, we can only provide them with talismans. But don't worry, those talismans are all written by me using my spiritual energy. They are changed every day.

It’s safe and sound.”

"...Oh." Besides, Hatake Kakashi didn't know what to say.

"However, since this incident happened, the shrine maidens no longer dare to stay in the shrine, and the nights in the villages and towns have become very scary. If this continues..." Priest Kuraki sighed, "So, I

A power of attorney will be issued to ask the ninja to come over and handle this matter."

"Then why do we need to take the form of a secret entrustment?" Uchiha Sasuke asked, "There is nothing to hide about this kind of thing, right? Since everyone in the village knows it."

"...But you must also consider my reputation as a priest. It would be too embarrassing if the people of Meisui Town knew that I couldn't handle it alone and went out to find ninjas for help." Priest Kuraki said with a smile.

"..."

"Then the owner of the steamed bun shop and the owner of the farm tools shop don't both know about it?" Haruno Sakura said.

"Ah, they are fine. The owner of the steamed bun shop is my uncle, and this is my second uncle. We are all one family. It will be more beneficial to them if I can be the owner for a long time."

"Hey hey..."

"To sum up," Priest Cangmu took out a dozen talismans from his arms, "I hope you can find the escaped ghosts in the villages and towns after dark. According to my analysis, there are about eight. Of course.

, for safety reasons, you don’t need to fight them after you find them, you just need to stick this talisman on them. In this way, they will not be able to escape my tracking. I will find them during the day and then proceed.

Capturing the Purification Ritual.”

"No matter how weak they are, they are still ghosts. There is no guarantee of 100% safety, so it is somewhat unreasonable to let the villagers do these things... However, if it is replaced by a powerful ninja-sama, there will definitely be no problem!"

"I see," Hatake Kakashi rubbed his chin, "Is that why you set the difficulty of this mission at C level?"

"Yeah..." Priest Kuraki wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "After all, we are very poor here. Although the shrine is worshiped by everyone, it can't pay more for the mission. Moreover, since there is no need

If you fight ghosts, that doesn't meet the standards of a B-level mission, right?"

"That's true." Jiraiya nodded, "Of course, the premise is that what you said is true. The escaped 'ghosts' themselves are very weak and do not need to fight."

"That's for sure, that's for sure... No matter what, we don't dare to deceive the ninja-sama..."

"There are two more questions. First," Hatake Kakashi raised his finger and asked, "Since the original shrine maidens in the shrine have all fled because of fear, why do you still want to recruit tourists who come to do temporary work?"

Where is the assistant witch?"

"Because there are a lot of daily chores in the shrine," the priest Kuraki explained, "I have to suppress ghost caves at night, and during the day I have to search for traces of ghosts and draw talismans, etc., and I really don't have enough energy. The locals know that the shrine is for ghosts.

The source and the seal of the feared ghost cave have problems again, so I dare not come. If you are an outsider..."

"That's pretty easy to trick, isn't it?"

"Ah ha ha ha..."

"Second question," Kakashi Hatake raised a second finger, "Where are the two foreigners you said were crazy before?"

"Well... I don't know where they came from, so I temporarily placed them in the guest room of the shrine. But since the witches have left, I'm worried that they will run around unsupervised and brew something new.

They were locked up because of the misfortune. Of course, there was absolutely no abuse, and three meals a day were provided normally."

"I see……"

"Ah, yes, there is one more thing." Priest Kuraki suddenly said, "That's it, according to the rules we summarized before - probably because of the anger that has been suppressed for a long time, these ghosts especially like to attack people in the shrine.

Therefore, if you want to attract ghosts, you should have a higher success rate by walking on the streets at night wearing priest clothes or miko clothes. If you need clothes, our shrine can provide them."

Kakashi Hatake pondered for a moment and replied: "Thank you, but let's do some exploration first tonight."

"Okay." Priest Kuraki didn't insist. He just looked at the time and said, "Ah, it's getting late. I have to get back to the shrine before nine o'clock. Everyone, I wish you all the best."

This conversation comes to an end.

…

after a while.

"Anyway, that's about it." At the tea table, Uchiha Sasuke said after reciting the specific contents of the mission. Then, he took the tea handed to him by the cat-eared girl and drank it all in one gulp. Maybe he was really thirsty.

"I see, oh, this is really a dangerous place..." Uchiha said with a smile.

Tsunade looked at her expression and said, "I don't see anything 'dangerous' from your expression."

"After all, all the powerful ninjas are here," Uchiha said with a thumbs up, "I feel so safe!"

"..."

"Well, but, this is your task." Jiraiya crossed his arms and said, "As I said before, we will not overstep our limits unless necessary."

Unless the situation breaks through the standards of a C-level mission.

Tsunade said nothing, but her expression showed approval.

"I didn't need the help of you two old men!" Uzumaki Naruto said confidently, "The three of us are enough!"

Blue veins popped out on Tsunade's forehead: "Old man?!"

Jiraiya stopped her quickly: "Well, well, Tsunade, calm down..." Naruto, this kid... is not like Minato and Kushina who can read the air at all... He is too honest and irritating, cough.

"Soga," Hatake Kakashi nodded, "Okay, then let the three of you take charge of this mission."

"...Huh?" Haruno Sakura exclaimed, "Kakashi-sensei, are you serious?"

"Of course." Hatake Kakashi said with a smile, "Just do it your own way. I will be your most loyal backup and shield. Or," he glanced at the three little ones, "

Are you scared? Then I can come."

"No." Uchiha Sasuke said decisively, "Let's do it."

"Really, is it really okay..." Haruno Sakura clasped her hands together and said with a little worry.

"Oh!!!" Uzumaki Naruto clenched his fists, "Then let's do it ourselves!"

There is no doubt that compared to the pink-haired girl who lacks a little confidence, the blond boy and the black-haired boy are both the type with overwhelming self-confidence, and Hatake Kakashi highlights the "one dares to give and the other dares to pick up".

"Oh, it's really reliable." Uchiha smiled and refilled the three little teacups, and asked expectantly, "So, where do you want to start?"

The author has something to say: Naruto: ... Let’s have a midnight snack first? Like ramen or something like that.
Chapter completed!