Naruto：Immortality and the Eight Inner Gates[Double agent]

In the secret base of the Jashin cult.

Like the sacrificial ceremonies over the past six months, terrified children in tattered clothes were being herded into the massive cave where the altar stood.

High Priest Isamu Inoue maintained his usual position, eyes gleaming as he watched the altar, calculating how many "pawns" this sacrifice might yield.

A sudden thought crossed his mind.

If he could combine Rinjin's immortality with Haruto's *Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood*, he would possess an ultimate strategic weapon.

Then he would only need to collect blood from powerful warriors on the battlefield to control them effortlessly. With such power, his ambition of world domination would be within reach.

With this thought, Isamu gestured to the Old Man in White Lab Coat standing nearby.

"What are your orders, High Priest?" The old man approached with an obsequious bow.

"Where is the immortal one?" Isamu's gaze swept through the crowd.

"Ah..." The old man hesitated before responding with a bitter expression. "My lord, shouldn't we keep that troublemaking freak away from such an important ceremony?"

As the lead researcher of the immortality experiments, the old man understood Rinjin better than the boy himself. In his view, the subject was useless except for wasting resources.

Even basic poison trials were frustrating - the boy neither showed symptoms nor died from lethal doses.

Most importantly!

The sacrifice was a solemn ritual of death. Having a fool who only grinned and asked for food would surely anger Lord Jashin.

Seeing the old man's evasion, Isamu's expression darkened. He only wanted to know if combining the immortal with the sacrifice would create his ultimate weapon - one both deathless and wielding the Blood Control technique.

"Just do as I command without question!"

Seeing the High Priest's displeasure, the old man bowed even lower.

"Yes, my lord."

He beckoned to a cultist behind him.

"Bring the immortal one!"

"At once!" The cultist hurried away.

Meanwhile, in the empty prison area, Rinjin sat in a dark corner muttering to himself.

"Can't take unnecessary weight if I'm escaping."

With that, he used his sharpened nails to tear open his forearm. Wincing, he extracted an iron weight from his bloody flesh and tossed it aside.

The weight hit the ground with a resonant clang that echoed through the hollow corridor.

In quick succession, he endured the searing pain to open his left arm, left leg, right leg, and abdomen, removing seven or eight similar weights.

Looking at the blood-stained weights on the ground, Rinjin blinked regretfully and mumbled:

"Sorry to abandon you, but you're just too inconvenient to carry."

He stood slowly and jumped lightly a few times, cracking his knuckles with a slight smile.

With a burst of speed, Rinjin instantly appeared in the adjacent cell through the large hole in the prison wall.

Testing the newfound power in his limbs, Rinjin smiled.

By his estimates, with his current strength and speed alone, he could easily handle a genin like Hitokimi. With surprise and speed, he could take one down and then deal with another at leisure.

While he couldn't defeat a chunin, his speed now rivaled the *Body Flicker Technique*, making escape quite feasible.

"Time to make my exit!"

He began trying the key on each cell systematically.

...

With a soft "click", Rinjin's face lit up with joy.

Suddenly, a voice spoke from the darkness:

"Immortal one, attempting escape?"

"Who's there?" Rinjin startled, looking up sharply.

A guard in shinobi attire emerged from the shadows, eyeing Rinjin with amusement.

Rinjin instantly recognized him as Kōhei Iwai, one of the old man's laboratory guards.

Kōhei's gaze moved between the key and Rinjin's young face as he extended his hand: "Hand it over. Stop these futile attempts."

Rinjin meekly reached out to place the key in Kōhei's palm, then looked behind him with sudden anxiety.

"Oh... Greetings, High Priest Isamu!"

He quickly bowed.

Kōhei startled at Rinjin's sudden movement. After all, Isamu commanded immense authority among the cultists. Usually only the facility manager had the privilege to speak with him.

Kōhei hurriedly adjusted his posture and looked back.

The next instant, searing pain shot through his spine as he lost all feeling below his neck.

Along with the pain came the immortal brat's amused laughter.

"Didn't your academy sensei teach you never to turn your back on an enemy?"

With a dull thud, Kōhei collapsed heavily, staring at Rinjin in disbelief.

"Why? Why betray Lord Jashin, how dare you!"

"How dare I?" Rinjin repeated, then covered his mouth and burst into hysterical laughter until tears streamed down his face.

After a long moment, the suppressed laughter finally subsided as he wiped his eyes.

"In these six months, you've given me 34,551 cuts, burned me 13 times, struck me with lightning 5 times, starved me for two months and four days, and made me drink six bottles of lethal poison.

But! I forgive you all!"

Then Rinjin's expression twisted into a cold smirk.

"Lord Jashin? Heh, let your Jashin save you now!"

His tone dripped with mockery and disdain.

At these words, Kōhei, who hadn't shown anger even after being paralyzed, became red with rage and howled at Rinjin like a rabid dog.

"Silence, you cursed monster! How dare you question Lord Jashin!"

Before finishing, he violently coughed blood, then desperately twisted his head to glare at Rinjin's feet like a hungry wolf.

"You blasphemous creature, just wait! I will punish you! My teeth alone will tear you to pieces!"

"I'll look forward to it." Rinjin collected Kōhei's ninja pouch and stood up, his expression calm as he gazed down the corridor.

"But I must be going now."

"Pardon me, Kōhei-san, I have a date with the horizon."

Rinjin paused, his dark eyes gleaming with joy.

"With freedom!"

With those words, Rinjin ignored Kōhei's howls and vanished into the darkness without a trace.

At the corridor's far end, Rinjin circled through different cells to avoid Kōhei, striding purposefully in another direction.

Back at the altar, everything was prepared, and Isamu stared at the empty corridor with growing unease.

"Where are your men!" Isamu coldly demanded of the old man beside him.

The old man, who had been staring fervently at the altar, startled at Isamu's words and smiled nervously: "High Priest, perhaps they were delayed. You know how difficult that monster brat can be!"

He carelessly summoned a cultist: "Jin, go hurry them up. Don't let Kōhei and the monster delay the sacrifice."

"Yes, sir!" Jin bowed respectfully and strode toward Rinjin's cell.

Time passed, and Isamu's unease grew while the old man became increasingly anxious.

Suddenly, Jin emerged from the corridor, his brow furrowed and face panicked.

"Sir, Kōhei is severely injured, and the immortal... the monster has disappeared!"

"What!" Isamu exclaimed, his scarred face darkening dangerously.

Though Rinjin seemed useless to the old man, Isamu saw him as potentially becoming a fearless weapon if properly trained.

Beside him, the old man's expression became peculiar - anger mixed with joy, as if he wanted to smile but didn't dare.

He's finally escaped, wonderful! I gave him so many chances, and he finally took one!

What the old man didn't know was that Rinjin's previous failure to escape wasn't due to missing the security gaps, but rather his concern that his skills were too weak to get far before recapture.

After all, who knew if those gaps were deliberately left by Isamu as traps?!

Now, during the sacrifice, even if they wanted to pursue, they had no opportunity.

Isamu realized this as well.

If they abandoned the sacrifice now to chase Rinjin, it would surely displease Lord Jashin.

But continuing with the sacrifice and temporarily giving up the pursuit would only allow the boy to get further away.

This time, Rinjin had won.

This seemingly devout child had openly humiliated the great priest!

Seeing his subordinates' questioning glances, a strong sense of humiliation welled up in Isamu. This shame was particularly acute for someone long accustomed to his high position.

Desperately controlling his overwhelming rage, he ground out through clenched teeth:

"Begin the sacrifice!"

At his command, the cruel slaughter began. Isamu watched life after life being taken with a stony expression, inwardly vowing:

Damn brat, you won't escape. When I catch you, I'll slice you into pieces one cut at a time, grind your bones to powder blow by blow, and let you know that being unable to die is the greatest torment!

Meanwhile, after many twists and turns, Rinjin finally emerged from the cult's secret base.

Shielding his eyes as his pupils slowly adjusted to the harsh sunlight, Rinjin gradually looked toward the horizon.

Endless forests exuded vibrant green life stretching to the distance, while winding azure rivers merged with the jewel-like blue sky. Wisps of white clouds drifted across, pure white and blue complementing each other perfectly.

Taking a deep breath, the air no longer carried the musty dampness of the underground base. Instead, it was fresh with the scent of vegetation, while gentle breezes brought hints of camellia fragrance.

Rinjin gazed into the distance, never before feeling the surface world was so beautiful, never before realizing how precious this once-ordinary freedom was.

Gradually, a genuine smile born from his heart replaced his habitual fake one.

"Well, enjoying life is for later. Right now, survival comes first!"

Temporarily suppressing his excitement, Rinjin, now freed from his weights, felt his extremely light body and charged forward at full speed, becoming a blur racing toward the distance.

Watching the green trees constantly receding on both sides, a sense of uninhibited release welled up, while his mind calculated the journey ahead.

"For now, I must find a populated place to hide from the hunters."

Although the old man would be delighted to see him gone, that was no reason to let down his guard.

After all, in the entire underground base, there was another rarely-seen priest - Isamu Inoue, who was the true leader.

If Isamu wanted to recapture him, the old man had no authority to object!

Therefore, he needed to find a populated area to hide. Only then would these shadowy cultists not dare to search openly for him.

Plus, cultists had bounties on their heads.

He had learned this information while strapped to the experiment table enjoying electric shocks. Apparently, Isamu's bounty was worth 20 million ryo, with the other captains each having their own bounties.

Thinking of this, Rinjin couldn't help but grumble.

"I should report your illegal gatherings to the bounty office and let Kakuzu wipe you all out at once."

As he pondered, the forest ahead gradually thinned, a light drizzle began falling from the sky, and a muddy path appeared.

Rinjin's heart lifted.

Where there's a path, there are people. Following the road would surely lead to a settlement where he could blend into the vast sea of people like a raindrop. Perfect.

...

After an unknown time, evening approached. Dark clouds obscured the sun as the drizzle continued unabated.

At the limit of visibility, a huge lake rippled in the rain, and in its center stood a village with extremely unusual architecture.

Rinjin gazed out - the buildings were primarily black steel wrapped in pipes of varying thickness, each structure rising toward the sky like towering swords.

A straight bridge spanned the inland lake connecting both shores, with the village gates at its far end.

"This..."

Looking at the village in the distance, Rinjin froze as memories surged through his mind.

After a long while, he finally let out a breath: "This... this couldn't be Amegakure, could it?"

Though his memories of Naruto were scarce, he still knew about the leader Pain.

Who had devastated Konohagakure with devastating force, stripping away three layers of the village.

Even the mighty Jiraiya had been skewered when he infiltrated the Rain Village alone. Wouldn't I just end up as fish food?

But on second thought, he relaxed - a wandering kid who wasn't even genin-level surely didn't qualify for such VIP treatment.

With this realization, Rinjin's tense body relaxed as he joined the flow of people crossing the bridge into the village.

Soon it was Rinjin's turn. The Rain ninja guard, seeing only a soaked kid who posed no threat, impatiently waved him through into the village.

Walking along the not-so-bustling street, he ducked into a random alley.

Hidden in the darkness, Rinjin slumped against the wall, his whole body relaxing.

Having experienced the freedom of the outside world, he never wanted to return to that dark, gloomy, cramped underground base.

Looking up at the steadily falling raindrops, a smile of relief gradually spread across his face.

"Finally, finally I'm free!"

"Oh really, Rinjin-kun?"

Just as Rinjin was lost in emotion, a mocking raspy voice spoke from the darkness, instantly making his scalp tingle with fear.