The sunset’s fires were burning down. The sky over the town, covered with translucent clouds, turned light crimson.
Together with ninneko, Sasuke walked along a wide street once paved with cobblestone, on both sides of which there were empty frames of shopping stands. He immediately noticed that the local temple was very different from the shrine in the Uchiha quarter, where meetings were usually held. And, to tell the truth, more than once he asked himself in his mind why, according to cats, this temple was only "a bit out of shape".
In Sasuke’s opinion, it was catastrophically in decline.
Once upon a time, Hina said, sellers of souvenirs and religious adornments flourished on the street along which they walked; day and night it was full with tradespeople and temple pilgrims, and the road to the red gate with big-eared Nio was barely discernible under a dense crowd of parishioners.
For permission to trade in front of the temple, the sellers promised to keep the paths and the temple sites neat, but now, of course, there was no one to trade, as well as to see to the cleaning around. Scrap, dirt and cat droppings were laying everywhere.
Entering the main gate, which looked more like ruins, all three passed under a giant red lantern. Being without proper care, it was noticeably scruffy due to the winds, and the black hieroglyphs painted on its sides could barely be read. The second entrance, which two figures of guard cats were watching, did not look much better. The red paint on the tall columns had flaked off in many places and hung in torn plates, the wooden statues cracked because of time, and their muzzle features were lost under a thick layer of dust.
A stone ablution fountain was installed between the second gate and the main hall, the pointed roof of which rose up in four spires. Having glanced at the stone statue in its center indifferently, Sasuke already intended to go forward, but ninneko suddenly began to push him with their paws to the spring.
“One can’t go to the goddess meow-ddy,” Denka hissed and, running forward, jumped to the fountain.
“Kannon-sa-meow loves cleanliness,” Hina echoed him and pointed with her ears in the direction where her partner had run away. “Go wash up.”
Sasuke snorted dismissively, but there could be nothing else done. If cats were considered clean animals, then their main idol should not be backing off either.
Going to the fountain, Sasuke scooped up some water with a wooden ladle, poured it on both hands in turn and rinsed out his mouth. Then he spat out, cleaned the ladle handle and, returning it to its place, moved on. Denka and Hina were already waiting for him on the steps that led to the doors of the main hall. Oblong metal tiles, scale-like sticking to its roof slope, caught the last reflections of the setting sun.
“Which way meow?” Denka shook his head. Hina looked around as well.
The platform in front of the temple was empty; in the depths of it, the doors near the altar could be seen wide open; previously, they, no doubt, picturesquely and ornately shone with gilding, but now tarnished permanently. Some meager offerings were there too - sticks in memory of the deceased, flowers and sand panels. Next to them lay, probably, food gifts: some half-rotted fruit, surrounded by a swarm of midges, and fish skeletons.
Walking up the stairs, Sasuke took out a catnip bottle from his bosom and put it with other gifts. Although he now had only one valerian jar left, it should still be enough to thank the cats and Nekobaa for their hospitality.
Thinking so, he turned around. Ordinary parishioners, obviously, were not allowed to be behind the altar. On the ceiling above, the pale outlines of colored frescoes could be seen, clearly crumbled for a long time. In the side, in a giant copper vat under a round roof, there was a censer. Although no one burned incense, the remnants of a weak healing smoke still rose from the vat bottom.
The temple was small - only two big halls and a five-floor pagoda to the west of the second gate on the main square. Even the building of the tower with a time bell, whose strokes beat off sins for the New Year, apparently, was not about to be finished. Sasuke shivered and crossed his arms over his chest; he didn't like it here much. The space between the sparse temple houses was windswept and ominously empty - that is, obviously not really suitable for meditation.
“Can we find another place?” he asked his guides. “Closed and not so noisy.”
Denka and Hina looked at each other questioningly. The latter replied:
“Ninneko are not supposed to go beyond the meow-n hall. But we can look for one of the disciples and ask if there are such places here.”
Sasuke sighed out exasperatedly. In all the time they had been here, they had not met a single living soul. It was nonsense to even think they would still be able to stumble upon disciples in these backwoods.
Meanwhile, dusk was falling on the temple grounds. The shadow of the roof over the hall slowly crept from the horizon, covering more and more of the stone square.
A gong sounded over the deserted shopping street. The temple, apparently, was closing soon.
But it also meant they were not alone here. Sasuke listened. If he could determine where the sound was coming from, he would probably find the acolytes as well.
Having decided so, he jumped on the chakra flow in the southwest direction. There was another building here, smaller and modester than the main hall, but if one looked at it, got the impression that at least someone was taking care of it.
Near this hall, the gong sounds became clearer.
Looking under the curved arch of the quadrangular roof, Sasuke saw a huge cauldron, on which a tricolor cat in a yellow robe was methodically beating with a stick. He held a stick in his teeth and was not smaller than Hina or Denka. Noticing Sasuke, the cat put the stick on the floor and waved his tail in greeting.
Sasuke waited for ninneko, and when they caught up with him, he walked up the steps to the second hall’s porch. The cat in robe bowed his head respectfully; small swastikas were embroidered on the ribbon around the edge of his collar.
“Be happy! Welcome to the Temple of the Goddess Kannon-nya!” he squeaked with a clear feline accent. “What can-nya I do for you?”
“We're looking for a place to meditate,” Sasuke told him bluntly. “Can you take us there?”
“Sure-sure, I can-nya!” The cat ran right up to him and sat down, hopping from paw to paw. “There is a great meditation-nya hall in-nya the residence of our priest! But it’s usually closed to parishioners. I'll let you go there if you donate to our beautiful temple!”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Of course, he had understood it already, understood that there are ruins, poverty and decay all around. However, the money he managed to get on the way to Sora-ku after his visit to Nekobaa was less and less. If it went on like this, he would definitely go broke.
Sasuke glanced sideways at ninneko, who were sitting on either side of him, but they looked evasively in different directions. So, there was obviously not much demand for these, too. Barely holding himself back from gnashing his teeth in annoyance, Sasuke took a couple of coins out of his pocket.
“Is that enough?”
The disciple cat's eyes lit up immediately. Fervently nodding, he broke into a big smile up to his round ears, which made him look like a little fluffy buddha.
“Indeed! Even-nya more than-nya necessary! Be so kind, toss a coin-nya for good luck and throw it there!” he pointed with his tail at the bowl opposite the cauldron. “And don't forget to pray! May the Great Kannon-nya bless you!”
Sasuke took a deep breath, but flipped his coins into the bowl, after which he put his palms together and prayed for the health of Nekobaa and Tamaki with ninneko. Then the tricolor cat, smiling continuously, beckoned him with his tail.
“Should we go with him?” asked Denka boringly when Sasuke walked past. Hina poked her partner in the side with her paw.
“Of course, you stupid fur ball! What if something happens to Sasuke?”
“And what could happen in the meow-ditation hall..?”
Anyway, all three followed the whiskered guide in the robe. He led them through a spacious angular corridor, which, according to legend, confused evil spirits, not allowing them to pass. Behind the railings along this corridor, the figures of guardian cats dressed in armor sternly looked at the guests. The pale flames of the candlesticks played on their gilded sides.
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Passing by the statues, Denka stopped and curiously sniffed the metal of one paw with claws. Then he raised his head and innocently called the novice after him:
“The statues are real! Expensive, probably, so why not sell them? You could refine the whole temple for these meow-ney.”
“Sell?!” the cat in the robe exclaimed in horror. “No way! These statues are priceless relics sent down-nya by the Goddess herself. They cannot be sold.”
“But the temple is such a desolation!”
Sasuke walked down the corridor, half-listening to them and hardly thinking about the words. Beyond the corridor, there was a gallery with walls carved with symbols similar to those he had seen on a Stone Tablet in the temple of the clan. Still not paying any attention to the cat chatter, Sasuke summoned sharingan and tried to read these symbols, but suddenly something else had caught his interest.
“That’s true,” meanwhile, the novice cat sighed ruefully. “After the Black Marketeers arrived, we have been-nya living on-nya donations only. But that's okay! The great Kannon-nya will not leave us in-nya trouble - her ancient prophecy will come true. The Coming will happen soon, and then-nya, there will be a time of prosperity for our temple.”
Between the symbols on the walls, clear lines of patterns appeared, somewhat similar to the pattern of tiger stripes. Sasuke took a closer look and noticed that the lines, interweaving, twisted and led to the ceiling, where, alternating with uncomplicated icons of schematically drawn cats and people, they formed a ring-shaped ornament.
“The Coming? Which Coming?” Hina caught up with the temple cat. He narrowed his orange eyes, slyly looking at her over his shoulder.
“No surprise that you do not know - as if laity could even-nya hear about such a thing! Everyone who believes in-nya Kannon-nya for a long time has been-nya waiting for the arrival of her good emissary, the blessed Miroku!”
“Meow-roku?” Denka asked.
Sasuke raised his head. The panel on the ceiling, under which they passed, stretched along the length of the corridor, and in its very center ended with a human silhouette.
“Exactly!” The novice fluffed his thick whiskers contentedly. “Miroku is not a cat and not a man-nya, he has many states, but he will appear from Heaven-nya with a human-nya head. His skin-nya will glow with a blue flame, he will have rosary beads around his neck and a staff in-nya his hand. Our temple has a secret sanctuary where no one can-nya get into. An-nya ancient artifact is kept inside this sanctuary - it once belonged to Kannon-nya herself, and the legend says that only Miroku is able to get it: with his staff, he will open-nya the doors to the sanctuary.”
The silhouette on the ceiling was depicted with two faces - of a cat and a human; tiger stripes around it closed like a shield of the chakra, becoming a double-edged trident drawing. Zigzag-strokes of electrical flashings emanated from its blades on both sides.
“Miroku is very strong!” the disciple cat continued to talk ecstatically, although no one even questioned him anymore. “Where his foot steps - the ocean-nya dries up, where his staff strikes - a forest grows! All six kingdoms will obey only him. He breathes fire, and his eyes are blacker than-nya night - not everyone dares look into them! Miroku hears with no ear and speaks with no tongue, and if he is angry, then-nya you should beware - he starts throwing lightning right away!”
“How will he save the world if he throws lightning?” Denka asked.
“According to the prophecy, Miroku will be the only one who will bring deliverance to all our feline brothers,” the tricolor cat replied and continued heatedly: “Only he alone shall overcome the terrible snake Yamyata-no-Orochi, and with his victory, goodness and eternal well-being will come to our land. When-nya Miroku comes down to us, everyone shall live happily, all affronts and misunderstandings shall be forgotten-nya, and everyone shall find love and peace.”
Ninja-cats exchanged incredulous glances.
“It's true they say that all temple disciples have bees in their brains,” Hina grinned. “They talk such foolishness, as if choked on fur.”
Denka only twitched his ear in response.
The disciple cat moved his whiskers resentfully, but immediately took heart and purred affectedly:
“It's understandable that you don't believe. But we, the loyal Kannon-nya followers, know for sure: Miroku shall come - just you wait!”
And with a wave of his tail, he hurriedly trotted to the exit from the gallery. The ninneko laughed stealthily before they followed him. Sasuke took one last look at the panel above his head and rushed after them.
There was a stone garden around the gallery corner, but before it was possible to get a good look at it, the procession turned back under the roof and, passing a short colonnade, found itself again in the gloomy interior of the tower.
After wandering between the corridors, cat in the robe stopped in front of the massive wooden doors covered with maki-e lacquer, then crouched on his hind legs and turned around three times, looking at the tip of his tail, as if performing an unsealing ritual. Sasuke felt a slight fluctuation; through the sharingan vision, he saw a stealth barrier falling in front of the doors. The cat leaned on them with his front paws and pushed them away with a groan - they slowly gave way, moving apart.
“Here it is! Welcome!” The disciple nodded at the hall, that met their eyes, and stepped aside so that the visitors could pass ahead. His squeaky voice echoed off the smooth walls. “Our wonderful meditation-nya hall! Just please be quiet! The goddess does not like noise.”
Sasuke walked through the open doors and looked around. The hall had an octagonal shape with a metal dome instead of a ceiling and columns supporting the vault. The column tops were buried in darkness, and in the center between them was a majestic statue of a six-legged cat. Her eyes were closed, her earlobes were pierced and therefore hung down, long beads were wrapped around her neck. The statue, apparently, was made from bronze and therefore has turned green, now having the color similar to the glow of shinobi chakra in the half-light. Round pillows with embroidery lay around it, probably to make it easier for walking upright to pray before the Goddess on their knees.
Ninneko slipped behind Sasuke and immediately dispersed in the corners. Leaving them to get familiar with a place never seen before, he approached the statue.
“There's a lot of spiritual energy here,” Hina meowed softly in the distance and sniffed. It smelled like in a joss house, although there was no incense lit anywhere. “Do you feel it too, Sasuke?”
Sasuke didn't feel anything. Not even a little, so he said nothing in response. The grandeur of the statue, the reverent silence, the obsequious solemnity inside the walls and their luxurious decoration - all this could not evoke in him the slightest emotion. In front of the main sacred place of the cats, he felt neither awe nor respect, and all he could pull out of the corner of his mind so far were echoes of the hatred that had flared up in him back in izakaya as he was forced to hear the slander against the name of Uchiha.
Anyway, he was built of hatred now. And this, frankly speaking, warmed his heart very much.
Sasuke stopped right in front of the statue. One of the six bronze paws was now almost touching the handle of Kusanagi fixed in his rope belt. Sasuke raised his hand and held it out to the Goddess.
“Wait, wait!” The disciple cat squealed from behind. “It’s forbidden-nya to touch the Great Kannon-nya with one’s hands!..”
Sasuke turned around, but the acolyte's exclamation reached his ears too late. His hand was already on the cool metal.
A shiver went through his skin. Sasuke opened his eyes widely - and in one second he broke out in sweat, and his heart skipped a beat and began to pound so fast, as if he was chased. A hit of power comparable to one of a lightning strike pierced his body from the very tips of his fingers and concentrated under his collarbones. Sasuke felt like he had actually been electrocuted - his insides were about to be burned due to the pain in his chest, which, as it seemed to him, he had already experienced once after the reverse transformation. This pain paralyzed him; as if hypnotized, he stood there in front of the statue and could not move.
Every nerve in him was exposed to the core, every muscle was tensed to the limit, every blood vessel was swollen and stretched, ready to rapture.
At last, this pain made him close his eyes. Through its veil Sasuke heard a cat's meow:
“Forbidden? Why forbidden?”
“Absolutely forbidden-nya! That's why!”
And then, the darkness shrouded him.
***
“Try to stay out of the way. We'll only have a few minutes.”
Jinchuuriki bared her teeth fiercely. Fallen to the floor, she pressed her hands onto the ground and sought to raise herself a little on her elbows. She probably couldn't get up without help.
“I've lost too much blood. I can't walk.”
Itachi turned away with a silent sigh. Time was running out. He still could not detect the strange chakra, although he had been intently listening continuously, knowing Zetsu was going to grow out of the ground at any moment. Except for him, there were Kisame and the Zombi Combo in the caves. Even if Itachi had successfully neutralized them all, the news about what happened would have reached the Leader by dawn at the latest. It was necessary to act quickly.
However, the sudden realization made him tense in seconds. What if jinchuuriki was trying to distract his attention and then to escape leaving him with nothing? The wily hare has three holes. It was not superfluous to take precautions.
The girl noticeably shuddered when black-feathered birds flew around her on the seal sign. In order not to make noise Itachi told the crows not to croak, but even the wings flapping was obviously enough to bring jinchuuriki into a state of disarray. Sitting on the floor, she looked with hostility at the flock that was gathering into a shadow clone.
“The clone will keep an eye on you in case someone comes in here,” Itachi explained, although both understood why this summon was really intended.
Jinchuuriki said nothing, giving him a caustic glance. When the clone had been formed, Itachi ordered tersely:
“Stay here and monitor the chakra. I'll try to get help. If anything happens, pretend to be unconscious.”
“I'm kunoichi, not a schoolgirl,” she replied. “Don’t instruct me.”
Itachi lowered his eyelids. Patience. They would definitely get along well - if not now, then later.
“Sure,” he whispered, not turning around, but then his tone became cold. “Just remember: if you decide to run away without me, I'll be the first to know.”
Jinchuuriki clearly wanted to respond, but Itachi, without waiting for an answer, disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.