Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto, but I don't, unfortunately...

Warning: Death, Murder, blood, sadistic, Torture, and a whole bunch of twisted stuff like that. After all, it's a story about jashinism. Please don't read if you don't like that sort of stuff.

Sakura POV

Ever since I can remember, I've lived in this temple. This temple that reeks of death and resonates with the haunting chants of monks that worship our beloved Jashin-sama. It is familiar and comforting, yet chilling and exhilarating. Monks tell me that I was delivered to them by Jashin-sama himself, and so they have taught me his ways. My name is Sakura, and I am almost a priestess of Jashin-sama.

xXx

I stared down at the bound girl that lay before me. She couldn't have been any older than my 10 years, but there was a huge difference between us. Low muttering of monks that circled us filled my ears, and candle light flickered sporadically. My heart thudded rapidly in my chest, and I exhaled a slow breath in anticipation, nerves almost unbearable. This was my first ritual. If I was able to complete this particular ritual, which only a few chosen of Jashin-sama could do, I would become a true immortal Jashin priestess, or Jashinist.

I was very young to be undergoing the ritual, monks told me. But due to the spiraling numbers of priests and priestesses in the world, I guess I started early. For, Jashinism, though it pained me to admit, was a dwindling religion, that needed all the members it could get. There were many monks, but not nearly enough priests and priestesses. What was the difference? Monks stayed in temples. Though they also did rituals and worshiped Jashin-sama, they were not- or rather, could not become- immortal, and were non-combat worshipers. But priests and priestesses were immortal, and could perform jutsu given to them by Jashin-sama. The jutsu each priest or priestess knew pertaining to Jashinism, though possibly similar, were never the same. The reason there were so few of them, was because barely ever were people chosen by Jashin-sama to become a priest or priestess. Every monk had tried this ritual, in the hopes of becoming a priest or priestess, but after coming out unsuccessful, had instead become monks. Girls that failed the ritual were sacrificed to Jashin-sama.

Clutching my scythe- the preferred but not compulsory weapon for a Jashinist, I began my prayer to Jashin-sama, my eyes never leaving those of the terrified girl in front of me.

"Beloved but anguished God of our faith
Let us pray to you once again
Let us be filled with your knowledge
And your infinite path of destruction
Let us abuse your power once again
To create the mayhem you so deserve
Let us create the destruction you want
Forgive us for using this power again
For they may be our last time
In the evil God's name, Jashin, amen!" It was a common prayer, though significant, and I loved it. This was why I had chosen this prayer for my first ritual. Now, If Jashin-sama accepted me to be a priestess, my individual ritual and jutsu would be revealed to me by him. Feeling a rush of dark power flow through me at the utter of my last syllable, my lips moved, of their own accord, and my voice rang out, louder than the monks. "Curse technique: Forsaken pendant." Taking my scythe unthinkingly, I swung my scythe down and sliced the girl's leg with practiced ease. Then, I took my pendant, the symbol of Jashinism, which I had had ever since I could remember, and let it touch the blood that welled up from her wound, even as she sobbed and struggled against her binds and gag. In fascination, still not in control of my own body, I watched as my pendant absorbed the blood, and noticed with a shock my skin changing colour. White as bone and black as death. Patterns resembling a skeleton, the symbol of absolute death. Jashin-sama had accepted me to be a priestess!

The joy I felt almost knocked me over, but instead, my body continued to move robotically. Taking my scythe, I plunged it into my stomach. It...it hurt. But, more than that, it felt amazing!

Pleasure so powerful rocked my body, originating from that wound, and my eyes rolled back into my head. I'd never felt anything like this, and couldn't imagine how I'd lived my life without ever having experienced something so euphoric. The young girl in front of me screamed in pain against her gag, but there were no marks on her. She was writhing and her desperation soaked the air, but I just smiled, unperturbed. Raising my scythe eagerly now, I swung it fast, higher than my previous wound...Right through my heart. Groaning aloud in the absolute pleasure and wonder I felt from it, I heard the girl scream louder, but still the first shallow cut I had inflicted on her remained her only injury. Instinctively, somehow, I just knew. She could feel the pain of any injuries I inflicted on myself, was tortured by that pain, but she didn't have those injuries, so they didn't actually harm her body and kill her. Yet. In order to truly give her the same injuries as me...

Fingering my pendant, I lifted it to my mouth and licked it. It tasted of blood. Her blood. Watching in sick fascination as blood suddenly bloomed across her stomach and heart from wide, jagged gashes, her horrified screams turned into wet gargles, then suddenly, silence. She was dead. I had just completed my first ritual. I was a priestess. So that was the individual ritual gifted to me by Jashin-sama. Feeling euphoric, I beamed at the circle of monks that surrounded us, muttering lowly and in-sync, and was surprised by the sudden wave of exhaustion that drove me to the ground and forced me unconscious.

xXx

I woke in my small room, and immediately noticed the figure sitting, back ramrod straight, beside my bed. It was one of the older monks that had been there a significant portion of my life, Satoshi-san. His name meant clear-thinking or wise, and it was well-suited to him, or so I thought.

"Satoshi-san?" My question hung unasked in the air, and he looked at me.

"Sakura, you have done it." My mind was blank for a moment before the events from my ritual caught up with me, and warmth bloomed inside my chest. I, of all people, had been accepted by Jashin-sama. Me! Giddy with relief, I beamed at him. "How did you find it?" His level voice asked. I knew what he really meant; like all monks, Satoshi-san had done the ritual, but been unsuccessful, and so had not been accepted by Jashin-sama to be a priest. So to be chosen by Jashin-sama...

"Satoshi-san, it was...amazing. My body, it just, knew what to do, like I was being shown what my jutsu is. I was being shown, by Jahin-sama himself! And when I wounded myself, the pain, it instantly changed to the most wonderful thing in the whole world, and I can't believe it..." Normally, I wouldn't have shown so much emotion in front of a monk, but this was a rare exception. What I had been raised to do, I had accomplished. The first big step in my life. He gave me a very rare smile, and gestured to the end of my bed, where clothes waited for me. They consisted of a dark red, kimono style top, and loose black pants. The top was held in with a black sash at my waist. To complete the outfit was a black, hooded cloak. Because I was a priestess now, and expected to engage in combat, my clothes were different to the normal robes I was used to. Getting dressed quickly while Satoshi-san waited outside, I fixed my scythe on my back, making sure I was able to access it easily, pulled my pink hair into a side ponytail, then opened my door and followed Satoshi-san.

I felt different in my new clothes, more confident, still on a high at being accepted by Jashin-sama, and I held my head up as we walked silently to a large hall. Most of the monks from the temple were there to congratulate me, and I smiled politely, yet sincerely at them as they did. I knew them all; the majority of them had been at the temple my whole life.

As I talked to a friend, Jun, who had been at the temple as long as I had, and was my age, I froze. Warning bells went off rapidly in the back of my head and I barely had time to scream a warning to the others before the ceiling exploded and enemies- they must have been enemies, to defile Jashin-sama's temple like that- flooded into the hall. Screams echoed around me and I watched as the monks, people I had known my whole life and grown up with, were cut down. At least they'll get to be with Jashin-sama. A small, detached voice in the back of my head said. I dodged a kunai thrown towards me, and barely registered the presence behind me before I felt something cold enter my back.
"These are the bastards that have been killing our people! So we'll kill them all instead!" It was an unfamiliar voice, and as I heard the replying battle-cries, I knew there were too many opponents for me to fight. So, as much as it pained me to do so, I slid to the ground and lay still. Feigning death, though hard at the moment, was necessary; it would allow me to serve Jashin-sama later. I hated it, though. This feeling of helplessness, not being able to fight them all off. I needed to get stronger. To better serve Jashin-sama, I had to get stronger. So I lay, and waited...

xXx

"I think I found a survivor! Over here!"

"A survivor in all of this? Really?" I blinked my eyes open and saw...foreign people. Unknown people. Invading the house of Jashin-sama. One stood over me and, panicked and crowded, I screamed, scrambling away from him and jumping to my feet. Pain lanced through my back but I ignored it, heart thumping wildly and eyes darting around. Remembering how these people- it must have been these people, for no one else was around- had killed everyone here, and disrupted the worship of Jashin-sama, I started.

"You...you people killed the loyal worshipers of Jashin-sama and defiled his sacred home! How dare you!" Rage overtook me, so strong I bean to shake, and I yanked my scythe off of my back, intent to send these heathens to Jashin-sama in a rather gruesome, satisfying way. A logical part in the back of my mind told me that I was no match for these people, but I ignored it; I was so angry that they did this. What right did they have? An animal roar tore from my throat and all I could see was red. Running at the closest man, a masked person with grey hair, my eyes widened when he disappeared, then reappeared to my right, grabbing my wrists with one hand, in such a way that my scythe didn't touch him, and using his other hand to force me to look at his face into his eyes. A strange red iris with unusual, spinning black shapes in it stared at me and I felt myself grow weak, then collapse to the floor. "Jashin...sama..."

Guys, remember. Sakura has been raised with this violence since she was little. It's common to her. I hope ya'll liked it! So, this is an idea that's been playing on my mind for AGES now, and now that I'm finally back on FF, I've decided to write it! Just letting you all know, updates on this story probably won't be as frequent as updates on my other stories, but I'll still do my best! Also, I haven't read any other stories like this, so I hope I'm not unintentionally copying anyone's stories! Please leave a review to say what you thought of it! Was it too fast-paced? I thought it might have been...Also, please feel free to leave some ideas! If realistic, I'll try to incorporate them into the story, especially since I have a pretty loose idea myself on where this story is headed. Until next time~

Edited: 4/2/17