Rasa's assistant's voice was filled with relief. "Lord Rasa, it was terrifying. The over thousand Iwa-nin that appeared in the distance retreated after you negotiated with the enemies in the sky. Lord Rasa, did you scare them off from high above?"
Rasa thought to himself that he wouldn't dare claim he could scare off the Tsuchikage and Raikage. Those two were compelled by pressure from Konoha, using a combination of force and persuasion.
Rasa said, "Let's go. The intelligence was wrong. Iwagakure is not interested in the oasis towns in the northwest of the Land of Wind."
The assistants and subordinates were greatly puzzled, but seeing the Iwa-nin truly retreat, they didn't dare ask more. People in the village said Advisor Rasa was ruthless and cunning. His assistants and subordinates knew the rumors were true. For the sake of the village, Advisor Rasa could even sacrifice his own family.
Returning to the village, Rasa immediately had someone bring him the intelligence scrolls on Shapo Port.
"Oh? Hoshigaki Kisame and Hōzuki Mangetsu were jointly repelled by Pakura? The nobles and surviving Suna-nin are calling Pakura the hero of the battle?"
Rasa thought to himself, In that case, offering Pakura to the Kiri-nin would better demonstrate my sincerity. Ending the conflict with Kirigakure and joining the alliance's camp according to Ōnoki and the Raikage's will was the action most in line with Sunagakure's interests.
When Pakura returned to Sunagakure, Rasa received her.
Entering the Kazekage meeting room, Pakura looked up at the three tall statues of the Kazekage at the far end of the room. Beneath the statues was an oval-shaped long table, with Rasa seated at one end.
Pakura went to the other end of the oval table and saw a scroll placed on it.
Rasa said, "Pakura, you performed excellently, repelling the Kiri-nin elite. Kirigakure has already sent a letter seeking peace. Our conflict with Kirigakure is over. However, we must send a representative to exchange the peace agreement. Kirigakure said we should go to the Land of Water. I said they should come to the Land of Wind. We were at an impasse. Finally, we decided to secretly exchange the peace agreement in a third country—the Land of Whirlpools. ninja when operating in the Land of Whirlpools."
Pakura nodded and picked up the peace agreement on the table.
Watching Pakura turn and leave, Rasa thought, The foolish woman is still easy to deceive.
The ninja world was full of danger. Rasa reflected that if Ōnoki hadn't wanted to find more allies a few days ago, he, Rasa, would have been undoubtedly killed by Ōnoki and the Third Raikage joining forces.
The Fox that Ōnoki and the Raikage feared so much—he wondered just how strong he was. During the Second Great Ninja War, Fox first showed his prowess on the Land of Rivers battlefield. Who would have thought that a few years later, Fox's strength had become so fearsome that it forced a powerhouse like Ōnoki to seek alliances.
Pakura arrived at the village gate and met her student, Matsuri.
"Teacher, can't you spar with me anymore?"
Pakura patted little Matsuri's head. "After the Kazekage-sama disappeared, everyone in the village has been busy. I am no exception. I must continuously carry out missions for the village, helping it through this difficult time. This time, I have to go on a long trip. Little Matsuri, don't slack off. I'll check your homework when I return."
Little Matsuri quickly nodded.
Amidst the wind and sand, Pakura left Sunagakure.
Little Matsuri watched her teacher's figure recede into the distance until it was distorted by the wind and sand at the horizon.
Shapo Port.
Hidan, with the mostly recovered Black Sail, walked through the ruins of Shapo Port.
Hidan skirted around the wreckage of a ship, complaining, "This place is over eight hundred meters from the sea. I really don't know how the Kiri-nin dragged a large ship all the way here."
Black Sail thought it must have been using a flood-like Water Release technique.
Behind the shipwreck, the noble's officials were organizing people to pull corpses from the hull. One corpse after another, drowned by Water Release, their bloated faces as terrifying as fattened vengeful ghosts.
Hidan walked a few steps and realized Black Sail wasn't following. Turning around, he saw Black Sail staring at several pale corpses.
"Hey, hey, were those people you knew? You're lucky, gaining the Evil God's approval. Others might not be so fortunate, to receive the Evil God's favor."
Black Sail withdrew his gaze. "I knew too many of the corpses. But they're dead now. All relationships from their lives are nullified."
Hidan nodded repeatedly. "No wonder you could complete the sacrifice. You have some talent."
At that moment, a commotion in the distance caught Hidan and Black Sail's attention.
Several boatmen knelt before a noble, begging him to reduce their loans. The Kiri-nin attack on Shapo Port had sunk their loan-purchased fishing boats, and they were currently unable to repay the debt.
The noble's face was cold as he refused the boatmen's pleas. "My family has no surplus funds either. The Kiri-nin sank your boats, but did I not suffer losses in this disaster? You ask me for your losses, but who do I ask for mine?"
Hidan's eyes gleamed with excitement. He whispered to Black Sail, "Him! I was just worrying about finding a sacrifice, and one pops up!"
The two followed the noble to his home.
Facing a table of seafood and fine wine, the noble was too worried to eat.
Hidan kicked open the brick wall behind the noble, hooked the noble's shoulder blade with his scythe, and dragged him backward.
Black Sail rushed in first and seized the noble's throat.
The samurai had long since fled. The noble was unprotected.
The two dragged the noble outside the city, finding a reef. This reef was peculiar; the exposed stone above ground was only knee-high, but it was buried overten meters deep underground.
Hidan took out a kunai and began carving a shrine on the rock.
A depression of four or five centimeters was carved into the reef, depicting three deity statues. The statues weren't as detailed as the Vidyārāja, Evil God, and Shinigami in the temple; one could only vaguely see that the three deities wore cloaks.
"Come, let's perform the sacrifice. This is the shrine of our Three Calamities Religion."
Together, they performed the sacrifice piously.
Offering the noble's soul to the Three Gods, divine power descended. Using the noble's soul as a medium, the stone was transformed into a shrine of the Three Calamities Religion.
On the shrine, Fox's Flying Thunder God mark flickered briefly and vanished. From now on, this would be one of Fox's coordinates. He could appear here via Flying Thunder God at any time.
The Flying Thunder God Technique truly lived up to its name as a forbidden technique with 'God' in it; its ability was comparable to deities from other worlds.
After concluding their prayers, Hidan said, "We must build shrines in every town, every corner of the ninja world! We must spread the faith of the Great Gods!"
Black Sail didn't speak, lowering his head to look at the Three Calamities Religion shrine. Hidan's craftsmanship was poor; the three deities' statues were practically just a combination of a few ellipsoids. But the divine power was real.
"Let's go, Black Sail. To Shapo Port's hospital."
Arriving at the hospital, Hidan stared at the top floor of the inpatient building.
"See that, Black Sail? The third floor of that inpatient building houses the nobles of Shapo Port. You don't know ninjutsu yet, so I'll give you a task. Go steal used, blood-stained bandages from the noble patients on the third floor. Use the blood on the bandages to offer sacrifices to the Great Evil God. When you've sacrificed 10 souls, I'll reward you by teaching you chakra control."
Black Sail asked doubtfully, "Lord Hidan, the doctrine says all who do evil must repent. How do we which determine of the noble patients on the third floor have done evil before and who are good people? What if we sacrifice a good person?"
Hidan said, "What do you know?! I once asked the Great Evil God: 'I really want to sacrifice nobles. Could I accidentally harm good nobles?' Guess how the Evil God responded? The Evil God said, 'The evil of nobles has nothing to do with whether they are good or bad people personally. The identity of a noble is itself an evil. As long as they are nobles, they naturally enjoy the benefits gained from exploiting their servants. or bad people. Sacrifice them all. They are inherently evil.'"
Hearing this, Black Sail nodded, his heart free of further confusion. Since it was the guidance of the Three Gods, there was no need to doubt.
Several days later, Fox suddenly opened his eyes.
Hidan and Black Sail were quite efficient; they had sacrificed another 10 souls.
Fox looked in the direction of the Land of Waves, wondering how Pakura was doing there.
***
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(End of Chapter)