"Ugh! Cough... cough..."
Faint, suppressed groans of pain, raspy as if lungs were tearing, echoed through the deep, damp tunnel.
This was an entrance known to no one in the Jashin cult except its builder, Ryutetsu, himself.
The air was thick with the reek of blood, as if it had been soaked for years and never quite dried. Torches were stuck into the walls at regular intervals.
The flames flickered, casting flickering, dim yellow shadows that seemed ready to be swallowed by the darkness at any moment.
Where the shadows passed, one could see unsettling scratch marks and dark red bloodstains on the ground and walls, evidence of how many people Ryutetsu had dragged into this place alive.
But today, it was his turn.
"Live... cough! I won't die..."
Ryutetsu, almost unrecognizable, clung desperately to the cold, slippery wall with his only remaining arm.
Inch by inch, he dragged himself forward, moving with immense difficulty in the darkness.
Beneath him, dark red drag marks, like those left by a crawling reptile, snaked forward in the dim glow of the torches, emitting a strong smell of blood.
With each drag, fragmented bones and internal organs rubbed and shifted within his chest cavity, inflicting torture that would make an ordinary person instantly faint.
Even Ryutetsu, long accustomed to pain, found his muscles spasming against this excruciating agony, and dark red frothy blood continuously trickled from the corners of his mouth.
The healing power bestowed by "Jashin" acted like the most vicious shackles, forcefully maintaining this shattered shell, preventing it from completely collapsing.
A strong will to survive became Ryutetsu's sole driving force.
"Hmph... hmph... Lord Jashin... will protect me..."
Ryutetsu's throat rumbled with hoarse, sandpaper-like murmurs. His eyes were unfocused from extreme pain and blood loss, with only a trace of mad flame flickering deep within his pupils.
Finally, he reached the end of the tunnel and, with his last ounce of strength, pushed open the heavy dark door above.
"Hmph... Ugh!"
With a suppressed groan, Ryutetsu crawled out of the narrow, slippery dark passage in an exceptionally disheveled state, his body slumping like mud onto the cold floor.
But rather than a secret room, it was more like a laboratory.
A laboratory filled with a strong mixture of chemical and blood odors.
Blinding shadowless lamps cast a stark white light from the ceiling, covering every corner.
Scratched operating tables were stained with old and new dark red splotches of varying depths.
Scalpels, bone saws, and oddly shaped piercing needles were arranged in sterilization cabinets.
Dense, messy soft tubes and clear drainage bottles snaked around like spiderwebs.
Transparent glass jars also contained and floated various human organs.
If Orochimaru were here, he would surely feel a sense of familiarity.
This was clearly a laboratory used for developing forbidden human jutsus.
And the core of the entire laboratory was located at the center where the stark white light converged.
On that cold, heavy operating table, a figure was completely restrained.
A small, thin body was bound by restraints, the marks deeply indented into the flesh of his slender wrists and ankles.
Under the direct glare of the shadowless lamps, his face was so pale it was almost translucent, even his capillaries clearly visible—a sickly, waxy pallor from prolonged exposure to an enclosed environment and blood loss.
Hearing the abnormal sound from the side, he turned his head towards it, his purple eyes exceptionally vacant.
"Lord Cult Leader?"
He stared blankly at Ryutetsu, who was writhing on the ground like a maggot, barely breathing. There was no emotion in the depths of his pupils that one would expect from someone his age.
"Hidan..."
Ryutetsu's blood-stained, pained face suddenly stiffened. Only then did he remember this "expendable" was still in his laboratory.
Although he was the founder of this Jashin cult, he didn't trust any of its members. No one knew better than him the baseness of those fanatical fools.
However, upon seeing Hidan's restrained, emaciated body, this tense emotion vanished in an instant.
He always beautified the so-called "immortality" that the cult members worshipped as a gift from "Lord Jashin."
But in reality, it was merely the product of a forbidden jutsu experiment he accidentally obtained, one of the abilities complementary to "Jujutsu: Curse of Death Controlling Possessing Blood."
However, the conditions for completing the forbidden jutsu experiment were too harsh, requiring extremely high willpower from the subject. Even he couldn't endure such pain.
Only this guy, who despite being from the Hidden Hot Spring Village, actively sought out the Jashin cult because of his desire for combat, and who was already mad at a young age, remained.
Not only did he deeply believe in Lord Jashin, as he called him, but he also made the fastest progress in the forbidden jutsu experiment, making him highly likely to be the first successful case.
"Ha, you saw me, kid..."
Ryutetsu struggled to stand, sneering, "It seems I can't keep you alive... What a pity, just one step away... Blame your bad luck."
Saying this, he dragged the scythe he had obtained from the underground palace, making a harsh scraping sound on the ground, and walked step by step towards Hidan on the operating table.
He had created many medicines for treating injuries, and with those, he could still repair his body.
Although this experimental subject was precious, he wasn't comfortable with someone being nearby while he was recovering from severe injuries.
However, Hidan looked at Ryutetsu, who was breathing like a broken bellows, with no expression on his face—no fear, no pleading, not even confusion...
Only a pure, direct observation in his eyes, as if scrutinizing a dying, strange insect he had never seen before.
"Lord Cult Leader," he asked calmly, "What are you afraid of? Didn't you say that after death, you would meet Lord Jashin? So what are you afraid of?"
"..."
Ryutetsu's blood-stained pupils met those eyes and detected the emotion within them. The intense pain was almost drowned out by a surge of even greater anger.
The Jashin cult was his exclusive domain!
Hidan before him was merely an experimental subject over whom he held the power of life and death!
He would absolutely not allow himself to be stared at in such a way by the lowest-tier "expendable"!
"Hehehe!" Ryutetsu couldn't help but laugh in extreme fury, "Very well, I will let you feel pain one last time, to bring you closer to Lord Jashin."
With that, he let go of the scythe in his hand and reached out to grasp Hidan's slender finger, forcefully breaking it with a snap.
But at this moment, he suddenly felt Hidan's restrained wrist tense.
Then, it twisted.
A spine-chilling sound of muscles and tendons tearing erupted!
Rip! Crack, crack, crack!
Amidst a series of terrifying shattering sounds, the wrist was almost twisted into a pretzel, the bones pulverized under the force, and it was thus freed from the restraint.
"What?" Ryutetsu's sneer froze on his face, utterly astonished.
Before the stunned Ryutetsu could react, Hidan's freed arm swung towards him.
Bang!
Ryutetsu, already severely wounded and caught off guard, had not expected Hidan to unleash such force. Struck in the chest, he staggered back several steps.
Clang!
He crashed heavily into a cold surgical instrument stand, sending metal instruments clattering to the floor with a harsh noise.
Then, in Ryutetsu's dazed gaze, clouded by pain and shock,
A strange twitch began on Hidan's pale, vacant face.
First, his lips, twitching upwards ever so slightly, as if attempting a completely unfamiliar facial expression.
Then, like cracking ice, that curve suddenly expanded!
"Ha..."
A short gasp escaped his throat, which then morphed into a sharp, high-pitched, insane, terrifying roar of laughter.
"Hahahahahahaha!!!"
This laughter came without warning, filled with extreme distortion.
Bang!
The restraint on his other hand was forcibly torn off, revealing putrid flesh and stark white bone fragments at the wrist, blindingly vivid.
"Lord Cult Leader."
Hidan sat up directly on the operating table, then looked at Ryutetsu and grinned, "At this point, do you really think this level of pain will still make me suffer?"
Saying this, he rolled off the operating table, his bony feet landing on the cold floor.
His gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, slowly moved to the dark, gruesome scythe Ryutetsu had discarded. He bent down in an extremely clumsy posture and grasped the handle of the great scythe.
And the moment his fingertips touched the hilt, a memory violently entered his mind.
Hidan's vision seemed to transform into an endless, viscous sea of scarlet blood, a tapestry woven from pure violence, cruelty, and endless wails.
A shadowy figure, whose appearance was unclear, held a scythe and sat upon a stark white bone throne, seemingly forged from twisted, wailing pale souls, their faces contorted in agony.
From those low, blurry eyes, no emotion could be seen, only a pure indifference and condescension towards all life, as if only death could pique Its slightest interest.
"Ha... hahaha!"
Laughter once again squeezed from the depths of Hidan's throat, no longer purely deranged but infused with ecstasy, an extreme fanaticism like finding a spiritual home!
"Lord Jashin! Indeed! He truly exists!!"
He finally "understood," and finally "saw."
That supreme, terrifying, perfect existence, symbolizing death and slaughter.
In Hidan's twisted worldview, that figure matched all his fantasies of a god: ultimate power, mercilessness, and slaughter!
That was the being he pursued and worshipped!
He knew the name of this ninja tool!
"Shikigami!"
Hidan's body trembled violently, not from fear, but from the ecstatic tremor of witnessing a divine miracle.
"What are you even talking about?"
Ryutetsu watched Hidan with bewildered eyes, completely unaware of why he had suddenly changed.
"You are truly ignorant, Lord Cult Leader. Lord Jashin has never even cast a glance upon you."
Hidan looked up at Ryutetsu before him, his lips splitting into a terrifying smile filled with reverence. He pointed at Ryutetsu's chest, tears streaming down his face as he snarled, "Look at you."
"What a fragile life!"
"You don't savor such a beautiful moment of death, you don't offer yourself to Lord Jashin, you care about some damn immortality! Are you out of your mind?!"
"Pain? Pain? Lord Jashin wants death! Death!"
Looking at the almost frantic Hidan, Ryutetsu felt a chill run through him, and fear appeared in his eyes.
What Jashin?!
No one knew better than him that the so-called Jashin was something he had fabricated for his experiments, purely to make those ignorant cult members collect money and experimental subjects for him.
So what in the world is this "Jashin" that this guy is talking about?!
This guy is an absolute lunatic!!
Just then.
Hidan's voice suddenly faltered. He gripped the scythe, which looked disproportionately large and clumsy against his frame, and revealed his perfectly aligned teeth to Ryutetsu.
Then, he moved.
Step by step, from walking, gradually breaking into a run.
Screech!!
The blade scraped across the cold floor, sending sparks flying and emitting a harsh, ear-splitting screech.
A few steps, and he was there in an instant.
"Hahahaha! Die!"
Hidan's gaunt body leaped into the air, raising the scythe, its reflection captured in Ryutetsu's widened pupils, contorted by pain and terror.
"No..." Ryutetsu could only manage a single syllable of desperate fear from his throat.
Thwack!!
Hidan brought the scythe down with all his might, the blade deeply cleaving into Ryutetsu's head. Ryutetsu's terrified shriek was cut short!
But it wasn't over.
Hidan raised the murderous weapon again. In his clumsy movements, there was a near-ritualistic focus.
Thwack! Thwack!
One! Two! Three! Four!
Each heavy blow was accompanied by sickening sounds of flesh and cracking bone. Blood splattered like red raindrops onto Hidan's pale, grinning face!
Finally, Hidan stopped.
"Hah... hah..."
He panted heavily, his thin chest heaving.
Ryutetsu's body, once symbolizing the cult leader's authority and power, was now a pulpy, unrecognizable mass of flesh after the frenzied hacking.
Looking at the烂肉 (rotten meat) beneath his feet, Hidan revealed a satisfied smile.
Buzz!
An invisible ripple passed over the scythe. In a place Hidan couldn't see, Ryutetsu's soul was absorbed into the scythe.
A small portion of the soul transformed into spiritual energy and was fed back to Hidan, making Hidan feel his formerly fatigued mind become clear.
"Ah~"
Hidan's expression turned to one of enjoyment and pleasure. He piously closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and recited: "Lord Jashin, your devout follower offers you this sacrifice, from this moment, until eternity."
With that, he slowly opened his eyes, raised his hand, wiped away the warm blood splattered on the corner of his mouth, and then, extended his tongue, gently licking it with a hint of curiosity and exploration.
The rich,腥甜 (bloody-sweet) taste filled his mouth, making Hidan's expression become excited once again.
"Hmm, Lord Cult Leader is dead. What about the other cult members?" he murmured, then his lips curled into a grin, "Should I just kill them all and offer them to Lord Jashin?"
But before he could do anything else, a chill emanated from the scythe.
"Hmm? Hmm?" Hidan blinked, pondering, "That's right, Lord Jashin wouldn't like worthless trash."
"So, you want me to continue attracting believers and offer the deaths of powerful individuals?"
"Ah, that sounds difficult," he scratched his head with a slight headache. "But if it's Lord Jashin's command, I have no choice but to do it."
With that, Hidan dragged the heavy scythe, which was mismatched to his build, and stepped out of the laboratory, treading through the viscous blood pooling and spreading beneath Ryutetsu's remains.
His bare feet squelched in the blood, making a sickening sound, leaving a trail of clear, crimson footprints.
Meanwhile, at the Hidden Leaf encampment in the Land of the Moon.
[Ding! Your lie has been judged as [Inciting Fanaticism] [Playing God] [Ghostly Schemes], Hidan experienced intense emotional fluctuations, reaching the level of [Worshiping as a God], gaining 3,000 Realization Points...]
Hyuga Kawa listened to the prompt in his mind, observing everything through the "Shikigami" scythe. A deep smile subtly crossed his downcast eyes.
He truly hadn't expected another pleasant surprise.
Speaking of lies, what could be more enticing than religion?
Indeed, only such a scheme could bring a continuous stream of unexpected surprises.
Regardless of whether the so-called "Jashin" was real or fake, from now on, he would be the true Jashin.
It was foreseeable that as long as Hidan existed, there would be a constant influx of points.
The points gained from a single believer might be small, but it would be different with hundreds or thousands of devotees...
"Kawa."
A voice interrupted Hyuga Kawa's thoughts. He looked up at the serious and earnest Jiraiya.
"You said you want to launch an air raid on the Hidden Cloud Village's encampment?" Jiraiya asked in a deep voice.