The waves washed half a boat onto the shore.
The boat had been destroyed by a Water Release jutsu. Clinging to one of its planks was a young fisherman named Yokoshima.
After crawling onto the beach, he immediately shoved his fingers down his throat and forced himself to vomit again and again, throwing up all the seawater in his stomach.
Just now, out on the sea, he had encountered a group of ninja running across the surface of the water. With a casual jutsu, those ninja had smashed his family's small boat apart.
His father had been swept away by the Water Release and buried beneath the sea. Yokoshima had heard the horrible cracking sounds of his father's bones breaking.
Yokoshima staggered up from the sand and stumbled toward the small fishing village where his family lived.
He had to take his family and the others in the village and flee.
Why had the noble officials said nothing?
Why had no one told them ninja were fighting nearby?
The closer he came to the fishing village, the slower Yokoshima's steps became.
Quiet.
It was too quiet.
In the final hundred meters, Yokoshima broke into a mad sprint and rushed into the village.
"Little sister! Little sister, what are you doing?"
He saw his sister leaning against a post.
"What are you doing outside Uncle's house? The ninja are coming! Hurry! Come with me!"
His sister had her back to him. Yokoshima reached out to turn her by the shoulder, but a powerful resistance came back through his hand.
When his sister used to get angry, she would also turn her back to him like this, refusing to budge no matter how hard he tried.
Yokoshima pulled harder.
Then his hand froze on her shoulder.
He saw it.
He saw a strand of steel wire piercing through his sister's shoulder, nailing her to the post beside her.
In despair, Yokoshima's pupils suddenly shrank.
Slowly, carefully, he looked closer.
His sister was not leaning against the post.
She was… she had been stitched to it with steel wire.
Her left shoulder had been pierced through, the wire running through the post.
Across her chest and abdomen were jagged, zigzagging stitches of steel wire, each one finally anchored into the pillar.
Her left knee, ankle, and other joints had been threaded through the hard bone itself.
His sister's right leg crossed back behind her, making her look as though she were standing there playfully.
But in truth, her right leg was completely suspended, with only the tip of her foot touching the ground.
As for her head…
His sister's head tilted to the right.
It was not cute.
It was because another steel wire had hooked her head to the eaves of the house across the alley.
"No… no!"
Yokoshima stiffly avoided the wire hanging from the opposite eaves and finally saw his sister's face.
There was steel wire on her face as well.
It pulled the corners of her mouth upward, forcing her into a hideous smile.
Yokoshima collapsed to the ground.
The village chief had once said that ninja were murderers who wielded terrifying violence.
No one could punish ninja. The jutsu of four ninja alone could destroy an entire village.
At this moment, the village chief's description—the sort that could scare children to tears—had taken shape before his eyes.
Yokoshima sat there on the ground, crawling backward again and again until his back struck a wall.
How desperately he wished that everything before him was fake.
His gaze swept around.
Through a window, Yokoshima saw someone inside.
It was his aunt.
His aunt was looking down at his sister through the glass.
"Aunt! Aunt! Why…?"
Yokoshima still wanted to say something.
Still wanted to ask something.
But then he saw why his aunt's eyes were open.
Steel wire had hooked her eyelids up.
With his back against the wall, he slowly forced himself to stand.
For several minutes, his mind was blank.
Then, like a madman, he rushed toward the other houses in the village.
Steel wire was everywhere.
Corpses were everywhere.
And yet every corpse looked as if it were still alive, standing or sitting.
All of them had been stitched to nearby walls, pillars, or eaves with steel wire.
This was a dead village.
Everyone was like a stitched puppet, pretending to live inside death.
His mother, his elder sister, his younger sister, his brother-in-law, his nephew…
All of them were dead in poses that made them look alive.
Yokoshima was the true walking corpse.
He stared without blinking, dragging his ankles forward.
Even when certain thunderous sounds rang out in the distance, Yokoshima did not notice.
Not until he walked out of the fishing village from another direction and saw several ninja burst out of the coconut grove.
His eyes instantly went bloodshot.
Steel wire!
He saw steel wire!
One of the ninja wore a white mask with long, narrow eye slits. In his hand was a weapon like a long needle, and steel wire was tied through the eye of that needle.
The long needle and the steel wire were his weapons.
Yokoshima stared at the rippling water-pattern markings on the mask and recognized him as a ninja from Kirigakure.
Before, the Land of Hot Water had been protected by Uzushio ninja, whose forehead protectors bore a spiral mark.
After Uzushio Village was destroyed, the Land of Hot Water came under Konoha's protection. Konoha's forehead protector looked like a leaf.
Yokoshima was nothing more than an ordinary fisherman, but the village chief had taught him how to identify ninja.
A female ninja charged out of the coconut grove. On her forehead was Konoha's forehead protector.
"Kuriarare Kushimaru! Don't even think about escaping!"
Yokoshima heard the Konoha kunoichi call the Mist ninja with the long needle and steel wire Kuriarare Kushimaru.
Kuriarare Kushimaru…
He was the one who had killed everyone in the fishing village through such deranged methods.
Yokoshima charged toward Kuriarare Kushimaru with no regard for his own life.
Kuriarare Kushimaru was just about to flee toward the sea when he caught sight of the fisherman boy rushing in from the side.
He casually threw out his long blade, Nuibari, unwilling to let an accident interfere with his escape.
Nuibari shot toward Yokoshima.
Yokoshima felt no fear at all.
He only wanted to kill Kuriarare Kushimaru.
And yet, he did not even have a weapon in his hand.
At that moment, a stone panda suddenly slammed down in front of Yokoshima.
Nuibari struck the stone panda and failed to pierce its tough stone skin.
Yokoshima also crashed into the stone panda's back and fell to the ground.
By the time he climbed up dizzily, his enemy Kuriarare Kushimaru, the stone panda, and the Konoha kunoichi had all vanished.
More ninja rushed out of the forest.
They all passed over Yokoshima, stepped onto the sea, and pursued their target across the water.
Yokoshima stood there like a fool, staring blankly at the sea.
After an unknown amount of time, someone walked out from the village.
"Tragic. How tragic. Even I'm not as much of a beast as Kuriarare Kushimaru."
Yokoshima turned his head and saw a young man wearing a black robe patterned with poisonous clouds.
The emptiness in his eyes disappeared, replaced by urgency.
"You know Kuriarare Kushimaru? Who is he? Please… can you help me take revenge?"
After only a few words, Yokoshima was almost crying.
Hidan waited patiently.
If this boy broke down sobbing, snot and tears streaming everywhere, then he would not be worth taking in.
A few minutes later, there was no pain left in Yokoshima's eyes.
Only hatred carved into the bone.
Hidan nodded repeatedly.
"Kid, I like those eyes.
What beautiful eyes they are.
Love and friendship are jokes. Only hatred lasts forever.
If you hate this world, then join the Church of the Three Calamities.
The Church will guide you to completely change this rotten world.
Together, we will create a world without war. A world without slaughter.
I saw a little girl in the village just now who looked a lot like you. She must have been your sister.
Join the Church of the Three Calamities, and the Three Gods will grant you the power of revenge.
They will also grant you the power to build a new order.
This world deserves to be destroyed.
In the next world, children like your sister will grow up healthy and happy.
Come, kid. Tell me.
Are you willing to join the Church of the Three Calamities?"
Yokoshima nodded without the slightest hesitation.
"I'm willing to seize any chance that lets me take revenge.
I'm willing to offer everything I have and join this Church of the Three Calamities you speak of…"
Hidan thought the boy only understood revenge and did not yet understand the charm of the new order the Leader spoke of.
But it didn't matter.
In time, he would understand the greatness of the Church of the Three Calamities.