Half a month later, Hidan contacted Yako through the Phantom Blood Shadow Technique.
"Leader, the faith of the Church of the Three Calamities is spreading too smoothly. So smoothly that I'm starting to worry there might be spies mixed into the group."
Yako asked, "Why is it spreading so smoothly?"
"Wherever there are Mist ninja, I go there. Leader, you know what Kirigakure is like. Among the great ninja villages, it's the bloodiest. In their eyes, the people of the Land of Hot Water are no different from rotten fish in the sea.
In the villages they slaughter, I can always find people who meet our requirements—people filled with hatred for this world.
Once I tell them that following the Church of the Three Calamities can change the world and help them take revenge, they believe me with all their hearts."
"I see," Yako said. "Then spread the faith of the Three Gods boldly. There's no need to worry about spies.
They have all sacrificed blood to the Three Gods. If any of them are spies, the Three Gods will tell me.
Once the temple is built in the capital of the Land of Hot Water, I will end the war there."
Hidan lowered his hands, ending the prayer.
Another half a month passed, and Hidan entered the capital of the Land of Hot Water.
Behind him were already nearly a hundred people.
In small villages and towns, Hidan left behind shrines.
In larger towns, he planned to do as they had in Sunagakure—find tall buildings and turn them into temples.
Before an abandoned building on the northern side of the capital, three bound nobles were thrown to the ground.
Hidan raised his head and looked at the Uzumaki clan crest on the building's wall.
In the past, this had been the Uzumaki clan's council hall in the capital. After the Uzumaki clan was destroyed, it had been abandoned.
This tall structure was perfect as a temple.
Inside, the believers were carving statues with chisels.
When they sacrificed their souls, they had all seen the forms of the Three Gods. Now, as they carved the divine statues, they worked with extreme caution.
Once the statues were finished, Hidan prepared to preside over the sacrifice.
Sacrificing the souls of three nobles would anchor soul energy into the shrine.
The great Three Gods could use the soul energy within the shrine to perform all kinds of miraculous divine arts.
For example, within the shrine's range, they could use the sealed soul energy to communicate with the Three Gods and borrow power that belonged only to divinity itself—
the power to move instantly between different shrines.
Three believers cut open the nobles' foreheads, drew blood, licked it, and used it to paint the emblem of the Three Gods across the ground.
Hidan slowly turned his head and looked toward the entrance of the ruined courtyard.
A samurai captain appeared at the gate. Behind him stood a neat formation of samurai.
The samurai captain saw the nobles kneeling on the ground and was stunned.
Those noble lords, with all their dignity, had actually been forced to kneel before three stone statues in such a humiliating manner.
"Who are you people? By order of the Daimyo, I will execute all of you who dared plot against nobles!"
Hidan looked at the samurai and said, "Foolish samurai, the times have changed.
From the moment ninja first appeared, you samurai should have been swept into the garbage heap of history.
Under the threat of assassination and war, most ninja huddled inside their ninja villages. There is no ninja who does not fear assassination.
The vast lands between ninja villages belonged to the nobles.
The nobles governed nations and towns. The nobles hired samurai. All of that existed because ninja did not dare leave their villages for long periods of time.
But now, the times have changed. From this point forward, ninja will appear in every corner of the shinobi world.
Nobles and samurai—your living space has vanished. What awaits you is—"
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
Hidan froze.
The people he usually dealt with were either major figures like the Leader or extremely obedient believers. It had been a long time since he had met such a crude bastard.
"You! Yes, you! Tonight, I'm sacrificing you myself!"
Yokoshima and the others were believers Hidan had only recently recruited one after another. They had just begun coming into contact with chakra and possessed almost no combat strength.
Seeing several hundred samurai surround the place, Yokoshima and the others inevitably panicked.
Hidan pulled on the cable and dragged the Triple-Bladed Scythe from his back. Then his legs erupted with force, and he charged out.
After opening the Second Gate of the Eight Gates—the Gate of Rest—Hidan was already capable of crushing these samurai.
His Triple-Bladed Scythe swung again and again. He did not use the blades. Instead, he used the heavy back of the weapon to smash the samurai inside their iron armor until they collapsed to the ground.
"What a waste it would be to kill you. I'll sacrifice all of you noble lackeys to the great Three Gods!"
Before long, more than a hundred samurai lay scattered across the ground.
Some had broken spines. Some had shattered legs. All of them were in miserable condition.
Yokoshima thought to himself—
'Why didn't I meet Lord Hidan sooner? Why didn't I join the Church of the Three Calamities sooner?
If I had possessed strength like this, would my family have avoided dying at Kuriarare Kushimaru's hands?'
Hidan hooked the samurai captain with his Triple-Bladed Scythe, preparing to drag him back into the courtyard for sacrifice.
"Stop!"
Hidan frowned and turned his head.
The one who had arrived was fairly strong.
Six Konoha ninja appeared on a rooftop across the street.
Hidan saw that all six Konoha ninja had the crest of the Daimyo family of the Land of Hot Water hanging at their waists, and understood that the Guardian Ninja had arrived.
Yamanaka Kari, captain of the Daimyo's Guardian Ninja, swept his gaze over the miserable state of the samurai in the street, anger rising in his heart.
He did not know who these people were, but they had taken advantage of the war in the Land of Hot Water to cause trouble in the capital and cripple so many samurai.
These samurai were loyal subordinates of the Daimyo. They had done many things for him.
Yamanaka Kari drew a kunai from his ninja pouch and said, "Kill them. I will interrogate their corpses personally."
The six Guardian Ninja vanished from the rooftop with Body Flicker Technique, charging toward Hidan.
Hidan did not hurry. First, he glanced behind him.
Inside the courtyard, the three believers had already completed the sacrifice. The statues and shrine here had been infused with soul energy, meaning they could now borrow part of the Three Gods' power.
In other words…
In the next instant, a wooden dragon suddenly burst from the ground to Hidan's left. It curved in a graceful arc before blocking Hidan's path—and stopping Yamanaka Kari and the other six Guardian Ninja as well.
Yamanaka Kari was startled when he saw Wood Release.
Not because he feared the wooden dragon would injure him, but because the appearance of Wood Release represented Lord Fox.
Sure enough, Lord Fox appeared before them instantly.
"Jonin Kari, don't be reckless."
Yamanaka Kari hurriedly retreated. He landed on the opposite side of the abandoned street, feeling that everything before his eyes was strangely unreal.
Over a hundred samurai lay groaning on the ground.
And opposite him stood Konoha's ANBU Commander.
For some reason, Lord Fox, the ANBU Commander, had become involved with this strange group of people.
Yamanaka Kari said, "Lord Fox, I am the captain of the Land of Hot Water Daimyo's Guardian Ninja. I am responsible for protecting the Daimyo's safety.
Someone has crippled over a hundred of the Daimyo's samurai. But you seem to be with these people…"
Yako did not explain anything.
Instead, he tossed Yamanaka Kari a scroll.
Yamanaka Kari opened it and glanced over the contents.
A termination scroll?
Konoha intended to terminate its protection agreement with the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water?
"Lord Fox? This is…?"
Yako nodded.
"Jonin Kari, the way Konoha carries out missions has changed. We will no longer rely on noble commissions.
Starting today, Konoha ninja can instantly move to any town that has a shrine.
In other words, Konoha ninja will deeply participate in the defense and security affairs of every town.
As long as the village is willing, it can deploy over a thousand ninja to any town.
That means we no longer need to care about the nobles' faces."
Yamanaka Kari was half-convinced, half-doubtful.
He could not understand how things had changed into this.
But this was an order from the village—and the mission scroll had been delivered personally by the ANBU Commander.
Yamanaka Kari could not disobey.