Walking along the road leading to the shrine of the Land of Demons.
Yamanaka Shinno listened quietly as his escort, Ashigi, explained the unique governing system of the Land of Demons. He couldn't help but feel a deep admiration for the foresight of Priestess Miroku.
The Land of Demons was different from most countries in the ninja world.
Back during the Warring States Period, when the borders of the great nations were still undefined and the Land of Demons had yet to take shape, this region was less a country and more a place where malevolent spirits had been sealed away.
Corrupted by the miasma of these spirits, the land was barren and lifeless for centuries.
It was only thanks to generation after generation of priestesses sacrificing themselves to re-seal the spirits that the land slowly began to recover—first sprouting greenery, then becoming suitable for farming, covered in flowers and shrubs.
None of the great nations' daimyō cared for such a tainted place. On the contrary, they feared that if the spirits ever broke free, they would be the first victims. And so, from ancient times, the governance of this land was entrusted entirely to the priestesses.
In other words—
The Land of Demons had no daimyō and was not a monarchy. It was a theocracy—a country where political and religious authority were unified.
The highest authority was, naturally, the current priestess.
Beneath her were eight deputies who managed various institutions and affairs.
The priestess rarely involved herself directly in administration. But in a country where faith in the priestess was absolute, even a single word from her could sway the people's hearts and alter the course of the entire nation.
The moment Miroku heard of the alliance between Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure, she had immediately dispatched a formal diplomatic letter to Konoha.
In it, she declared that the Land of Demons would willingly submit to Konoha's rule, pledging unconditional loyalty—asking only that the shrine be preserved and, if possible, that Konoha assist in sealing or dealing with the spirits!
At a time when most of the ninja world's rulers and nobles were still lost in their own pleasures, unable to see the coming storm, unsure of what Yamanaka Shinno would do—
Miroku had already shown remarkable foresight by sending that letter.
And when no reply came—
She had sent letter after letter, each time lowering her tone even further, making her stance ever clearer.
Shinno wasn't sure if Miroku could truly see the future, but her attitude—and the repeated mention of the spirits in her letters—were enough to make this trip worthwhile.
...
They walked over a road paved with worn greenstone, through dense forests, passing under ancient, weathered torii gates.
At last, a modest shrine came into view, built against the mountainside, surrounded by a serene and secluded environment.
At the top of a long flight of stone steps—
Priestess Miroku stood waiting. She wore a white robe embroidered with gold trim, her tense expression softening into a relieved smile as she spotted Shinno.
Golden light shimmered from the crown atop her head. Her figure seemed to drift weightlessly down the stairs, alighting gracefully at the bottom.
"Priestess-sama."
Ashigi, the escort who had led Shinno here, immediately knelt with deep reverence.
"You've done well, Ashigi. Go and rest."
"Yes, Priestess-sama."
Ashigi bowed once more, then respectfully retreated before finally turning to leave.
Shinno felt the power radiating from Miroku, a force identical to the energy enveloping the shrine itself. He couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.
No wonder he hadn't been able to find this place the first time he tried using Yomotsu Hirasaka for spatial transfer.
This wasn't merely hidden by spatial techniques—it existed halfway between reality and illusion, under a completely different set of rules.
And the entire shrine was cloaked in the power accumulated by generations of priestesses. With Miroku at its heart, unless someone had been exposed to this force before, there was no way they could even locate it.
...
"Lord Shinno, welcome to the Land of Demons."
Miroku gave a graceful bow.
Her voice was gentle, her demeanor dignified, yet there was an indefinable warmth that made her feel approachable.
"Uh, you don't have to be so formal. I'm not really a fan of stiff greetings," Shinno replied, returning a casual bow and deliberately relaxing his posture.
From the look of her, Miroku was probably only a year or two older than him.
When she put on the formal airs of a priestess, her limbs and expressions stiffened noticeably, betraying her discomfort.
Clearly, this kind of official ceremony wasn't something she was used to either.
"Phew—thank you, Lord Shinno."
Miroku cast a sneaky glance toward the path Ashigi had taken, then visibly relaxed, breaking into a bright smile.
Her previously rigid posture softened completely.
Because of their sacred duties, priestesses usually didn't live long, and were trained from childhood in the arts of the shrine. Despite all the heavy expectations placed on her, at her core, Miroku was still just a girl yearning for freedom and a carefree life.
...
"You priestesses... do you really have the ability to see the future?" Shinno asked casually as he followed her up the steps toward the shrine.
"To be precise," Miroku replied, "we glimpse possible futures—things that might happen."
She explained as they climbed.
The spirits' nature was unique: ancient beings fueled by the evil thoughts of humanity. Because they embodied all mankind's malice, they possessed the ability to peer into possible future outcomes.
As generations of priestesses sealed the spirits with their own lives, they gradually formed an inseparable connection with them.
Now, as the latest inheritor of this burden, Miroku had pushed that latent ability to its limit, enabling her to glimpse the flickering possibilities ahead.
Shinno nodded in understanding.
He had originally suspected this might involve some high-level time manipulation—but now it seemed more like a Fire Emblem–style prediction based on massive amounts of data.
...
"This spirit ability is actually pretty interesting," Shinno muttered.
"So," he asked, "what kind of future did you see?"
"A lot. It's all very chaotic," Miroku said thoughtfully. "But two futures appeared more frequently than the rest."
"Let's hear them."
"First..." she said with a mischievous smile, "in one version, you never came to the Land of Demons. Instead, you disappeared somewhere, and I gave birth to your child."
"Wait, wait, wait! What child?! I never even came here!"
"With a little help from certain priestess techniques~" Miroku said, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
Each generation of priestesses had always claimed that they conceived children through divine intervention.
The reality, though, was much more pragmatic—and much darker.
In order to produce stronger heirs capable of restraining the spirits, the priestesses secretly used traces of the strongest individuals' bloodlines—whether it be a strand of hair, a shard of nail, or a flake of skin.
As long as they had even the smallest piece, they could fuse it with their own power and create the next generation of priestesses.
And right now, the strongest individual by far was none other than Yamanaka Shinno.
"...Damn it."
Shinno wanted to protest but ended up blurting out a curse instead.
These priestesses were seriously absurd!
They didn't even bother asking the guy's permission before making a child?!
Just... forcibly moving ahead with it?!
...
"I couldn't see too far beyond that point," Miroku continued with a grin. "But the child had golden hair... and was really good at acting cute."
She practically skipped ahead, hands clasped behind her back, clearly delighted at having gotten one over on him.
...
"And the second future?" Shinno asked, forcing himself to set aside the chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind.
"In the second one, you came to the shrine," Miroku said, her voice softening. "And at that moment—all visions of the future just... stopped."
"In other words, the spirit dies?"
Shinno narrowed his eyes.
Since the priestesses' foresight came from their connection to the spirit, the sudden end of all futures could only mean one thing: the spirit's destruction.
But—
Given how deeply intertwined the priestess and the spirit were, wouldn't Miroku die along with it?
...
"Yes," Miroku said brightly. "The spirit itself realized it too. That's why lately, it's been frantically trying to break the seal that past priestesses laid down. A seal that should've lasted many more years... now has, at most, a year left. If you hadn't come within ten days..."
She reached into her robes and pulled out a small, exquisitely embroidered sachet.
There was a lightness in her expression—but also a hint of sorrow and regret—as she carefully placed it in Shinno's hands.
"...This is my hair," Shinno said through gritted teeth, shoving the sachet straight into his Infinite Realm without hesitation.
Damn it!
From now on, if he ever got a haircut outside, he would consider himself a fool!
Who knew when another kid might pop out thanks to a random strand of hair left behind?!
The old masters had been right all along—
When traveling the world, a man must protect himself at all costs!
...
"It's nice, though," Miroku said softly, climbing the last of the steps.
"If the spirit is truly destroyed... there won't be any more priestesses after me."
She turned at the shrine's entrance, spreading her arms wide, face tilted up to the warm sunlight, letting herself bask in its gentle warmth.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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