Chapter 16: The Theory
A young figure emerged at the edge of the black market, a smile playing on his lips. He was clearly in a good mood.
I knew it, Kael thought. The place was completely dead. His business must be terrible. And that old geezer was still putting on airs, it's hilarious! His business is probably even worse than I imagined.
He felt a surge of pride, having used the one thousand Ryo from the dead Jashinist to buy a piece of classified information about the cult. And the contents of that information were more shocking than he could have ever imagined.
They were planning to summon their Evil God.
At that thought, his expression turned grim. As far as Kael remembered, Lord Jashin had never once appeared or descended in the original story. The information could be fake. But then he remembered that the main plot of the story hadn't even begun yet, and a knot of anxiety tightened in his stomach.
"And regardless of whether the Evil God actually descends, they've already started preparing the sacrifices..." A cold light flashed in Kael's eyes.
The intelligence report mentioned that villages all over the Land of Hot Water were being found empty. He himself had seen a village with smoke still rising from its chimneys, yet completely devoid of people. A chill ran down his spine. The missing villagers were likely captured to be used as blood sacrifices to their god.
"Damn it!" Kael swore, unable to contain his anger.
Rei and the other students behind him jumped in fright, looking at him with alarm.
"W-what's wrong, Captain?" Murakami Rin asked timidly, inching forward.
After a moment of silence, Kael replied, his face dark, "Let's go meet up with Rino-sensei first. I'll explain later."
The group then climbed back through the tunnel the Earth Dragon had made. As they ascended, Kael wracked his brain, trying to recall every scrap of information about the Evil God from the original story.
There's almost no information about the Evil God in the original work. The so-called 'god' never appears in a physical form. We just get Hidan, who has the Death Controlling Possessed Blood curse and immortality, and who killed countless shinobi from the Hidden Hot Water Village before defecting. His bizarre abilities couldn't have come from nowhere; they must have been granted by the 'Evil God' they talk about...
The core tenet of Jashinism is slaughter. They worship this Evil God, and Hidan's immortality was likely the result of their numerous sacrifices. So, this god they speak of must have incredible power, perhaps even the ability to grant eternal life or regeneration from a single drop of blood.
Kael's eyes flickered with insight.
Let me make a bold guess. The Jashinists have always operated in the shadows. It makes no sense for them to suddenly start carrying out these horrifying village-wide massacres. Attacking large numbers of civilians, once exposed, would absolutely draw the condemnation, and even military intervention, of every shinobi nation.
They took the villagers to use their blood as a sacrifice to their god. But maybe it's not to summon the god's descent. How could a mythical being like that be summoned so easily? After all, the Evil God never once appeared in the original story. So, what if... what if the Jashinists are using this massive-scale sacrifice to gain powers from their god? Powers like the Death Controlling Possessed Blood curse, or even the legendary immortality!
Kael's eyes lit up. He suddenly felt that he had stumbled upon the truth.
Outside Spring Meadow Town, in a deserted area.
After hearing Kael's report and reading the intelligence he'd bought, Inoshita Rino was incandescent with rage. Every word he spoke seemed to burn with fire.
"Based on the intel you bought and what we've seen on our journey, it seems the Jashinists are planning something big. Whether they truly intend to summon their god or, as you suspect, gain immortality, they plan to brutally murder all those captured villagers as sacrifices! Their followers might still be active within our borders, capturing our people. Those are citizens of the Land of Hot Water, and I will not allow this tragedy to happen!"
Every student felt the raw fury and killing intent radiating from him. Their own faces were twisted with anger and shock. Some of them had family in other villages who could be in danger right now.
Inoshita took a deep breath, struggling to calm his rage. He looked around at the young, determined faces.
"Everyone, to verify this intelligence, we need to check every village in the vicinity of Spring Meadow Town. We need to find out exactly how many villagers have fallen into their hands. You..."
Before he could finish, his students interrupted him, their voices filled with passion.
"Sensei, say no more! We're with you!"
"That's right! We'll go with you!"
They ran for an entire day. It wasn't until the evening of the next day that Kael's group was finally back on the road to the Hidden Hot Water Village.
In a dense forest, the group of more than a dozen shinobi-in-training was running at full tilt. The figure at the very back suddenly accelerated, coming up alongside the leader at the front.
"Kael, what is it?" Inoshita Rino asked, turning to him with a questioning look.
"Rino-sensei, I suspect the Jashinists will try to ambush us on the way back," Kael said, his expression grave. "Just like you said before, the low-ranking followers always move in groups. But that night, in that village, we only found one Jashinist Genin, while all the villagers were gone..."
"So..." Inoshita's face changed as he caught on.
"So... I think the ordinary followers must have left with the villagers just before we arrived. The time between their departure and our arrival couldn't have been more than half an hour, maybe even just fifteen minutes. Otherwise, the cooking fires wouldn't have still been smoking..." Kael said with certainty, but then his voice became hesitant. "I have reason to believe the Jashinists know we were the ones who killed their Genin. And knowing them, they will definitely retaliate."
Inoshita's expression flickered, and he nodded. "You have a point. That was an oversight on my part. What do you suggest?"
"I think we should take a detour instead of the direct route," Kael said without hesitation, having clearly thought it through. Fearing that Inoshita would be reluctant to delay delivering the intelligence, he quickly added, "If there's no ambush, then fine. But if there is, our current team is no match for them. We would risk losing the crucial intelligence we fought so hard to obtain!"
He delivered the last sentence with unshakeable conviction.