The Daimyō knelt beneath the divine statue for a long time but received no response from the Evil God.
He had found this statue in a dilapidated temple in the wilderness.
When he found it, the blood on the statue had dried up; it was dirty and foul-smelling.
After several years of his sacrifices, the statue finally came to life, continuously oozing fresh blood from its head every day.
The Daimyō stood up and walked towards the side and rear, where cages held some weak children.
These children were malnourished, dehydrated, and unable to resist, making them perfect sacrificial offerings.
Pulling a child from a cage, the Daimyō returned to the base of the statue.
Forcing the child to kneel before the statue, the Daimyō grabbed the child's dirty hair, exposing its throat towards the statue.
He drew a gem-encrusted dagger and first sliced open the child's forehead.
After licking the blood, the Daimyō used the child's blood to draw a blood array—an outer circle with an inner triangle—on the ground.
After completing the preparations, the Daimyō slit his own throat.
His blood and the child's gushed out together, splashing into the blood pool beneath the statue.
The blood pool churned. The fresh blood seemed to come alive, automatically flowing backwards and upwards, crawling onto the statue.
The child died quickly. Bizarrely, the Daimyō did not die; the wound on his throat healed rapidly.
A miracle, this is a miracle! Even with his throat slit like that, the Daimyō hadn't died.
With such an immortal body, he need not fear shinobi anymore. Neither Kumo-nin nor Konoha shinobi could kill him.
"Great Evil God! Grant me power far surpassing that of shinobi! For this, I am willing to offer everything of the Land of Hot Water!"
—
Outside the capital's walls, several consecutive False Darkness attacks struck the Three Worlds Wood Human, automatically blocked by the wooden figure.
However, Yōkō didn't even look at the busy Omoi. He sharply turned his head.
His gaze passed over the countless houses and hot spring baths of the capital, focusing on the direction of the Tenshu Castle.
A strange power enveloped the Tenshu Castle...
That power was completely different from chakra!
To deal with the Ōtsutsuki, he must utilize power systems other than chakra.
And now Yōkō had encountered a special energy.
He looked down at Omoi on the ground: "You are somewhat in the way..."
Omoi's Lightning Release Body Flicker was quite fast, making him slightly troublesome.
"Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
Among the forest of flowering trees, vibrant flower buds bloomed.
The flower buds opened, releasing large amounts of toxic pollen that drifted around the base of the city wall.
"Cough! Cough!"
The continuously growing Wood Release forced Omoi to jump and dodge, inevitably inhaling some of the toxic pollen.
He coughed repeatedly, his vision blurring.
A Lightning Release: False Darkness split two thick tree trunks, yet he was still dozens of meters away from Fox.
His Lightning Release simply couldn't threaten Fox's main body. He had been circling within the Wood Release, constantly entangled with the ever-growing tree trunks. Even with meticulously planned attacks, he couldn't break through the three-headed, six-armed Three Worlds Wood Human.
While dodging one tree trunk, Omoi's lower back was slammed into another.
Gasping in pain, he inhaled a second mouthful of toxic pollen.
His consciousness became confused; thunderclouds suddenly appeared before his eyes.
These thunderclouds seemed so real, so familiar. On the mountain peak he often visited as a child, such thunderclouds would appear every rainy season.
He had learned his Lightning Release amidst those thunderclouds.
The thunderclouds rushed towards him. He felt a heavy pressure and frantically shook his head.
Impossible, there can't be thunderclouds here.
When his consciousness cleared, he saw a large tree crushing his chest.
His chest was crushed...
The toxic pollen contained strong neurotoxins; he had been hallucinating.
Following Ryūjin, Omoi was also dead.
From a distance, Dodai saw Omoi's corpse impaled on a tree trunk, his chest cavity crushed, his lower body having fallen away from the trunk.
Advisor Omoi...
Dodai let out a bitter laugh.
Everyone said Konoha had been severely struck by the rogue-nin Uchiha Madara, losing three high-ranking members.
But in the blink of an eye, Kumogakure had also lost two high-ranking members.
The Two-Tails Jinchūriki Ryūjin, and Advisor Omoi.
Even a wounded Konoha felt despairing. One could only imagine how strong Konoha would be without rogue-nin and internal strife.
From start to finish, Omoi had been struggling against the Wood Release, while Fox hadn't moved a muscle.
Dodai withdrew his grief-stricken gaze and led some Kumo-nin in fleeing towards the mountains north of the capital.
He didn't know how many of this hundred-plus Kumo-nin wcould escape.
After killing Omoi, Yōkō Hippo gave the hand signal to pursue.
Hippo led the Konoha shinobi to continue pursuing Dodai.
Dodai excelled at defense but was average in offense; Hippo wouldn't face much danger.
Yōkō's figure vanished, stealthily making his way towards the Tenshu Castle.
—
Inside the Tenshu Castle, after finishing his sacrifice to the Evil God, the Daimyō returned to the corner where the cages were stacked.
"Why is there only one child left? This isn't enough... I must replenish them soon.
What was your name again... Hidan? Oh, it's Hidan."
Hidan shrank into a corner of the cage, looking at the Daimyō in terror.
The Daimyō's neck was still bleeding, but his immortal body allowed the injury to heal rapidly.
Previously, Hidan's village had been attacked by rogue samurai. In at the end, all the children from the village were captured and brought to the Tenshu Castle.
Those rogue samurai were all the Daimyō's subordinates.
Satisfied, the Daimyō stepped onto the long ascending staircase leading to the entrance of the underground palace.
He activated the mechanism, but the servant outside did not open the stone door for him.
After an unknown length of time, the sound of an exploding tag came from outside the door, and the stone door was blasted open.
The Daimyō was thrown back embarrassingly by the explosion and flying rocks, his expensive silk robes torn.
Nara Kyoichi, who had blasted the door, realized the Daimyō had been standing so close behind it. He rushed in and helped the Daimyō up.
"Daimyō-sama, we are late. Are you alright?"
The Daimyō switched his expression from sinister to amiably simple, like a harmless, portly man.
The Daimyō glanced at Nara Kyoichi's distinctive Pineapple Head hairstyle and said, "Nara shinobi, thank you for coming. Have the Kumo-nin left?"
Nara Kyoichi said, "The battle outside the city has stopped. I believe Fox-sama has already resolved it."
Nara Kyoichi glanced into the depths of the underground palace, where the light was dim and he could see nothing.
"That's good, that's very good." The Daimyō explained, "Nara shinobi, this is a shelter I built. Please excuse its simplicity. I don't know any ninjutsu; when trouble comes, I can only hide."
The Daimyō walked out of the underground palace and saw the corpses littering the main hall.
There were bodies of samurai, servants, and his own brother.
The floor-to-ceiling silk curtains by the doors and windows, several meters long, were splattered with bright red blood.
For a moment, the Daimyō's face turned extremely ugly.
Nara Kyoichi pulled his attention back from the underground palace and quickly explained:
"Daimyō-sama, the Kumo-nin have abandoned you. They sent assassins to kill you.
Fortunately, I arrived in time and killed the two Kumo-nin.
It's just a pity that many people in the hall fell victim to the Kumo-nin."
"Tragic, so tragic..."
The Daimyō thought to himself, did the Kumo-nin really do this? Or is it some kind of warning from Konoha?
I accepted Kumogakure's protection, letting Kumo-nin serve as my Guardian Ninja.
Konoha was displeased, so they found an excuse, killed the people around me, using this slaughter as a warning.
Even if he knew this was Konoha's warning, what could he do?
He could only pretend to know nothing and thank Konoha for the grace of sparing his life.
The grace of sparing my life...
With countless hatred having no outlet, the Daimyō drew his gem-encrusted dagger, knelt on the ground, and began stabbing the two Kumo-nin corpses wildly.
Nara Kyoichi assumed the Daimyō was consumed by hatred for the Kumo-nin and sympathized with the pain of losing his close associates, so he waited for the Daimyō to vent.
The shinobi world was a distorted place. Shinobi often had mental issues, and nobles were no different.
Death was omnipresent. Many had experienced heart-wrenching loss, becoming hysterical.
The Nara clan was valued by the village, often considered for important advisory roles, partly because of their strong spiritual energy and relatively stable mental state. They were less likely to make extreme decisions due to emotional stimulation.
Konoha Village was full of psychosis, full of PTSD, full of madmen.
Among a crowd of madmen, the calm Nara clan seemed precious.
The Daimyō stood up, covered in blood, carefully wiped his dagger clean, and returned it to his waist.
He turned to Nara Kyoichi with a smile: "Konoha Jōnin, please become my Guardian Ninja Captain. This Tenshu Castle can do without me, but it cannot be without a Guardian Ninja Captain."
Looking at the smile plastered on the Daimyō's face, Nara Kyoichi felt a physiological sense of disgust.
Especially since the Daimyō was covered in blood. The blood from corpses was different from that of living people; it was dirtier, more foul-smelling.
The fact that the Daimyō could be so calm and request him to be the Guardian Ninja Captain after his close associates had been killed by Kumo-nin frightened Nara Kyoichi.
He, a Konoha JōNin, was actually afraid of a noble.
At this moment, he even considered suggestions to the village that they kill this Daimyō and replace him with a more compliant one.
Nara Kyoichi did not agree but said, "Let's wait for Fox-sama to arrive. He will arrange everything here properly."
—
Deep within the underground palace at that moment, a fox mask slowly materialized on the wall.
In the palace, two candle lamps illuminated a statue covered in flowing blood.
Parts of the blood reflected the candlelight, making the statue resemble a large piece of blood-red colored glass.
Yōkō didn't reveal any presence. He planned to return during the next full moon cycle to test the depths of this Evil God's power.
If possible, he wanted to obtain the Evil God's power, or even replace the Evil God directly.
With his current Super Kage-level strength, unless he obtained the Ten-Tails or received the Yin-Yang power from the Sage of Six Paths, there wouldn't be much room for improvement left.
The power of the Evil God intrigued Yōkō.
—
Returning to the surface, Yōkō instantly appeared at the entrance of the main hall.
Seeing the ANBU wearing the fox mask, the Daimyō quickly scurried over:
"Fox-sama! Are you Konoha's Fox? I've heard of you; you are the most active ANBU shinobi in Konoha.
Please, assign me Guardian Ninja quickly. Without Guardian Ninja, who knows how many more will die in my Tenshu Castle."
Through his mask, Yōkō stared at this mild-looking portly man.
Who would have thought this fat man was secretly worshiping an Evil God.
Yōkō said: "Jōnin Kyoichi, notify the village. Ask them to send a new Foreign Affairs Advisor to handle matters in the Land of Hot Water.
You assign a few Guardian Ninja and quickly take people to pursue Dodai.
The murderers who killed Shinnosuke-sama must die! Not a single one shall live!
I will go after Hippo now. Catch up as soon as possible."
"Yes, Sir!"
The Daimyō tried to stop them, but found Fox had already vanished with a Body Flicker.
He hurriedly asked Nara Kyoichi: "Jōnin Kyoichi, are you leaving too? Won't you stay in the capital?"
Nara Kyoichi said: "I was Shinnosuke-sama's assistant and guard. Of course, I must go to avenge Shinnosuke-sama.
Don't worry, I will leave you some capable Guardian Ninja."
***
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(Chapter End)