Chapter 614: The Gods of the Shinobi World
"Kill every Daimyo who refuses to cooperate."
"The ship of the new era has no room for remnants of the old one."
Kenichi's Shadow Clone spoke calmly, his voice carrying an icy chill.
Minato hesitated.
For the people of the Shinobi World, the existence of the Daimyo had always been treated as normal.
They were essentially ordinary people who occupied an absurdly elevated position.
Although they possessed little personal power, they enjoyed tremendous political status and could even, at least nominally, decide who became the Kage of a village.
Even if that authority was mostly ceremonial, Minato had always found the arrangement somewhat ridiculous.
His feelings toward the Daimyo were complicated.
But even so, he had never seriously considered simply killing them.
"The Daimyo are nothing more than ordinary people."
The Shadow Clone's voice carried faint mockery.
"If I wanted to, I could point at A-Fu sweeping the street outside and declare him a Daimyo."
Minato looked at the clone in surprise.
He genuinely had not expected Kenichi's Shadow Clone to speak so bluntly.
Still, considering Kenichi's current strength, Minato did not dwell on it too much.
He simply assumed this particular Shadow Clone had developed a somewhat extreme personality.
So Minato seriously considered whether the proposal was feasible.
After thinking about it, he eventually decided there was no real reason to stop Kenichi.
Minato did not care deeply about the fate of the Daimyo.
More importantly, the entire Shinobi World was currently standing on the edge of a massive upheaval.
Even Minato himself could barely guarantee his own survival once the battle with Isshiki began.
Under circumstances like these, how could he spare much concern for a group of powerless nobles?
The Shadow Clone nodded in satisfaction.
He intended to strike Isshiki hard.
Very hard.
He wanted to see whether that Otsutsuki could withstand a concentrated bombardment from modern firepower.
However, inside the Shadow Clone's body, something strange was happening.
Among the flowing chakra within him, a tiny twisted gray thread slowly drifted.
It carried a peculiar energy.
...
"Are you sure we should do this?"
"We've already brought out everything we accumulated over all these years!"
Far from the attention of the Shinobi World, in a forgotten place that almost no living person knew existed, several bizarre beings were gathered together.
They were holding a meeting.
At the center of the group stood a thin and weakened Shinigami.
He was struggling to maintain some kind of connection.
Before him, a twisted gray thread slowly writhed.
"What other choice do we have?"
The Shinigami glanced toward the woman sitting opposite him.
"The humans of this world have nearly forgotten all of us."
"At least you still have a group of fanatics who worship you."
The woman remained calm.
Compared with the others, she clearly existed in a much better state.
At least she still possessed followers.
The other beings present were little more than weakened remnants of old gods desperately clinging to existence.
The woman paid little attention to the Shinigami's complaint.
At that moment, she was observing one of her followers.
The believer carried a peculiar three-bladed scythe.
Through her blessing, he possessed a certain degree of immortality.
But that immortality was far from absolute.
If it had truly been absolute, then these old gods would never have been driven into hiding by those hateful invaders from beyond their world.
"That outsider..."
The Shinigami toyed with the blade in his hand.
"I've sensed his power."
"He doesn't belong to this timeline."
"If we cooperate with him, perhaps we can return to this world."
The last time the Shinigami had encountered Kenichi, the experience had hardly been pleasant.
Kenichi had directly cut open the Shinigami's stomach and retrieved the souls stored inside him.
Even then, the Shinigami had not dared to become angry.
The reason was simple.
That terrifying outsider possessed power far beyond anything the Shinigami could currently resist.
Still, the encounter had given him an idea.
Beings like them were special.
Their existence depended heavily on humanity knowing, remembering, and believing in them.
The less the world remembered them, the weaker they became.
Eventually, complete obscurity might even cause them to disappear entirely.
And yet...
This world had originally belonged to them.
Long ago, before the arrival of outsiders, they had been the beings worshipped by humanity.
Then those damned aliens descended from beyond the world.
They stole what had once belonged to the old gods.
They defeated them.
They killed enormous numbers of them.
Those who survived had only managed to endure because their foundations were deeper than the others.
Without that, they too would have died at the hands of those alien invaders.
The twisted beings around the Shinigami remained silent.
They knew he was right.
But there was another problem.
Would Kenichi actually cooperate with them?
They were weak.
Far too weak.
Against ordinary people and shinobi below the jonin level, they could still display some unusual abilities.
But once opponents reached Kage level...
Their influence became almost negligible.
Why would someone as powerful as Kenichi bother cooperating with beings like them?
...
"Hmm?"
Kenichi suddenly paused.
Something was wrong.
More specifically...
Something was wrong with one of his Shadow Clones.
The moment the clone sensed the abnormality, it dispelled itself.
Its memories immediately returned to Kenichi.
Kenichi stood still for a moment.
Then a strange expression appeared on his face.
According to the memories...
His Shadow Clone seemed to have encountered the Shinigami.
And Jashin.
Not only that, but those beings apparently wanted to negotiate with him.
Kenichi had to admit...
That was interesting.
He had always known that beings referred to as gods existed in the Shinobi World.
The Shinigami alone was proof enough.
Then there was Jashin, the deity worshipped by Hidan.
Clearly, supernatural beings existed in this world.
But their strength was another matter.
Rather than genuine gods, Kenichi suspected they were simply unusual life-forms.
Perhaps extremely strange forms of existence that operated according to rules different from humans.
The title of "god" sounded impressive.
Their actual combat power apparently was not.
Kenichi had no intention of immediately meeting them.
Before doing that, he wanted information.
Someone in this world had almost certainly encountered these so-called gods before.
And Kenichi knew exactly who was most likely to understand them.
Hagoromo.
So Kenichi went to find the Sage of Six Paths.
"Gods?"
Hagoromo gave Kenichi a strange look.
"Are you talking about the unusual high-energy life-forms that originally existed in this world?"
Kenichi blinked.
Then he nodded.
That description most likely referred to the same beings.
Still, hearing Hagoromo casually call gods "high-energy life-forms" was rather amusing.
Hagoromo scratched his head.
"These so-called gods were really just unusual creatures that existed in this world long ago."
"At that time, chakra did not exist among the people of this world."
"Humans were ordinary."
"They had no supernatural powers."
"When they fought wars, they used spears and other simple weapons against one another."
Hagoromo continued.
"The beings later called gods were objects of worship among those humans."
"In return for faith, some of them could grant people certain special abilities."
Kenichi immediately understood.
So these so-called gods were not truly omnipotent beings standing above everything.
They were simply special native life-forms.
In some ways, they were not fundamentally different from shinobi.
The biggest distinction was that they could bestow certain abilities upon worshippers.
"Were they troublesome?"
Kenichi asked curiously.
"What kinds of abilities did they have?"
According to Hagoromo's explanation, these beings still possessed some unusual powers.
They obviously could not compare with the Otsutsuki Clan.
But if their abilities were used correctly, perhaps they could still provide something valuable.
Hagoromo thought for a moment.
"Some could store souls inside their bodies."
"Like the being connected to the Reaper Death Seal."
"Some could grant a limited form of immortality."
"Others could make people more intelligent."
"And there were those who could grant enough physical strength for someone to shatter a large boulder with one punch."
He spoke casually.
The abilities sounded impressive when described individually.
But in reality, their limitations were severe.
Back when Kaguya became the dominant godlike figure of the Shinobi World, she had effortlessly destroyed most resistance against her.
Later, after Hagoromo and Hamura sealed their mother, Hagoromo traveled throughout the world spreading Ninshu.
During those journeys...
He had casually killed several so-called gods himself.
Their reputations sounded impressive.
Their actual strength was another matter.
They were impressive shells with very little inside.
Kenichi nodded.
He understood what Hagoromo meant.
Basically...
These gods were weak.
At most, some of them possessed special abilities that were useful against ordinary humans and weaker shinobi.
But once a shinobi reached a sufficiently high level, those powers became much less meaningful.
Hidan was a good example.
His immortality sounded terrifying.
But if the current Kenichi stabbed him with a black receiver and disrupted his chakra and body completely...
Hidan would probably still die.
"I understand."
Kenichi immediately lost most of his interest in the so-called gods.
Still...
The one capable of increasing intelligence caught his attention.
Among shinobi, increasing intelligence did not sound as exciting as immortality or overwhelming physical power.
But for scientific research?
That could be extremely valuable.
Hagoromo looked curious.
"Why did you suddenly ask about them?"
He had almost forgotten those beings existed.
They were simply too weak to matter to him anymore.
Even Hagoromo's descendants had surpassed them.
Indra and Asura alone had possessed power greater than most of those so-called gods.
If Hagoromo were forced to compare them, he would say his own sons were far more deserving of the title "god."
"They contacted me."
Kenichi briefly explained what had happened.
There was no reason to hide it.
He and Hagoromo were currently allies.
And between Hagoromo and a group of forgotten gods Kenichi had never met, Kenichi naturally trusted Hagoromo far more.
Of course...
That trust had an expiration date.
It would probably last until Isshiki was defeated.
After that, Kenichi intended to leave this timeline as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, Kaguya would almost certainly refuse to let him go.
And Hagoromo himself might end up wanting to kill Kenichi once he learned exactly what Kenichi had been doing to his mother.
After all...
Kenichi still intended to become Hagoromo's stepfather.
Hagoromo listened to the explanation and nodded casually.
He did not seem concerned.
Those old gods were insignificant.
Even if they tried something, Hagoromo doubted they could cause meaningful trouble.
They had probably contacted Kenichi because they were desperate to survive.
Hagoromo could not be bothered dealing with them.
Isshiki was the only matter that truly deserved his attention right now.
Everything else could wait.
After talking with Hagoromo for a while, Kenichi left.
His destination was the former territory of the Uzumaki Clan.
According to the Shinigami, that was where the old gods wanted to meet him.
Apparently, their remaining power was so weak that they could not easily manifest anywhere else.
Kenichi did not care.
At this point, he was more curious than cautious.
What exactly were these gods?
Could their unique abilities help him solve scientific problems?
Where did their powers come from?
Kenichi wanted answers.
He traveled there by airship.
After landing, he saw a strange vortex appear ahead of him.
Several bizarre figures emerged from it.
Only two looked remotely normal.
One was the Shinigami.
The other was a woman.
The woman stared cautiously at Kenichi.
The rest...
Kenichi barely knew how to describe them.
Their bodies were warped and unnatural.
Some hardly looked humanoid at all.
Compared with them, the Shinigami and the woman actually seemed fairly ordinary.
Kenichi studied the group.
These were probably the last gods still existing in the Shinobi World.
That realization gave him another thought.
If history had developed differently, perhaps the Shinobi World might have evolved into a civilization centered around worshipping deities.
Humans would offer faith.
Gods would grant powers.
Different religious factions might compete and fight over believers.
Wars over faith could have become common.
Unfortunately for these gods...
Before they could ever develop into something truly powerful, the Otsutsuki Clan arrived to plant the Divine Tree.
Then everything collapsed.
Their civilization had barely begun to mature before alien invaders smashed it apart.
Their luck was honestly terrible.
"What do you want from me?"
Kenichi looked at the gathered gods with a faint smile.
The Shinigami immediately lowered his posture.
"Lord Kenichi, we need your help."
There was no arrogance in his voice.
They had been unable to defeat Hagoromo even during their strongest era.
Now they were shadows of what they had once been.
Kenichi possessed enough power to destroy them easily.
They had no right to act proud.
Kenichi nodded slightly.
At least these so-called gods understood their situation.
They were not nearly as arrogant as the title "god" suggested.
But then again...
Beings on the verge of being forgotten by the entire world could hardly afford arrogance.
"And what can you give me in return?"
Kenichi looked over the group.
Aside from the Shinigami and the woman, only four other gods remained.
So few.
The old gods of this world had clearly declined almost to extinction.
At this rate, they would probably never become relevant again.
They could only continue existing as unseen remnants, hiding from the world and praying that some absurdly powerful shinobi did not notice them.
The Shinigami exchanged glances with the others.
Then he spoke first.
"I..."
He hesitated.
"I can help you devour souls."
"Unless the target is someone as powerful as you, ordinary souls cannot escape me."
Kenichi immediately lost interest.
The woman spoke next.
"I can grant people immortality."
She paused.
"I can also transfer their injuries onto another person."
Kenichi looked at her more carefully.
So this woman was probably Jashin.
She looked surprisingly ordinary.
Then another being stepped forward.
It resembled a mass of living mud.
"I can allow someone to instantly appear anywhere within their line of sight."
The muddy creature continued.
"But the ability can only be used three times per day."
…..
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