The plan proceeded in perfect order...
In just twenty days, Hanzō had transformed from merely the leader of a ninja village into a savior god.
He had descended from the heavens to bestow divine power upon ordinary people, granting them the strength needed to stand against shinobi and protect their families.
Inside the grand new shrine...
"Aoi Ren... I can't help but feel this is wrong," Hanzō said, looking as though he hadn't slept or eaten in days. His complexion was ghastly.
"Relax. These are all necessary sacrifices," Aoi Ren replied, waving his hand dismissively.
"If the price paid by these people buys centuries of peace for the Land of Rain, then everything we do is worth it. Don't you agree?"
Hanzō hesitated, but slowly nodded in the end...
Between surrendering and fighting to the death, he truly had no choice.
"Don't forget... you knew exactly what would happen long ago, didn't you?" Aoi Ren smiled and patted Hanzō on the shoulder, his expression turning cold as he turned to leave.
"And one more thing... from now on, address me as the Divine Son."
"..."
Hanzō nodded weakly, his face drained of all color. It was true—he had known from the very beginning.
Using the Serpent Curse Seal to forcefully awaken power within ordinary people meant that eighty percent of the population would perish.
But those eighty percent... once peace returned to the land, they could be replaced.
With a strong push on population growth, it would take no more than two generations to make up for the loss entirely.
Aoi Ren had explained it all to him, and Hanzō had understood and agreed. It was just that... his heart still ached, and every so often, he needed someone else to affirm that this path was right.
Aoi Ren shook his head with a faint smirk and strode out of the shrine...
"The Divine Son has come forth!"
"Great Divine Son, please bless me that I may receive divine power!"
"Divine Son, grant me leave to kiss the ground you walk upon!"
The moment he stepped outside, Aoi Ren was surrounded by zealous followers.
Over these twenty days, the Church of Hanzō the God had gained countless believers—a large portion of them fanatics willing to give up their very lives just to obtain power.
To control one person, use force. To control a group, use rules. But to control a nation, or even the whole world... there is nothing more effective than faith.
Escorted by the crowd, Aoi Ren made his way toward the mountain behind the shrine.
It was a secluded rainforest; pushing deep into the dense foliage, the trees suddenly opened up to reveal a clearing.
There stood a massive building covering thousands of square meters.
It was hard to imagine the effort required to construct it—yet even more unbelievable was the fact that it had been built in only three days, raised by nearly ten thousand devoted believers working day and night amidst pouring rain...
Pushing open the heavy doors, he saw a central command desk. The rest of the space was divided into nearly a thousand small cells, each reinforced entirely with steel plating.
Even so, many of the cells had been smashed and dented from the inside, bearing marks that looked as if they had been battered by wild beasts...
Just then, two shinobi of lower rank approached and unlocked an iron gate, dragging out a corpse covered head-to-toe in writhing curse marks.
What was locked inside these rooms were not monsters... but humans.
Glancing further, Aoi Ren saw a cart behind the men piled high with more corpses in exactly the same state...
"How were the results today?" Aoi Ren crossed his arms, took a report sheet from a middle-rank ninja at the desk, and marked a small check beside it.
"One thousand subjects underwent the experiment. Survivors: two hundred and one!"
The ninja reported trembling, keeping his head bowed and not daring to utter a single unnecessary word.
Even standing amidst this hellish scene, he was less terrified of the carnage than he was of Aoi Ren.
For of everyone here, only this three-year-old child remained completely unmoved by it all.
It was a cold indifference—as if the tens of thousands dying here were not human beings, but merely livestock... chickens being processed.
"Not bad at all!" Aoi Ren laughed and patted the man on the shoulder. "Looks like we had good luck today—we even got one extra survivor!"
The Serpent Curse Seal... had a survival rate of only one in five.
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