Chapter 224

The Jashin Cult's doctrine was simple: slaughter.

Endless slaughter.

Kill your family, kill your friends, kill your neighbors—kill anyone you desire.

The suffering of the world would be best alleviated early.

Followers of the Jashin Cult were to empathize with the pain of others, to transfer that pain to themselves, relieving others of it and thus granting salvation.

Thus, slaughter was salvation.

Hidan enthusiastically explained the Jashin Cult's beliefs, in which he had unwavering faith.

This was exactly what he did.

After achieving immortality, he wielded his scythe and slaughtered every Jashin Cult member present, enacting the cult's teachings.

After each kill, he would lie in the cursed ritual circle for half an hour, performing complex prayers, even if Kakuzu repeatedly told him to skip steps and finish faster. Hidan never agreed, as that would be blasphemy.

Gensou, however, listened to Hidan's lecture on Jashin's doctrine with indifference, filtering it out.

The concept of "salvation through slaughter" was nothing more than a guise for offering blood sacrifices to the Jashin.

He urged Hidan to skip the preaching and proceed directly to how to join the cult and gain Jashin's power.

Hidan felt a bit slighted, but seeing Gensou's expressionless face, he conceded.

Soon, following Hidan's instructions, Gensou used an Earth Release jutsu to mold a statue of Jashin.

"We'll need a blood sacrifice next." Hidan looked expectantly at Gensou.

Without a word, Gensou took a knife to Hidan's chest, now reattached to his body.

Blood gushed onto the Jashin statue.

"Is that enough?"

Gensou said he could add another cut if needed.

"It's enough!! More than enough!" Hidan, unwilling to provoke Gensou, quickly began the summoning ritual.

After a ritual dance incomprehensible to Gensou, Hidan held up the Jashin necklace around his neck and proclaimed loudly:

"Lord Jashin! Please descend into this world and guide a new follower!"

Technically speaking, Hidan was only partially initiated. The true higher-ups of the Jashin Cult, knowledgeable in its rituals and prayers, had all been slaughtered by Hidan himself, leaving no one to teach him further.

Although he'd improvised both the ritual and the prayer, Hidan was nonetheless favored by Jashin as the only immortal devotee.

And indeed, under his heartfelt prayer, the ordinary statue of Jashin suddenly began to emit an eerie light.

"The god has descended!"

At that moment, Hidan puffed up his chest, feeling vindicated, and glanced at Gensou, waiting for a moment to boast.

Suddenly—

A sharp pain hit the back of his head, and he blacked out.

"You didn't even introduce me to the god!" he thought in confusion and indignation before losing consciousness.

Gensou's shadow clone appeared behind Hidan, his Rinnegan detecting the presence of a spatial rift opening at the statue, releasing Jashin's aura into the statue.

The entity also seemed to sense something amiss, slowing its descent even before Hidan passed out.

Knowing that waiting further could ruin the plan, Gensou decisively had his clone knock Hidan unconscious, then stretched out his right hand toward the rift:

"Bansho Ten'in!"

A powerful force of attraction burst from Gensou's clone's hand.

This high-level Rinnegan technique, as long as a rift existed, could pull even beings from other dimensions.

"Roar!!"

Sensing impending doom, the entity known as Jashin struggled desperately against Bansho Ten'in.

But it was futile.

As Gensou channeled more chakra into his clone, the force of Bansho Ten'in grew stronger.

Soon—

With a roar of unwilling rage, Jashin was dragged from the rift into the shinobi world.

Gensou surveyed the entity; its appearance matched the statue he had just molded, though it lacked a physical body.

Having seen the Grim Reaper before, he wasn't surprised.

After all, the shinobi world had many strange spirits in the past.

After the Six Paths Sage's cleansing, entities that had physical forms and couldn't revive like tailed beasts were nearly wiped out.

The few remaining ones that survived now existed as spirit-like beings in alternate dimensions, like Jashin.

At this moment—

Jashin, who had been comfortably seated in his domain, occasionally enjoying sacrifices from his followers, was forcibly pulled into the shinobi world. He looked at Gensou, the culprit behind it all, with fury.

"How dare you defy a god!"

Jashin could speak, but Gensou's response was two words:

"Fool."

Stay a god for long enough, and you might actually believe it.

Before Jashin could attack, Gensou clapped his hands together.

Instantly—

Around Jashin, a ten-meter-wide area lit up with a dense array of sealing symbols.

Jashin, ready to tear Gensou apart, felt an intense fluctuation in his emotions and attempted to flee, but it was too late.

Black, tadpole-shaped sealing symbols rose and formed a tight barrier, sealing Jashin firmly inside.

At Gensou's command, the sealing array closed in, forcing Jashin to curl up, his form compressed inward.

Finally, the seal shrank into a small, fist-sized orb, trapping the now-tiny Jashin inside.

Gensou walked up, holding the seal orb, and looked at the struggling Jashin within. He smiled faintly and said:

"Jashin, captured."

Gensou had prepared extensively for Jashin's summoning.

This was his stronghold, already equipped with various sealing arrays powerful enough to restrain even tailed beasts, let alone a spirit like Jashin.

"Now, time to conduct some proper research."

As Jashin showed a similar look of unease to Hidan, Gensou began his examination.

It's unclear how much time passed.

When Hidan regained consciousness, he felt a chill down his spine.

That was from lying on the floor for too long.

"Honestly, couldn't they have put me somewhere more comfortable?"

Hidan muttered as he slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head and looking around.

Soon, he spotted Gensou, who was squeezing and twisting something in his hand—a wailing, pleading Jashin.

"Huh? Am I seeing things?"

Hidan rubbed his eyes vigorously and looked again.

"Maybe my brain isn't fully awake yet."

He waited a bit longer before looking a third time with a solemn expression.

Then—

"It really is Lord Jashin!"

In that instant, Hidan's faith crumbled.

(End of Chapter)

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