444 Chapter 440 : Jashin's Ritual

[A/N: Bonus chapter for reaching 6318 Power Stones last week! We remained on the 8th rank this week. Keep it up guys :)]

In a cave close to the former village, Bishop Ketsueki healed Zankoku. Zankoku's condition was very bad and he needed a couple of days to even be able to move.

As soon as he could, he got up and informed Ketsueki, "I'm heading back to my village."

Ketsueki replied remorsefully, "Your village is no more. The battle was over in a few minutes after you fell. If I hadn't rescued you, then you would have been dead as well. The ninjas from the Hidden Eagle Village have already retreated, leaving behind a few ninjas to watch over your village."

Ketsueki's words shocked Zankoku. While he knew what the result would be, his heart didn't want to accept it. The village had his parents, his siblings, his lover, the friends he grew up with and trusted his back to and everyone else whom he saw on a daily basis. Losing them all at the same time was a huge blow to him.

Ketsueki allowed Zankoku to mourn his loss in silence for a while. When he noticed that Zankoku had accepted the reality, he said, "Lord Jashin had warned me about the calamity that would befall your village five years ago. It is fate. Nothing would change that. Lord Jashin could only give you an opportunity to act first and strengthen yourself to take revenge on the ones who would destroy you. Unfortunately, you didn't accept the ritual."

Zankoku looked at Ketsueki. Hatred, determination and a strong will were visible in his eyes. He asked, "Will Lord Jashin allow me to complete the ritual now?"

Ketsueki answered, "As long as you have faith in Lord Jashin and are willing to follow his teachings, you can."

Zankoku replied, "I have faith in Lord Jashin and I'm willing to follow his teachings."

Ketsueki replied, "Good. Unfortunately, everyone in your village is dead. All your family and clan members who shared your blood are no more. Fortunately, it hasn't been too long since then. The ritual can still happen. However, it will require even more sacrifice."

Zankoku replied, "It doesn't matter who or how many need to be sacrificed, I am willing! Everyone I know and cherish is already dead. I am willing to sacrifice the entire world if I need to!"

Ketsueki nodded in approval and said, "Good."

He extended his hand towards Zankoku and healed all his injuries, surprising Zankoku once again. Zankoku returned to his optimal condition. Ketsueki began walking out of the cave and said, "Follow me."

Ketsueki and Zankoku walked back to the Hidden Bat Village. The Village only had 1 Jounin and 8 Chunins watching over it. Ketsueki said, "Though your clan is dead, their blood still flows on the street. So does the blood of the ones who killed them. Go, kill all your enemies in this village.

Then collect as much blood from the streets as you can. And, collect the hearts of every dead person who was related to you."

Zankoku immediately got into action. Though the village had 9 enemy ninjas, none of them could take on Zankoku by themselves. To make matters worse, they weren't gathered together. Zankoku killed them all in no time without Ketsueki needing to take action.

He followed it up by ripping the hearts out of every dead person from his clan whose bodies still littered the streets. He even collected the blood that was flowing on the streets, which for some reason hadn't dried, solidified or seeped into the ground. Though Zankoku noticed the anomaly, he was too consumed by grief and rage to analyze it rationally and just considered it as the will of Lord Jashin.

The process of collecting as much as he could took half a day. He approached Ketsueki and handed him the scrolls he used to store what he collected. Ketsueki observed it and said, "Good work, this should be sufficient. However, this can't be considered as a sacrifice as they are already dead. You will need to sacrifice 800 alive people to Lord Jashin to prove your faith and gain his recognition.

After destroying this Village, the forces of the Hidden Eagle Village moved through the country to conquer it properly. The common citizens in other small villages didn't take a second to switch their allegiance. You should sacrifice them to Lord Jashin."

Zankoku nodded and agreed. Over the next couple of weeks, Zankoku and Ketsueki visited small villages spread over the country. Ketsueki cast a Genjutsu on them and guided them to a massive hidden cave that he had prepared for the purpose of conducting a ritual. They ended up gathering over a thousand. Zankoku also eliminated any ninjas from the Hidden Eagle Village that he came across.

After gathering all the sacrifices, Ketsueki got to work. Zankoku waited in the cave patiently. He noticed a high number of symbols and seals inscribed everywhere in the cave. The spot of the ritual was already marked. For the first time, Zankoku also met a few other followers of Jashin who served Ketsueki.

Zankoku observed what Ketsueki was doing and noticed him inscribing a few seals and markings on every person they had kidnapped. Zankoku didn't know much about seals and didn't identify any seal or symbol that was used by Ketsueki.

Ketsueki needed another week to complete the preparation. In a large formation that covered a huge portion of the cave, Ketsueki arranged the kidnapped people who were still under Genjutsu, the hearts of the people related to Zankoku and the mixture of the blood of the people related to Zankoku and the blood of the people who killed them. During this time, Ketsueki also explained the process of the ritual to Zankoku and informed him what he needed to do during it.

The process left Ketsueki visibly exhausted. Zankoku wondered whether Ketsueki had aged by several years in the last week. Ketsueki approached Zankoku and said, "The preparations are complete. The rest will depend on you. We will conduct the ritual on the next full moon."

Zankoku nodded. He desperately wanted the power to avenge his village and to serve Lord Jashin. So he had no intention of messing up the only thing that would immediately make him stronger. He waited patiently while meditating and worshipping Lord Jashin.

On the night of the full moon, Zankoku moved to the center of the cave. The center of the cave had a large circular room with a dome-like ceiling. There were eight narrow pathways connected to the room. Several symbols and seals were drawn from those pathways to the room.

At the center of the room was a small circular pool that contained blood that Zankoku had collected earlier. If one looked closely, then numerous hearts could be seen at the bottom of this pool. A narrow canal came in from each of the 8 pathways connecting to the room and joined the pool. However, those canals were empty for the time being.

Following Ketsueki's instructions, Zankoku walked into the pool and sat at its center. He closed his eyes and began meditating, his mind only having thoughts about Lord Jashin and gaining strength.

Meanwhile, Ketsueki started the ritual. Zankoku was instructed to only focus on meditation and to not get distracted even for a second. Ketsueki activated all the symbols in the room. Immediately, a glow appeared in the room due to the seals shining. At the same time, several seals on Zankoku's body were activated as well.

Zankoku immediately felt a surge in chakra. At the same time, his body felt intense pressure while his mind became very restless. He gritted his teeth and recalled the bloody state of his village. He continued meditating and believing in Lord Jashin.

Slowly, the hearts in the bloody pool began burning up. The blood in the pool began flowing towards the seals on Zankoku's body.

On the other side of the 8 narrow pathways surrounding the room were 8 rooms. Each had a hundred ordinary people. The seals on their bodies began glowing as well. Suddenly, they felt an intense pain. The pain was so high that they snapped out of the Genjutsu they were under. Unfortunately, they couldn't do anything. They all screamed in pain as blood was being sucked out of their bodies!

Their screams could be heard in the central room where Zankoku was meditating. However, he paid no attention to them and just gritted his teeth. The pain he experienced was far more intense than any of the 800 screaming civilians.

The blood extracted from their bodies began moving through the canals connecting to the blood pool. Soon, their blood flowed into the pool as well.

Under Ketsueki's control, all the blood began flowing into Zankoku's body with the help of seals he had inscribed on Zankoku's body. Despite the intense pain, Zankoku hung on.

[A/N: Wow, can't believe that 2023 has ended and that I didn't miss a single chapter in the entire year. I don't think I'd have been able to do that without your love and support. Here's to hoping that I manage to do the same in 2024 as well (though it is very unlikely for the story to last the entire year). Honestly a bit surprised that we haven't reached the canon officially yet. That said, it will happen very soon (hopefully in the first half of January on P@treon).

Fujin has trained extremely hard to increase his power to a level where he can affect the plot and make it more advantageous to him. Here onwards, we will slowly see Fujin make a few changes, some minor and some major, that will eventually have a huge effect on the future. Whether that will be good or bad and whether these changes will help him or make things more difficult for him remains to be seen.

Anyway, since tomorrow is the new year, I'll be giving a New Year Gift :)

As for what it'll be, you need to guess. (PS: It's not a mass release. I still don't have any chapters saved up. Don't want to get your hopes high on this).

All said, Happy New Year to the ones living in Australia, New Zealand and East Asia. Everyone else, have a wonderful New Year's party and enjoy yourself tonight. See you guys very soon.]

[A/N : Bonus chapter on next Sunday if the fic gets 1000 Power Stones. Bonus chapter on next week's Saturday if the fic gets 2000 Power Stones.]

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