Chapter 225

"Awake, are you?"

Hearing movement behind him, Gensou spoke without turning his head.

"If you're awake, put on your blindfold and leave. Someone will take you to regroup with the other Akatsuki members."

"I…" Hidan, looking disheartened, seemed like he wanted to say something.

"Ahhh!!!"

A sharp scream erupted from Jashin.

Gensou tightened his grip, channeling chakra through the sealed orb to probe into Jashin's inner workings.

Hearing Hidan's voice, Gensou's hand didn't pause, though he turned his head to face him.

"Anything else?"

Shuddering under Gensou's gaze, Hidan felt more terror now than he had on the operating table.

"N-no, nothing at all!"

He quickly shook his head, swallowing the words he had wanted to say.

"Then get going. The organization has more tasks waiting for you," Gensou instructed.

"Yes, Boss! I'll complete my mission!"

Hidan's assurance was entirely sincere.

He had no choice.

The new boss was terrifying!

Even the god he once revered was now just a plaything in Gensou's hands.

He had experienced confusion, anger, fear, and panic, followed by emptiness.

Eventually, a realization dawned on him.

So gods could scream!

While he screamed too, he hadn't done it quite like that.

The god was even more pathetic than he was.

What a letdown!

Realizing this, Hidan's idealized view of Jashin shattered, and his once-unshakable faith began to crumble.

He looked at Jashin, who was still wailing, and shook his head, deciding there was no longer any point in worshipping him.

Since the new boss was even more powerful than his god, he might as well follow him completely.

Especially since Hidan could now sense that his new boss could truly end his life.

Unwilling to risk any insolence, Hidan resolved to obey without question.

Just as he was about to leave, Gensou called him back, instructing him to abandon the Jashin teachings.

Hidan nodded decisively.

After all, with Jashin captured, there was no point in following his teachings.

But he still needed something new to believe in; he wasn't like those non-believers.

Hidan asked Gensou for guidance.

Gensou replied offhandedly, "Love, peace, kindness… or whatever else you can come up with."

Hidan: "…Huh?"

Watching Hidan depart with a bewildered look, Gensou turned back to the captive Jashin.

Using a combination of tools, personal techniques, and his Rinnegan, Gensou now had a comprehensive understanding of Jashin.

Much like the Grim Reaper, who extracted souls from both the caster and target during the Dead Demon Consuming Seal in exchange for the caster's life, Jashin also bestowed power upon his followers through rituals. In return, they offered blood sacrifices to him.

Ordinary Jashin followers had abilities similar to Hidan's Curse Technique: Death Controlling Possessed Blood, allowing them to trade injuries with their foes.

But they lacked Hidan's immortality, meaning that if they stabbed their own heart, both they and their enemy would die.

Hidan was the sole exception.

The reason he remained immortal wasn't only due to the unique traits analyzed earlier; it was mainly because of Jashin.

Gensou examined the malleable, dough-like form of Jashin in his hand.

Hidan's immortality was tied to the mark of Jashin imprinted on his soul.

During that experiment long ago, Hidan's soul had been wholly claimed by Jashin.

Unless something happened to Jashin, even dismembering Hidan wouldn't kill him. This was the secret of his immortality—a unique power of Jashin.

However, Jashin had never expected that his most loyal follower would turn on him, delivering him directly into the hands of the nearly invincible Gensou.

Jashin wasn't a Six Paths-level being; otherwise, he wouldn't have hidden away in an alternate dimension.

Now, with Jashin in Gensou's grasp, Hidan's soul effectively belonged to him as well.

This was why Hidan had sensed that Gensou could now be fatal to him.

"Jashin's power is useful; how should I use it?"

Gensou could take Jashin's power for himself with a bit of effort.

He could significantly enhance his body's recovery rate, reattaching even severed limbs.

But true immortality was impossible.

He had no intention of entrusting his soul to another.

While Jashin's power was useless to him, Gensou, who had Yin Seal and advanced cellular regeneration, could self-heal like Hashirama without needing Jashin.

However, his clone, which had a Rinnegan and relied on White Zetsu's body, would benefit from it.

Though this clone would ultimately be expendable after the Infinite Tsukuyomi, it still needed to be formidable to prevent detection by figures like Black Zetsu.

This clone, though infused with his cells and granted the Rinnegan, was still much weaker than Gensou's original form.

Strengthening the clone would be wise.

He looked at the sealed Jashin in his hand—this was one option.

Additionally, it was time to accelerate his research and application of Hashirama cells.

Increasing the clone's strength was one goal.

Another was to infuse Uchiha Izumi and Uchiha Zetsu with Hashirama cells so that using their Mangekyo Sharingan techniques wouldn't strain their eyesight.

Energized, Gensou dove into his work.

Meanwhile, the Akatsuki members, fatigued in mind and body, took the opportunity to rest.

Back at their base, Obito and Black Zetsu, who found their hideout ransacked, did not retaliate openly but instead disappeared, seeming to wait for something.

On the shinobi world stage, one side fell eerily silent.

Meanwhile, the other side, led by the Five Great Shinobi Villages, moved without pause, hastening preparations for the coming war.

Amidst this brewing storm, Orochimaru, long silent, finally emerged from his lair.

"You've found traces of the Three-Tails?" his raspy voice echoed in the dim chamber.

Kabuto, ever by Orochimaru's side, replied, "Thanks to sending in Yūkimaru, we finally tracked the Three-Tails. Surprisingly, it didn't remain in the ocean but hid in a lake instead."

In the shadows, Orochimaru licked his lips with excitement.

As a rogue ninja and Akatsuki defector, constantly hunted by them, he relished the chance to capture the Three-Tails first, thwarting Akatsuki's plans.

He also sensed the growing unease across the shinobi world.

With chaos looming, possessing a tailed beast would certainly be advantageous.

Thus—

Orochimaru chuckled darkly.

"From now on, capture the Three-Tails with all our might."

(End of Chapter)

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