They're promoting the "Konoha threat" theory, and spouting nonsense about the Hidden

Chapter 274 You guys have really put me in a terrible situation!

"Hahaha, this is the blessing of the evil god! You blasphemers, prepare to face the evil god's punishment!"

In the dimly lit and secluded underground experimental site, only a few braziers served as the source of light.

In the dim firelight, Hidan's face, as black as ink, was reflected.

At this moment, Hidan's face had completely lost its previous delicate features. Not only was his entire body covered with crisscrossing black lines, but his eyes also revealed a sense of madness.

Ugh!

With a whooshing sound, a kunai shot out from a distance, striking Hidan squarely on the head. The force was so great that it even made Hidan stagger.

"Hiss~ This feeling of being filled with power is really not bad... Why, you all seem to be afraid?"

Hidan grabbed the kunai pinned to his forehead and casually pulled it out, even sticking out his tongue to lick the blood off it.

After the kunai was removed, numerous flesh buds suddenly appeared near the huge hole in Hidan's forehead, and under the watchful eyes of the surrounding experimenters, they began to repair themselves at a visible speed.

Faced with this extremely bizarre scene, all the experimenters present involuntarily took a few steps back.

Only one elderly leader and a few high-ranking members of the evil god cult showed a hint of excitement when they saw this scene.

"These injuries can be healed in a very short time, so it seems the experiment was indeed successful... So the next step is to test the limits of this immortality and its attack methods."

"Well, we've already tested penetrating wounds, so next up is the ninjutsu attack experiment."

At the command of the experimenters, several wandering ninjas appeared at the test site, led by several members of the Anbu.

These wandering ninjas were all living experimental subjects from Kirigakure, villains brought back from various parts of the ninja world by Kirigakure ninjas on missions.

Kirigakure has been consistently issuing public notices seeking to "acquire" these villains who possess ninjutsu skills.

"If we defeat this thing, we can get out of here, right?"

A wandering ninja looked at Hidan, who was clearly not an ordinary person, and hesitated for a moment. However, under the attraction of freedom and the threat of the surrounding Anbu, he finally exchanged a glance with his companions and stepped forward into the experimental site.

"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

As wandering ninjas, they still have some skills, even if that's all they have.

Upon entering the battlefield, the two wandering ninjas, working in perfect harmony, unleashed a combined ninjutsu. The wind fanned the flames, and a massive inferno surged toward Hidan.

Perhaps Hidan himself wanted to test his immunity to ninjutsu in this state, or perhaps Hidan had great faith in the blessing of that evil god, so he didn't dodge or evade the ninjutsu attack with its very straightforward attack path, but just stood there and took it head-on.

boom!

Seeing the burning fireman not far away, the wandering ninjas did not let their guard down.

Those who can survive in the world at least have some brains; they don't believe that Kirigakure has had a change of heart and that such a simple battle would make them leave.

Then one of them flashed past, appearing beside Hidan with the Fuma Shuriken in hand, and slashed fiercely at Hidan's head.

Ding!

The sound of metal clashing rang out, and Hidan's Jashin Scythe seemed to have been enhanced in some way during the previous Jashin sacrifice ritual, as it directly cleaved the Fuma Shuriken in two, barely grazing the tip of the wandering ninja's nose.

"I will accept your life on behalf of the evil god."

Hidan, his lips licking the blood from the tip of his scythe, drew a demonic magic circle at his feet before slashing his own heart with a maniacal laugh.

puff!

As if connected by some unseen thread, at the very moment Hidan's heart was stabbed, the wandering ninja whose blood Hidan had previously obtained also suddenly experienced a gushing of blood from his heart, and collapsed to the ground in disbelief.

"Hahaha, now it's just you guys..."

Hidan's gaze swept over the wandering ninjas not far away, then focused on the high-ranking members of the Jashin cult and the experimental personnel from Kirigakure.

Having successfully completed the evil god's sacrifice ritual, and especially after that warm-up activity, he now felt incredibly strong!

Let alone the people present, even if he summoned Hozuki Shingetsu, the legendary number one ninja in the ninja world, he was confident he could defeat him!

Ugh!

However, at that moment, a high-speed spinning disc gleaming with cold light swept past from afar, easily severing Hidan's right arm before he could even notice it.

"Who is it?"

Hidan grabbed his right arm and pressed it firmly against the severed wound, his eyes searching for the person who had come.

"I didn't know I was immortal. These kinds of injuries are things I can easily heal... Hmm? How could that be?"

Hidan looked at the severed area of ​​his right arm and saw that, unlike before, there was no wriggling flesh sprouting there.

"So that's how it is. This evil god's power also relies on the existence of a soul?"

Surrounded by people, Hozuki Shingetsu slowly approached Hidan, snatched the severed arm from Hidan's hand, and began to examine it openly right in front of Hidan.

"The so-called immortality is actually the preservation of one's soul using the power of the evil god, and then using the soul as an anchor to achieve a stable physical body... Hmm, from this perspective, when Tobirama Senju developed the Impure World Reincarnation technique, he definitely drew on the related secret techniques of this evil god cult..."

Hozuki Shingetsu glanced at the gap in Hidan's severed arm and said thoughtfully, "Then the essence of that technique—which allows one to connect their injuries regardless of spatial distance simply by obtaining the recipient's blood—makes sense. It's an attack that uses blood as an anchor point, directly affecting the opponent's soul..."

"The Grim Reaper, the Wraith, and the Evil God—this really confirms my previous guess that these so-called Four Evil Creatures can all be considered 'Tailed Beasts' on the soul side."

"In that case, there's nothing more to say..."

Staring blankly at Hozuki Shingetsu, who was standing in front of him, studying his severed arm and talking eloquently as if he had gained a lot, Hidan could no longer accept this "blasphemous talk" so close to him. He gripped the Jashin Scythe in his left hand and slashed at him.

Unexpectedly, before the evil god's scythe could strike Hozuki Shingetsu's head, it was slapped away by Hozuki Shingetsu, and Hidan was also pinned to the ground by Hozuki Shingetsu's brute force.

"Your taijutsu is weak, your ninjutsu is rudimentary, your footwork is unsteady, and your reactions are slow. Not a single movement of yours is decent. You think you can ambush me? How naive!"

If we're talking about the Kage-level powerhouses in the original work, Hidan is definitely the weakest one.

He relied entirely on his immortality and the secret technique of "Death Possession Blood" to fight. No ninjutsu was seen, and his taijutsu was so powerful that he could fight Hidan to a standstill even against a Chunin. It can be said that 99% of his strength was in the Jashin.

Hozuki Shingetsu had no interest in such a person, so he stopped talking and, ignoring Hidan's shouts from below, activated the Reaper Death Seal.

"Spirit - Corpse Demon Sealing!"

Through the mysterious connection between Hidan and Jashin, Hozuki Shingetsu quickly discovered Jashin's existence through the ghostly figure of Shinigami.

"Another dimension? What an unexpected place... But your soul is already entangled with Hidan's, so what if you're in another dimension?"

With the power of the Shinigami empowered, Hozuki Shingetsu's eyes shone brightly as he followed the entanglement of Jashin and Hidan's souls, finally seeing the location of Jashin.

The entanglement of souls can disregard spatial distance. Accompanied by Hidan's howl, the evil god in some unknown dimension also opened its mouth wide in silence, struggling as if trying to fight against the power of the death god.

Unfortunately, Hozuki Shingetsu's Shinigami power has now incorporated the power of the Wraith, and with this double superposition, Hozuki Shingetsu's current soul power is simply unshakeable by any evil god.

After a brief tug-of-war, the evil god finally succumbed to the pull of death's power and was sealed away by death through some unseen connection.

Goo!

With a distinct swallowing sound, the phantom of death finally dissipated from Hozuki Shingetsu, satisfied.

Hidan, lying on the ground, also twitched briefly before the light in his eyes gradually faded, and his soul, along with the Jashin he respected most, entered the body of the Shinigami.

In a sense, this can be considered a wish fulfilled, being able to share a room with the god he wanted to serve after death. Given Hidan's personality, he might not only not be angry, but even be grateful to Hozuki Shingetsu.

At this moment, Hozuki Shingetsu finally officially became the jinchūriki of the evil god, his soul power surged, and he was only one "enlightenment" away from achieving the Six Paths.

"Immortality and 'Death Possession Blood'... Just as expected, becoming a jinchūriki of an evil god grants these two abilities."

After sensing the empowerment brought to him by the evil god's power, Hozuki Shingetsu slowly opened his eyes.

The power of the Grim Reaper allows him to use the strongest sealing technique, the Reaper Death Seal, without any side effects for a certain period of time;

The power of the demons gave him the ability to summon an undead army and convert negative energy into chakra;

The power of the evil god granted him immortality and the blood of the Death Possession;

Based on its appearance in the original work, the Box of Bliss is a world-protecting ability that allows him to sense the killing intent of others and prevents him from being harmed by those with murderous intent.

Attack, defense, endurance, perception, self-positional suppression...

"Isn't this the outward manifestation of the Six Paths level?"

Thinking of Madara Uchiha and Kaguya Otsutsuki, who could not be harmed by anything other than Sage Mode and Taijutsu in the original work, Hozuki Shingetsu suddenly realized that the combined external abilities of these four evil beings were indeed similar to those of the Six Paths level in some respects.

Thinking of this, Hozuki Shingetsu couldn't help but want to go to Konoha and grind Nohara Rin to dust. If Uchiha Obito hadn't hidden the Box of Bliss in the Kamui dimension, then following this natural progression, Hozuki Shingetsu would have been able to advance to the Six Paths before the Fourth Shinobi World War, turning this final battle into a sweeping victory.

"Alright, that's settled for the evil god cult matter. Let's refocus our research on the projects we were working on before!"

After a period of internal, impotent rage, Hozuki Shingetsu calmed himself down and gave instructions to the surrounding experimenters.

Since it's impossible to absorb all four evil creatures before the Fourth Shinobi World War, the focus now should be on mobilizing the entire population to prepare for the upcoming war.

Currently, Kirigakure has made many preparations in preparation for the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The chakra armor that the researchers present had been studying was one of the preparations.

Other similar war preparations include the combination of chakra cannons and air fortresses, the development of ninja-style grenades, the Wood Release experimenter program, the research and development of chakra stimulants, the formation of an air force, and so on.

Furthermore, due to the traditional Chinese habit of "using one generation, reserving one generation, and developing one generation," some technologies that had already been developed were completely useless in the Third Shinobi World War, and were simply waiting to surprise the various ninja villages in future wars.

It was during this time that two years quietly passed, and the major ninja villages were able to catch their breath from the previous war against Konoha and began to focus more attention on Kirigakure.

There was no other way. They didn't want to launch a war against Kirigakure before their strength was fully recovered, but they had no choice. Kirigakure, with the Eastern Continent as its backup base, was allowed to develop so recklessly over time. Perhaps in the future, it could really shake the entire continent with just one village.

Therefore, the various ninja villages secretly began to actively coordinate, hoping to replicate the success of the Third Shinobi World War, gather the power of the ninja world, and drag Kirigakure into the mess.

Even if they can't wipe out Kirigakure, at the very least, Kirigakure should relinquish their colonial rights over the Eastern Continent.

Among them, Konoha and the Abyss Village, established by Kakashi, were the most active.

However, just as these ninja villages were thinking of joining forces to form an anti-Hidden Mist Alliance, a story that seriously impacted the development of the ninja world occurred in the capital of the Land of Water.

A coup has occurred in the capital of the Land of Water!

"What are you doing?"

Hozuki Shingetsu, the leader of Kirigakure and husband of the Daimyo of the Land of Water, woke up to find himself forcibly dressed and placed in the Daimyo's main seat.

"You've put me in a position of injustice and cruelty!"

Looking at the numerous ministers and ninjas who stubbornly knelt before him despite his objections, Hozuki Shingetsu's face was miserable, and a slight smile appeared on his lips, revealing his helplessness.

"What should we do? What should we do...?"

On October 1, 1947 (Kigakure 48), Hozuki Shingetsu officially became the Daimyo of the Land of Water, completing his transformation from ninja to daimyo.

(End of this chapter)