Cult of Jashin? What the Hell?

"Ah, this feels amazing." Breathing in the sulfurous air, Rasa lay flat in the hot spring, soaking himself as he cried out in comfort.

"If it feels good, soak a little longer." Keiko poured himself a cup of sake, tipped back his head, and drained it in one gulp. Then he picked up a peanut from the floating tray and tossed it into his mouth, looking utterly content.

This was not the Land of Wind, but the Land of Rivers, nestled between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire.

Its Hidden Hot Spring Village was famed throughout the world for its renowned hot springs. Due to its limited strength, it had latched onto the Konoha early on. Under the Konoha's protection, Hidden Hot Spring Village had long since lost its fighting spirit and become known as "the village that forgot war."

A proper hidden village with fewer ninjas than hot spring attendants—during these war-torn times, the fact that such a ninja village could still exist was quite a sight.

After Keiko's diplomatic delegation picked up Rasa and Pakura at Lishi Fortress, their group of more than thirty set out for the Konoha. Passing through Hidden Hot Spring Village, they received an enthusiastic welcome from the Hot Spring Shadow, who invited the Kazekage to enjoy the famous hot springs as a formal welcoming feast. Having suffered long under the desert winds and sand, Keiko was more than happy to wash away the dust on his body and graciously accepted.

"By the way, Brother Rasa, could your big brother ask you for a favor?" Keiko said.

"Please don't. You're the Kazekage now. Talking so politely makes me nervous. Just give the order."

"Could you lend your big brother some of the Gold Dust you've saved up?"

Rasa flipped up from the water and sat upright, his face bitter. "Brother, I only managed to save up that little bit of Gold Dust after so much effort. I was planning to train in the Gundam Technique..."

"I know, I know." Keiko hurriedly reassured him.

"But what else can I do? The village just finished a war. There are so many families of the fallen who need compensation, so many war orphans to raise, and we still need to build things and fund education. That stingy damn daimyo won't give us any funding. Even as Kazekage, my hands are tied. Let your brother borrow it first, all right?"

"Say no more, Brother. I was just joking. It's only a little Gold Dust. For the village, you could chop me up and sell me if you wanted." Rasa grinned.

Keiko could not help feeling moved. The future Fourth Kazekage before him was undoubtedly a tragic hero.

In the original story, after the Third Kazekage disappeared, Sunagakure poured all its strength into searching for him, yet never found a trace. For a time, Sunagakure was leaderless. Wars erupted throughout Sunagakure and the Land of Wind, the country fell into ruin, and then Rasa stepped forward. Using the Magnet Release: Gold Dust he had learned from the Third Kazekage, he suppressed the rebellion, succeeded to the position of Kazekage, and protected the village.

As the daimyo of the Land of Wind kept reducing the number of ninjas and cutting the ninja village's budget, Sunagakure's military strength steadily declined. Once again, Rasa used Magnet Release to gather Gold Dust as village funds, practically shouldering the entire village's finances alone.

When Bunpuku died and Shukaku went berserk, Rasa was the one who stepped forward and sealed Shukaku into the body of his newborn son, Gaara. He had devoted his youth to the village, then his whole life, then even his descendants—a true Jiao Yulu-style exemplary official. Yet such a good man was murdered by Orochimaru. What a sigh-worthy ending.

But in this life, Keiko would never let such a thing happen again. Those who gathered firewood for everyone else must not be left to freeze to death in the wind and snow!

"Good brother, I want to establish a new department and put you in charge of it."

"What department?"

"The Mining Bureau."

"Huh?!"

"Come, come, come, Lord Kazekage, eat up! This is a specialty of our Hidden Hot Spring Village—hot spring fish. The meat is tender and delicious. You must try some." The Hot Spring Shadow courteously placed food onto Keiko's plate, his attitude exceedingly respectful.

"If you have something to say, feel free to say it. You're being so polite that I'm starting to feel embarrassed." Keiko could tell that the Hot Spring Shadow wanted something from him.

"Alas, to be honest, I do have a troubling matter. I hope Lord Kazekage can assist me." The Hot Spring Shadow set down his chopsticks and began to explain.

At some point, a group of cultists who worshipped Jashin had wandered into Hidden Hot Spring Village. They committed all manner of evil, cruel and bloodthirsty, periodically coming into the village to burn, kill, and plunder. They had even taken many of the village's children.

He had led people to encircle and suppress them several times, but their cult leader was exceptionally skilled. Even several Jonin could not restrain him, and they had instead lost quite a few men. He had intended to seek help from the Konoha, only for war to break out, leaving the Konoha with no time to deal with this matter. Now that the Kazekage was here, he hoped the Kazekage could eliminate these people. The Hot Spring Shadow also stated that, upon success, he would offer ten million ryo as payment.

Cult of Jashin? What the hell? The Cult of Jashin behind Hidan?

"May I ask, Lord Hot Spring Shadow, what abilities does the Cult of Jashin's leader possess?" Keiko asked.

The Hot Spring Shadow's expression immediately turned fearful. It took him a long while to force out a single sentence.

"His greatest trait is that he cannot be killed!"

Inside a dim cave, dozens of Cult of Jashin followers dressed in black cloaks continuously knelt before a terrifying and bizarre stone statue. Its face resembled that of a hungry ghost, with blue skin and fangs. It held a scroll in its mouth, a red three-bladed scythe in its left hand, and a slender spear in its right. Strange runes painted in blood covered its entire body.

Five wooden stakes stood before the statue, and a child was tied to each one. Four were clearly already dead: one had been beheaded, one had been pierced through the heart, one had had his skull smashed, and one had been disemboweled. Blood covered the ground, making for a brutal and horrific scene.

One child was obviously still alive. He thrashed wildly, terror filling his eyes as muffled whimpers came from his gagged mouth.

Just then, an old man in a purple cloak appeared before the statue. His hands were covered in blood, and he chanted softly. As his voice gradually rose, a strange energy slowly gathered upon the statue. The statue's once-empty eyes turned an eerie red, as if it were about to come alive. The blood scattered across the altar slowly flowed toward the statue and was absorbed by it, causing the bloody runes covering its body to glow an even brighter crimson.

Slowly, the runes detached from the stone statue and drifted upward like several snakes newly awakened from hibernation. As the old man's chanting grew faster and faster, those "snakes" moved faster as well.

They gradually crawled over the child's entire body. By then, the child had fainted from fright. Another believer stepped out from the crowd. The old man took out a dagger and slit the believer's palm, letting his blood drip over the child's head. Then he used blood to draw a strange symbol beneath the child's feet—a triangle within a circle. Fresh blood ran down the child's cheeks and into his mouth. At that moment, the child's entire body changed, black-and-white stripes emerging all over him!

The old man's expression was excited, even crazed! He plunged a knife into the child's chest. Then something bizarre happened—the believer beside the old man fell stiffly to the ground with a thud. The old man's expression grew even more deranged, and he let out wild laughter like someone scraping the bottom of a pot.

"I succeeded! We have gained another messenger of Jashin!"

The cultists erupted in celebration and began bowing even more fervently.

"Another one? So there's more than one of you? Which ones are you?"

At the sound of that abrupt voice, the once-noisy cave instantly fell silent.

"Who's there?"

The old man in purple pointed toward the cave entrance.

"Me? I'll tell you who I am. Magnet Release: Timely Rain!"