Cult of Jashin? What the Hell?

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

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

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

Its Hidden Hot Spring Village was famous throughout the world for its renowned hot springs. Due to its limited strength, it had long since thrown itself into the arms of the Hidden Leaf Village. Under Hidden Leaf Village's protection, Hidden Hot Spring Village had lost its fighting power early on and was known as "the village that forgot war."

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

After Jing Hang's diplomatic delegation picked up Rasa and Pakura at Lishi Fortress, their group of more than thirty set out for the Hidden Leaf Village. Passing through Hidden Hot Spring Village, they received a warm welcome from the Hot Spring Shadow, who invited the Wind Shadow to enjoy the famous Hidden Hot Spring hot springs as a proper welcome banquet. Jing Hang, long tormented by desert sandstorms, was more than happy to wash away the dust on his body and respectfully accepted.

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

"Please don't. You're the Wind Shadow now. When you speak so politely, it makes me nervous. Just give the order."

"Could you lend your big brother the gold dust you've saved up?"

Rasa flipped out of the water and sat upright, his face full of misery. "Brother, I worked so hard to save up that little bit of gold dust. I was planning to use it to train the Gundam Technique..."

"I know, I know." Jing Hang hurriedly soothed him.

"Doesn't your brother have no other choice? The village just finished a war. So many families of the fallen need pensions, so many war orphans need to be raised, and we still need to work on construction and education. That damn stingy daimyo won't provide any funding. Even as the Wind Shadow, there's nothing I can do. Let your brother borrow it first, all right?"

"Say no more, Brother. I was just joking. Isn't it just a little gold dust? For the village, you could chop me up and sell me if you wanted." Rasa grinned.

Jing Hang could not help feeling emotional. The future Fourth Wind Shadow before him was undoubtedly a tragic hero.

In the original story, after the Third Wind Shadow disappeared, Hidden Sand Village mobilized the entire village to search for his whereabouts, yet never found any trace of him. For a time, Hidden Sand Village was left leaderless. Wars broke out across Hidden Sand Village and the Land of Wind, and the country fell into ruin. It was then that Rasa stepped forward, using the Magnet Release: Gold Dust he had learned from the Third Wind Shadow to suppress the rebellion, succeed him as Wind Shadow, and protect the village.

As the daimyo of the Land of Wind continuously reduced the number of ninjas and cut funding for the ninja village, Hidden Sand Village's combat power steadily declined. Once again, Rasa used Magnet Release to gather gold dust as village funds, practically carrying the entire village's finances on his own.

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

But Jing Hang would never allow that to happen in this life. Those who gathered firewood for the masses 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, Lord Wind Shadow, eat, eat. This is a specialty of our Hidden Hot Spring Village—hot spring fish. The meat is tender and the flavor is delicious. You must give it a try." The Hot Spring Shadow courteously placed food onto Jing Hang's plate, his attitude exceedingly respectful.

"If there's something you need, you might as well say it directly. You're being so courteous that I'm starting to feel embarrassed." Jing Hang could tell that the Hot Spring Shadow must be asking something of him.

"Sigh, to be honest, this old man does have a troubling matter, and I hope Lord Wind Shadow can help me." The Hot Spring Shadow put down his chopsticks and began to explain.

It turned out that, at some point, a group of cultists who worshipped Jashin had wandered into Hidden Hot Spring Village. These cultists committed all manner of evil, cruel and bloodthirsty, periodically coming into the village to burn, kill, and plunder. They had even abducted quite a few village children.

He had led people to surround and suppress them many times, but their cult leader possessed extraordinary methods. Several jonin had been unable to capture him, and they had instead lost several of their own. He had wanted to seek help from the Hidden Leaf Village, but war had broken out, and the Hidden Leaf Village had no time to deal with this. Since the Wind Shadow happened to be here, he wished to ask him to eliminate these people. The Hot Spring Shadow also stated that once the matter was resolved, he was willing to 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 methods does the Cult of Jashin's leader possess?" Jing Hang asked.

The Hot Spring Shadow's expression suddenly turned fearful. After a long while, he finally forced out a sentence.

"His greatest trait is that he can't be killed!"

Inside the dim cave, dozens of Cult of Jashin followers dressed in black cloaks continuously knelt before a terrifying, bizarre stone statue. The statue had the face of a hungry ghost, blue skin and fangs, a scroll clenched in its mouth, a red triple-bladed scythe in its left hand, and a slender spear in its right. Its entire body was covered in strange symbols painted in blood.

Five wooden stakes stood before the statue, each with a child tied to it. Four were clearly already dead: one had been beheaded, one had been pierced through the heart, one had had their skull smashed open, and one had been disemboweled. Blood covered the entire ground, making for a scene of brutal carnage.

One child was clearly still alive. He twisted his body frantically, terror filling his eyes, while muffled whimpers came from his gagged mouth.

At that moment, 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 around the statue. The statue's originally hollow eyes turned an eerie red, as though it were about to come alive. The blood scattered across the altar slowly flowed toward the statue and was absorbed by it, making the bloody symbols all over its body appear even more vivid.

Slowly, the symbols began to peel away from the statue and float into the air like several snakes newly awakened from hibernation. As the old man's chanting quickened, the "snakes" moved faster and faster as well.

They gradually crawled over the child's entire body. By then, the child had fainted from terror. Another follower stepped out from the crowd. The old man drew a dagger and cut open the follower's palm, letting the blood drip over the child's head. He then used blood to draw a strange symbol beneath the child's feet—a circle enclosing a triangle. The streaming blood ran down the child's cheeks and into his mouth. Then! The child's entire body changed, black-and-white stripes emerging across his skin!

The old man's expression was excited, even crazed! He drove a knife into the child's chest. Then something bizarre happened—the follower beside the old man fell straight to the ground with a thud. The old man's expression became even more frenzied as he let out a mad laugh like someone scraping the bottom of a pot.

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

The cultists erupted in cheers 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 sudden voice, the noisy cave instantly fell silent.

"Who?"

The purple-robed old man pointed toward the cave entrance.

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