Seven days had already passed since the destruction of the Jashin Cult.
It was like a ripple in the vast ocean—failing to stir even the slightest wave.
The Five Great Nations were all busy tending to their own territories, dealing with cursed spirits. None of them cared about so obscure cult in a remote minor country.
As for the small nations surrounding the Jashin Cult, they were even less likely to send people to their deaths to investigate what had happened there.
As a result, almost no one knew that the Jashin Cult no longer existed.
On the scale of the entire ninja world… it could even be said that hardly anyone knew there had ever been sothing called the Jashin Cult in the first place.
And it was under such circumstances that Hidan and Shinji—the traitors of the Jashin Cult, its survivors, its miracles, its so-called future hope—set off on a directionless journey of wandering.
Bright sunlight filtered through the sparse branches and leaves overhead, warming the body pleasantly.
"Hey, don't we still have plenty of money? So why are we going to the bounty exchange to take missions?"
After leaving the bounty exchange, Hidan lazily chewed on a foxtail grass, clearly puzzled by Shinji's actions.
Flipping through the bounty notices in his hand, Shinji replied, "It's not about the money. Whether we do the missions or not doesn't really matter. I mainly want to gather information."
"After all, such a huge Jashin Cult is down to just the two of us now. Other than the bounty exchange, do you have any other channels to get intel?"
Hidan was instantly left speechless. He clicked his tongue and spat out the foxtail grass.
In truth, Shinji hadn't said everything.
Using the bounty exchange to gather intelligence was only one reason. On the other hand, he could also post commissions or purchase items through it.
He had no interest in those human bounties. At most, he might take action if he happened to run into one.
What truly interested him were the bounties and missions related to cursed spirits!
Clearly, the world had already changed.
All major forces were extrely interested in the sudden appearance of cursed spirits, and that naturally included the people backing the bounty exchange.
As a result, a large number of related missions and bounties had begun appearing in bounty exchanges across various regions.
Now that he was free of the Jashin Cult's constraints, Shinji could fully make use of the bounty exchange's intelligence network—traveling around to exterminate cursed spirits, earning curse points, and making so extra money on the side.
At the sa ti, if others obtained strange items after killing cursed spirits, he could try to buy them.
After all, one of the ways cursed objects were ford was from the bodies of cursed spirits.
For example, when Shinji had killed the [Special-Grade Cursed Spirit – Greed], he had obtained a cursed object ford from its eyeball: [Eye of Greed].
He wasn't sure whether this was a special case, but he suspected that once a cursed spirit reached the special-grade level, there was a certain chance it would produce a cursed object.
And cursed objects varied widely in strength and ability—so even brought calamity upon their owners.
Shinji believed that in this world, no one understood such things better than he did.
So if he could buy them with money, it would be an absolute bargain.
The only problem was that the bounty exchange had always been collecting corpses—so they might not necessarily be willing to sell to him.
Shinji frowned slightly and put away all the bounty notices.
"So where are we going now?" Hidan asked, sounding bored.
Shinji pondered for a mont. "The Land of Wind. I just saw a piece of intel saying that a cursed spirit suspected to possess elite jōnin-level strength has appeared there. Because of it, Sunagakure has already lost two jōnin, as well as several chūnin and genin."
"Cursed spirits? That's the new na you gave those ghost things?"
Hidan sounded a bit sour, while also recalling that humiliating experience from before.
"That bald, four-eyed freak said it himself last ti. Claid he was so kind of special-grade cursed spirit, blah blah blah."
Shinji spoke nonsense with a perfectly straight face. After all, that bald, four-eyed freak was already dead—there was no way he could jump out and expose him.
Anything that was hard to explain could just be dumped on that guy.
Hidan didn't doubt it at all. After all, he'd been pinned to a wall back then, completely unable to move. Later, Shinji and that monster had fought their way to the lower level—whatever was said, he wouldn't have known anyway.
"Special-grade cursed spirit… did he tell you how many levels there are above that?"
Glancing at Hidan's slightly stiff expression, Shinji pretended not to notice. "Nope. But it seems like special-grade is probably the strongest, right?"
He genuinely wasn't sure whether the system even recognized anything above special-grade.
But even if it didn't, the gap in strength between special-grades could still be as absurd as Kaguya Ōtsutsuki versus Konohamaru—an instant kill either way.
Of course, there was no need to say that out loud. No point crushing Hidan's confidence too badly.
Sure enough, upon hearing that the monster who had humiliated him might actually be the strongest, Hidan's expression visibly relaxed.
For example, imagine you're a professional boxer who gets knocked out with a single punch in a very amateur neighborhood boxing match. How would you feel?
But if you later found out that the other guy was Tyson, wouldn't you instantly feel much better, far less bitter and depressed?
"Next ti, I won't be careless again!"
Hidan declared arrogantly, the textbook definition of soone who never learns.
Shinji couldn't even be bothered to look at him. Against special-grade cursed spirits, he'd have to rely on himself.
Hidan?
Just a free-range dog, that's all.
...
At the sa ti, within Sunagakure of the Land of Wind.
"Kazekage-sama, the reconnaissance unit has sent new intel. Another village has been massacred. All the corpses were drained of moisture and turned into mummies. It's suspected to be the work of the entity codenad 'Sand Spirit.'"
Rasa's expression darkened. "Have Maki select two partners to form a jōnin squad. Give him another twenty chūnin. They must find the 'Sand Spirit.' Once they do, attempt to capture it first. If that proves too difficult, then bring the body!"
"Yes, Kazekage-sama!"
After the ssenger left, Rasa felt a sharp pain in his heart as he recalled the two jōnin who had already fallen.
At the very beginning, capturing those unknown creatures had gone quite smoothly.
The newly established research departnt had even begun various experints—such as turning those creatures into puppets, extracting new types of poisons, and so particularly imaginative minds even suggested sealing those monsters into human bodies to mass-produce cheap pseudo-jinchūriki.
In short, the research topics were all over the place.
Of course, real results would take ti.
However, as ti passed, not only did these monsters grow at an alarming rate, so distinctly unusual ones also began to appear…
Among them, the creature codenad 'Sand Spirit' was an exceptionally special existence.
It wore a tattered black robe, with two thick chains crossed and bound around its body. At the circular ring in the center hung a strip of red silk, inscribed with curse markings of unknown aning. A golden hourglass hung at its waist, and in its hand was a strangely shaped snake-like sword.
On its first appearance, it killed two jōnin, turned multiple chūnin and genin into mummified corpses, and finally rescued the batch of captured test subjects.
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