"This is the Land of Waves? I hate the humid air and the lingering disgusting smell here!"
As soon as he disembarked, Hidan, who was cosplaying as a character from One Punch Man, couldn't help but show a look of disdain.
As a small island nation reliant on the sea, it was obvious that the Land of Waves had a thriving fishing industry. Therefore, the smell of dead fish was unavoidable near the docks.
For the villagers who had lived by the sea for a long time, this was nothing unusual. They were accustomed to it.
However, for Shinsuke and Hidan, who had lived on land for most of their lives and rarely saw the sea, it was not very pleasant.
So, Shinsuke also covered his nose slightly and said helplessly, "Let's complete the mission quickly and leave as soon as possible."
This time, Hidan did not argue with him but instead looked at everyone who dared to glance at him with malicious eyes. His suppressed desire for slaughter was burning away his already limited sanity.
If he wasn't worried about messing up the mission, he might have already started killing!
"Hold on a bit longer, find the contact first, and then you can go wild."
After searching, they finally found a pattern on a pillar in front of a house—a circle with a triangle inside.
Undoubtedly, this was the symbol of the Cult of Jashin!
In this remote island nation of the Land of Waves, few knew about the Cult of Jashin. If everything went as expected, this should be their contact point.
Even if it was a trap, they were not afraid.
Understanding this, they directly pushed the door open without knocking.
Inside, a young man in his twenties was dozing off. Startled awake, he shouted, "Who are you? What do you want?"
Shinsuke didn't waste words. He showed the Jashin pendant hanging around his neck and said, "The suffering of the world, the Evil God lives on."
Upon seeing the pendant and hearing the phrase, the young man immediately shuddered.
He hurried outside and whispered, "Are you the two... uh, heroes from the Cult of Jashin?"
Shinsuke nodded, "Take us to see Mira Peng."
"Lord Mira has been waiting for a long time, but... where are the others? Is it just the two of you?" The young man hesitated.
Swish!
Suddenly, a sharp kunai was pressed against the young man's neck, and Hidan impatiently said, "One more word and I'll kill you!"
"Yes, yes, I shouldn't have spoken. Please follow me."
The young man, pale with fear, pleaded repeatedly, terrified that a slip of Hidan's hand would cut his throat.
A shallow red line already appeared on his neck.
Seeing the young man's cowardly demeanor, Hidan sneered in disdain before retracting the kunai.
The young man, now too scared to ask more questions, led the way, covering his neck and keeping his head down.
He didn't want to stay with this intimidating bald man for another moment.
"Useless! You're all useless!"
Bang!
Crash!
In a luxuriously decorated room, a middle-aged man with a handsome face and a natural air of authority was raging, throwing various exquisite items and porcelain pieces to the ground like garbage!
Although Mira Peng, who looked to be in his early forties, actually was 56, he maintained his appearance well. But he couldn't hide the fact that his body was aging day by day.
As people age, they tend to reminisce about their youthful days and gradually shift their focus to their family.
Particularly, he cherished his youngest daughter, who was born late in his life. The joy of family was one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.
But everything had been destroyed!
Blades, pools of blood, and his daughter's confused eyes as she fell... Every time he closed his eyes, these scenes vividly replayed in his mind!
It was as if his poor daughter was questioning him why he hadn't avenged her yet?!
Yes, revenge!
These days, he had been relentlessly seeking revenge against Gato!
Commercial competition?
No! From the moment his beloved daughter died before him, it was already war!
But Gato seemed more adept at playing dirty tricks.
"It's just money! If Gato can hire a hundred men, you should hire a thousand! Are you so stupid that you can't even outspend him?!"
Mira Peng's angry roars echoed in the room.
He couldn't understand why his significant expenditure hadn't shown results.
His patience was wearing thin. He didn't want to see Gato's smug face anymore; he just wanted Gato dead!
"Gato has reached some sort of agreement with those rogue ninjas. The people we spend big money to hire often underperform or even suddenly betray us. This has led many to refuse our company's missions, fearing they might be killed by 'their own people'..."
Mira Peng's face darkened, "Have the people we sent to Konoha returned?"
"Most were intercepted on the way, and only a few made it back. Moreover, Konoha might not accept our assassination request; they might only send a few people for temporary protection." The subordinate looked ashamed.
Outside of wartime, the five great ninja villages strictly forbade their ninjas from killing civilians. After all, the world was predominantly made up of civilians. Without restrictions, ninjas with absolute power could monopolize all wealth, power, and status, treating civilians like pigs and dogs.
If such a situation arose, the world would have long descended into chaos.
Therefore, hiring official village ninjas to assassinate a civilian was generally not accepted.
Of course, there were exceptions.
For example, during times of financial need, they might secretly take on such jobs. As long as they weren't caught red-handed, the higher-ups would often turn a blind eye.
Additionally, rogue ninjas, missing-nin, and bounty hunters operating in underground black markets and exchange sites had no qualms about killing civilians. For them, these were the easiest and most pressure-free missions, often with high rewards.
Clearly, Gato had prepared in advance, depleting the resources and reputation of the Mira family, while drawing more rogue ninjas and missing-nin to his side. He also sent people to intercept those the Mira family sent for help, aiming to eliminate any potential threats early on.
With Gato's series of tactics, the Mira family would likely face ruin or at least rapid decline.