"Uhh… Well, my lord," Meiji began cautiously, still rattled by Shin's question about the Priest of Asura.
He knew this title too well—more familiar to him than even his own father's name, for crying out loud. But it wasn't some earth-shattering secret. Quite the opposite, actually.
After a moment of thought, Meiji continued, "I only heard about something like the Priest of Asura from my grandfather.
This was a decade ago, when I was still a kid. It used to be a popular fairytale back then, something to entertain children."
"A fairytale?" Shin muttered, a smile creeping onto his face as he shifted in his chair, settling in more comfortably. "Tell me more about it."
Shin was interested, and not just because it sounded cool. The system had issued him a mission related to it, and the reward for completing it? Definitely worth looking into. He was intrigued, now more than ever.
Meiji, sensing that this was no casual inquiry, hesitated before finally gulping down his nervousness.
"Well, it's nothing too special. The story goes that the Priest of Asura was the head of a religion called Asurism, which worshipped Asura, one of the branches of the larger Otsurism religion.
This faith is still followed on the mainland of the continent."
"Back to the point," Meiji said, trying to stay focused, "the fairytale says that hundreds of years ago, the main Priest of that time came to this land—or somewhere around here; the details are fuzzy—and defeated an army of giant beasts.
However, he died in the process, which led to the decline of Asurism on the mainland, and the religion almost disappeared entirely."
Meiji glanced nervously at Shin, wondering if this information would be enough to satisfy him.
Something about the way Shin was listening made it clear that he was taking this far more seriously than just a simple story.
'Hmm... How interesting,' Shin thought, tapping his fingers lightly on the edge of the chair.
In the Naruto anime, there wasn't much focus on organized religions—maybe Jashinism, but even that felt more like a twisted cult.
But here, in this world he'd transmigrated into, there seemed to be tons of religions, especially in places like the Land of Tea, where dozens of beliefs flourished, the biggest one revolving around worshiping nature.
Though All these religions were destined to crumble once the Heavenly Demonic Cult took root.
He needed to dig deeper into these so-called religions, but one thing was clear—none of them would survive long in this new world order.
'I need to research more about this,' Shin mused as he stood up. Meiji, ever vigilant, immediately followed suit, standing in respect to avoid accidentally offending his unpredictable new lord.
Two days later
The once-peaceful village was now a graveyard of blood and broken bodies. Men, women, the elderly, even children—no one had been spared.
Their lifeless forms were scattered around, hearts ripped out in the aftermath of Shin's brutal orders.
Amid the carnage, a lone man knelt in the blood-soaked dirt, his hand protectively shielding his trembling wife, who was visibly pregnant.
"P-Please, great lord!" The man stammered, his voice trembling with fear. "Just let my wife live—she's pregnant, I beg you."
Shin stood before him, his shoulder-length void-black hair blowing softly in the breeze, his blood-red eyes scanning the pitiful scene with a cold detachment.
His once-pristine clothes were now drenched in blood, and the simple iron sword in his hand dripped with fresh crimson.
"Oh... Is that so?" Shin asked, his voice feigning surprise, his face wearing a mock look of concern.
The man's eyes brightened with hope, thinking maybe—just maybe—his plea had worked.
But before he could utter another word, Shin had already moved.
With a single swift slash, the sword cleaved through the woman and the unborn child in her womb, splitting them both in half with one merciless strike.
"See? It was that simple..." Shin said, his voice filled with a fake angelic sweetness, an eerie smile plastered on his face.
The man's mind barely had time to register what had happened before his head hit the ground—Shin had beheaded him just as casually.
As the silence of the massacre set in, Shin raised his eyes to the sky, almost as if talking to himself.
"Why do I fix everything I touch?" he mused, a hypothetical question lingering in the air, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather.
As Shin glanced around at the aftermath of his carnage, a thought crossed his mind.
'The bandits should have gathered around 250 hearts by now,' he mused, stepping over the lifeless bodies as he calmly walked away from the village.
The corpses would remain for now; he'd send some of his bandits to collect the hearts later.
This would inevitably spark some internal conflict within the group, as the bandits would bicker over who got to claim the hearts from this village.
More chaos meant more control for Shin in the long run—he enjoyed watching them tear each other apart for scraps.
Now, you might wonder why Shin had massacred the entire village. First, it was for manipulation.
Second, and more importantly, an old, retired shinobi had been living here quietly with his family.
When Shin's men had initially come to gather hearts, that old shinobi had wiped out the entire group of bandits. Naturally, Shin had to deal with that.
The man and woman he had just killed were the old shinobi's son and daughter-in-law.
As for the shinobi himself? Shin had already taken care of him beforehand—he was only a chunin-level at best. Easy prey.
Now, with enough hearts gathered to create the Hundred Heart Demonic Pill, Shin's next task was to hunt for traces of the Priest of Asura.
After all, he couldn't lose the chance to claim that juicy dragon heart, could he?
{A/N: I have a exam tomorrow But I haven't even touched the book yet 😔🔫->🪦}