(Zhua Qin, this chapter will be revised after initial release.)
"Thud, thud, thud."
The clear and heavy knocking echoed through the night, instantly waking up the ninja left behind to guard this place—it should be noted that this location was underground, and if it were someone returning from their own side, they definitely wouldn't knock like this.
"Oh my, seems like your manpower is seriously insufficient, leaving just one person to guard here... That's not right at all. No matter what you're doing, the most important thing is to prevent enemy from base rushing.
Even with the most aggressive playstyle, you gotta be ready to trade bases. First one to blow the nexus? Winner takes all."
"Who's there?!"
Although Haseo knocked politely, he didn't wait for permission before entering… Yeah, he definitely didn't belong here.
Besides, who cares about his ranting anyway—facing such an intruder, the enemy rushed forward directly, and then... well, there wasn't much of an "after" to speak of.
Why won't anyone ever just stop and listen to Haseo? If you ignore his advice, you'll learn the hard way—his style of teaching lessons is as elegant as it is ruthless.
It was highly possible that the Shoe God Religion had already gone over to the enemy's Yunagi Village. And clearly, they faced severe manpower shortages, so only one person remained here as guard.
After eliminating the enemy, Haseo easily seized control of the space like a dove taking over a magpie's nest.
He took a full tour around the underground space, discovering that what they stockpiled most here was wealth accumulated by these people. Naturally, Haseo had little interest in such things... At their core, this couple wasn't greedy or into hoarding wealth.
Gambling or holding back his friends' paychecks—those were just little hobbies, expressions of emotion and attitude toward life. Everything he did was just for fun, never something serious enough to lose sleep over... That's exactly why Haseo wouldn't open his own casino himself.
Tsunade's always on a losing streak—so what? Who cares about something so trivial anyway? What's the point of gambling at your own place, even if you do always come out on top?
If Haseo wanted money, there were far more options available—he could easily use techniques far superior to those of a petty money-gathering cult like the Shoe God Religion… He could simply visit any of the Five Great Nations' treasuries for a little stroll—wouldn't that provide endless cash?
All entirely legal earnings, of course. After all, if you're not caught, it's not a crime.
So, after ignoring the accumulated pile of money and goods, what actually deserved attention here became very limited indeed.
Soon enough, Haseo found a particularly secret room and discovered something valuable inside…
"Finally stumbled upon something slightly related to religion… But… researching methods of immortality? Friend, aren't you in the wrong place? Cultivating for immortality here in the Ninjutsu World?"
Indeed, Orochimaru wasn't the only one interested in eternal life. As Haseo skimmed through the documents left in the room, he quickly understood exactly what these people were trying to accomplish.
However, their pursued objectives still seemed quite different. Orochimaru was chasing endless life, since his ultimate goal was to thoroughly research all kinds of jutsu; the goals of the Shoe Religion followers were more straightforward and fundamental. Possibly due to job requirements, they set their sights on achieving an [Immortal Body].
The sheer volume and aged condition of these research materials suggested this couldn't possibly be the work of just a single generation within a short time span. This implied that perhaps the Shoe God Religion had a long history and traditions, involving many clever individuals with imagination, creativity, and the ability to put ideas into practice.
"This is actually pretty interesting…"
From a purely knowledge-seeking perspective, these research notes offered truly eye-opening perspectives—proof that real talent walks among us, and numerous valuable academic achievements often get overlooked.
Haseo was able to confirm the authenticity of these materials based on two aspects. First, the documentation was comprehensive—from theoretical hypotheses to later experimental verification—all supported by detailed data, clearly not something made up out of thin air. The second reason lay in actual examples: the Shoe God Religion indeed produced results from their [Immortal Body] research—the so-called Hidan from the Akatsuki organization.
At this point in time, if Hidan had not yet joined the Akatsuki, he should have still been quite young—only around two or three years old.
So Hidan's immortal body didn't originate from a sudden stroke of genius on his part but instead represented the accumulated efforts of multiple generations… This somehow sounded more believable. Although his immortality might seem somewhat primitive and grotesque, it truly fit the basic definition of being immortal.
Surviving even after someone cut off your head? At the very least, Haseo couldn't accomplish such a feat.
As for faith in the Shoe God, that aspect was nothing more than nonsense meant to mimic divinity—essentially just tricks performed by ninja, from beginning to end.
It wasn't so much faith in the Shoe God they held, as it was absolute reverence for chakra itself.
Chakra was incredibly magical; the Sage of Six Paths was the origin of all things.
Compared to normal utilization and research of chakra and ninjutsu, creating something like the [Immortal Body] was certainly considered heretical. Therefore, these documents deserved to be burned—once set ablaze, everything would naturally come to an end.
That was exactly what Haseo initially planned to do. However, as he prepared to act, he suddenly stopped—when a certain thought surfaced in his mind, Haseo decided to respect human intellectual achievements.
Fine. Amongst the Shoe God Religion's immortal body research, there existed certain aspects which proved useful knowledge for Haseo, so he decided to preserve them.
After bundling up and carrying away the crucial documents, Haseo left this underground hideout.
Since reading through those materials had taken considerable time, when Haseo emerged back onto the surface once more, dawn was already approaching under a faintly brightening sky.
"Hmm... I'll go check how that battle turned out."
Thinking it over, Haseo decided to pay Yunagi Village a visit.
Right from the start, he had zero plans to get dragged into this mess. After all, it was someone else's fight and didn't concern him much. As for saving innocent civilians—well, aside from whether or not members of the Shoe Religion were actually innocent, Haseo definitely wasn't some kind of savior. He did have a bit of a wandering hero complex now and then, though.
Ninjas live surrounded by slaughter, witnessing bloodshed, death, entire families wiped out, even whole clans destroyed. Haseo had seen it all. Seeing too much of that naturally made him numb to it—he just didn't care what happened, as long as it didn't hit him directly.
He made that mindset clear back in Konoha—only looking out for people close to him, only giving a damn about stuff tied to Kagenami.
Don't even bring up him ignoring people who needed help. In Haseo's own opinion, he was just letting things run their course—he wasn't even the one making things happen tonight.
So after taking a quick look around Yunagi Village, Haseo didn't have much to say.
"Man, looks pretty brutal."
Judging by the situation, it looked like the ninja village and the Shoe Religion had wiped each other out.
Haseo took a few more steps forward and spotted someone familiar—slumped against a wall, drenched in blood, with empty, lifeless eyes.
"Hey, Shinyu, still breathing?"
This guy was none other than one of Haseo's usual clients: Shinyu Han, a guy in his mid-twenties totally hooked on dolls.
Although he looked pretty rough, there's no doubt he was still alive—just a bit shaken up mentally.
"Lucky you, huh? Who told you to be my main client, Shinyu?"
Turns out big guys really do think alike—Shinyu was like the one dude who actually got Haseo. No matter how he'd gotten tangled up with those Shoe Religion folks, the fact that he survived was pure luck.
Thank the gods of collectible figures—this was pure destiny.
(End of Chapter)
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