At this moment, Jiraiya was already looking quite battered. Even though his combat power was overwhelming in Sage Mode, facing a group of opponents skilled in sealing techniques, who even knew how to interfere with natural energy, was like meeting his natural nemesis.
However, thanks to his experience, Jiraiya was still able to hold out for a while. Aoba focused his attention and observed the ninjas chasing him.
As expected, there was something fundamentally wrong with those guys. It wasn't a matter of strength; rather, in Aoba's eyes, they were essentially already dead.
Though their bodies were still active and their wills seemed clear, on a deeper, spiritual level, those individuals were all dead, or at least 99% dead.
The remaining 1% was being maintained by some kind of special power.
The strength and vitality they were displaying now were like a massive steel ball weighing hundreds of tons being held up by a single, fine wire. All the weight pressed on that one thread, if it snapped, everything they were showing would instantly collapse.
Of course, ordinary people couldn't detect this kind of soul-level anomaly.
Aoba didn't act rashly. By now, he was almost certain that these people were indeed remnants of the Uzumaki clan.
Not just because of their techniques, but also because of the issues at the soul level.
Aoba tried to trace the root cause of the soul problems in these individuals. It wasn't easy, the Shinigami (God of Death) held one of the deepest authorities over souls among all the gods.
Even if the Shinigami's dominion wasn't complete, it was still a master of the soul realm.
A few seconds later, Aoba opened his eyes. He glanced at Jiraiya, estimating that he could still hold on a bit longer, then disappeared from the spot in an instant.
In a small mountain village deep within a valley...
At the deepest part of the village, inside a temple, a group of elders wearing ceremonial robes were performing some sort of ritual.
The Shinigami had been hiding here for a long time.
As one of the native deities of the shinobi world, it was far more primitive and chaotic compared to the Ōtsutsuki clan gods. Just like how natural energy is difficult to control.
This was because the history of the shinobi world was still too short, the gods that arose from it hadn't existed for long enough.
Most of the native gods of the shinobi world had only recently been born. A thousand years or so was still considered childhood for a spirit of nature.
For this reason, very few people in the shinobi world had ever come into contact with these true native deities.
The Uzumaki clan, back in the day, was one of the few who managed to do so. But what they didn't anticipate was that perhaps the Shinigami didn't want to interact with humans at all.
Most native gods were spirits of nature, not beings born from faith. So they essentially had nothing to do with humans.
If you prayed to such a god, it would just look at you like an idiot from the shadows. If it was in a good mood, maybe it'd help you out a bit. If it was in a bad mood, it might just pour oil on the fire instead.
Because the life or death of humans had nothing to do with them. So far, the only god Aoba had encountered that was born from belief was the Evil God Jashin, worshiped by Hidan.
That one needed Hidan to constantly kill and sacrifice in its name. If the sacrifices stopped, the god itself wouldn't last very long.
Back then, the Uzumaki were a true ninja clan. After they became aware of the Shinigami's existence, their first thought was how to use its power.
The Reaper Death Seal was indeed an example of using the Shinigami's power, but that was a transaction. Trading the caster's life for a one-time intervention by the Shinigami. That wasn't truly exploiting it.
What the Uzumaki clan wanted was to treat Shinigami like a Tailed Beast, extracting its power directly, like a jinchūriki. Yes, they wanted to enslave the Shinigami.
That was something the Shinigami absolutely could not tolerate. As mentioned earlier, it was a spirit of nature, its existence had nothing to do with humanity. Naturally, it had no intention of granting power to believers like some evil god.
But the Uzumaki were no slouches either. Using their sealing techniques, they actually began to touch on the secrets of the Shinigami's power.
The Shinigami realized that if this group was allowed to continue their research, it might not be long before they actually managed to seal it and turn it into a living battery.
Of course, for the Shinigami, killing people was easy. But at the time, it had just escaped from the Pure Land, and the Sage of Six Paths was eyeing the remaining fragments of its divine authority like a hawk. It couldn't afford to take overt action or launch a massacre.
Thus came the event where the Allied Shinobi Forces attacked the Uzumaki clan. That incident had been covertly instigated by the Shinigami.
Even if it couldn't act directly, there was so much a god could do. As one of the most adept beings in soul manipulation, it was child's play for the Shinigami to subtly guide an entire war.
In a way, Indra's slaughter of the native gods back in the day actually protected the shinobi world. Otherwise, if these natural spirits were allowed to grow unchecked, the entire world would've become their playground.
Still, given the Shinigami's own precarious situation, it didn't choose to completely wipe out the Uzumaki.
Their potential was enormous. As long as they stopped dabbling in those dangerous studies, they could still be useful.
In the end, the Shinigami preserved a small portion of the Uzumaki. It led them away from the shinobi world's center, hiding them in the current mountain village.
Under the influence of divine power, these remaining Uzumaki soon became the Shinigami's devout followers.
That was when Shinigami realized it had a rather complicated problem on its hands, the faith of those followers was restoring its divine power.
But at the same time, by absorbing their belief, the Shinigami's very nature had begun to change. It was no longer a pure spirit of nature but was now becoming a hybrid: part nature spirit, part god of belief.
And that created a serious issue, it couldn't get rid of the Uzumaki anymore.
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI