"Has the barrier taken effect?" In Kyoto, Satsuki's gaze shifted toward the direction of Katori Shrine as she spoke calmly.
It seemed that the Wheel Yama King's mission had been completed. Which meant—the Great Brahma King's task should also be nearing its end. And with that, the delay at Ryūkotsusei's location could finally come to a close.
Just as she was thinking this, a steady male voice resonated in her mind.
"My lady, the energy and divine channels connected to the Spiral Seal within Kyoto are now under my control. As you predicted, it indeed functions as a transdimensional passageway. Also, regarding that yōkai in Kyoto—I've obtained one of its tails."
"Well done, Great Brahma King. Go and rendezvous with the Wheel Yama King and the Phantom Spirit King."
For the Great Brahma King, Satsuki's instructions were twofold: to demonstrate the Lunar Palace's might openly, while secretly taking control of the vast Spiral Seal spread throughout Kyoto.
According to Satsuki's understanding, the Spiral Seal maintained the city's spiritual and elemental balance—but it also acted as a coordinate bridge between this world and Takamagahara, the High Plane of Heaven.
And the yōkai connected to that seal was one she had encountered before—the woman dressed in an elegant black kimono, her eyes brimming with beguiling allure, whom Satsuki had seen at Fushimi Inari Taisha.
Though the woman emitted no demonic energy and wandered through Kyoto freely as if it were her own domain, Satsuki's Tenseigan had seen through her at a glance.
Her body was no longer her own—it had been possessed by the great yōkai known as Hagoromo Gitsune.
Strictly speaking, Hagoromo Gitsune was not a physical creature but a parasitic entity. She inhabited gifted children, developing within them until their hearts turned fully toward malice—then she would seize control of their bodies.
Upon maturing, she absorbed negative emotions radiating from political centers—hatred, envy, wrath, despair—to strengthen herself. Bound to the mortal lifespan of her host, she would hide her true body between incarnations, making her a form of reincarnating yōkai.
But what most intrigued Satsuki was the strong residue of Spiral Seal energy clinging to her form. Even then, Satsuki had begun to suspect a direct connection between Hagoromo Gitsune and the seal itself.
Thus, for this phase of the Three Kings' mission, Satsuki had assigned the Great Brahma King—an expert in energy control—to dismantle and analyze the Spiral Seal, and to retrieve a fragment containing Hagoromo Gitsune's demonic essence for spatiotemporal alignment.
"Master, why are you suddenly so interested in that yōkai?"
Beside her, Ruri tilted her head in confusion. Her master's actions were, as always, far too intricate for her to follow. Even with the aid of the Akashic Record, she often found herself struggling to grasp the scope of Satsuki's thoughts.
At her question, Satsuki gave Ruri a sidelong glance filled with faint disdain.
"First, Hagoromo Gitsune is a reincarnating yōkai. Her memory and yōki persist between lives. Judging from her level of power, she's existed for at least a thousand years—likely since the mythic age of this land."
"Second, by outcome alone, she clearly represents the turning point when the yōkai overtook the gods—after both the Amatsukami and Kunitsukami suffered mutual ruin in their war for Kyoto's dominion. Otherwise, her current standing in the city would make no sense."
"Third, I've met her once. Through my Tenseigan, I observed remnants of Susanoo's divine power within her—and traces of Takemikazuchi as well. From a mythological standpoint, one is the supreme god of the Kunitsukami, and the other, the war deity of the Amatsukami. For her to bear both their imprints means her role in that era was... significant."
By this point, Satsuki's implication was clear.
"Master, are you saying that this Hagoromo Gitsune was one of those yōkai who deceived both divine factions during the war between the Amatsukami and Kunitsukami?" Ruri asked, eyes wide.
"At present, the evidence points that way," Satsuki replied, refilling her teacup with quiet precision. "But we'll need the tail fragment the Great Brahma King retrieved to confirm it."
"What—?"
Before Ruri could finish her question, a small black vortex materialized beside Satsuki—a miniature dimensional rift.
Satsuki's face showed no surprise. Reaching into the small black vortex beside her, she drew out a tuft of soft, furred tail.
She placed it atop a scroll, then sealed it with a series of binding incantations before tossing the scroll lightly to Ruri.
"When you have time, use the Akashic Record to locate the temporal coordinates linked to the residual energy on that tail. Report back once you find anything."
In recent days, Satsuki had not left her residence. Aside from overseeing the operations of the Three Kings, she had also been conducting long-term surveillance on the former Shuten-dōji—now reborn as Suika Ibuki.
Though Suika was a newly reconstructed shikigami, her origin as the Oni King of Mt. Ōe meant her core power was anything but ordinary. While her strength had been restructured through authority conversion to avoid conflicting with priestly spiritual power, Satsuki needed to ensure that her rate of growth aligned with expectations.
The upcoming Purification Ceremony would provide the perfect opportunity to assess that.
As previously mentioned, every woman captured by Shuten-dōji within Kyoto had to undergo a purification ritual before reintegrating into the city's spiritual order.
After days of preparation and recovery, that ceremony was scheduled to take place today.
Having played a major role in the subjugation of Shuten-dōji, Satsuki herself was also required to participate in the ritual. This was not an act of discrimination; even the mikos and monks of Yasaka Shrine who had joined the battle were to undergo the same cleansing process.
But before that...
Satsuki had other matters to attend to. As a swirl of smoke rose, her form was enveloped in light—vanishing from the room as she was summoned through a spiritual channel into another plane of existence.
...
Boom... Boom... Boom...
Far to the west, thunderous echoes rolled endlessly through the skies.
The colossal dog form of Sesshōmaru was still locked in fierce combat with Ryūkotsusei—the Dragon Bone Spirit.
Though both possessed extraordinary constitutions and immense yōki reserves, the prolonged battle and constant energy expenditure had pushed them to their physical and spiritual limits.
Ryūkotsusei's body bore deep claw marks, its once-glimmering scales shattered and scorched. Much of its flesh was corroded and pitted, marred by the venom that flowed from Sesshōmaru's fangs.
Sesshōmaru, too, was in no better condition. His majestic white fur hung in tatters like torn silk, his once-imposing frame marred by a massive wound across the chest. Even his divine aura now flickered faintly with exhaustion.
After yet another earth-shaking collision, the two great yōkai separated, both panting heavily.
Though Ryūkotsusei retained the upper hand in sheer physical might, it had failed to deliver a decisive blow. Meanwhile, Sesshōmaru's venom had grown increasingly potent over the course of battle, spreading through the air until it formed a dense, sickly green miasma—a poisonous domain that steadily ate away at the dragon's stamina.
Feeling its strength waning, Ryūkotsusei's eyes narrowed. A moment later, it received a transmission from the Lunar Palace.
Without uttering a single word of farewell—or even a token threat—the dragon released a concentrated blast of yōki toward Sesshōmaru and took off at full speed.
Sesshōmaru's eyes followed its retreating figure until the dragon's colossal form disappeared beyond the horizon.
Only then did the great demon hound finally allow himself to relax.
That moment of relief, however, proved costly—his vision dimmed, and his consciousness slipped away.
His massive body shimmered, compressing into a sphere of radiant light before descending gently to the ground.
When the light faded, the great white dog was gone—replaced by the unconscious human form of Sesshōmaru, lying silently amid the ruined battlefield.
When Satsuki reappeared, she found herself standing within an opulent fortress.
This grand castle was nearly identical to the Lunar Palace she had once constructed in the world of the Shinobi, though in this realm, it bore the same name—Tsukishinden—the Moon Temple. It did not rest upon the earth, however, but rather upon the moon itself, suspended high above the world below.
Though magnificent in form, the structure was not heavily manned, serving primarily as a central nexus rather than a seat of governance.
At its heart stood the most striking feature of all—a colossal humanoid statue, its body withered like aged wood, ten spire-like protrusions extending from its back. Its nine eyes were closed, lined vertically upon its face.
Anyone familiar with the Shinobi World would have recognized it instantly: the Gedo Mazo—the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
The Gedo Mazo was, in truth, the husk of the Ten-Tails, stripped of its chakra. In ages past, only those who possessed the Rinnegan could summon it through the Outer Path. And yet, impossibly, it now stood here—manifested within the Moon Temple itself.
Before the statue, the Three Kings knelt respectfully, bowing deeply toward the throne below it.
Laid before them were the unconscious body of the Great Dog General Tōga, the Shikon Jewel, and a scroll containing the encoded structure of the Spiral Seal.
Then, as the light of the full moon dimmed overhead, a calm, ethereal voice descended from the throne.
"You have done well, my three."
Upon hearing that familiar tone, the Phantom Spirit King, the Wheel Yama King, and the Great Brahma King all raised their heads slightly, their faces glowing with elation.
"To serve our lady is our greatest honor," they answered in unison.
"Good. I am most pleased with your accomplishments. Now, raise your heads."
"Yes, my lady," the three replied in perfect synchrony.
Slowly, reverently, they lifted their gazes toward the throne beneath the towering Gedo Mazo.
There sat Satsuki, her chin resting lightly upon one hand—her appearance transformed into the [Aspect of the Demon Buddha].
Her eyes shimmered with the ceaseless birth and death of stars. The crimson gem on her forehead pulsed with an eerie light. Dangling from her ears were sun-shaped Ōtsutsuki earrings. She wore a black and gold robe embroidered with five-clawed golden dragons and twisting Sanskrit sigils, her long black hair drifting weightlessly behind her. A radiant yet illusory halo flickered intermittently at her back.
Around her, the power of Vipralopa—the End of the Dharma—surged in quiet ripples, distorting the space itself.
She raised a hand. In her palm coalesced a sphere of black energy woven from the interlaced threads of death.
With a gentle tap of her finger, the black lines unraveled, dissolving into a mass of shadow that soon took form—
The will of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki: Zetsu.
The obsidian form collapsed from the dark orb like liquid tar, spilling onto the ground in a shapeless puddle. It immediately began to slink backward, trying to slip away.
"If I were you, I'd stay put and behave," came Satsuki's quiet voice from above.
At the sound, Zetsu froze. The intent to flee vanished from its body, replaced by trembling hesitation. Slowly, it reformed into a humanoid shape and stood beneath Satsuki's throne.
When its eyes met hers, it was struck speechless. The power radiating from her form—vast, cosmic, absolute—was beyond anything it could comprehend.
"You... who are you?"
"It hasn't been that long since we last met," Satsuki replied coolly. "Don't tell me Kaguya's will has gone senile."
Even in her transcendent Demon Buddha Aspect, with divine power coursing through her veins, her sharp tongue remained entirely unchanged.
But Zetsu's attention was quickly drawn away—from her—to the massive form of the Gedo Mazo behind her.
"That... that's the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path! You actually summoned it?!"
"I don't waste millennia fumbling with failed schemes like you do," Satsuki replied. "And as I told you before—if the information you gave me proved true, then the next time you saw me would be the moment your mother returned."
"You mean... you're really going to revive my mother now?!" Zetsu's expression lit up, the earlier fear in its eyes replaced by unrestrained excitement.
For thousands of years, Zetsu had longed for nothing more than the resurrection of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Yet because of his inherent limitations—his existence being one of pure will rather than power—he could accomplish little beyond deception and manipulation.
Schemes and intrigue could only go so far. The creation of the Rinnegan, upon which his plans depended, involved too many unpredictable variables. Millennia of plotting had yielded no progress.
But now—before him stood an Ōtsutsuki who had managed to summon the Gedo Mazo. That alone signified a monumental leap forward in the plan to resurrect Kaguya.
"B-But... summoning the Gedo Mazo requires the Rinnegan! How did you obtain it?"
"It doesn't necessarily require the Rinnegan," Satsuki replied calmly. "Perhaps you've forgotten something—I am also the head of the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon. The authority to seal or unseal the Gedo Mazo rests with me. Still, since you mentioned the Rinnegan... yes, it is indeed an essential factor for Kaguya's revival."
Here, a crucial concept must be understood.
To revive Kaguya required the Rinnegan. To control the Gedo Mazo also required the Rinnegan. But to simply retrieve or relocate it did not.
The Gedo Mazo was never something that materialized from nothing—it had always been sealed upon the moon, dormant until summoned through the Rinnegan. As for Kaguya herself, Satsuki had searched for her presence there, but to no avail.
That, however, came as no surprise. For one who had reached the level of Kekkei Mōra, Kaguya's form of existence had long transcended the boundaries of physical life.
But that was not the main concern.
As for the Gedo Mazo—although the full functionality of the statue required the Rinnegan, if one could not summon it, there was a simpler solution: dig it directly out from the lunar surface.
For someone like Satsuki, capable of summoning the Hamura Statue, this was hardly a challenge.
After all, the only remaining inhabitant of the moon was Toneri Ōtsutsuki, and he was in no position to resist her.
Later, Satsuki had even mastered the technology to create Rinnegan eyes. The pair that rested in Shirakumaru's sockets—those eternal eyes—were her creation.
Her research had been interrupted only because of the activation of the "Strongest System Across All Worlds" quest, which prompted her transfer into this current realm. Yet that did not render her past work meaningless.
Satsuki possessed the Status Record ability. She had already recorded the full state of Shirakumaru's eyes and was able to monitor their evolution in real time through the Giant Tenseigan across worlds.
And recently, Shirakumaru had reported that his eyes had finally evolved completely—into the Rinnegan.
That single development meant the plan to resurrect Kaguya could finally proceed.
The delay until now had been merely to prepare for the next step—the accumulation of massive energy.
To revive Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, three requirements were necessary: the Ten-Tails God Tree, the Rinnegan, and her spiritual will.
Traditionally, the Ten-Tails' revival demanded the chakra of the nine tailed beasts. However, the essence of those beasts was nothing more than natural energy.
And in this world—what form of natural energy could rival yōki, the demonic energy of yōkai?
The eight nodes of the Spiral Seal beneath Kyoto served perfectly as conduits of such energy. Combined with the Shikon Jewel and the demonic essence of the Great Dog General, the resulting power—though slightly less than that of the full nine beasts—was sufficient to restore the Ten-Tails.
After all, the Ten-Tails' resurrection had never truly required the complete set of nine.
Now, the only remaining question was: who would serve as the Rinnegan's vessel?
Satsuki would never sacrifice Shirakumaru as the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki and Kaguya's vessel. The Three Kings were out of the question.
That left only one fitting candidate—Zetsu, the dutiful child.
After all, he was Kaguya's own will. Who better to serve as the vessel for her rebirth?
Satsuki raised her hand, the Divine Wheel at her wrist radiating a soft azure glow that shone down upon Zetsu's trembling form.
"You've long desired the Rinnegan," she said calmly. "Then I shall grant it to you."