"Does life have meaning?"
Hearing this question, Satsuki's first reaction was to look at Suzuki Kaguya with the same expression one would use when looking at a panda.
Even she felt a bit puzzled in her heart: does the power of the sage also come with brain damage? Is the main effect of this world's natural energy to reduce intelligence?
Thinking about it, it almost seemed reasonable. Jiraiya, Hashirama Senju, and Naruto Uzumaki's intelligence levels indeed were not very high.
Kabuto Yakushi, after learning senjutsu, also lost the calmness and concealment ability he once had.
And Orochimaru, one of the high-intelligence representatives of Naruto, was actually told by the sages that his body was unsuitable for natural energy training?
A body problem? Then how was the artificial human Mitsuki able to practice senjutsu?
Tsk tsk, this shinobi world truly became more terrifying the deeper one thought about it.
At this moment, as the representative of natural energy, Candle Nine Yin could not help but speak up in its defense: "My lady, natural energy has nothing to do with intelligence."
Satsuki glanced at Candle Nine Yin, who had appeared in her mind, and said with a strange expression: "A few seconds ago, I also thought there was no relation."
"Then why did you just now…?"
"I was just letting my thoughts wander a little. After all, I also practice natural energy."
Candle Nine Yin then realized: "But you said that was your thought from a few seconds ago?"
"Yes, because you just showed up, didn't you?" Satsuki said seriously. "So I think maybe this direction does have some possibility."
...
Candle Nine Yin left the mental chat group.
Putting aside these antics inside her consciousness.
In reality, although Satsuki found it strange that Suzuki Kaguya's thought process had turned to this topic, she herself had indeed pondered this question before.
In the original anime, the Kaguya clan's genius Kimimaro once asked Orochimaru this very question.
Orochimaru's answer was a classic: "Living itself has no meaning. But if you continue living, perhaps you'll meet interesting people and interesting things—just like you met that flower, and I met you."
It brainwashed Kimimaro completely.
However, Orochimaru's answer only stayed at the experiential meaning of life as a physical existence, without touching on life's transcendental meaning.
Philosophical questions like this usually require two abilities: 1. transcendental wisdom, and 2. intellectual logic.
Orochimaru possessed intellectual logic, but he did not yet have transcendental wisdom.
So Satsuki answered like this: "Life has meaning. But none of those are life's meaning. And that is why life has meaning."
"I… I don't understand what you mean."
Although Suzuki Kaguya tried hard to control his facial expression, Satsuki could see that his heart was full of question marks. This reaction was within her expectations, because upon first encountering the Threefold Meaning, unless one was truly born with innate wisdom, confusion was inevitable.
"Not understanding is very normal."
Satsuki slowly explained: "My first sentence—'Life has meaning'—means that life does have meaning. But you cannot treat 'the meaning of life' as an entity or as something that can be judged with logic. That is why my second sentence says 'none of those are life's meaning,' because every person's meaning of life is different. It cannot be measured as an objective entity, nor can it be judged by logical reason."
Suzuki Kaguya barely followed a little: "But your third sentence was 'and that is why life has meaning.' What does that mean?"
"Because of dependent origination, there is meaning. Because of emptiness, there is no meaning."
"Dependent origination? Emptiness?"
Satsuki paused for a moment, considering how to explain "dependent origination and emptiness" to the person before her.
As a transmigrator, she naturally carried a transcendent way of thinking when looking at this world, because in her previous life this world was nothing more than the world of Naruto—a world created by a manga artist named Masashi Kishimoto.
But the true nature of all things is emptiness.
The one who created this world would return to emptiness, those who remembered this work would also return to emptiness, and eventually the Naruto world itself would cease to exist. Naturally, even Naruto fanfictions would not remain.
Therefore, the Naruto world originally did not exist—it only came into being through the convergence of various causes and conditions. But in the end, this world too will disappear as those causes and conditions disperse.
This is dependent origination and emptiness.
When causes and conditions gather, things arise. When causes and conditions part, things perish. All phenomena are without exception.
But to explain this to the people of this world—telling them that this world is illusory, that it does not truly exist—would be something no one could accept. So Satsuki decided to give an example.
"I've studied some information about your clan. The Kaguya clan is a lineage born from the bloodline of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki in ancient times. The evidence is that your clan's kekkei genkai originates from her All-Killing Ash Bones. Your clan's so-called bloodline sickness is actually an atavistic evolutionary phenomenon."
"Shikotsumyaku?" Suzuki Kaguya was stunned upon hearing such an explosive revelation. "So that transformation is called All-Killing Ash Bones? That's… quite a fitting name."
All-Killing Ash Bones—slaying enemies and slaying oneself. Both are killed, thus "all-killing."
"But that is not the focus of our current discussion."
Satsuki steered the topic back. "Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was, in fact, a being from beyond the stars—someone who should never have been able to reach this world. Yet she came, rooted herself here, bore descendants, and from that arose you and other bloodlines. This is dependent origination—the cause and condition for the birth of the Kaguya clan."
Then, with her Tenseigan gazing upon the utterly bewildered Suzuki Kaguya, she continued: "However, all things are in their nature empty. Thus, such causes and conditions are ultimately limited. One day, when these conditions disperse, they will return to their original state—that of emptiness."
Suzuki Kaguya, being somewhat perceptive, grasped her meaning: "You mean that our clan… or rather, everything in this world, will eventually change, disappear, and return to nothingness?"
"Yes."
"Heh…" Upon hearing this, Suzuki suddenly let out a bitter laugh. "Then why should I ask what the meaning of life is? If everything will return to emptiness, then what meaning is there at all?"
"Dependent origination and emptiness—so it is with all things, including you and me," Satsuki said calmly as she looked at the half-mad Suzuki Kaguya. "You and I once did not exist, and in the future we will return to nonexistence. The meaning of life never existed, and it never will."
"But do not cling to emptiness simply because of emptiness."
At this point, Satsuki did something unprecedented—she raised her voice, like the sudden, awakening strike she herself had once experienced.
"If you cling to 'emptiness,' you are mistaken. Your clan, even this world—you must strip away their permanence as entities, but this world's existence as dependent origination is something both you and I must acknowledge, because in this very moment, we are truly here."
Hearing this, Suzuki murmured to himself: "Yes… in this moment, our existence is real as dependent origination. Though one day I will disappear, right now my existence is real."
"Do not deny the reality of dependent origination because of emptiness," Satsuki said softly. "This is also the meaning of my third sentence: 'And that is why life has meaning.'"
"The meaning of life does not exist, and it will not exist. But in this moment, it exists because of dependent origination."
At this point, Satsuki stopped speaking, for before her, Suzuki Kaguya—
—was already in tears.
...
"After several days, I finally have some results."
Satsuki rubbed her temples, set aside the experiment records in her hand, and glanced at Suzuki Kaguya, who was sitting in a mechanical chair while his blood was being extracted.
"Your blood does indeed contain a substance similar to a cellular inhibitor. And it only targets your kekkei genkai. Such a thing is truly remarkable."
Since that day when Satsuki had shaken him with the Threefold Meaning, Suzuki Kaguya's thinking seemed to have shifted in a way similar to Kimimaro's change toward Orochimaru.
Though not to that degree, at the very least his gaze toward her was no longer one of hostility.
That was fine. Such an important resource would be wasted if he were reduced to a mere human puppet. Moreover, he was, after all, a descendant of the Ōtsutsuki bloodline, and there was no fundamental conflict between them. So Satsuki had no intent to kill him needlessly.
However, since hearing her Threefold Meaning, there had also been some negative side effects…
"Lady Satsuki, that day you told me life has meaning. But can you tell me what the meaning of life truly is?"
...
Though Satsuki's face remained expressionless, inwardly she felt a headache as she looked at Suzuki. His wrist was pierced with a blood-extraction needle, and a feeding tube was in his mouth. But even that couldn't stop him from talking.
For the past several days, Suzuki Kaguya had continuously pressed her with philosophical questions. As a result, aside from her research into the connection between the All-Killing Ash Bones and the cellular inhibitor, she also had to endure the chatter of this formerly cold youth who was now transforming into something of a chatterbox "precious specimen."
At first, she thought she could just tolerate it until it passed. But after three days, as his chatter only grew worse, she decided to settle the matter once and for all.
Putting down her experiment records, Satsuki used her Tenseigan's gravitational power to lift Suzuki Kaguya along with herself out of the laboratory.
Specifically, to a position 3,000 meters above the castle.
Suzuki Kaguya had never reached such a height. Even though he was firmly restrained in the mechanical chair and knew nothing would happen to him, his body reacted instinctively—goosebumps rose all over his skin.
This was not Satsuki's limit, but going higher would exceed his ability to endure.
Besides, at this height a thick cloud layer hovered above them—something she intended to use.
"Satsuki… Lady, what are you…?"
At that moment, golden Tenseigan chakra burst forth from Satsuki's body. Five golden Truth-Seeking Orbs flowed out from her forehead and gathered in her hand.
"You ask me what the meaning of life is." Satsuki's tone now was like that of a lofty deity—not out of arrogance toward the speck-like lives below, but because, in truth, her existence had already transcended this world's ordinary beings by far.
"Each person's meaning is different. I can only tell you what the meaning of my life is." After speaking, she raised her hand toward the sky and activated her Tenseigan chakra ability.
Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.
A colossal storm surged upward from her arm, tearing into the heavens. The force of its aftermath whipped their clothing violently.
The vast cloud that had loomed above their heads was blown apart, revealing the sunlight behind it.
When the warm sunlight shone upon them, Satsuki withdrew her hand and said calmly: "No matter how abundant the sunlight, there will always be places shrouded in shadow. Just as, no matter how vast this world may seem, it cannot conceal its narrowness. Each person sees and knows only part of the world. And this world itself is not unique."
At this, Satsuki cast her gaze into the vast sky beyond the clouds. "The meaning of my life lies in understanding more of the unknown—so that my world may have less shadow and more light. On the day my bond with this world disperses, perhaps I will leave with a curiosity of what lies beyond death."
Having said this, Satsuki placed her hand on Suzuki's mechanical chair, and in the next moment, both of them were once again inside the puppet repair division.
Silently commanding the surrounding puppets through her will to use a larger needle for extracting Suzuki Kaguya's blood in the future, Satsuki then walked away gracefully. From her direction came her calm words: "I'll give you a piece of advice. For now, you'd best not try to develop your kekkei genkai. Once your injuries heal, I have other plans for you."
"Yes, Lady Satsuki."
This time, Suzuki Kaguya answered simply without pressing further. Through her Tenseigan's vision, Satsuki could see—even while walking away with her back turned—that he was sitting dazed in the mechanical chair, staring blankly into empty space, lost in thought.
It seemed he would need to find his own meaning for survival, at least for now.
Satsuki let out a quiet sigh of relief in her heart. She disliked noise, and she disliked unnecessary conversations with unnecessary people. But such situations were sometimes unavoidable. At times like this, she always felt grateful for the interpersonal skills she had accumulated in her previous life.
As for whether her blatant use of Tenseigan Mode in the skies earlier would expose her—truthfully, ever since the incident with Ranzuki, she no longer cared too much. In the end, the shinobi world valued individual strength. Possessing the giant Tenseigan, having awakened the golden Tenseigan herself, and even cultivating natural energy, Satsuki felt there was no one she truly needed to fear anymore.
This did not mean she considered herself invincible. But at the very least, she was already one of the strongest beings in this world. Of course, if it came to facing the main family of the Ōtsutsuki clan, she still knew her limits.
As Satsuki left the puppet repair division, she saw from afar Kiyomaru drifting over from another part of the fortress, holding a letter and a scroll in his hands.
"My lady, this is intelligence on the Sage Clan provided by the Senju clan."
Though communication could have been done via the giant Tenseigan, Kiyomaru, as the primary external negotiator, usually preferred to use the speech module. Satsuki had no objections.
"I gave them three days, and they waited until the very last moment."
Her words carried little emotion. But if the letter's contents failed to satisfy, she would have to reconsider her stance toward the Senju clan.
Taking the letter, Satsuki teleported directly to her Tenshukaku through her techniques. It was the space she frequented most, the place she felt most accustomed to handling her affairs.
Seated at her main seat, she opened the envelope and carefully read through its contents.
The letter itself was not long. It stated mainly that the Sage Clan was not an ordinary shinobi clan, but rather a collective term for a group of practicing monks. They shared no bloodline connection, only differing slightly in their practices and beliefs. Their primary places of activity were the renowned temples within the great cities.
The more famous the temple, the greater the likelihood of Sage Clan members residing there. The letter also noted that the meeting places from past contacts were marked on the accompanying scroll.
Satsuki unrolled the scroll.
It was, in her eyes, a map so simple it was nearly crude. Red crosses marked several locations. According to the letter, these were places where the Senju had previously contacted the Sage Clan. Near each site stood a large temple, serving as the monks' usual residence and place of seclusion.
After committing the locations to memory, Satsuki rose from her seat.
Her intuition told her this was a mission she must carry out personally.