As the music began, the three slowly spread apart, each step landing precisely on beat, their dance shoes striking the stage like proud peacocks in motion.
However, that restrained grace soon shifted.
With the start of the first verse, they began to move.
It starts with one thing
I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
These six lines formed the first verse, marking the beginning of their choreography.
The three dancers moved together—their motions firm yet smooth, perfectly matching the emotion of the lyrics.
This was the opening sequence. In coordination with the music, Madara Uchiha, as the lead dancer, kept his movements minimal—his expression distant and contemplative, his face angled upward at forty-five degrees before freezing in a striking pose.
Behind him, Izuna Uchiha and Hashirama Senju portrayed the struggle within one's heart. Their movements were sharper, more erratic, and timed with the rap's rhythm—reflecting the turmoil of inner conflict.
The second and third verses followed in a similar fashion.
Throughout the long rap section, Madara's motions remained measured, his movements growing gradually larger with each beat—as though he were a volcano on the verge of eruption.
The audience could feel it—a powerful energy gathering, moments away from explosion.
And then came the climax.
I tried so hard
And got so far
Madara's eyes suddenly flared open—his Sharingan igniting.
On stage, he broke into what could only be described as street dance.
No—perhaps not quite that. It was, in truth, a series of taijutsu movements—combat maneuvers that shinobi often used in battle.
But with no opponent, and his motions synchronized to the rhythm, it looked unmistakably like a form of dance.
The audience, of course, had no concept of "street dance." Most were shinobi themselves, and their first instinct was to view it through the lens of combat.
At first, there was confusion. But then, a few taijutsu experts in the crowd began to recognize the technique hidden within the rhythm—and, compelled by the music, they started imitating Madara's movements.
Thanks to their Sharingan, mimicry came easily.
This phenomenon spread rapidly through the crowd, and by the time the song reached its second chorus, nearly everyone was dancing.
Satsuki had to admit—she had never expected things to escalate quite like this.
"As I thought... if you keep doing something embarrassing long enough, the embarrassing ones become everyone else."
As the music's intensity finally subsided, a brief silence fell over the hall. The restless hearts of the dancers and audience alike began to calm.
Madara's movements softened—but immense ocular power was now gathering within his eyes.
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know
Visible chakra began radiating around Madara's body.
He didn't quite understand the meaning of the lyrics—but that didn't matter. Something within them resonated deeply with him.
Even his Mangekyō Sharingan began to throb and flicker with emotion, stirred by the rhythm of the song.
After that transitional verse repeated twice, the performance surged once more into its final crescendo.
The lead performer—the puppet master of the stage—displayed technique beyond imagination. To call it singing would be an understatement; it was more akin to channeling the original voice itself.
Even through the demanding shifts of pitch and power, the raw metallic rasp of emotion carried perfectly through every note.
I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
As the music came to an abrupt stop, Madara Uchiha ended with a sharp, spinning turn—his back to the audience in a flawless, stylish pose.
He hadn't felt nervous while dancing, but the moment it ended and realization hit that he'd completed the entire routine, he couldn't deny a lingering rush of tension.
Yet, to his surprise, he realized he didn't hate it as much as he thought he would.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Hashirama Senju turning his head slightly, flashing him a thumbs-up.
"Great job, Madara."
"Hmph~ you weren't half bad yourself, Hashirama."
As if to affirm Madara's words, the crowd erupted in a thunderous roar. The cheering of countless shinobi nearly tore the barriers around the stage apart.
"Encore!!! Lord Madara!!!"
Madara turned his head, raising it high. Everywhere his gaze landed, the faces before him burned with unrestrained passion. It was as though every single one of them had fallen under a genjutsu—chanting his name with fanatical devotion.
And in that moment of absolute attention, Madara Uchiha spoke the words that would echo through history:
"Do you all wish to dance as well?"
The shinobi below shouted in unison, "Yes!!!"
Madara turned toward Hashirama and Izuna, both still masked, yet their excitement was unmistakable. Even through those animal masks, he could tell—they, too, were eager for more.
And so, Madara raised his voice once again, shouting boldly:
"Very well, then! Let's do it one more time!"
Meanwhile, the seat closest to the stage—the one reserved for Satsuki—was now empty.
Forgive her, but she simply couldn't hold back her laughter any longer... so she had quietly left early.
"Host, I honestly didn't expect you to actually go through with something like that."
In her mind, the system could barely suppress its laughter. Its host had always been the epitome of calm wisdom—composed, unshakable, and forever detached from worldly matters.
Who would've thought she had such a side to her?
"...It was just a passing whim," Satsuki replied, choosing to change the subject. She wasn't interested in talking about the final wish that had accompanied her ascension.
"Not long ago," she continued, "I received word from my clone in the Lunar Capital. It seems that the shrine maiden of the Land of Demons has begun to move."
"Host, isn't this the chance you've been waiting for?"
A chance—indeed.
To open a gateway to a specific world, one needed precise coordinates.
Without coordinates, the Time-Space Medal could only open portals randomly. But if something existed as an anchor—a being infused with a fragment of that world's will—the medal could accurately locate it.
And now, the shrine maiden's power happened to meet exactly that requirement.
...
When Satsuki once again appeared within the Land of Demons, the scene before her made her narrow her eyes slightly.
The distance between heaven and earth seemed unnaturally compressed here—the thick clouds almost pressed against the highest shrine roof.
A colossal vortex swirled above the shrine. From its eye, a single beam of light descended straight onto the sacred grounds.
Under the control of a strange force, fierce winds howled in all directions, while violet lightning continuously struck the barrier surrounding the shrine.
"This looks awfully familiar."
"Host, doesn't this resemble the celestial disturbance that occurred when you mastered Raigo: Thousand Hand Kill?" the system remarked.
Satsuki had to admit, it did seem that way.
The phenomenon mirrored what had happened when her power first surpassed the limits of this world.
Yet, after carefully analyzing it with her Tenseigan, she shook her head.
"It may look similar—but it's not the same thing."
Back then, she had drawn the attention of a vast will through her own strength.
And to this day, she still kept herself concealed within the Dead Line Boundary, precisely to avoid being noticed by that being.
Not out of fear—but simply because there was no reason to engage.
After all, she couldn't guarantee victory, and even if she won, there was no clear benefit.
She wasn't some mindless fighter—despite how she might have appeared in Fate.
Now, as she examined the shrine, she noticed that although nine tiers of torii gates descended along the mountain path, forming intricate barriers, they seemed to serve only a defensive purpose against the storm.
In Satsuki's eyes, however, the lightning outside lacked any real threat. There was no trace of that Greater Will's influence here.
If it truly were involved, such lightning would've torn through these barriers long ago.
With a soft motion, Satsuki leapt forward, her body passing through the barrier as effortlessly as a pebble skipping across a lake.
Beyond the barrier stood a grand shrine in full Japanese style.
The last time she had been here, the structure had still been under construction. Yet in just a few short days, it had transformed into a magnificent edifice—almost palace-like in its splendor.
The most prominent feature was, of course, the main hall.
And within it, Satsuki's Tenseigan easily detected the presence of the shrine maiden.
The other woman must have sensed Satsuki's arrival as well, for she slowly emerged from the inner sanctum.
Compared to their last meeting, the shrine maiden's appearance had changed subtly.
Her entire body was now wreathed in spiritual fire, and the power radiating from her was several times stronger than before.
Yet, her movements still carried an unnatural stiffness—as though she hadn't fully adapted to controlling her own body. There was something reptilian in her gait.
Her hair had turned completely white. Her expression was vacant, and within her eyes, serpentine pupils alternated chaotically with her original yin-yang gaze.
Through Satsuki's Tenseigan, she could see the distorted phantom of a massive eight-headed, eight-tailed creature coiled around the shrine maiden's form.
The shadow constantly tried to overtake her body, but layers upon layers of seals bound it, leaving it to roar in futile rage behind her.
The maiden appeared to be in the midst of adapting to this new power—hence the instability.
Before long, however, a surge of spiritual energy erupted from within her, suppressing the phantom entirely. Her eyes refocused, regaining clarity once more.
Satsuki slowly descended onto the wooden floor, her gaze regaining its usual cold indifference.
"It's only been a few days, yet it seems your condition isn't particularly good."
"You flatter me," the shrine maiden replied with calm composure. "It's merely a small side effect from obtaining great power."
Even after gaining immense strength, her attitude toward Satsuki remained respectful. It was only upon acquiring this newfound power that she had barely managed to perceive even a fraction of Satsuki's true might.
And even that fleeting glimpse had sent waves of alarm through her heart—the power within her nearly lost control once more.
Her earlier instability, more than being caused by the rebellion of her so-called god, had been triggered by the sheer pressure of Satsuki's sudden arrival.
"May I ask, Lady Satsuki, what brings you here today?"
"I've come to fulfill our previous agreement."
"Oh?" A glint flashed through the shrine maiden's eyes, though it quickly faded. "But the passage to the other world has been completely sealed."
"That's not a problem," Satsuki replied coolly. "I only need you to grant me a portion of its power."
"Its...?" The shrine maiden froze briefly, then nodded. "I understand."
The moment her words fell, a vast, malevolent energy burst from her body, surging skyward. The tremendous force crashed against the surrounding barrier, but found no escape.
Ultimately, it condensed into the form of a massive, multi-headed serpent-like phantom that roared down upon Satsuki and the shrine maiden.
"Māra's spawn? So this is how it manifests in the shinobi world."
Satsuki looked up indifferently, raising her hand in a casual motion. From the divine wheel embedded in her wrist, golden light radiated outward, coiling tightly around the phantom's enormous form.
ROOOOAR——!
The phantom monster howled in agony, its gigantic body thrashing violently in midair, yet it could not escape the golden bonds.
Then, as the divine wheel turned, a second beam of blue light emanated from it—scanning the creature's energy structure.
Within that blue illumination, the purple energy composing the serpent was dissected as though under a surgeon's scalpel—layer by layer, from the inside out.
As the blue light penetrated deeper, the massive multi-headed beast gave one final, despairing roar before disintegrating into nothingness.
The spiritual flames drifting around the shrine maiden froze in place, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
"Th-this... how can this be?"
"That was Lord Orochi's power—yet it didn't even resist...?"
"What kind of monsters live in this world...?"
...
As Satsuki lowered her hand, silence spread through the shrine. The scene had been so utterly surreal that even the thunder raging outside had gone still.
Within her consciousness, Satsuki had already finished analyzing the power and fed its data into the Time-Space Medal.
The system immediately synchronized with her, transferring the decoded information from the Akasha records directly into the medal.
Moments later, its surface began to ripple like liquid, glowing with waves of temporal energy—signifying its activation.
Behind Satsuki, a shimmering gateway of time and space slowly opened.
Satisfied that everything had proceeded as planned, Satsuki cast one final glance toward the shrine maiden before her.
"Here's a bit of advice—if you don't want to die too quickly, try not to wander where you shouldn't."
With that, she turned and stepped through the portal.