"Tch, being called 'interesting' by you, my host… I can't tell whether that's a blessing or a curse."
Ruri, who stood nearby, understood Satsuki's temperament all too well. If her master wasn't interested in something, that was fine—but once she was intrigued, the target of that interest could only pray for mercy.
As for Sesshōmaru, he remained as laconic as ever, his words precise and few: "Who is it?"
To Satsuki, Sesshōmaru still showed considerable respect—after all, she was the only one who had ever defeated his father head-on, even if it had merely been in a sparring match.
That fact alone testified to the immense power of this miko, whose strength had slowly surpassed that of his father. Now, she had become the one the noble dog demon of the Western Lands most desired to challenge—and perhaps, unconsciously, he had also grown curious about whatever caught her attention.
But Satsuki simply shook her finger lightly. "Nothing much—just that one of my questions was answered, that's all."
"Oh?"
Ruri blinked in surprise. There were very few things left in this world that could still pique her master's curiosity.
"Is it something related to the world's origin?" Ruri asked through their mental link.
Satsuki replied, "Not quite. I merely learned the real reason why the Kunitsukami and Amatsukami turned against each other."
With the insight of her Tenseigan, seeing through the background and memories of that mysterious woman earlier had been no challenge at all.
Even though that woman radiated an exceptionally chilling demonic aura and regal presence, before Satsuki—who had already reached the realm of the Demon Buddha—such things were meaningless.
Judging from what she had seen through her Tenseigan, that woman was no ordinary being.
Relying on her beauty alone, she had incited civil war between the two great divine factions, playing the Amatsukami and Kunitsukami alike in the palm of her hand. Such cunning and calculation were far from simple.
And from the current state of Kyoto—where humans and yōkai now coexisted in a strange equilibrium—it was evident that she had already driven out most of the deities from this land, becoming the ruler of its shadows.
This meant that her grand design had never been without purpose. Every step had been deliberate, leading events precisely to this outcome.
However—this was not what Satsuki needed to concern herself with right now.
Her purpose in coming here was merely to visit the main statue of the goddess Ukanomitama and examine the nodes related to the spiral seal.
The first was related to refining the laws that would later be incorporated into her Vipralopa power. In this world, gods themselves were manifestations of certain phenomena—supernatural entities born from the fusion of natural forces and anthropomorphic emotion. For some time now, Satsuki had been collecting information about these deities in preparation for when her future Vipralopa Realm would replace this world—so that she could properly reconstruct and perfect its governing principles.
As for the spiral seal—it functioned as a kind of energy conversion device. From its effects, it resembled the mechanism in the world of Naruto that transformed natural energy into senjutsu energy.
Not that their effects were identical, of course. Strictly speaking, the difference between the two was like that between heating water into vapor and cooling it into ice.
The final results were vastly different, but the essence remained the same—both were transformations of temperature, or rather, of the molecular kinetic energy within matter.
And the conversion of energy, in certain respects, was simply the transmission of these changes in motion.
In the world of shinobi, senjutsu chakra was formed by fusing natural energy with the body's physical and spiritual energies—a delicate process that required maintaining perfect balance among all three.
The so-called Sage Mode was the product of that equilibrium.
Satsuki's Yin-Yang Sage Arts had already advanced beyond this foundation, for they preemptively merged the chakra and Tenseigan energy of the Ōtsutsuki bloodline, maintaining that balance within. In terms of flexibility and speed, she was in no way inferior to the so-called "God of Shinobi," the First Hokage—she could enter Sage Mode almost instantaneously.
Yet even that was not Satsuki's ultimate goal. After all, she already possessed the far greater power known as the [Aspect of the Demon Buddha].
Her current research into the spiral seal was primarily for the sake of the so-called Fox Spirit Division.
According to Satsuki's observations, this enormous spiral seal served as a direct energy conversion apparatus. Once she fully understood its operational structure and governing principles, she would be able to expand it—creating a grand formation capable of directly transforming the energy of an entire planet.
To supply the Hyūga clan she had created for the Fox Spirit Division, Satsuki's original plan had been to use the Nine-Tails' chakra in her possession, combined with the Uzumaki clan's tailed beast transformation technique. That way, she could mass-produce Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails.
Once the Sage Land's reconstruction was complete, and the Hyūga clan spent several years solidifying their foundations through cultivation, they would be able to reach a level equivalent to Naruto's so-called "Sage Fox Mode."
At that stage, the low-tier combatants would consist of puppets, while the Hyūga clan members in Sage Fox Mode would form the core of the main fighting force, with the top-tier powerhouses being their few leaders.
However, with the creation of this so-called conversion array, there would no longer be any need to turn the Hyūga into Jinchūriki. Instead, by using the Authority of Power, Satsuki could divide and infuse the Nine-Tails' chakra multiple times to form a stable energy source. Through such an array, paired with a massive Tenseigan, she could directly convert and feed that energy back into the Hyūga—thus omitting the need to personally channel natural energy.
After all, becoming a Jinchūriki carried a fatal flaw: their authority level was still suppressed by that of the Ōtsutsuki.
Reaching the Sage Fox Mode allowed temporary suppression of that influence through natural energy, but that was only a temporary fix. After all, deep within the hidden corners of the shinobi world, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki was still active. Completely eliminating this latent threat would, of course, be ideal.
The three continued walking up the mountain path, soon reaching a spacious plateau.
There, they saw the statue of the great deity Ukanomitama standing firmly at the center. It depicted a woman dressed in a kimono, wearing a radiant crown resembling a solar halo. A quiver hung at her back, filled with arrows made of rice stalks. The sacred shimenawa cord draped elegantly from her waist, and in her hands she held a massive bow. Beside her crouched a gigantic fox.
—"Another fox. It seems that the gods of this world are just like the Ōtsutsuki from the shinobi world—utterly obsessed with that animal."
This time, the one grumbling was not Satsuki but Ruri.
Ever since she had begun following Satsuki across the myriad worlds, the creatures she had encountered most frequently were foxes. Even her own power source came from the Nine-Tailed Fox, which only made the irony stronger.
"According to the records from Katori Shrine," Satsuki said, her golden eyes glancing toward the statue, "the Shinto history of this world bears remarkable resemblance to the divine lore inscribed on the Uchiha clan's stone tablet in the shinobi world. Naturally, it's no surprise that foxes—who hold such importance in mythology—would appear so frequently."
Satsuki stepped forward, her Tenseigan focusing on the massive statue of Ukanomitama before her.
Though the area appeared empty to ordinary eyes, in Satsuki's vision, it was filled with countless layers of barriers. The sacred atmosphere in the air was so dense it had almost taken physical form—manifesting as great luminous rings floating all around.
Within such a domain, only divine power could truly be exercised freely. Most other systems of energy would find their abilities nullified here.
"The Shinto system of power truly is fascinating," Ruri remarked. "For beings so physically frail, the collective consciousness they generate can actually be converted into divine energy—one of the highest frameworks of power."
In Ruri's eyes, countless runes flickered as she began recording and analyzing the barrier functions with her Akasha record, simultaneously noting the operational patterns of the statue.
Through her analytical sight, she observed that throughout Fushimi Inari Shrine—and even across much of Heian-kyō—tiny starlike lights symbolizing human prayer and faith were being absorbed by golden statues of Ukanomitama, then gathered here.
These lights mixed with the natural spiritual energy of the land's ley lines and were funneled into the spiral sealing node below. Part of that energy was converted into purifying power to balance the miasma and demonic aura that clouded much of Kyoto's skies, while the rest transformed into golden divine energy, enhancing the deity's own might.
"There is merit in the Shinto system," Satsuki said quietly. "By constructing divine ranks and offices, they can define their own power, then absorb scattered faith as raw material for conversion. The efficiency is abysmal, but over long spans of time, it accumulates into considerable strength—enough even to raise one's divine rank."
Satsuki saw through the system completely. This kind of faith-based power was, in most cases, a relatively simple yet practical mechanism.
In the Fate world she had once traversed, the strength of Heroic Spirits had largely derived from similar converted faith energy.
Those so-called heroes had often been little more than renowned individuals in real history, yet after being mythologized, their power grew far beyond their original limits.
Essentially, a portion of Alaya's power had been bestowed upon them.
Alaya, the collective will of all sentient life, could be understood as the planetary ego formed through the cognition of intelligent beings—a self-constructed divinity of the planet itself.
Unfortunately, because of the existence of Gaia, the planetary will, Alaya's birth had not been welcomed. Ultimately, Alaya was schemed against and erased entirely.
From that, one could imagine how fierce the competition among deities truly was.
And since divine power was so universally adaptable and exceptionally potent, naturally it also possessed weaknesses and counters.
Māra's power of Vipralopa, the force of the Demon Buddha, happened to be its perfect nemesis.
Thus, Satsuki's study of divine energy and its transformations would remain purely academic. She had no interest in becoming a god worshiped by mortals.
While Satsuki accompanied Ruri in decrypting and documenting the mechanisms of the spiral seal's node—
Elsewhere, outside the city, in a long-abandoned shrine—
The three young Onmyōji had already arrived at the site, led by the man called Kurotsuchi Takeshi.
"Ever since I took shelter here from the rain with some companions, I've been having those strange dreams every night starting the next day…" Kurotsuchi said as he led the group along the overgrown path, glancing back toward Hanakaiin Kaede.
Behind Kaede, his two fellow apprentices exchanged quiet words.
"Do you recognize this place?"
"A little. I think a Buddhist statue used to be enshrined here. But after the main deity was moved elsewhere, the place was abandoned."
He added with a hint of gossip, "They say this spot has become quite popular for secret trysts."
"Trysts?"
"You know—lovers, chance encounters between men and women, and those seeking… questionable dealings. It's that sort of place."
"Sounds like the kind of area where filth would gather easily."
The slightly older apprentice shrugged. "Isn't that the truth?"
While the two chatted idly behind them, Hanakaiin Kaede took the lead, following the man as he opened the shrine's front gate.
As the doors creaked open, a pungent, musty odor rushed out, forcing Kaede to take half a step back. He fanned the air before him with his bat-shaped fan and quickly retreated from the entrance.
"Looks like this place has been abandoned for quite some time," he remarked, glancing toward Kurotsuchi Takeshi. "How did you even know about it?"
"Ah, well… actually, it's just because the girl I was meeting happened to live nearby…" Kurotsuchi said awkwardly.
—So it was just a coincidence?
Hanakaiin Kaede searched his memory for any known curses resembling this case. Though talented, he hadn't exactly paid full attention in class, and after a while, he still couldn't recall any useful information.
Once the stale air within the shrine had circulated enough, Kaede decided they'd have to investigate further to uncover any real clues.
The shrine itself wasn't large. Once the four of them entered, they could take in the entire interior at a glance.
Its structure was wooden, much like its exterior. Years of exposure to wind and rain had darkened and rotted much of the timber. Inside, heaps of miscellaneous junk and debris lay scattered across the floor, while thick cobwebs and dust draped the corners of the rafters.
"Shunta, Kaito—bring out your spiritual tools," Kaede ordered as he drew his own defensive instruments: a ritual Kagura bell and an Onmyōji fan. "Just in case. There might still be something unclean lingering here. Also, if a curse is involved, there should be a medium left behind. Let's see if we can find it."
"Understood," the two replied in unison.
The young Onmyōji retrieved their own tools from the wide sleeves of their hunting robes—one held a mirror, the other a vajra spike.
They split up and began their search through the shrine.
The place fell silent, save for the faint rustling of movement and the echo of footsteps on the wooden floorboards.
The shrine was small, and before long, the one named Kaito made a discovery.
"Kaede, Shunta—come quick! I've found something! There's a spider statue here!"
He pointed toward an open cabinet and called out to his companions.
As for Kurotsuchi Takeshi, his fear of spiders immediately resurfaced. "I'll… I'll stay back here. You three go ahead."
Kaede and Shunta hurried over. Inside the cabinet sat a stone statue of a spider, about the size of a human face, resting upon a vivid red cushion.
Realizing they might have found a critical clue, the three exchanged brief glances.
Kaede spoke first. "I'll cast a spell to check for any lingering traces of miasma or curses. You two, watch our surroundings."
"Yes, sir," they replied together.
Clearly, this wasn't their first field operation—their teamwork was seamless.
Kaede began chanting, his voice low and rhythmic. The Kagura bell in his hand jingled softly as he waved it, sending an invisible spiritual wave through his ritual tool and toward the spider statue.
Meanwhile, Shunta and Kaito stood on either side, gripping their tools tightly and scanning the area with full concentration.
However, even after Kaede's incantation ended, nothing seemed to happen.
The bell in his hand remained silent, and the spider statue stayed exactly as it was—utterly ordinary, as if it were nothing more than a simple carving.
"No reaction?" Kaede opened his eyes, confusion flickering across them as he stared at the stone spider. "Could it really just be an ordinary statue?"