"Who is it?"
The man called Jakotsu turned and swung the blade in his hand. The white edge of the Jakotsu Sword sliced through the air—a blade originally meant for close combat.
Yet in the next second, everyone was shocked to see the sword's blade impossibly extend outward, growing several dozen meters long.
Such an abrupt transformation would cause any opponent to misjudge the trajectory and speed of Jakotsu's attack—a perfect killing move on a battlefield where every second counts.
"Oh~"
However, the figure locked onto by the Jakotsu Sword showed not the slightest trace of panic. Wrapped in a black kimono, the person extended a hand and lightly tapped the incoming blade, effortlessly breaking Jakotsu's attack pattern.
"Such skill... impressive indeed~~ though not quite my type."
That strike had been a test. After a single blow, Jakotsu didn't attack again—naturally, if his opponent hadn't been able to block even that, their death would have been meaningless.
In this world, human life was worth less than grass, and the life of the weak was never equal to that of the strong.
The newcomer descended gracefully from the sky. Her peerless beauty, long black hair, and signature black kimono made her instantly recognizable to the city guards.
"Lady Satsuki, it's you!"
The squad captain at the front had seen her once before. Her distinctive appearance had already spread throughout Kyoto these past few days.
If not for the fact that Satsuki was being hosted within the shrine—and that her connection with the Yasaka Shrine was special—many would have already come knocking to "pay their respects."
"It seems you're facing a bit of trouble."
Satsuki's gaze shifted toward the massive weapon, Banryū, lodged firmly in the ground.
"...It's our incompetence."
"That giant sword is indeed not something an ordinary person could wield. It's natural that you cannot move it," Satsuki said calmly.
"Oh? A woman? Don't tell me you plan to stand up for these worthless worms?" Bankotsu laughed heartily from atop the wagon. "Since when has Kyoto's army fallen so low that it needs a woman to fight its battles?"
"And such a beauty, too. A woman like that should be kept at home and loved properly!"
Among the Seven-Man Squad, one short and ugly fellow dressed in a white physician's robe leered at Satsuki. His entire body reeked of herbs and poison. On his back was a bamboo basket filled with six jars of unknown substances.
His bulging eyes occupied most of his swollen face, and his wide mouth stretched halfway across his cheeks. He looked less like a man and more like some grotesque crossbreed between a frog and a monkey.
Satsuki glanced coldly at the lecherous little man who had spoken, then calmly stepped toward Banryū embedded in the ground.
The surrounding soldiers instinctively retreated under the pressure of Satsuki's rising aura. The air grew sharp, and even Bankotsu's playful eyes narrowed with a hint of caution.
Slowly, Satsuki extended her hand, gripping the middle of Banryū's hilt. She did not exert any force yet. Instead, she suddenly turned her head toward the short man and spoke a single sentence.
"If you have the skill... catch this sword."
The instant those words left her mouth, every member of the Seven-Man Squad stiffened.
They felt it at once—the killing intent. A suffocating, sky-darkening killing intent so dense it felt tangible, as though death itself had descended.
Just staring at her could bring death. Their instincts screamed, warning them to look away from the terrifying being before them—the very source of destruction.
"Damn! I underestimated you!"
As the captain of the Seven-Man Squad—and the strongest human alive—Bankotsu gritted his teeth, struggling to regain control over his body.
"Disaster comes from the mouth. Beware of your words, lest they cost you your life."
As soon as she finished speaking, Satsuki lifted Banryū effortlessly from the ground. The enormous blade rose as lightly as a feather.
"Be careful."
The next moment, she swung her arm in a half-circle arc, releasing the colossal weapon. Banryū transformed into a dazzling streak of white light, whistling through the air straight toward the lecherous short man.
The only one who could react in time was the Seven-Man Squad's leader, Bankotsu. His combat instincts were razor-sharp—he had already realized that Satsuki's target was Mukotsu. The moment Banryū was thrown, Bankotsu moved into its trajectory.
In that instant, his arm muscles bulged as he focused all his strength, eyes locked on the incoming Banryū. Just before the enormous weapon reached him, his palms clapped together with all his might.
BOOOOM—!
Two immense forces collided, releasing a shockwave visible to the naked eye. It swept outward, knocking the other members of the Seven-Man Squad off their feet. None of them could withstand such overwhelming power.
Yet, before Bankotsu could even take pride in having caught the strike—
He heard a soft scoff from the black-haired shrine maiden.
—"You can't block it."
By the time the words—her words of death—fell upon his ears, it was already too late.
A terrifying force surged through Banryū, dozens of times stronger than before. The shock traveled into Bankotsu's arms, blasting him backward. The massive blade then turned into a flash of white light, slicing straight through Mukotsu's head, beheading him on the spot.
"Mukotsu!!"
The remaining five of the Seven-Man Squad were stunned. None of them could have imagined that a mere scuffle with Kyoto's gate guards would lead to such a devastating outcome.
Bankotsu's shock quickly turned to rage. With a thunderous stomp, he launched himself toward Satsuki.
But Satsuki stepped lightly across the ground, her elegant black robe fluttering as dozens of phantom afterimages split through the air, each indistinguishable from the real one.
For a brief moment, even Bankotsu couldn't tell which figure was genuine. Wary of her endless tricks, his attack faltered.
Meanwhile, several squads of soldiers and onmyōji rushed from Kyoto to reinforce the gates. The Seven-Man Squad's remaining members, seeing the growing numbers, suppressed their urge to charge in.
Though infamous as mercenaries, they were still human—not yōkai. Against hundreds of soldiers and spellcasters, they could at best defend themselves, but avenging Mukotsu was out of the question.
Satsuki's illusions all turned their gazes toward them, speaking in unison, their voices overlapping eerily.
"Kill me if you wish. You'll have plenty of time... but remember—you only get one chance to fail."
The words hung heavy in the air. Then, before everyone's eyes, Satsuki's countless figures gradually faded away, vanishing completely.
"Brother Bankotsu, what do we do now?"
Jakotsu, ever obedient to Bankotsu, gripped his Jakotsu Blade tightly, ready to carve a path of blood if ordered.
"..."
Even Renkotsu, who usually didn't get along with Bankotsu, realized that the black-haired shrine maiden's strength was beyond ordinary. He wasn't sure which was the greater risk—charging into Kyoto now, or retreating and destroying their hard-earned reputation.
But suddenly, the ever-brooding Bankotsu burst out laughing.
"Ha... hahaha... hahahahaha! I didn't think Kyoto still had such a worthy opponent! Seems this mission won't be boring after all."
His laughter was sharp and menacing, sending chills through the soldiers nearby. To them, the young man before them looked like a rampaging dragon—ferocious and uncontrollable.
Then, with a commanding grin, Bankotsu gave his order. "Ginkotsu, Jakotsu, Renkotsu, Kyoukotsu, Suikotsu—disarm."
"Captain, what...?"
"Bankotsu, are you sure about this?"
"Gaaah!"
Even the cyborg Ginkotsu, who rarely spoke, let out a low, metallic growl—though no one could quite understand what he meant.
In the end, under Bankotsu's command, the members of the Seven-Man Squad reluctantly disarmed themselves.
Of course, since Ginkotsu was a cyborg, it was impossible to completely remove his built-in weapons. The guards, realizing this, turned a blind eye and let him through.
Meanwhile, Satsuki had already returned to her residence at the Fushimi Inari Shrine.
There, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was seated on a tatami mat, watching Ruri, who appeared to be spacing out in the corner. In truth, Ruri was using the Akasha Records to analyze and decode Hagorome Gitsune's tail.
For someone who possessed the bloodline ability Yomotsu Hirasaka as a means of travel, distance was meaningless. Thus, Kaguya had been waiting here for quite some time, her gaze fixed upon Ruri with a strange, almost amused expression.
Then, upon hearing what Kaguya said next, Satsuki froze for a moment.
—"Is that little one your descendant?"
"?"
Satsuki blinked, unsure whether this was some universal trait of elders—their tendency to leap straight to questions about family or marriage.
"I didn't notice back at the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path," Kaguya continued, "but up close, I can see threads intertwining between you and her—much tighter than those binding you to that young girl."
The Rinne Sharingan's perception ability...?
"She's merely my shikigami," Satsuki replied curtly, not wishing to pursue the topic further. After all, the existence of her system was her greatest subconscious secret.
Kaguya's face briefly softened with a rare look of understanding. Yet rather than press the matter, she gracefully changed the subject. "Those people outside the city—was there something special about them? For you to act personally... that's unlike you."
Though Kaguya had only been with Satsuki for a few days, she had already grasped the nature of Hamura's descendant. Unless there was something truly exceptional involved, Satsuki would never interfere—regardless of whether it was good or evil, right or wrong.
"I simply saw... an interesting future."
A faint gleam flashed in Satsuki's Tenseigan. By now, she could already use it to glimpse fragments of destiny—similar to the Rinne Sharingan's ability. And the fates of those seven men differed greatly from ordinary humans. Each of them bore two distinct, severed strands of fate.
It was as if they had died once—then been resurrected. Moreover, it wasn't some parasitic reanimation like Kaguyayo's possession by a yōkai, but a true revival, akin to Edo Tensei—one that recalled both the soul and consciousness of the deceased.
"So... the Shikon Jewel can recall the souls of the dead? That's quite an intriguing property."
Satsuki noted this silently in her mind. From within her sleeve, she drew forth a small stone, which gradually transformed into a pinkish-violet jewel—the Shikon Jewel.
For someone possessing Status Infusion, reproducing the Shikon Jewel posed little challenge. The only reason she hadn't done so before was that she hadn't seen much value in it. But now, from what she had witnessed in the Seven-Man Squad, she had discovered another purpose for it.
Ever since her time in the Shinobi World, Satsuki had been deeply fascinated by Edo Tensei. During its developmental stages, she had even researched wireless signal transmission and remote control systems to enhance it.
Though her subordinate Satsuki Uzumaki possessed the Rinnegan and could perform the legendary Rinne Tensei no Jutsu, Edo Tensei remained far more practical and versatile in comparison.
If she could fully grasp the core mechanisms of Edo Tensei, she could not only recreate it—but improve upon it.
For example, she could replace the reanimated body's composition with Yin–Yang Sage Arts, thereby preventing it from being destroyed by Truth-Seeking Orbs.
She could also use the undying principle of celestial souls to reform the spirit itself, vastly enhancing the revived subject's stamina and performance.
As for the so-called "grave soil" required for the ritual—such a medium was merely a locator for the target soul. It could easily be substituted with a piece of the individual's original biological tissue.
Most importantly, Satsuki realized she could grant this technique to the Hyūga subordinates under her command, allowing the members of the Sky Fox Unit to mutually resurrect each other through spiritual linkage—completely compensating for their lack of numbers. From that moment on, they would no longer fear death or sacrifice.
In essence, she would gain an army of undying warriors—immortal and nearly invincible.
Perhaps such preparation was excessive, but given that she had no clear understanding of how powerful the main Ōtsutsuki Clan truly was, having more contingency plans meant a greater chance of survival.
Satsuki didn't conceal this idea; she spoke openly of it to Kaguya.
After all, as one who could also be considered immortal, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki—wielder of the Rinne Sharingan—had her own unique insights into the nature of immortality.
"Communicating with Yomi, recalling the souls of the dead, and using chakra as a power source with the corpse as a vessel...?" Kaguya repeated thoughtfully after hearing Satsuki's plan.
The progenitor of chakra herself rarely showed interest in such matters, yet this time, even she seemed intrigued.
"Judging from the structure of that technique, it's indeed a clever form of pseudo-immortality. But it's crude. If the connection to the soul is severed, that so-called immortality can be undone easily."
Though socially naive and somewhat detached from human norms, Kaguya's origin as a member of the technologically advanced Ōtsutsuki made her highly perceptive toward the mechanisms of such techniques.
"Exactly," Satsuki agreed. "This technique still has much room for refinement. The data I recorded from the celestial soul earlier—the one that cannot die or dissipate—was gathered precisely to improve this jutsu."
"That one who called herself Kaguyayo?" Kaguya mused. "Indeed, she could also be classified as an immortal being—but she has flaws. Her soul lacks sufficient strength. It's easily influenced by other entities. That demon aggregate, for instance—it could forcibly devour her and assimilate her essence. In the end, her so-called immortality would only serve another's benefit. And before illusions like Infinite Tsukuyomi, such immortality means nothing."
Kaguya's words pinpointed the weakness of the celestial maiden's immortality. It wasn't that her form of immortality was weak—but that nothing in the universe existed without flaw.
Even Kaguya herself could be sealed away by a powerful fūinjutsu. Though she couldn't die, being sealed for eternity was not much different from death.
Satsuki, too, had long walked the path of immortality—but her undying nature stemmed not from a mere jutsu, but from a convergence of fate and divine concepts. She had become the Demon Buddha, later bound to the cosmic principle of Māra, the embodiment of worldly desire.
Her immortality, therefore, was far more profound—because it was not personal but conceptual.
As the Demon Buddha, she embodied duality.
The Demon aspect integrated the essence of the Sixth Heaven's Demon King, Māra, granting her life through all beings that bore desire. As long as desire existed, Satsuki could never truly perish.
The Buddha aspect, meanwhile, ensured that even under cosmic-scale annihilation, she could endure through her fully liberated Aspect of the Demon Buddha and her ever-developing Black Domain Buddhakṣetra, rendering her beyond destruction.
Together, these dual foundations formed the true core of Satsuki's immortality—an existence both infinite and indivisible. But such a form of undying existence was unique to her alone and could never be replicated.
As the two discussed the philosophy of immortality, footsteps approached from outside.
A shrine maiden from Yasaka Shrine entered—someone Satsuki knew well.
It was the leader of the Demon-Hunting Priestesses, Miko Sakura Ayami.
Though the cursed jewel once embedded in her forehead was gone, the divine grace and semi-divine aura she radiated were still unmistakable.
Standing at the doorway, the usually composed miko bowed respectfully and said, "Lady Satsuki, the purification ritual preparations are complete. Lady Fubuki has requested your presence at the ceremony site."