"This mission..."
Satsuki pondered for a moment but found no clear lead. She pulled her attention back to the present.
Finding nothing unusual about Toneri Ōtsutsuki, she dismissed the surrounding puppets and moved to a separate palace hall. There, she began focusing on channeling the boundless Ōtsutsuki chakra within her and the immense Tenseigan ocular power to stabilize her newly awakened Tenseigan.
With such an almost extravagant investment, the Tenseigan in her eyes grew and matured without pause.
Even so, it took her a full three days of constant effort to fully stabilize the eyes' state. Only then did the terrifying energy leakage around her finally cease.
Estimating the ocular power she had absorbed over these days and comparing it with what she knew of the Uchiha clan's capabilities, Satsuki reached a conclusion: even if the entire Hyūga clan were slaughtered and every Byakugan gathered, it would still be impossible to provide enough ocular power for her Tenseigan to mature.
One reason was the purity of the Byakugan; the other was sheer quantity.
When Satsuki emerged from seclusion, Toneri had already awoken. She had no interest in greeting him. Due to the karmic ties between the Hamura lineage and herself, she also had no intention of making him into a human puppet.
To her, Toneri held no value.
Recalling again the hint from her system's neural prompt, Satsuki—her Tenseigan now stabilized—began to ponder the meaning behind the mission's issuance.
Has the 'strongest being across all realms' objective reached a certain milestone?
Following her plan for growth, awakening the Tenseigan and mastering the giant Tenseigan was a pivotal step in her power's qualitative transformation. Before fulfilling this condition, she needed to secure her clan's recognition of her qualifications. Years ago, she had once come to the moon to try her luck, aiming to awaken the Tenseigan and leap straight into the Six Paths level—but her talents at that time were insufficient. She was blocked by Hamura and failed to win approval.
After years of cultivation and a chance occurrence, her eyes finally showed signs of awakening. Satsuki knew the opportunity she had awaited had come. And indeed, she succeeded in awakening the Tenseigan and mastering the giant Tenseigan. In terms of personal strength, she now stood as the strongest visible force on Earth.
But the Sage of Six Paths still lived.
Unlike Hamura, the Sage leaned toward the side of Earth's native life. Whether or not he knew the truth hardly mattered. If Satsuki made any move to destabilize or destroy the shinobi world, the hidden Six Paths-level being would surely intervene.
Though Earth's native sages could rarely match Six Paths level in raw strength, their limits could reach the super-Kage tier, and united they formed a force not to be underestimated.
But now, my strength is enough to stand openly, without the constant need to hide in the shadows—without having to cover my eyes whenever I walk outside, Satsuki concluded with satisfaction.
With her Tenseigan fully awakened, she had stepped firmly into the Six Paths realm. With the giant Tenseigan supporting her, she could enter Tenseigan Chakra Mode almost without restriction—unlike Toneri, who had been knocked out of the mode by a single blow and couldn't even maintain its ocular power.
The difference lay in that Toneri had relied solely on a single pair of Tenseigan within his eyes. While powerful, without the giant Tenseigan to back it, a lone pair could not sustain prolonged battle.
Moreover, Toneri's Tenseigan was taken from Hanabi Hyūga, not originally his own eyes. Its natural compatibility was far inferior to Satsuki's.
This was why Satsuki's awakened Tenseigan bore a golden, six-petaled flower pattern—while Toneri's was merely blue.
The former was the true, permanent form of the Tenseigan, while the latter was only the unstable awakening state Toneri managed through forced infusion of his Ōtsutsuki chakra.
"It seems the Six Paths level is also recognized by the system as some kind of ultimate threshold in this world," Satsuki murmured softly.
She stepped out of the sealed chamber and sat before an ornate vanity, gazing into the mirror.
Her attention was immediately drawn to her own eyes. In the pale gold irises, countless stars seemed to be born and die in endless cycles. At the very center, a six-petaled flower pattern rotated slowly within her pupils.
Even Satsuki, ever unmoved by appearances, found herself captivated by them for a moment.
Yet the real satisfaction came from the abilities these fully stabilized Tenseigan now granted her.
Rising from the vanity, she teleported in an instant to the moon's surface.
She had already mastered the Tenseigan's gravitational and repulsive forces, as well as its abilities to absorb ninjutsu and drain chakra from a distance.
Today, she would test two of its most destructive techniques—and only the vacuum of space was a suitable arena.
Golden Tenseigan chakra flared around her, and she entered Tenseigan Chakra Mode. At her call, the energy form of the Candle Dragon, which had spent the past days playing with the giant Tenseigan, emerged and coiled protectively around her. It released a joyous roar—so potent that the lunar surface cracked for dozens of miles, the entire moon trembling under its cry.
The Candle Dragon slowly wrapped itself more tightly around her, absorbing her Tenseigan chakra into its form. Its scales and tail shone with lifelike clarity. Satsuki's own body returned to normal, while the living dragon wound about her in a slow, deliberate dance.
This was the Judgment of the Ten Kings · Aragami Form.
With a thought, nine golden spheres of light—Truth-Seeking Orbs—appeared, circling her. This was not the true limit of her Tenseigan, but it was the most she could presently control.
She raised her hand, and the nine orbs merged together, her gaze locking on a massive drifting meteorite far in the distance.
"Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion."
She thrust both hands forward. A colossal storm, powered by the fusion of Truth-Seeking Orbs and Tenseigan chakra, erupted outward. The meteorite, hundreds of miles away, was shredded instantly, torn apart like gravel in a hurricane.
Even the lunar surface thousands of meters below her feet was ripped open by the residual force, leaving a vast, deep scar.
This was just the aftershock—power enough to change the face of a world.
Were there air to carry sound, the accompanying sonic boom would have been catastrophic. But Satsuki had not yet mastered the ability to control such shockwaves, making the Silver Wheel a true map-clearing weapon that spared nothing in its path.
If this was the Silver Wheel's might, what of the Golden Wheel?
Her left hand extended, fingers curling as though gripping an invisible hilt. The golden Truth-Seeking Orbs rushed to her hand, merging into a sword of pure chakra, radiant enough to cleave heaven and earth.
"This power…!"
Even Satsuki, so long composed, was momentarily stunned. Instinct told her that with one swing, she could split not only the moon, but a planet the size of Earth in two.
The Tenseigan's ultimate destructive potential lay bared before her. In that moment, the intoxicating sense of godhood surged within her.
Any being, upon suddenly wielding such overwhelming force, would struggle to suppress the primal urge for destruction. It was not a matter of morality—it was instinct.
But Satsuki forced the impulse down. Lightning-like energy danced over her as her form blurred with overlapping afterimages, a sign of the overflowing power.
The Candle Dragon, which had been still until now, drifted closer and gently touched her with one horn.
In an instant, the crushing urge to destroy dissipated, and the delusion of godhood vanished as if it had never been.
"It seems my body is ready to wield this power… but my mind is not yet prepared."
She dismissed the golden sword, returning it to nine floating Truth-Seeking Orbs behind her. Her hand brushed the Candle Dragon's near-tangible form in silent gratitude.
Then she fully released the Aragami Form. She still had one more summoning technique available, but it was only useful for overwhelming weaker foes—not worth using against Six Paths-level opponents.
Satsuki had no interest in calling forth the giant stone statue.