By now, Satsuki understood the Dragon-Headed Sage's meaning.
These sages were not cowards avoiding a fight before it began. Rather, their foresight revealed that Earth's native humans could merge with the Ōtsutsuki, gaining their abilities. So they decided to allow the Ōtsutsuki to arrive, even converting most of the world's natural energy with the Ten-Tails.
"Descendant of the Ōtsutsuki, you are perceptive," the Dragon-Headed Sage admitted without hesitation.
"But this plan is extremely dangerous. You cannot control the actions of the Ōtsutsuki, and if they come only to complete their mission without interacting with humans, your plan collapses." Satsuki sharply pointed out a flaw in their strategy—one of several.
"Which is why we prepared two measures," the sage explained. "We will attempt to alter the world's natural energy, giving it certain traits. To native life, this means a petrifying effect. But to the Ōtsutsuki, it will gradually shift their thinking."
"Meanwhile, the militant faction of sages will watch in secret, waiting for the right moment to intervene. If this mental shift shows no effect, they will destroy the Ōtsutsuki before the Ten-Tails matures. If the shift works…"
"You would incite her sons to turn against her, wouldn't you?" Satsuki interjected.
Hearing this stirred a deep anger within her as an Ōtsutsuki descendant—but her powerful rational mind quickly extinguished it. She also realized just how wise she had been to remove the natural energy influence back when she was in the hidden sage land.
"Ōtsutsuki descendant, you must understand—our positions ensure we will clash one day." The Dragon-Headed Sage's tone was calm. "From our perspective, sealing her rather than killing her was not due to inability, but a concession for her past service as an ally."
"I have a question," Satsuki said, stepping forward as her mind worked furiously. "If natural energy altered Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's thinking to coexist peacefully with Earth's people, why did she still raise the Ten-Tails, and why did you allow her to consume the chakra fruit and cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
"Three reasons," the sage replied. "First: natural energy is immensely powerful but ill-suited to weak-bodied humans. After our modifications, it petrifies lifeforms that cannot master it. But once converted by the Ten-Tails, this energy becomes chakra—less potent in essence but vastly more versatile, usable by nearly all life here."
"Second: before eating the chakra fruit, her mind was already influenced by natural energy. We did not foresee that consuming it would shift her nature so drastically, leading her to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi. That was our negligence."
"Third: we needed her help against another enemy."
Satsuki frowned. "Who could be so powerful that you would join forces with Kaguya Ōtsutsuki to face them?"
The sage did not answer directly. Instead, his eyes projected a vast light. Images formed in the air, shaped by surrounding natural energy. Gradually, they resolved into two figures.
One was a pale-faced woman with twin horns and long blue-white hair—Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself.
Beside her stood a tall Ōtsutsuki in a white robe marked with magatama, a single long curved horn growing from his head.
The image shifted, showing the man's face clearly. Though unfamiliar to Satsuki, his eye sockets held a pair of dazzling, starlit blue Tenseigan.
Her expression darkened, lips tightening as she uttered a name she had never spoken before. "Isshiki Ōtsutsuki."
The vision from the Dragon-Headed Sage began to play within her own Tenseigan. In it, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki suddenly struck Isshiki with the All-Killing Ash Bones while his guard was down. Wounded and shocked, he reacted instantly, countering with a Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion that sent Kaguya flying.
Behind him, the sages—long prepared—unleashed their greatest techniques. Natural energy filled the scene, the most powerful attack coming from a sage in the form of a massive dragon.
Isshiki's answer was a golden sword capable of cleaving heaven and earth.
The clash engulfed the world in light. The Ten-Tails' divine tree, along with every plant and all the land around it, was erased from existence. The most fertile region on the planet became barren desert in an instant.
In Satsuki's mind, everything snapped into place—the gaps in the original story, and the real reason she had been sent here.
"We defeated Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, but he did not die," the Dragon-Headed Sage said, his projection fading. His voice now carried exhaustion. "Before that, he used the Ten-Tails' chakra conversion to set Ōtsutsuki bloodline authority as the highest. Anyone with that blood would naturally control and wield chakra far better than those without it."
Could such a thing be done? Satsuki almost argued—until she remembered the Giant Tenseigan, itself an energy system governed by permissions. If Hamura Ōtsutsuki could do it, so could Isshiki.
This world was far more complex than she had imagined. In her past life, she had seen it as a simple battle manga. Now, living in it, she saw the tangled truths and brutal struggles beneath the surface.
At least her mind was sharp enough to glimpse some of the truth—unlike Sasuke Uchiha in the original tale, forever kept in the dark.
Rising into the air, Satsuki faced the great dragon head. "Then tell me—what is your purpose?"
The sage looked briefly surprised, then amused. "Oh? And why assume I have a purpose? You found the Ryūmyaku on your own, activated it yourself. What does that have to do with me?"
"First, the existence of immense Ryūmyaku chakra here is not common knowledge. Only someone with extraordinary perception could discover this place."
"Or perhaps someone just had very good luck," the sage countered lightly.
Satsuki shook her head. "Even if someone stumbled on the Ryūmyaku, without the ability to control such vast chakra they could not use it. At best, they would post guards. And the first to find it would make sure no outsiders learned the truth."
Hence the supposed exile ground for missing-nin and wanderers outside.
"By such means, only the first discoverers remain in control, eliminating later arrivals to keep your plan safe. I might even guess that the first discoverers were your descendants, waiting to reclaim and use this place, building your own civilization on the nearly infinite Ryūmyaku chakra."
The sage fell silent.
Satsuki pressed on. "For one with the Tenseigan, the Ryūmyaku is an unguarded treasure. And only such eyes can guide it to reactivate dormant teleportation arrays."
She drew so close that both she and the sage tensed unconsciously. "Your first words—'You have come'—show you foresaw my arrival. That means you brought me here for one purpose."
Golden Tenseigan chakra erupted from her, twisting the space around them. A massive pillar of energy shot skyward.
Pointing at the sage, she declared, "You deliberately guided someone with the Tenseigan here."
"Satsuki Ōtsutsuki, you are strong, and more importantly, intelligent. But as a partner, we need more witnesses."
The sage's dragon head flared with the markings of Sage Mode. The warped space churned more violently, and dozens of black rifts tore open in the air.
Beyond each rift surged overwhelming signatures of sage chakra.