After leaving the Lunar Capital, Suzuki Kaguya immediately began tracing the origin of the puppet army.
Since the enemy had made no effort to conceal the army's marching route, Suzuki only needed to follow the path of destruction in reverse to track them down.
Although night had fallen, the glowing eyes of the countless puppets made them impossible to miss, so tracking them posed little difficulty.
As Suzuki moved through the forests, he observed the puppet army carefully, noting several peculiar traits.
First, their numbers were simply overwhelming. As a result, the precision of control over each individual puppet had dropped to a staggering degree.
Each puppet was as mindless as a moving rock—marching only along its preset path, ignoring anything in its way, trampling forward with sheer brute force.
Moreover, their advance wasn't directed at any single faction—they spread out in multiple directions. That meant their purpose wasn't to attack one specific power.
Another striking aspect was their mode of assault.
Though vast in number and destructive in appearance, the puppet army caused surprisingly little loss of life.
After all, in this era, most people lived as wanderers without permanent homes. When such an army approached, ordinary civilians would have fled long before.
And those who did flee were never pursued. The puppets lacked agility and ignored any moving targets, continuing rigidly along their assigned paths.
Thus, while the puppet army appeared awe-inspiring and unstoppable, it left no true massacre in its wake. There were no blood-drenched battlefields or corpses piled high—none of that existed here.
The only kind of target suited to such an army was a fixed, fortified structure like the Lunar Capital itself.
In this era, few strongholds could withstand such an assault. No castle other than the Lunar Capital possessed defensive capabilities on that level; most would fall within hours.
"So, it's reasonable to assume this pattern of action serves a specific purpose," Suzuki thought to himself as he sped through the forest.
Along the way, he passed groups of refugees and scattered shinobi, all fleeing in panic.
They had no real choice—forced by the advancing army, they converged toward the nearest large fortress, hoping to find safety.
Like frightened chicks scattered by a storm, these desperate people were being herded by the unseen hand of destruction toward concentrated centers of survival.
"Judging from the timing," Suzuki mused, "for such an army to appear and move with such organized precision in so short a time—it means the enemy already has a considerable understanding of the shinobi world and a very clear objective."
As a former commander who had once led the Kaguya clan to annihilate countless shinobi villages during the Warring States era, Suzuki was no innocent idealist. His hands were drenched in blood, and his mind was that of a seasoned warrior.
He could easily place himself in the mindset of another invader.
Whether war or diplomacy—information was always the foundation of all strategy.
And among all means of gathering intelligence, spies remained the most effective.
From their movements alone, Suzuki could roughly gauge the enemy's intent. Yet assumptions were not enough—he needed concrete evidence.
...
Inside the Lunar Capital—
Satsuki had shifted the topic back to the current puppet invasion.
"Ranzuki, what's your opinion on this matter?" she asked calmly from her seat above, sounding almost like a teacher testing her student.
Over the years, Ranzuki's training had yielded significant progress—her mind was far sharper now than it once had been.
After a brief moment of thought, she answered, "Lady Satsuki, I believe Mr. Suzuki's hypothesis is highly plausible."
"Oh? You also think the puppets' controller is a being from another world?"
"Yes, Lady Satsuki," Ranzuki replied. "However, my reasoning differs from Mr. Suzuki's—I based my conclusion on the puppets themselves."
"During their battle, I used the Tenseigan to observe their control mechanisms."
"The method used to control these puppets differs completely from anything in this world—not in technique, but in energy source."
Satsuki prompted, "Oh, you noticed it too? Then what do you think the enemy's energy source is?"
Ranzuki thought for a moment. "Although it's very similar to natural energy, it's fundamentally different. However… I think I've seen this kind of power once before."
"Oh? Where was that?"
"In a small, nameless country, Lady Satsuki."
As she continued, Ranzuki's thoughts grew clearer. "It was when I was pursuing a target and stayed there for some time. That nation was located on the outermost edge of the shinobi world, where no ninja existed. In that land, the most revered figures were onmyōji—yin-yang sorcerers."
Onmyōji—a profession distinctly reminiscent of ancient Japanese mystics.
"Those onmyōji weren't particularly strong themselves," Ranzuki explained, "but they could perform rituals to commune with gods or spirits, borrowing divine or demonic power to achieve their goals. Their most distinctive method involved using shikigami—spirit familiars."
She spoke firmly, "These puppets, while slow and clumsy, possess power strikingly similar to those shikigami."
Clap, clap, clap…
From her seat above, Satsuki couldn't help but applaud softly.
"Very good, Ranzuki. You've learned well—using past experience to draw conclusions."
Satsuki was genuinely pleased with her insight.
In fact, Satsuki's own observations aligned perfectly with Ranzuki's analysis.
Indeed—the force controlling these puppets was neither ordinary chakra nor natural energy.
It was something entirely different: divine power.
But not divine power in the sense of a god's personal might—rather, the power of Shintō.
This form of power had always existed quietly within the Naruto world, hidden yet ever-present.
For instance, the Uchiha clan's sacred artifacts and their ocular technique, Susano'o, were both imitations of Shintō principles—one modeled after divine relics, the other after the great Tengu spirit.
Similarly, the mythic inscriptions found by Shirakumaru behind the stone tablet were further veiled hints of this same Shintō energy.
It was precisely because the puppets were animated by such divine power that Satsuki's usual methods of severing puppet-control links had no effect. The two systems operated on entirely different principles.
The Naruto world had always been one ruled by shinobi.
This was not merely because the protagonists were ninjas, but because the balance of power itself was shaped by them.
Ninjas were the strongest beings in this world, and through their might, they had dictated its laws and order.
Yet, there were always exceptions.
Not everyone would be content to live under such a system.
If an onmyōji were to form a pact with a powerful deity and borrow its strength, seeking to overthrow this ninja-dominated world—it would make perfect sense.
With that realization, Satsuki looked down at Ranzuki and said calmly, "So… this time, our enemy is unlike any we've faced before. Do you understand now?"
The source of the puppet army was the Land of Demons.
In truth, the Land of Demons was not a small country. It was located roughly between what would later become the Lands of Earth and Wind. To the north lay the Land of Snow, and to the south, the Land of Bears.
In this era, however, the concept of borders was still vague—there were no distinct territorial markers.
The Land of Demons was a relatively isolated nation, sustained by a small-scale agrarian economy and largely self-sufficient. It depended little on external trade, and its only two main routes of access had now been completely occupied by the puppet army.
When Suzuki Kaguya arrived at the borders of the Land of Demons, dawn was just beginning to break.
He chose a high cliff to survey the situation from above.
Channeling chakra to his feet, he scaled the rocky wall in one swift motion and stood at the summit, gazing into the heart of the Land of Demons.
What he saw caused his brows to furrow.
The most prominent structure in sight was a massive shrine-palace built atop a mountain at the center of the region.
Surrounding the main shrine were numerous subsidiary halls, each constructed with the scale and grandeur of a feudal lord's estate.
Descending from the shrine, tiered along the mountainside, were additional buildings—blacksmith forges, small workshops, and the like.
Beyond them stretched vast farmlands dotted with scattered homes, and on the outskirts stood several simple watchtowers and a frail wooden wall that could barely be called fortification.
But the reason for Suzuki's frown was not devastation—it was the opposite.
Many puppets were actively rebuilding and expanding the area.
And the shrine-palace at the center was clearly their primary focus.
"It seems they've turned this place into their base of operations," Suzuki muttered. "If I want to gather more intelligence, I'll have to infiltrate."
He paused, smirking faintly. "But honestly, infiltration isn't really my style. I prefer the direct approach."
Moments later, he demonstrated exactly what "direct" meant.
Leaping into the sky, Suzuki Kaguya descended from the cliff like a meteor. The pull of gravity and his own propulsion combined, sending his speed soaring to a level imperceptible to the naked eye.
His right arm sprouted grayish-black calcified bone, which quickly extended into a massive spear.
His target—none other than the giant shrine-palace at the mountain's peak.
Such an overwhelming thrust required no additional chakra. The sheer speed alone provided all the power needed.
BOOM—!
A thunderous shockwave like a dragon's roar split the air. The violent wind pressure blasted apart every nearby structure.
The puppets of the Land of Demons were swept away like dust before a raging storm. Those caught in the spiraling air currents were shredded into pieces mid-flight.
Such a commotion could not possibly go unnoticed by whoever controlled them.
Inside the shrine, a long-haired woman wearing a miko's crown sat elevated on the tatami mats at the sanctum's highest point. Her face bore markings reminiscent of Sage Mode, and she wore a plain white-and-gold shrine maiden's robe, barefoot and composed.
Behind her stood an unfinished divine statue.
"So this is a shinobi?" she murmured softly. "Aside from speed, there's nothing remarkable about his energy."
Her eyes remained closed, yet it was clear she perceived everything around her.
She picked up a charm between her fingers and began chanting. The charm floated from her grasp and vanished midair—only to reappear near the torii gate at the base of the shrine's mountain.
A powerful, unfamiliar energy emanated from the talisman, forming a glowing curtain that extended rapidly outward from both sides.
In the blink of an eye, a massive defensive barrier materialized around the entire shrine complex.
Moments later, Suzuki Kaguya's storm crashed against the foot of the mountain.
Rather than slowing, his speed only increased, his body enveloped entirely by the spiraling pressure of the air. Like a high-powered turbine, he tore everything in his path to dust.
This linear assault bore the same fundamental principles as Kakashi's famed technique—Chidori.
The technique demanded extreme perception and reflexes from its user—so much so that, in the original records, it was only truly effective when paired with the Sharingan's predictive abilities.
Suzuki Kaguya, however, was different. His neural reflexes far surpassed those of an ordinary person. Even at such tremendous speeds, he could still react and adjust mid-movement.
When the massive barrier suddenly appeared before him, surprise flickered briefly across his face—but he did not retreat.
Instead, he charged forward without hesitation, slamming directly into the colossal barrier.
BOOM—!
A deep, resonant sound like a temple bell echoed for miles as the two forces collided. Blinding flashes of light erupted at the point of impact, and the shockwave that followed surged outward like a crashing tide, obliterating every structure and puppet within several kilometers behind him.
"Incredible… it actually stopped me?" Suzuki murmured, astonishment creeping into his voice.
The spiral bone lance in his hand wasn't just a hardened Shikotsumyaku construct—it was the result of years of refinement, a fusion technique that bridged the gap between Shikotsumyaku and All-Killing Ash Bones, belonging to the level of Kekkei Tōta.
Suzuki had always believed that, aside from the few individuals in the Lunar Capital, there existed no one in the shinobi world capable of withstanding such an attack.
Yet the truth before his eyes left no room for doubt.
The barrier had indeed stopped his strike. Even if this wasn't his full-powered blow, it was still enough to demonstrate the opponent's overwhelming strength.
Meanwhile, the mysterious shrine maiden within the temple was even more astonished than Suzuki himself.
"How is that possible? A strike without any chakra consumption forced my divine power to such depletion?"
Her authoritative voice echoed through the shrine as she slowly opened her eyes. Within them swirled kaleidoscopic patterns—brilliant and intricate—that rotated ninety degrees along her pupils.
But soon, her expression darkened.
"I can't perceive his origin? Could it be that he, too, is protected by divine beings? That's inconsistent with the earlier reports…"
The only entities capable of evading her Divine Onmyō Sight were beings of equal or higher divinity—and their chosen vessels.
"Lady, shall we test him first?"
Four ghostly flames flickered in the air around her, each containing the faint silhouettes of twisted, demonic figures.
"There's no need," the shrine maiden replied calmly. "Though he is a rude intruder, it's very possible that a god or spirit stands behind him as well. That alone makes him unfit to be dismissed as an enemy. Before resorting to arms… he may yet be worth meeting in person."
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