Hozuki Castle.
Two giant black shadows fought fiercely in the sky. One was a giant insectoid beast clad in black Tengu armor—the Majestic Attire Susanoo Seven-Tails.
The other was an ancient demon, Satori, who had once been sealed within the Box of Ultimate Bliss by the Sage of Six Paths.
Below, the people of Kusagakure watched the battle of the giant beasts in the sky with shock and fear; they still hadn't recovered from the massive psychological blow.
The Box of Ultimate Bliss, which they had painstakingly sought for a lifetime, could not grant wishes. Instead, a monster that terrified everyone crawled out of it.
For Kusagakure, this was a massive disappointment.
The old Kusagakure Jonin, Soichiro, who was also the lord of Hozuki Castle, seemed to realize something. He muttered in realization, "I know now. This is Satori, an ancient demon capable of reading minds—Satori!"
Legend says there was an ancient monster named Satori. It had no head or eyes, was covered in black fur, could speak human languages, read human hearts, and loved slaughter.
The people of Kusagakure all looked at Soichiro.
An elder wearing a rat mask asked Soichiro urgently, "Soichiro, how do you know this?"
Soichiro replied, "Aside from guarding the Box of Ultimate Bliss in Hozuki Castle, I had nothing else to do. I usually spent my time reading ancient texts related to the Box of Ultimate Bliss."
Shirakawa followed up with a question, "What exactly is Satori? Why was such a demon sealed in the Box of Ultimate Bliss? Isn't it a treasure that can grant wishes?"
Soichiro shook his head. "No, no. The Box of Ultimate Bliss is not a wish-granting treasure. The Box of Ultimate Bliss is a Shinobi tool used to restrict Satori."
"In the past, the Kusagakure ancestors didn't rule the world by granting wishes; they ruled by controlling Satori to defeat all the nations in this world."
The rat-masked elder was somewhat excited. "Satori can be controlled? Tell us quickly, how do we control Satori?"
Soichiro shook his head. "How should I know how to control Satori? I've only read the relevant texts. After all, the last time the Box of Ultimate Bliss was opened was hundreds of years ago."
"The history between us and our ancestors has long been severed!"
The Kusagakure Shinobi immediately became discouraged.
Satori was very powerful.
Ryou's Susanoo, combined with the Seven-Tails, was actually being steadily suppressed by Satori.
Because Satori was simply too fast. Despite having the size of a giant beast, it was more agile than a cat.
Its movements were as elusive as a ghost. Ryou fired a small Biju Bomb at it, but in the blink of an eye, Satori had already flickered to the side, leaving afterimages behind.
Every shift was light and silent, as if the sky itself was its domain.
The Seven-Tails' six wings were no match for Satori's single pair.
Satori's agility was maxed out.
All the Ninjutsu combinations from Ryou and the Seven-Tails were seen through by Satori. It was light yet ferocious, like a black wind weaving through the gaps in their attacks, moving so fast it was just a silhouette.
In the original work, many experts from Konoha—Tsunade, Kakashi, Yamato... plus Sage Naruto and the Eight-Tails Killer Bee—dealt with Satori together but couldn't even graze its shadow.
With a top-tier mechanic that could read minds and predict all attacks, combined with top-tier stats no weaker than a Tailed Beast, Satori's strength already surpassed Nagato with the Rinnegan.
It was precisely because they saw Satori's power that the people of Kusagakure felt it was a pity. This was clearly a treasure left by their ancestors, but because of the passage of time and the loss of their heritage, they no longer knew how to manipulate Satori!
If they could control Satori, Kusagakure would no longer be an insignificant existence and would have some say even in front of Madara.
Then they wouldn't be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder to resist the Shinobi Allied Forces!
Mui looked at the Box of Ultimate Bliss, stroking his chin as he analyzed, "I think the way to control Satori must be related to the Box of Ultimate Bliss."
Everyone looked at the Box of Ultimate Bliss, which bore four demonic faces: Joy, Sorrow, Anger, and Pleasure.
Satori had come out of the Box of Ultimate Bliss, and the Box of Ultimate Bliss was a dharma treasure created by the Sage of Six Paths to seal Satori.
That proved that controlling the Box of Ultimate Bliss would allow one to control Satori. But the question was, how do you control the Box of Ultimate Bliss?
The Box of Ultimate Bliss suddenly moved. The 'Joy' demonic face opened its large mouth, unleashing a spiraling suction vortex that seemed intent on swallowing all living life to brainwash them into puppets.
Ryūzetsu and Muku were suddenly caught in it. Mui and Chizu hurried forward to grab them and then retreated far away.
When the Kusagakure elders saw that the Box of Ultimate Bliss was trying to eat people, they all ran away along with Mui and Chizu.
Under the massive chaos, some prisoners in the jail began to riot, preparing to escape Hozuki Castle.
As soon as they came out, they were sucked in by the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
Above.
Ryou's Majestic Attire Seven-Tails and Satori fought so intensely that it seemed the very fabric of reality would crumble.
No, that wasn't it—Ryou and the Seven-Tails were being suppressed by Satori.
The Seven-Tails' agility was inferior to Satori's, and all its moves were seen through by the opponent.
Satori predicted Ryou's prediction.
The mechanic of sensing malice to make predictions was simply too much of a cheat.
Ryou had no fear of Satori, but he had malicious intent in his attacks, which was used as an anchor for Satori's mind-reading.
Another attack from Satori came. It spread its wings, releasing thousands of flying feathers.
Because Satori fired them from close range, Ryou couldn't make the Seven-Tails dodge, so he could only firmly block Satori's feathers.
Each of Satori's feathers was like an oversized Kunai, striking the Susanoo that Ryou had draped over the Seven-Tails.
The Susanoo blocked all the feather attacks, but after the attack, Satori appeared ghost-like above the Seven-Tails' head, its talons carrying a massive red chakra sphere.
This attack was unavoidable and struck the Susanoo on the Seven-Tails directly.
With a thunderous boom, Satori's red chakra sphere was as violent as a Biju Bomb, slamming the Majestic Attire Seven-Tails straight down.
A few breaths later, Ryou climbed out of the crater, but the Seven-Tails did not.
It had previously transferred chakra to the Box of Ultimate Bliss and then fought Satori; its chakra was no longer sufficient.
Furthermore, the Seven-Tails' massive size made it a huge target for the ghostly Satori.
Ryou let the Seven-Tails recover chakra in the pit while he dealt with Satori.
Candy stood on Ryou's shoulder, looking solemnly at the black-feathered demon looking down at them from the sky.
This was no ordinary demon; its power could rival the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails.
Its malice sensing and mind-reading mechanics far exceeded the abilities of many Tailed Beasts.
"As expected of a demon from the era of the Sage of Six Paths. No wonder the Sage of Six Paths had to seal such a monster away!"
Candy turned to look at Ryou. "Should we use the Inuzuka Clan's Secret Technique?"
Ryou shook his head. "No, we must find a way to break the mechanic that allows Satori to see through all our attacks. Otherwise, even if we were ten times stronger, we wouldn't be its match."
Ryou rubbed his chin, thinking about how to deal with Satori.