The immediate aftermath of the training ground test settled over the Zenin compound like a layer of cold ash. Ogi Zenin's angry condemnation labeling the Saṃsāra Cycle as a philosophical curiosity rather than a combat success had successfully suppressed any public talk of Nayona's baffling victory. Yet, the political reality beneath the surface was far more complex.
Nayona's new assignment was very real, and it took him directly into the heart of the Zenin clan's shadowy operations: the Interrogation and Intelligence Division, which was the highly secretive and ruthlessly efficient domain of Maari Zenin.
Maari was the true power behind the clan's covert, information-driven operations. Unlike her male counterparts who relied on loud boasts and flashy techniques, she rarely raised her voice, but her gaze was infinitely more terrifying than Ogi's loudest roar or Naoya's smug sneer. She was the mathematician of the clan's dark equation.
She saw the world not in terms of good and evil, nor even weakness and strength, but strictly in terms of utility and waste. Nayona's non-violent technique the Saṃsāra Cycle was not a failure to her, but a supremely valuable tool that needed to be surgically tempered and controlled for maximum strategic output.
Nayona followed a low-ranking sorcerer, a silent, grim man from the Kukuru enforcement squad, through the maze of wooden halls. They moved swiftly, passing far from the sunlit training grounds and the prestigious living quarters of the main heirs. They descended deep into the earth, down spiraling stone staircases that reeked of mildew and Cursed Energy suppressants.
The air grew colder, damper, and thick with the heavy psychic stench of fear and prolonged despair the spiritual exhaust of the interrogation cells. This chilling subterranean complex was the literal mud from which the Zenin Lotus would never rise; it was the clan's bedrock of secret crimes and forced confessions.
He found Maari in a sterile, windowless room carved directly into the bedrock. The walls were smoothed obsidian, absorbing both light and sound. She was seated at a low desk piled with meticulous, color-coded reports on rival sorcerers, captured Cursed Users, and the intelligence gathered on the Gojo and Kamo clans.
She dismissed the Kukuru escort with a simple, icy gesture, the man bowing swiftly and retreating, leaving Nayona alone with his grandmother.
Maari looked up, her expression perfectly neutral, a mask of cold competence. She was a middle-aged woman whose features were sharp, refined, and severe, her black kimono immaculate, devoid of the aggressive flair common among the male Zenin.
She pointed to a chair across from her a heavy, uncomfortable wooden seat designed to keep its occupant alert and vulnerable. Nayona took the seat, maintaining his meditative posture, focusing on the rhythmic tracing of his acorn beads.
"Your demonstration was successful, Nayona," she began, her voice a low, dry rasp that seemed to belong to the rock itself. "You neutralized a Grade 3 target without physical damage, eliminating all residue. This is politically useful a quiet disposal. It means we don't have to waste time cleaning up. More importantly, it means we can extract every last drop of information from a captive sorcerer before their spirit is utterly broken by conventional means. We can break their will without breaking their jaw."
She leaned forward, her eyes locking onto his. They held no warmth, only clinical observation and an unsettling degree of focus.
She was analyzing his soul as a weapon.
"But let me be absolutely clear on one point, child. Your philosophy of Pacifism is not a virtue; it is a profound and deadly weakness," Maari stated, delivering the warning like a surgeon cutting away diseased tissue. It was not a judgment, but a physical law of the Zenin universe.
Nayona met her gaze, his grey Cursed Energy instinctively calming the oppressive atmosphere of the cell, a low-level defense he always maintained. "If the goal is the cessation of suffering, Grandmother, then violence is always counterproductive. It is merely shifting the dukkha to a future cycle, or onto the perpetrator."
Maari offered a thin, mirthless smile, a chilling display of predatory insight. "That is a beautiful philosophy for a monk in a temple, child. It is death for a sorcerer in the Zenin clan. We live in a world where power is absolute. Our goal is not the cessation of suffering. Our goal is the perpetuation of Zenin supremacy. And that requires eliminating all threats internal and external and weaponizing any spiritual advantage we find."
She paused, letting the implication sink in, her gaze dropping to the Lotus Seal mudra he had used earlier. "Your technique your precious Lotus Seal requires a lengthy incantation. It requires you to be calm, to be still, to find Right View and Right Intention in a fight. I saw you stand there for five seconds, hands moving, eyes closed, radiating peace. If that had been Naoya, or even a low-grade assassin from the Gojo clan, they would not have been interested in your philosophy. They would have been interested in the five-second gap in your defense. You would be a stain on the dirt, and your soul would be sent directly to the lower realms of your cycle, wasted."
She stood up, her movement swift and silent, and walked to a steel-reinforced door in the corner of the room, tapping it lightly. The door led to the main holding cells. "Your pacifism will lead to your death, Nayona. And when you are dead, your powerful technique will be lost forever, a piece of unique utility wasted because you clung to an impractical moral code. You must learn to survive, or you cannot pursue your 'cessation' idea."
She turned back, her voice softening slightly, not out of kindness, but strategic calculation a calculated attempt to secure his loyalty through perceived protection. "I protected you from Ogi, who wanted you assigned to pointless, lethal training until you either broke or conformed into a conventional weapon. But you owe me. You will use the Lotus Seal not for Nirvana, but for Interrogation. This is the only place your strange ability is tolerated. You will focus the Illusory Rebirth Loop on the captive's greatest tṛṣṇā their attachment be it a loved one, a mission, a source of pride, or a specific goal.
You will force them to watch their cycle end in that attachment's utter destruction, not release. You will use their deepest craving as a weapon against them, forcing them to choose between their secret and their spiritual stability. Do you understand your new, essential purpose?"
Nayona considered her words carefully, his mind racing through the complex moral landscape she had presented. Maari was right about one thing: his technique was useless if he was dead. Survival required him to operate within the Zenin framework, even if his ultimate goal was to dismantle it. By accepting this role, he was being handed the keys to the information hub, a vantage point to observe the deepest corruption of the clan and their enemies, an invaluable step toward Right View.
"I understand, Grandmother. I am a tool for the Interrogation and Intelligence Division. I will exploit the captive's craving for the clan's gain," Nayona replied, his voice devoid of all genuine emotion, hiding the deeper, patient intent behind his acceptance. He knew how to play the long game of Saṃsāra.
"Good," Maari said, her smile now a cold, terrifying satisfaction. "You learn quickly. We have your first assignment. It is time to leave your books behind and learn how to weaponize the truth of Dukkha."
She gestured toward the steel door. "Get ready to meet the source of our latest security breach."