Massage

"Yuya, come here and massage my legs..."

Princess Kaguya's cool, slightly stiff voice rang out.

This was the first time she had asked Yuya to do anything like this,

and she felt a little uncertain.

I'm being so gentle. Surely this will bring Yuya and me closer...

she thought.

But to Yuya,

the scene looked entirely different.

Princess Kaguya sat high on her chair,

her long legs crossed, a cold smile curling her rosy lips.

She looked down at him from above,

her indifferent expression tinged with mockery as she gave him an unquestionable order.

There was no helping it. That was simply Princess Kaguya's demeanor.

She came with a natural cold-faced buff and was poor at expressing her emotions.

Even when she might think she was being gentle...

others saw her as utterly aloof, her face cold as frost.

[Option one: Obey and give her a proper massage. Reward: Three Basic Techniques]

[Option two: Smile arrogantly. Ordering me around? Are you telling me what to do? Reward: B-rank ninjutsu: Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame]

[Option one: Give an evil smile. Go the whole way and provide the full service. Reward: S-Rank Ninjutsu: Chidori Stream]

Yuya swallowed.

He briefly glanced at the system options, then paid them no further attention.

Neither Majestic Destroyer Flame nor Chidori Stream was of any use to him. He could create them himself when the time came.

The countless ninjutsu were merely different applications of chakra.

Given time, he could develop them all himself.

Yet some basic ninjutsu held a unique, far-reaching value for him as foundational building blocks.

They made it easier to see the true nature of chakra.

So he was only massaging her legs for the system reward. Yes, that was all.

The next moment,

Yuya walked straight up to Princess Kaguya.

As he drew close, the faint fragrance unique to her gently wafted into his nose.

Princess Kaguya's silver hair fluttered in the breeze,

possessing a breathtaking beauty.

A powerful presence radiated naturally from her.

Yuya crouched slightly.

Princess Kaguya looked down at him,

a trace of scorn and teasing curling her lips (bashfulness and cuteness).

Yuya remained silent, hesitating for a moment,

before gently lifting one of her legs.

He drew her skirt aside, instantly revealing her smooth, delicate, long leg in full.

After carefully resting it in his lap, he began gently kneading it.

When he touched Princess Kaguya's skin,

Yuya could distinctly feel her body tremble.

Princess Kaguya's skin was fair and delicate, her legs beautifully long and slender.

Yuya used just the right pressure, his movements practiced and deft.

With his gift for understanding, learning massage was naturally no difficulty.

After massaging downward for a while,

he considered for a moment, then lifted her delicate foot toward himself.

Princess Kaguya's foot had a rosy tint, her toes translucent and lustrous.

Yuya gently pressed her Yongquan Point.

"Mmm~"

Princess Kaguya immediately let out a soft hum,

a blush spreading across her cheeks.

The soles had the most acupoints and offered the easiest way to clear the meridians,

promoting microcirculation within the body and relieving tension throughout it,

allowing both body and mind to relax.

Princess Kaguya was far too exhausted.

The God Tree was eating away at her will and corroding her body,

while Isshiki, that enormous threat, inhabited her as well.

Perhaps, even when she had sat cross-legged with Yuya,

she had already given up any thought of surviving.

Yet even so, she still pretended that nothing was wrong in front of him,

and had traveled countless miles into the depths of Snow Mountain to forge him a sword,

simply because she thought he would like it.

That was her pride as Kaguya Otsutsuki.

She refused to reveal even a trace of her current deterioration.

After so long spent suppressing the God Tree's power and exhausting herself with travel,

Yuya's massage relaxed her body and mind, naturally drawing soft sounds from her.

Yuya remained entirely focused,

without a single stray thought arising in his heart.

Saving Princess Kaguya was still a distant prospect.

He did not know what he could do for the woman before him now.

Perhaps all he could offer was something like this.

Whatever she asked, he would do. He would follow her wishes in everything.

But as he continued massaging,

Yuya stopped.

The once-delicate skin beneath his hands had begun turning stiff and rough.

He froze for a moment.

At some point,

wood-like grain had begun spreading over Princess Kaguya's formerly fair, tender skin,

creeping steadily upward along her leg.

With a complicated expression, Yuya looked up.

Princess Kaguya had fallen fast asleep.

Her once-exquisite face was covered in green wrinkles like an old person's, resembling aged bark, withered and decrepit.

She looked somewhat grotesque and frightening.

But Yuya did not feel that way at all.

He only felt a sting in his nose.

Had she not fallen asleep,

this woman would probably have kept suppressing the changes in her body,

always acting as though nothing was wrong in front of him.

She silently endured everything, unwilling to reveal any of it to him.

He did not stop, continuing to massage her.

Only after a long while, once he had finished the entire massage,

did Yuya slowly lower her leg.

He straightened her skirt,

lifted her from the chair,

and gently laid her on the bed.

Yuya watched Princess Kaguya quietly.

Her breathing was even. Her once-rosy lips were badly cracked now, but they moved with her breaths.

Clearly, she was sleeping soundly.

He gently stroked her cheek.

Her features were buried beneath wrinkles, blurred beyond recognition.

Yuya's expression was conflicted.

Finally, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I'll save you. I promise..."

[You selected option one: Obey and give her a proper massage. Mission complete. Reward: Three Basic Techniques]

[Due to your extraordinary comprehension, you automatically derived B-rank ninjutsu: Shadow Clone Technique from the Clone Technique]

[Due to your extraordinary comprehension, you automatically derived A-Rank Ninjutsu: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique from the Shadow Clone Technique]

Yuya kept watch over Princess Kaguya all night.

The next day, just as she was about to awaken, he quietly left.

He thought that Princess Kaguya surely would not want him to see her like this.

Deep in the woods on the Royal Palace's Back Mountain.

Yuya stood in an open clearing.

His eyes were scarlet, three black tomoe slowly rotating within them,

adding a sinister, uncanny charm to his already handsome face.

A mass of lightning coiled around his hand.

Silver arcs shot out from his palm,

screeching incessantly like thousands of birds.

But that was not all. The next moment,

the lightning in his hand began to change,

stretching continuously until, before long,

it had become a long blue sword glowing with lightning.

Yuya casually swung it, slashing toward a spot nearby.

Unexpectedly, however,

a long sword wreathed in flames swept over from the other side,

blocking the strike.

Another Yuya emerged from there,

his expression and appearance identical to those of the Yuya holding the lightning sword.

At the same time, several more Yuyas appeared in the woods.

One of them opened his mouth and exhaled.

An enormous fire dragon surged out as his mouth opened.

The fire dragon rushed toward the surrounding trees, and in an instant,

a fierce blaze erupted, burning everything amid billowing smoke.

The next moment, another Yuya summoned towering waves like a raging flood.

They extinguished the forest fire in the blink of an eye.

Then the earth churned, raising a torrent of mud and stone that subdued the waves in turn.

Several more Yuyas fought one another, seemingly improving their combat experience and honing their taijutsu skills.

[Due to your extraordinary comprehension, you automatically learned A-Rank Ninjutsu: Chidori]

[Due to your extraordinary comprehension, you automatically learned S-Rank Ninjutsu: Chidori Stream]

[Due to your extraordinary comprehension, you automatically learned A-Rank Ninjutsu: Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart]

[Due to your extraordinary comprehension, you automatically learned A-Rank Ninjutsu: Fire Style: Fire Dragon Technique]

[Due to your extraordinary comprehension, taijutsu +5 during combat]

"Ninjutsu may be dull, but this Shadow Clone Technique is rather interesting."

Poof!

The next moment, the several Yuyas in the forest simultaneously dissolved into smoke,

leaving only the original standing in the open clearing,

a lightning sword in his hand.

Yuya murmured to himself and dispelled Chidori Stream.

At the same time, the insights and fatigue from his shadow clones washed over him.

He closed his eyes, carefully absorbing those insights. This little bit of fatigue,

given his current constitution, had no real effect on him.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, his gaze clear once more.

A fierce gust swept in, carrying him upward.

Only when he reached the sky tens of thousands of feet above did he notice.

At the edge of his vision,

countless white specks dotted the vast sky,

wandering among the clouds and mist.

Only upon drawing closer did he realize.

They were all Yuya, every one of them with his Three-Tomoe Sharingan active,

scanning the ground in every direction, seemingly searching for something.

"I've searched all the neighboring countries. Thirteen people with similar silhouettes from behind."

"Nine dressed the same, and three holding similar beasts in their arms."

"Confirmed matches: zero."

Yuya felt rather helpless.

He had been searching since morning,

yet even traveling at the speed of the wind, he had only managed to scour a few small neighboring countries.

Even he was beginning to run short of chakra under this level of expenditure.

Yet the chakra drain was secondary.

More important were the mental fatigue and exhaustion.

Although he could withstand the fatigue that came back when his clones dispersed,

he could not control so many clones simultaneously across such enormous distances,

while also having them practice and create different ninjutsu.

Even though he had long since lost count of how many points he had added to his mental strength, now,

it still could not sustain this much divided attention.

Left with no choice, he stopped his clones' ninjutsu training,

devoting himself entirely to finding that girl.

For him now, ninjutsu involving various chakra shape transformations or even nature transformations no longer held much meaning.

Next, he needed to see whether he could combine them into kekkei genkai, kekkei tōta, or even kekkei mōra.

As evening approached, Yuya stopped training and prepared to return.

"I wonder how Princess Kaguya is doing."

He murmured.

He soared through the sky, passing through bank after bank of clouds.

A moment later, he landed before Princess Kaguya's great hall.

The moment Yuya entered, Princess Kaguya came up to him.

"Come shopping with me!"

"Huh?"