The First Battle

Just then!

"BOOM! CRASH-!!!"

The ground shook violently! A small hill nearby suddenly exploded! An enormous creature burst out amid flying rubble and dust, letting out a deafening roar as it charged forward with unstoppable brute force!

This was no ordinary beast! Its body was the size of a hill, its hide covered in thick, rocklike armor. Every step of its pillar-thick limbs made the earth tremble. A terrifyingly sharp, enormous horn crowned its triangular head, and foul-smelling saliva dripped from the stark white fangs jutting past its lips.

Its cloudy eyes locked onto Princess Kaguya—or rather, Yuya in her arms, who radiated a pure aura of life!

(Ding! Crisis mission triggered: an unknown giant beast attacks! Life hangs by a thread!)

[Option one: scream with all your might to attract the beast's attention and give Princess Kaguya an opening to attack. (Extremely high risk! Instant death highly likely!) Reward: if you survive, courage +3, Princess Kaguya's affection +5]

[Option two: cling tightly to Princess Kaguya's robes and entrust your life entirely to her. (Stop struggling and trust the big boss.) Reward: Princess Kaguya-exclusive affection +3]

[Option three: try communicating with this rampaging beast through your mind? (With your current mental strength, success rate: 0.01%.) Reward: if successful, gain the "Basic Summoning/Beast Taming" talent! Spirit +2]

Yuya screamed inwardly: holy shit!!! A dinosaur?! These things exist in the Naruto world?! Option three is pure suicide! Option one is asking to die! Option two! It has to be option two! Cling to my protector and never let go!

"ROAR-!!!" The beast was already upon them! A foul wind blasted their faces, and its bloody, fang-filled maw was large enough to swallow an elephant whole! Its massive tail swept sideways, snapping ancient trees too thick to wrap both arms around as easily as straw!

A cold glint flashed in Princess Kaguya's eyes! Faced with this sudden "beast," far beyond anything she had expected, her long-dormant battle instincts ignited instantly! Gone was her helpless fumbling over feeding a baby. At this moment, the Ōtsutsuki princess revealed her full majesty and power!

"Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack!"

She did not even need hand seals! Holding Yuya protectively against her chest with one arm, she spread the slender fingers of her other hand and thrust her palm toward the charging beast's head!

BOOM!!!

Chakra so immense it took physical form became countless enormous, invisible fists, smashing into that rocky armor like divine punishment!

"CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!"

A teeth-grating sound of shattering rang out! The beast's horn, strong enough to knock down a mountain, and the hard armor covering its skull fractured inch by inch beneath Princess Kaguya's effortless strike!

The terrifying force knocked its enormous body clean off the ground. With a shrill, despairing howl, it flew backward and crashed deep into the forest, flattening swaths of trees. Whether it lived or died was unknown!

Dust filled the air.

Yuya's little heart was still pounding wildly! The pressure of that charging beast had been every bit as terrifying as facing a cement mixer truck barreling straight at him! Yet Princess Kaguya... all she had done was raise her hand and press forward.

This is Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's true power?! So... so fucking badass! Even without eating the Chakra Fruit, her original chakra is already this powerful!

So this was the sheer bliss of having a powerhouse carry him! Even as Yuya reeled in amazement, his sense of security soared.

[You chose option two: cling tightly to Princess Kaguya's robes and trust her completely. Mission complete! Reward: Princess Kaguya-exclusive affection +3! Current affection: 13]

(Hint: Princess Kaguya is pleased by the absolute trust and reliance you displayed during the crisis. Bond effect strengthened!)

Princess Kaguya lowered her gaze to her arms. The baby had clearly been frightened, his little face slightly pale, yet his large eyes now stared up at her without blinking. There was no fear in them, only a kind of... almost worshipful wonder and absolute reliance.

She felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

"Don't be afraid." Even her cool voice seemed to soften a little. After this sudden upheaval, her earlier worries about feeding him had long since vanished. "I'll take you... to get cleaned up."

A short while later, a deep, crystal-clear pool came into view among the trees.

Mist curled over it, making it look like a fairyland.

Princess Kaguya's gaze swept over Yuya—the little fellow had been covered in dust from the explosion, and after all his earlier antics, he really was filthy.

Yuya suddenly felt Princess Kaguya lowering him slowly toward the cool, clear pool.

Wait! Is she going to give me a bath?! Sure, it's a blessing from a goddess... but... Yuya had barely recovered from his brush with death when Princess Kaguya's slender fingers moved slightly.

"Water Release: Surging Spring!"

Splash!

An enormous, crystalline sphere of water, a full half meter across, floated in the air under her precise control, shimmering with a captivating halo in the morning light.

Yuya: ⊙o⊙! She really is giving me a bath?!

Before he could react, Princess Kaguya had gently placed him inside the sphere.

A marvelous sensation washed over him! Cool, refreshing, enveloping... the sphere seemed alive, flowing gently around him and automatically washing the dirt and dust from Yuya's body. Its pressure was just right. Far from uncomfortable, it felt like a gentle massage.

More amazingly, his breathing was completely unaffected!

Yuya instinctively moved his arms and legs (Let's test that physique boost!). Ripples spread through the water, and he actually felt a hint of the freedom a swimming fish enjoyed! His mind was still wound up from the earlier scare, but the cool water now seemed to soothe his emotions without a sound.

(Ding! Special scenario triggered: first experience of chakra nourishment!)

[Affinity with water-aspected natural energy detected in the environment! Attempt to guide and absorb it? (Your constitution has improved slightly. There is an extremely low chance of success.)]

Yuya: absorb natural energy?! Isn't that the sort of thing the Sage of Six Paths does?! The odds might be low... but what if it works?! Try it! Nothing to lose!

Yuya held his breath and concentrated (though he had already known how), trying to empty his mind and imagine himself merging with the cool water...

Whether it was a burst of luck or his newly improved physique and mental state making his senses just a little sharper than an ordinary baby's-

He seemed to truly "feel" a trace of cool, gentle... presence within the water sphere. Like mischievous little sprites, those traces tried to touch his skin, and some of them seemed... to actually be drawn into his eager little body! It was incredibly faint, but definitely no illusion!

[Minor success! Successfully absorbed a trace of water-aspected natural energy! Your body has gained initial water affinity! Effects: slightly improved recovery, greater agility in water! Additional physique +0.1 (hidden)!]

Awesome! So this is how you use those rewards! Instant results! Yuya was ecstatic.

But the good times did not last!

"Who goes there?! How dare you trespass into the Land of Ancestors Forbidden Grounds and hunt a divine beast!"

A furious shout rang out! Accompanied by scraping metal and hurried footsteps, seven or eight samurai carrying swords and wearing crude bamboo armor rushed out of the forest. With faces full of outrage and greed, they surrounded Princess Kaguya beside the pool and the floating sphere in her hand... containing a baby?!

The mustached samurai leading them stared greedily at Princess Kaguya's unearthly beauty and the supernatural power she had just displayed—controlling a water sphere. Then he spotted the slain beast's remains in the distance and decided he had found a rich mark!

Was this woman a legendary shrine maiden or a monster? Capturing her and presenting her to the Daimyo would surely earn him great merit!

"Impudent witch! Put down that... abomination!" the mustached man barked, pointing at Yuya inside the sphere. To them, a floating sphere of water containing a baby was bizarre enough in itself.

"Seize her!"

Princess Kaguya's brows drew together slightly, and icy killing intent spread around her. These antlike humans dared disturb her? And slander Yuya?!

She was about to raise her hand and crush these irritating insects.

(Ding! Sudden mission: the samurai's provocation! Please choose.)

[Option one: stay cute (play dead) and let Princess Kaguya handle it. Reward: sit back and win without lifting a finger, Princess Kaguya's affection +1]

[Option two: use your newly acquired, faint water affinity to try wrapping the water sphere around yourself as a defense. (Effect unknown; may be ineffective.) Reward: courage +1]

[Option three: unleash every last bit of your newly acquired trace of water affinity! Try guiding the water in the sphere into a "water arrow" and shoot it at the shouting mustached samurai! (Hint: extremely weak power, but the target is close enough and unguarded. The main aims are to "startle" him and "make a statement.") Reward: if you successfully produce an "effect" (such as squirting water in his face or giving him a fright), "water affinity" mastery increases to 10%! Spirit +1 and new skill unlocked: [Water Drop Splash]! Princess Kaguya's shock + special affection increase!]

Yuya instantly boiled with excitement: damn! Option three! It has to be option three! I'm not just some accessory watching from the sidelines! I might be so weak I can only squirt water in someone's face... but I have a cheat! I'm going to show off! I'm going to make myself noticed! I'm going to leave Mama Princess Kaguya stunned for ten thousand years!

Almost at the very instant chakra gathered at Princess Kaguya's fingertips and the samurai drew their swords and lunged-

Yuya, inside the water sphere!

His soft little face suddenly flushed red (Push harder!), and he clenched his tiny fist with all his might inside the sphere!

"Psssh-pfft!"

A "miniature water arrow," only as thick as a chopstick and about a foot long, rapidly formed from the pool water and shot out of the sphere, crooked but astonishingly fast!

Target: the mustached samurai's foul mouth, still spewing crap!

Splat!

"Urgh-!"

The mustached man was lunging forward viciously, his mouth wide open to shout. He had never imagined an attack would come from the baby inside that strange sphere!

The shot went straight into his throat with uncanny precision! Its force might have amounted to no more than a squirt from a water gun... but! What mattered was how bizarre and sudden it was, and the humiliation of being attacked by a tiny baby!

The sudden sensation of something in his throat and the intense pain-mostly psychological-made the mustached man choke and double over instantly. He coughed and retched violently, his face turning scarlet!

"Thud!" The companion beside him was even more terrified, instinctively stumbling backward and falling to the ground. Pointing at Yuya inside the sphere, he shrieked in a voice that cracked, "S-sorcery! That baby knows sorcery!"

Dead silence fell! A pin drop would have been audible!

The chakra glow that had just appeared at Princess Kaguya's fingertips quietly went out. Her pure white eyes held a trace of... something she had never felt before... shock?! Slowly, ever so slowly, her gaze shifted to the water sphere in her arms.

Inside it, the little baby blew a bubble as though nothing had happened. His little face seemed faintly flushed from his earlier exertion, making him look innocent and harmless.

But the lingering chakra fluctuations-or rather, faint natural energy fluctuations-from his act of shooting that "water arrow" could not escape her senses!

He... what had he just done?

A baby who had arrived less than two days ago, who couldn't even walk... had controlled water? Had sprayed someone with that laughably feeble water arrow?!

Chakra-he had chakra too?!

Absurd! Bizarre! Beyond imagination! Even more unbelievable than discovering this baby falling from the sky and landing on her face!

Yuya felt Princess Kaguya's scrutinizing gaze sweep over him like a physical scanner, filled with unprecedented curiosity and... an indescribable interest? As though she had discovered a dancing cactus in a desert.

Hehehe, awesome! Maximum impact! Showing off accomplished! Inside Yuya's mind, a little version of himself planted his hands on his hips and laughed wildly.

[You chose option three! Successfully activated [Water Drop Splash] (lv1), inflicting fright + physical interruption on the target! Mission complete! Reward: "water affinity" mastery increased to 10%! Spirit +1! Princess Kaguya has developed a strong interest in your "potential" and "uniqueness"! Affection +5! Current affection: 23!]

(Special hint: affection has surpassed 20. Bond effect significantly strengthened! You now exert a faint mentally soothing effect on Kaguya Otsutsuki!)

An even cooler energy flowed into Yuya's body, and his perception of the surrounding moisture became much clearer. He could "feel" the vast, ocean-deep chakra within Princess Kaguya, as well as her subtle, almost unguarded shock at this moment.

"Trash!" Princess Kaguya's icy gaze swept over the samurai, who were scared witless by Yuya's "sorcery" and had no idea what to do.

Her interest in Yuya had already far surpassed her interest in these ants.

"Get lost! Disturb me again, and you die!"

An invisible pressure spread outward. As though granted a pardon, the samurai scrambled away in abject terror, hauling their still-retching mustached leader with them and disappearing into the dense forest.

Silence returned to the deep pool.

Princess Kaguya dismissed her water release. Clean, refreshed, and rosy-cheeked, Yuya settled into her arms.

This time, she did not leave at once. Instead, she lowered her head and gazed deeply at the baby in her arms with an entirely unprecedented look of scrutiny, confusion, wonder, and even a trace of "anticipation" she herself had not noticed.

"Yuya..." She spoke his name, her cool voice carrying a note of inquiry for the first time. "How many more... surprises... can you bring me?"

Yuya blinked his large, innocent eyes and gave her a smile so pure and adorable it could melt anything, while inwardly he was plotting:

Hehehe, one little test and I stunned everyone! This cheat really delivers! And this is only the beginning! Mama Kaguya, just wait for me to create more miracles-disasters! The future? Who cares? Let's enjoy this first!