"As long as you don't kill me—I'll do anything you ask!"
"Please… please don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want!"
Chakra drained, eyes dim, the female Ōtsutsuki leader begged with all the pitiful desperation of someone who really didn't want to die.
But to Naruto, there was nothing she could offer.
The only thing worth taking—was her body.
Her eyes could be turned into his own visual power.
Her body could serve as fertilizer for the Divine Tree.
That "Save Point Leap" eye technique… not bad. A temporal escape ability—definitely worth harvesting.
And so, under her hateful, despairing gaze, Naruto calmly gouged out the eyes of all three Ōtsutsuki—
A motion he was becoming disturbingly good at.
He then sealed all three away into the world within Tensōkyō.
Fertilizer—for later.
Half a month passed.
Naruto arrived at his original destination:
A vast cerulean planet, over a hundred times larger than the Shinobi World.
Unlike Earth's clear blue, this world shimmered with alternating bands of blue and white, massive seas and snowy continents blending together like living marble.
Somewhere on a wide-open plain…
Seven young men and women in modern clothing, each wielding different weapons, faced down a monstrous foe:
A black tiger, its body covered in armored scales, easily several meters long.
The tiger opened its gaping maw and let out a sky-shaking roar, blasting wind across the field.
Its vertical crimson pupils glared at them with pure savagery—and then it spoke.
"Humans. You dare step into my domain? You court death!"
Among the seven, a spear-wielding young man stepped forward.
With a clang, he dropped his spear, bowed slightly, and said with forced humility:
"Black Tiger King, we didn't know this was your territory. It wasn't intentional. We'll leave immediately."
But the beast had no interest in mercy.
He was the apex predator in this zone—the area's boss-level monster.
There was no way he'd let some brats walk away after disturbing his hunt.
The tiger licked his lips with a long, barbed tongue and growled:
"How convenient. Just in time for a snack."
The moment he said that, the color drained from all seven of their faces.
"Han Li, this is your fault!"
"I told you not to go this deep! Now we're all going to die!" cried a short-haired girl with a bow, nearly in tears.
Another girl with a high ponytail and a longsword—cold and imposing—frowned and snapped:
"Complaining won't help. We have to fight. We might still have a chance."
Han Li, the spear-user, was sweating bullets. He tried to look calm, but internally he was filled with regret.
'Damn it! Just had to run into the Black Tiger King!'
With their current lineup, they could handle just about anything in this area…
Except this guy.
The infamous Black Tiger King, whose territory changed constantly.
"Shen Bingran's right," Han Li said, trying to rally them.
"If we work together, we might win. And if we do take it down—we're rich!"
His words gave the others a bit of hope. Just a bit.
The Black Tiger King, hearing this, grinned wide in a very human-looking sneer.
"You brats? Kill me?"
And then—he pounced.
A blur of jet black.
The seven put up a fight. Their weapons glowed with colored energy—some sort of magical coating that gave them a fighting chance.
And for a while, they held their own.
But within minutes, the Black Tiger King struck Han Li and sent him flying.
All seven were left panting and battered.
The tiger? Barely scratched. A few white marks on his scales—nothing serious.
The team fell into despair.
They couldn't even pierce his hide. What now?
Han Li glanced sideways at his teammates.
And quietly made a decision.
'Better you than me.
There's no tank in this team. Whoever runs fastest lives. I'm sorry. I have no choice.'
Without warning, Han Li activated his movement technique, leapt high into the air, and vanished behind them, sprinting several dozen meters away.
The others stared in shock.
Their always-cheerful, reliable "leader"… had ditched them?
The Black Tiger King burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! I love this part! Humans are always so funny when they get scared. Never gets old!"
Then, with a casual yawn, the tiger aimed at Han Li and unleashed a black energy orb the size of a boulder.
Han Li saw it coming in the corner of his eye—his soul nearly left his body.
He raised his spear to block—
BOOM!
The impact sent him flying another ten meters, blood spraying from his mouth.
Heavy injuries. Barely conscious.
The short-haired girl clenched her fists.
"Serves you right! Trying to ditch us like that!"
But Shen Bingran felt even colder inside.
Sure, it was satisfying… but it also meant—
Now there's no hope of escape.
And then—
A figure descended from the sky.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Cloaked in presence.
CRACK!
The impact cratered the ground where he landed—right between the tiger and the humans.
Everyone froze.
Was this newcomer friend or foe?
Naruto stood tall, surveying the land.
He stomped the ground twice.
"So this is the planet from Isshiki's memories? Looks… normal."
The landscape, the clothes these people wore—
It all resembled Earth from his first life.
Only the few-meter-long black tiger stood out.
Weird breed.
The short-haired girl saw Naruto's face and lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Whoa! Handsome! Are you here from the Academy to save us?!"
Shen Bingran, more mature than the rest, kept her composure.
Just from how he landed—and the size of that crater—she knew this guy was strong.
Maybe strong enough to save us.
She took a deep breath, stepped up, and got straight to the point:
"That's the Black Tiger King. A lord-tier magic beast. Possibly Stage Four. Do you think you can take it?"
Naruto looked at her, mentally parsing the terms.
"Lord-tier? Black Tiger King? …You mean this little black cat?"
The moment he said that—
Everyone, including the tiger, paused.
The Black Tiger King raised a claw and pointed at himself.
"Did you just call me a little black cat!?"