Next Bonus, 100PS!!
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Mount Myōboku, Longevity Peak.
A few days had passed, and Kaguya no longer wore the broad, formal robes she once did.
She now wore a simple white dress that looked both comfortable and elegant. Her silver-white hair was loosely pinned up, with a few strands falling by her cheeks. The powerful presence she once had as a goddess was gone, replaced by a warmer look.
"Mm. This face mask really is useful..." Kaguya murmured, touching her cheek.
Then she picked up a carved tube of lipstick and applied it carefully in front of the mirror. The deep red color made her already stunning face even more arresting.
"The lipstick is excellent too. Tomorrow, I'll ask Manji for a few more shades..."
"Why does Manji have so many wonderful things?" She looked at her reflection, feeling a real fondness for these unusual new luxuries.
Even after living for so many years, she was surprised to find out there were so many nice things in the world.
[Note: Honestly, the Kaguya in the anime TV version doesn't feel like she lived that many years. She was such a hopeless romantic there. A man draped a cloak over her shoulders and said a few words, and she fell in love. That adaptation never felt very reasonable to me.]
A moment later, Kaguya rubbed her cheeks and frowned at herself in the mirror, trying to look serious. "Wait. Kaguya, have you fallen this quickly?"
"Where is your willpower?"
"Manji is being good to you because he wants to use you. He wants to turn you into his subordinate."
"Into one of his pieces..."
But as soon as she said it, her eyes dropped and her voice grew softer, showing a hint of acceptance, almost as if she was ready to give in.
"But he really is treating me well..."
"In the end, I wronged him first. I was the one who stabbed him in the back. Of course he resents me."
"Even if I know he's using me, I don't mind being used by him... And as long as I behave, he won't really do anything to me..."
Kaguya reasoned with herself, going over each thought one by one.
Manji hadn't really done much, but Kaguya had already talked herself into it.
Just then, Manji appeared.
"Are you getting used to living here, Kaguya?" Manji asked lightly, his hands clasped behind his back.
Kaguya turned around at once. A faint flush of annoyance touched her cheeks, and she frowned at him in dissatisfaction. "Could you knock before coming in?"
Manji paused for a moment. He looked at how different and delicate she seemed now, almost like a new person. After a short silence, he nodded. "Mm."
"I came to ask you about the Ōtsutsuki Clan and Isshiki," Manji said as he sat down nearby, making his reason for visiting clear.
"..." Kaguya's face grew serious, and her eyes turned grave. "Their clan might come to the Shinobi world sometime in the next thousand years. I'll tell you their names and abilities. You need to be careful."
"The Ōtsutsuki Clan has always operated in two-person teams..."
Before she could finish, Manji interrupted her directly. "I know that."
His tone was calm. His fingertip tapped the table as he slowly named three people. "There are three Ōtsutsuki who have yet to arrive: Momoshiki, Kinshiki, and Urashiki."
"How do you know all of that?" Kaguya's red lips parted slightly. Her pale eyes widened as she stared at Manji in disbelief.
As an Ōtsutsuki ancestor, it was normal for her to know about the clan's secrets. But Manji was from the Shinobi world, so it shocked her that he could name Momoshiki and the others so easily.
"Small methods. You don't need to know the details."
"What I want to ask is this: where are those three Ōtsutsuki now?" Manji's gaze deepened.
Inside, Manji was already thinking. If he could find those three, he could study their bodies and bloodline abilities.
Kaguya shook her head, sounding helpless. "I really don't know. All three of them use space-time techniques and move around unpredictably."
"If I still had full control over Amenominaka, I might be able to search for their spatial coordinates. But with my current strength gone, I have no way to find them."
Manji fell silent, his eyes narrowing a bit. After a moment, he asked something that surprised Kaguya even more.
"Do you know Ōtsutsuki Shibai?"
"You even know about him??"
This time, Kaguya really lost her composure. Her serious look broke, and she stared at Manji like she had seen a ghost.
Knowing about Momoshiki, Kinshiki, and Urashiki was already extraordinary.
But Manji even knew about Ōtsutsuki Shibai, the legendary God of the Ōtsutsuki.
It felt like Manji was definitely cheating.
Seeing her shock, Manji chuckled under his breath. "Then do you know where his body is now?"
Kaguya looked puzzled. "He died?"
"..." Manji's expression stiffened. He realized he had nearly forgotten the main point.
Kaguya had been hiding for years. Her knowledge of the Ōtsutsuki Clan's internal intelligence was far inferior to Momoshiki's.
Manji ignored her previous question and moved on. "You should know about Isshiki, at least. He also controls space, and do you know that he has a juvenile Ten-Tails hidden away?"
Kaguya looked blank and shook her head.
Manji went quiet. After a long pause, he spoke again. "Fine. You should at least know Yin-Yang Release, right?"
Only then did Kaguya nod. Her tone became certain. "Of course I know that. It was the power Hagoromo controlled. At my peak, I could use it with ease."
"You want to study that technique? With your strength, researching Yin-Yang Release should be simple."
Manji's face darkened, if not for the system's layers of suppression hanging over his head, he would have mastered Yin-Yang Release completely when he was only at the Super Kage level, or perhaps even back at the Kage level.
But now, with all those limits, he couldn't even form Truth-Seeking Orbs. The only thing he had that came close was the Six Paths Sword.
"Wait." Manji suddenly slapped his forehead as the Six Paths Sword came to mind.
That was right.
The Six Paths Sword was made using the power of Yin-Yang Release. The blade itself held some of that original power. Maybe he could use a bit of it.
As soon as the idea came to him, Manji wanted to go back and study it right away. "I'm leaving now."
He turned to go.
"Manji, wait!" Kaguya called out in a hurry.
Manji stopped and looked back at her in confusion. "Mm?"
A slight blush appeared on Kaguya's cheeks as she made her request, sounding a bit awkward. "Um... could you give me more cosmetics? They're really useful. And maybe a few more outfits, if you can?"
Manji raised an eyebrow. "I thought you cared only about pursuing ultimate power and never bothered with appearance or decoration."
There was a trace of surprise in his voice.
It turned out Kaguya wasn't so different from other women after all.
"Chasing power was something my clan and survival forced on me. But wanting to look nice is just natural for a woman." Kaguya pressed her lips together and glanced at him curiously. "Besides, don't you have lots of strange clothes in your closet?"
"..." Manji's face stiffened.
He had forgotten about that.
When Manji was still a young man, he had asked Mount Myōboku's clothing workshop to make him a big collection of different cosplay outfits.
He did it just to pass the endless years.
Even though the Transformation Technique could change how you looked, actually wearing something yourself still felt different.
You could say it was one of Manji's small personal hobbies.
"Cough, cough. Fine." Manji coughed twice to hide his embarrassment and forced himself to nod, agreeing to Kaguya's request.
When he agreed, Kaguya's eyes lit up. Then, looking serious, she said, "I can help you with work to repay you."
"I noticed Mount Myōboku is getting more involved in the human world. I can help Mount Myōboku earn money. If we sell things like cosmetics, record players, and cameras in the mortal world, we could make a lot."
"You want to go into business?" Manji frowned slightly, surprised by the idea.
"If you let me, I'll do my best. Think of it as my way of making up for what I did to you." Kaguya looked up at him.
Manji thought it over and remained quiet for a long time. After a while, he finally spoke. "I need to think about this."
Manji didn't say anything else. He disappeared from the room in a flash.
Once he was gone, Kaguya lowered her eyes. She felt a faint sense of loss and whispered, "In the end... he still doesn't trust me."
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