"My little brother ended up becoming someone else's handmaiden."
Yamanaka Shinno watched Tobi, who had been sneakily glancing at him ever since her memories resurfaced, and couldn't help but feel a bit speechless.
Still, he waved his hand, signaling that she should stick with Otsutsuki Kaguya from now on.
Even though the current Kaguya had lost over ninety percent of her power, she still wasn't someone ordinary people could afford to provoke lightly.
Besides, having been sealed away for a thousand years, her knowledge of the world—and even basic common sense—was wildly outdated and in need of a reset.
To prevent her from doing anything truly world-shaking and catastrophic, someone had to be by her side.
Despite Tobi's usually wild and carefree personality, she had never once botched a mission. And now that her memories had returned, she actually seemed more composed than before.
(T/N: Aino was a servant of Tenji, the emperor of the Land of Ancestors. On orders from her emperor, Aino became Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's personal attendant when she first appeared on Earth. Tobi was made from her)
With her keeping an eye on Kaguya and guiding her, Shinno could feel a bit more at ease.
But still...
"T-Tobi, why do you call her 'Princess'?"
Shinno couldn't help but feel confused.
If we were going by the anime's plotline, Tobi should be calling Kaguya titles like Empress, Consort, or Your Grace.
And based on the manga's depiction—where Kaguya, as the Rabbit Goddess, was worshipped as a divine being—she should be addressed as a deity, not a princess.
"Princess refers to the Princess of Takamagahara—the divine daughter descended from the heavens to this earth, the Rabbit Goddess who brings light to the mortal world..."
As Tobi explained the origins of the title, her tone gradually filled with pride and adoration.
Clearly, the restored memories had deeply affected her. Even after learning so many hidden truths, her reverence toward Kaguya hadn't faded a bit.
"Alright, alright, I get it."
Shinno waved her off.
Ah, so it's manga logic again!
But Kaguya wasn't exactly a naive fool—giving herself the title of Princess from the Divine Kingdom was a smart way to reinforce divine authority and legitimize rule.
"...An Imperial Princess is still a princess," Kaguya added bitterly, clearly sensing Shinno's disbelief from his expression.
Feeling the restraining force around her neck beginning to dissipate, she didn't waste any time. She quickly straightened her posture, making sure her head was aligned properly.
If her head healed while it was facing the wrong way, she really would end up looking like the "weird woman" Tobi had just joked about.
"Imperial Princess, huh..."
Shinno raised an eyebrow slightly.
The title referred to the direct female descendants of the royal family's supreme commander.
Judging by the relationships between them, Otsutsuki Kaguya was probably the granddaughter of the current supreme ruler of the Otsutsuki royal family.
So yeah, she actually was a real princess.
Although... perhaps a disgraced one?
Otherwise, with her status, how could she have ended up as a sacrifice to the God Tree?
As for whether or not she was lying...
Well, just look at the original work—Otsutsuki Kinshiki willingly turned himself into chakra to be consumed by Momoshiki.
The members of this clan received completely different upbringings based on their status. If someone was born at the bottom, the chances of rebelling after a lifetime of brainwashing were slim to none.
"How many of your clan are left?"
Shinno rubbed his chin, then asked Kaguya.
Everyone around them instantly turned to look at her as well.
If most of the Otsutsuki clan were as powerful as Kaguya, just imagining it was enough to send chills down their spines.
"What are you planning?"
Kaguya's neck had finally begun to fully regenerate.
She lowered her arms and resumed her cold, divine posture as the Rabbit Goddess.
"Redistribute the wealth."
"...When I left, including even the lowest-ranking servants, there were less than three thousand of us. The rest were just cultivation tools and slaves."
"And their strength?"
"Like Isshiki? Probably less than fifty of them. But the royal and noble houses consumed a large number of God Tree fruits."
Her eyes darkened, and her body visibly tensed.
Everyone felt their hearts sink a little.
They had consumed multiple God Tree fruits?
Kaguya had become this terrifying after eating just one... how strong could those who ate several possibly be?
"They really just ate every fruit they got? No one thought of saving any?"
"..."
Kaguya seemed tired of explaining.
She raised her hand, pressed a finger to her forehead, and used Yin-Yang Release to copy a segment of her own memory. She passed it to Shinno.
He flicked the memory shard into his mind, and a flood of information poured in.
According to Kaguya's memory, the Otsutsuki couldn't consume chakra fruits without limit.
Their ultimate goal was eternal life and power.
Consuming more power than their bloodline could handle would indeed trigger genetic evolution—but it would also ravage the original genetic structure and rapidly shorten the tool's usable lifespan.
To fully master this power and prolong their lives, they had to find a suitable vessel for reincarnation.
And cultivating a new God Tree took a very long time.
Finding a compatible vessel wasn't exactly easy, either.
So, until the conditions were right and they had sufficient preparation, only those whose current vessels hadn't reached their limit would dare eat chakra fruits.
...
That meant the rest of them were just stockpiling chakra fruits and hunting for suitable vessels!
And apparently, they had plenty in reserve.
Shinno remembered how the original story described Otsutsuki Shibai's repeated reincarnations and defiance of death. Now, he was starting to form a clearer picture of the clan as a whole.
After a moment of thought, he asked again:
"Have you hit your limit yet?"
"...Almost."
Kaguya's face darkened as she spat the words through gritted teeth.
As a newly-born member of the Otsutsuki clan, she couldn't understand why just one God Tree fruit had nearly pushed her bloodline to its limit.
Normally, she should've been able to handle five or six before feeling this way!
Otherwise...
Why would she have clung so desperately to this planet's God Tree, trying to find some other way to resist the clan?
"You really are... such an honest dummy."
Shinno could read her expression like an open book.
With a sigh, he used Yin-Yang Release to copy a memory of his own and flicked it over to her.
Seeing the curiosity practically radiating from everyone around him, Shinno simply made a dozen more copies and handed one to each person.
As they immersed themselves in the chaotic sea of information...
Shinno wrapped everyone in a spatial ninjutsu barrier, locked onto the coordinates of the expedition ship, and warped them back together.
Once he confirmed that no one would be coming out of those memory fragments anytime soon, he turned to his system rewards from earlier.
Then, he spoke in his mind.
"System, use all three Trait Extractions."
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained...]
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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