Devil Fruit users have a massive weakness—sea water and Seastone. Now, this world didn't have anything like Seastone, but being afraid of water in general? That's a damn pain in the ass.
Thinking of that, Yuya figured he should test it out first.
Back at his place, he pulled out a wooden tub—just a plain, rough little thing he usually used for bathing.
Since he was a newcomer, Konoha already did him a favor letting him live somewhere at all. So everything, from the room to the furniture, was pretty damn basic. Not that Yuya gave a crap.
He filled the tub with water, stripped down, and jumped in. Then he crouched down and dunked his whole body under.
Now, regular water wasn't as bad as sea water, but in the original story, Devil Fruit users would still go weak and limp even when bathing.
One second. Two seconds...
A full minute passed—and Yuya didn't feel a damn thing! No weakness, no noodle-limbs, nothing.
He suddenly stood up, his face lighting up with surprise.
"Wait… regular water has zero side effects?"
He was thrilled—but also a bit confused.
Was it just because this wasn't seawater?
Or maybe...
He remembered how, in his memories, those who ate Devil Fruits were cursed by the sea and became landlubbers.
But that curse came from the One Piece world.
This was the Naruto world!
Even though he had no clue how a Devil Fruit showed up here, it wasn't like this place had the sea's curse. So even if he was afraid of water, it should only be seawater from the One Piece world.
Which meant… this Tremor-Tremor Fruit power wasn't really a Devil Fruit ability here anymore.
It was… a Kekkei Genkai! Vibration Release!
"Hell yeah, that works."
He smiled, feeling genuinely happy.
Next, Yuya just straight-up started bathing, washing off all the sweat from today's training.
So many surprises today—he needed to chill and clear his head a bit.
And just as he finished his bath and was stepping out of the tub, getting ready to put on some clothes...
Creaaak!
A soft sound. The door to his house suddenly swung open.
A small head with bright red hair poked in, peeking around curiously.
It was someone anyone would instantly recognize—Kushina Uzumaki.
"Yuya, are you home… huh?!"
Her voice froze mid-sentence.
The girl, only eight or nine years old at the time, had her little face lock up like a frozen screen.
"Uh…"
Yuya was stunned too.
Since he'd only been testing whether he could handle water, he hadn't bothered locking the door.
Of course, that wasn't the main problem. The main problem was—it was already night! Who the hell would've guessed that Kushina would just randomly show up at his house now?!
"WAAAAAH!!"
Finally, Kushina screamed, slammed the door shut with a loud BANG, and yelled,
"Yuya, you perv! You lecher! You're dead meat at school tomorrow!"
Her furious, flustered voice rang out from outside, making the whole damn street shake.
Yuya stood there, expressionless.
Motherf—!
This had nothing to do with him, okay?!
And did she have to shout that crap at the top of her lungs out in the street?!
"Welp… guess I don't need to go to school tomorrow…"
Yuya sighed with the most pained expression, put on his clothes, and opened the door.
Sure enough, Kushina was still standing outside, cheeks puffed out, her whole face red with embarrassment and rage.
"Ahem… so, uh… what did you come here for?"
Yuya coughed awkwardly and tried to steer the convo somewhere else.
Coming to his place this late at night—she must've had a reason, right?
Yuya and Kushina were both kids from other villages, arriving in Konoha around the same time. After realizing she was the same Kushina Uzumaki from the original story, Yuya naturally felt a connection and had purposely gotten close to her. The two quickly became good friends.
But their situations couldn't have been more different.
Kushina had come to Konoha basically as the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and she was from the Uzumaki Clan—a group allied with Konoha.
The previous Jinchuriki had been none other than Mito Uzumaki, wife of the First Hokage Senju Hashirama.
So being from the same clan, Mito had always looked after Kushina. With all these connections, Kushina was bold enough to even mess with the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, like burning off his beard or whatever.
But Yuya? Total tragedy.
No background, no connections, came from some sketchy little ninja village that had already been destroyed. Konoha's ninjas still didn't trust or like him.
Back when Kushina first came to the village, she had no family either. Since Yuya got close to her, he ended up helping and looking after her all the time.
But over time, things changed.
The one being helped turned from Kushina… to Yuya.
Still, even so, Kushina had never disliked Yuya. She kept helping him willingly.
Because when she was new in Konoha and completely alone, it was Yuya who helped her out of her loneliness, gave her warmth, and made her smile again.
So even if everyone else saw Yuya as some useless guy who couldn't even use ninjutsu, Kushina never looked down on him.
"I brought you something ahead of time. You're probably gonna get your ass kicked tomorrow."
Her face still had a slight blush, but she shot him a pissed-off look and shoved a small pouch into his hands.
Yuya finally remembered—tomorrow was a practical combat test at the ninja academy.
Normally, one-on-one sparring wasn't a big deal. There were Chūnin instructors watching, and students usually didn't get seriously hurt.
But for him, it was a different story.
The Chūnin instructors didn't give a damn about some outsider. Their attitude was pretty much, "As long as he doesn't die, whatever." So Yuya got hurt a lot.
"Thanks."
He scratched his nose, genuinely grateful, and peeked inside the pouch. Sure enough—it was packed with medical supplies.
Yuya felt warm inside, but the corner of his mouth twitched a little.
Why did this feel a bit… weird?
"Tch, who cares if you thank me! I wasn't doing it for you or anything!"
Kushina was still salty about earlier, face red with embarrassment, pouting at Yuya.
Seeing her acting so flustered and annoyed, Yuya couldn't help but laugh. And for some reason, he suddenly thought—if their roles had been reversed and he'd seen her naked instead, he'd probably be running for his life all across Konoha right now.
"Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Even if you can't use ninjutsu, I'll protect you… So if you're losing tomorrow, just surrender, got it?"
She held out her tiny fist toward Yuya in a proud, cocky way, grinned, then turned and dashed off into the night.
"..."
Yuya stared at her disappearing silhouette, then suddenly realized something.
Just surrender? She'll protect me?
Motherf—!
Isn't this basically telling me to be her kept man?!