Chap 44 - Ryuuji and Hikari.

Lying in his garden with Hikari lying on his chest, Ryuuji was watching the stars in the sky.

" Don't you think it's beautiful, my princess? "

Hikari turned her body and watched the sky.

" What are you talking about, Daddy? "

" Of the stars, of course…don't you think they're beautiful? "

Hikari nodded her head and smiled:

" Yes Dad! I think their shine is really pretty! I want to shine as bright as they do too! "

Ryuuji smiled and started playing with his daughter's red hair, who was now two years old.

In the last year, Ryuuji has used his cognitive ability to the fullest to get his work done quickly and spend the rest of the time training, studying with Orochimaru and most of all, enjoying the growth of his beautiful daughter.

" Do you want to know a secret, my princess? "

Hikari's eyes shone like stars:

" Of course I do, Dad! Come on, tell me that secret soon!! "

Ryuuji let out a laugh and started to speak:

" Don't be hasty, princess! I'll tell! Do you know why daddy is so strong? "

Hikari looked at her father and cocked her little head to the side, wondering what to say to him:

" I have no idea! "

" I, and consequently you, are very different from other humans. "

Hikari closed her big eyes in doubt:

" Different from Mom too? "

" Yes, Hikari-chan…we're different from all humans. "

" I don't understand, Dad. We're just like them! "

Ryuuji smiled and pointed at the stars in the sky.

" We can say that the main difference between us and humans is that we are always protected by the stars. No matter which corner of the universe we are in, if a star is still alive, we'll always be protected. That's why I'm so strong, my princess…because the sun keeps protecting me and you too. "

Hikari was silent, thinking about what his father was saying.

" You mean Mom, Mito-obasan, Kushina-nee, Mikoto-nee, Morgiana-nee, Konan-nee and the others aren't protected by the stars? So who protects them? "

Ryuuji continued stroking his princess' hair as he explained to her:

" The star protects us and gives us strength. This strength is what we use to protect others. Especially the ones we like. "

" Is that why you protect Hikari-chan all the time? "

Ryuuji smiled and slightly nodded his head:

" Of course! My princess will always be under daddy's eyes. I want to see who dares to harm you! "

Hikari chuckled and turned her body around again, laying her head on her father's muscular chest.

" Daddy, you said I would be strong too, so instead of you protecting me, I'll protect you! "

Ryuuji looked at Hikari with an amused look.

" Of course, my princess. Let's protect each other. "

…

Another year passed quickly and Hikari became even smarter as the days went by.

After the night her father told her the secret they shared about the stars, the little one could never control her urge to visit the yellow ball in the sky.

Unfortunately for her and luckily for Ryuuji and Benihime, Hikari's powers weren't ready to awaken yet.

Ryuuji was in his office signing some documents to start the construction of the railway network in his country, something that would generate thousands of jobs and further increase the commercial level of the country.

Suddenly, Ryuuji looked at his office window and let out a sigh.

" Hikari-chan… what did your mother say about climbing? "

Hikari's head poked around the window ledge and the smile on her face was all Ryuuji needed to see to know that the little girl had run away from her mother again.

Hikari entered her father's office and sat on his lap.

" Daddy, you promised me that you would take me anywhere I wanted on my birthday…I came to claim that promise! "

Ryuuji smiled and continued signing the documents on his desk:

" Hmn? And what is this place that you want to visit so much? "

Hikari started laughing and pointed to the window:

" THE SUN! Daddy, you can't break your promise! "

Ryuuji was taken aback by his daughter and nearly choked on his own saliva.

" You what? My daughter, do you want your mother to hate your father? "

Hikari pouted and turned her face to the side:

" I wonder what Mom will do if I tell her that you take me flying even when she forbids you to do so. "

Ryuuji's pen stopped and he looked at Hikari:

" Alright, you convinced me. "

Hikari smiled and hugged her father with a big smile on her face:

" Thanks dad! I love you!! "

Ryuuji smiled and continued signing the papers, what he did in a few seconds.

…

Ryuuji held Hikari tight and took off, while covering the two of them with the strongest force field he could generate with his Bioelectric Aura.

" Hikari-chan, to get there in a short time, I'm going to fly really fast, so you better hold on tight! "

Hikari gripped her father's body tightly and buried her face in her father's chest.

In the next instant, Ryuuji exploded at his full speed, easily fleeing the atmosphere of planet earth and quickly moving away from the beautiful blue planet.

The vacuum of space couldn't do anything to him, and since his daughter was protected in the force field, couldn't do anything to her either.

Ryuuji only had oxygen in his force field so he spent thirty minutes in space, which was more than enough for Hikari to get to know the sun up close.

…

" My princess…we have arrived. "

Hikari slowly opened her eyes and looked ahead.

Seeing the white mass that glowed in front of him, Hikari opened her mouth in amazement.

" Wow! Is so beautiful! "

" Absolutely…it's really very beautiful. "

" Hey, Daddy, have you been here before? "

Shaking his head, Ryuuji continued watching the star that was thousands of kilometers away, more importantly, he was paying more attention to the amount of solar radiation his body was absorbing without any sort of filter.

After nearly three years, his Perfect Kryptonian Physiology skill finally broke the level 89 bottleneck and reached level 90.

Ryuuji already imagined, but now he was sure that to maximize the skill, he needed the Sun.

Hikari looked at her father and poked his cheek.

" Daddy! You're not paying attention to Hikari! "

Ryuuji smiled and put the new information aside.

" I'm here with you, aren't I? What did you think of the experience of coming here? "

Hikari looked at the Sun again and just stared at the white sphere for almost a minute.

"Dad, I thought it was cool! I want to come here more often! You're going to bring me, aren't you, Daddy? "

Ryuuji looked at Hikari and instinctively kissed her forehead before answering her:

" Of course, my princess. Whatever you want. But you can't forget that we can't let Mom find out! "

Hikari lightly nodded her head. She turned to look at the sun and complained to her father:

"Daddy, we're too far apart! Get closer!! "

Ryuuji shook his head:

" No way, little girl. Daddy's okay, but you're not ready to take that kind of danger just yet. "

Hikari pouted cutely, but kept looking at the Sun.

The two, father and daughter, spent a few minutes watching as the infinite space around them was illuminated by the giant ball of energy.

…

After spending time with Hikari, Ryuuji quickly returned to Planet Earth. He put his feet on the ground as he landed on the earth and felt a chill down his back.

Ryuuji turned his body and saw Benihime, who was at the door of the house while holding a wooden spoon and repeatedly tapping his palm.

Ryuuji and Hikari gulped.

" Good…very good…may I know where you two were? "

Hikari jumped off Ryuuji's lap and hid behind his legs. Meanwhile, Ryūji was thinking about how to make his mother not burst with anger over what he did.

" S-So…me and Hikari-chan went for a walk on the beach…yes, we just went for a walk on the beach. "

" Ohh, on the beach is it? And what beach is this that forces you to fly home from off-planet? "

Hikari plucked up courage from the bottom of her heart and came out from behind Ryuuji, running towards Benihime.

" Mommy! Don't fight with daddy! I asked him to take me to the Sun! "

The spoon in Benihime's hand fell to the floor and she looked at her princess, who bravely stood up to protect her daddy.

Ryuuji nodded with satisfaction at his daughter's attitude. But what kind of man would he be if he just let his princess defend him?

Ryuuji took Hikari on his lap again and approached Benihime, giving a quick kiss on the woman's soft lips, who responded with a kiss unconsciously.

" Don't worry, my love. Do you think I would let our princess get hurt? All of you are always in my eyes…it's impossible for any harm to happen to you. "

Benihime was about to complain, but Ryuuji hugged her and started to enter her house.

The small family collapsed onto the couch and Ryuuji pulled them both closer to him. The red haired woman ended up forgetting what she wanted to do with Ryuuji and melted into his embrace.

Gradually, Hikari started to tell her mother about her experience, who ended up being very curious to also take this kind of walk with Ryuuji.

…

A few hours later, Ryuuji got out of his bed, where Benihime and Hikari were sleeping, and went up to the roof of his house, to stay there just watching the stars.

The redhead started to think about the things that had happened in the last two years, mainly how the war developed until it came to an end.

Tsunade showed the world her medical and battle talents, leading the depleted Konoha army to win several victories that, in theory, were impossible to win.

Alone, Tsunade killed almost two thousand enemy shinobi during the war and whenever Onoki, Ay, Third Kazekage or Hanzo fought directly in the war, they were held by her, together with her teammates and Sakumo, who also shined a lot during the war.

Orochimaru also helped his teammate a lot and began to support Tsunade as Hokage, despite being very low-key about it.

What Ryuuji knew made Hiruzen feel nothing but disappointment for his student.

Not that he could do anything, because Orochimaru was largely responsible for the victories against the Jinchuurikis of the other Villages thanks to his knowledge of Fuuinjutsu.

Anyway…

Even with the crushing defeat to Uzushiogakure, Konoha managed to level the playing field with its Kage-level Shinobis and its rich heritage in Ninjutsu and other techniques.

The war, which should have been a disaster for Konoha, was a battle that served to increase Tsunade's fame and make Konoha recover some of the financial hole that was left by Ryuuji.

Another thing that caught Ryuuji's attention a little was the two orphaned students from the Land of Rain that Jiraiya accepted after the end of the war.

Thanks to Black Zetsu, Ryuuji already knew that Madara had transplanted his eyes into one of the Uzumaki Clan's orphans, who was the son of one of the two families that left Uzushio before the conflict against Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri.

Unfortunately for young Nagato, the plans Ryuuji had depended on him becoming Madara's puppet and in that case, Ryuuji wasn't in the mood to fight the fate that ruled this world.

What Ryuuji could do was ensure that Nagato and his friend Yahiko survived the entire tragic future.

Outside of the war, Ryuuji and Orochimaru worked for a long time and brought several evolutions to the field of technology and infrastructure, with the main one being the rail network that was being built, as well as the train fleet.

All this advancement and improvement in the quality of life and economy, made the people of Uzushio very satisfied with how Ryuuji is leading the country and Ryuuji knew that this is just the beginning of all his plans to transform the Land of Whirlpools into a true potency.

When technology integrates in a healthy way even more people's lives and their troops increase, Ryuuji will be ready for his plans to increase the territory and consequently his human power.

For now, Ryuuji would enjoy the post-war state of the world and continue to develop his country as much as possible, as well as continue training his girls, getting stronger and experiencing the growth of his princess.