Chapter 6: Yao

After about 30 minutes of flying, Catherine finally saw the edge of the vast forest that she had been living in.

Looking further, she saw what seemed to be small houses and a well, which she could only assume to be a village.

'I wonder what time period I'm in, is it before Naruto's era, during it, or after his era? Either way, I should probably stop by the village to try and gather information.' Catherine thought to herself.

She quickly floated down and disabled her spell to not stand out, after which she walked closer to the village.

She saw an enchanting sight right out of a movie: the men standing with axes as they cut down the trees for the wood, the children who ran around playing with their vivid imaginations, and the women who stood outside hanging the clothes that they had washed on the clotheslines.

The men were talking joyfully while cutting the wood until one of them noticed her and looked towards Catherine warily.

"Can we help you, miss?" the man asked in what Catherine could tell was a dialect of Japanese.

"Yes, I'm a bit lost and I don't know where I am, could you tell me what country I'm in?" Catherine asked.

The man looked around at the other men before he said "You're in The Land of Ancestors. Do you know where you live or where your aid is?" Catherine realized that the man confused her for a noble due to her robe and amulet. However, the more alarming part of the statement was the Land that he said she was in.

If she recalled correctly, The Land of Ancestors existed when Kaguya first arrived in the Shinobi World. Kaguya would later fall in love with Emperor Tenji and become his concubine. He would later betray her under the threat of peace, causing her to eat the God Fruit and cast Infinite Tsukuyomi.

This revelation caused her to realize that at the bare minimum, she was in the time of Kaguya and Hagoromo. And while she believed her strength would be sufficient to keep herself alive if she was in the Shinobi Village era, she highly doubted it would be the case for this era where the Gods of the Shinobi World made their myths and the Otsutsuki were visiting. And while having her level of magic was good for someone who only started around 5 years ago, this level of strength was practically useless against an Otsutsuki.

At that moment, she decided to change her plan. Instead of just traveling to different places and relaxing, she would have to continue to grow her strength while exploring the world.

She snapped out of her thoughts as she asked the man "Whose our current emperor again? And who's in the royal family?"

The man seemed confused by this line of question, but he still answered "Lord Tanjino is the current emperor. Lady Yuuka is the current concubine, and their only child is the newborn prince Tenji."

'So that means Tenji isn't the emperor yet, and the Otsutsuki haven't arrived yet. That gives me some time then.' she thought to herself.

Catherine nodded and spoke "I see, thank you for your help. I'll be sure to repay it someday. And your name is?"

"Hikaru." the man, now named Hikaru said.

Catherine then began to leave as she walked towards the forest, however she was called by Hikaru again as he asked "What's your name?"

She simply responded with a single word while walking off "Yao."

Read chapters ahead on P@treon.com/KillerDJ2023