The setting sun slowly sank to the west.
In a good mood, Genshin finished the day’s training and made his way home through the twilight.
When he pushed open his own wooden door, the ordinary smile on his face froze.
Instead of going in, Genshin closed the door and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Had the pressure of training been getting to him lately?
How could a panda possibly be growing in my house?
He opened the door again—yeah, now he was certain, he hadn’t seen wrong.
Right in the center of his clean, tidy living room sat a soccer-ball-sized giant panda cub.
Its fluffy, thick fur made its body look especially round and plump.
The broad, inky patches around its eyes made its pair of bright black eyes seem all the more innocent, and its tender little pink nose kept twitching.
And the absurd part was that on this little panda’s back, it was somehow lugging a huge scroll.
The scroll was a full meter long and thirty or forty centimeters wide, far larger in volume than the panda cub itself.
It pressed down heavily on its back, and the contrast made for an especially comical sight.
Standing in the doorway, Genshin rapidly searched his memory, but this scene didn’t match a single storyline in his head.
As far as he could recall, the only panda that had ever appeared in the main Naruto story was the one Pain summoned through the Animal Path’s Summoning Technique—so what was going on now?
Had Pain broken into his house?
In the very instant he was zoning out, the panda cub spotted him.
Its big eyes lit up, and its round little body leapt into the air, bouncing toward his face like a furry ball.
Splat!
The giant panda cub smacked solidly into Genshin’s face, its fuzzy, soft paws gripping his cheeks tightly, its fur tickling his skin.
Then, an incredibly excited, childish little voice reached Genshin’s ears:
“I finally found you!”
The warm, soft, furry belly was smushed all over Genshin’s face, carrying the faint fresh scent of bamboo leaves.
The little panda clung tightly to his cheeks, squeezing until even breathing became difficult.
As a suffocating sensation welled up, Genshin finally snapped back to his senses and raised a hand to pluck off this ball of fluffy little flesh.
If he had to pick a way to suffocate to death, he’d still prefer the instrument of torture to be Tsunade’s bosom—at the very least, it shouldn’t be a panda.
Pop!
Peeling the clingy panda cub off his face, Genshin held the little panda in his hands, his gaze falling on the giant scroll it had left in the living room before its flying pounce.
The style of the scroll looked a bit like the one Naruto carries on his back in Sage Mode.
Could it be…
With a bit of a guess forming in his mind, Genshin walked to the living room and set the panda down first, then sat cross-legged.
Man and panda stared at each other, big eyes meeting small eyes.
Genshin spoke first, with a probing tone: “Let’s start with introductions.
I’m Uzumaki Genshin.
Who are you?
Where did you come from?
And how did you suddenly show up in my house?”
The panda cub on the tea table stood upright on its hind legs and put its paws on its hips: “My name is A-Bao, and I’m from the panda clan of Fallen Star Pool!”
“The Great Panda Sage of our holy land slept a lazy sleep for a thousand years, and it finally woke up recently!
The moment it woke, it said a qualified contractor had appeared in the present world.”
A-Bao scratched its head.
“Then the Great Sage sensed your life pulse and marked it, and told A-Bao’s mom and dad to come find you and bring you to the holy land.”
At this point, A-Bao puffed out its cheeks: “But staying in the holy land is soooo boring!
I’m already six years old this year—I’ve had more than enough of it!
So I took the Great Sage’s contract scroll, and following the coordinates the Great Sage carved into the scroll, I used the Reverse Summoning Technique to come over.
And the moment I arrived, I saw you!”
This machine-gun burst of words left Genshin’s brain trembling a little.
Fallen Star Pool?
And a freaking holy land?!
Weren’t there only three holy lands in the original story—Mount Myōboku, Shikkotsu Forest, and Ryūchi Cave?
Since when was this Fallen Star Pool a holy land?
And this Great Panda Sage that A-Bao mentioned, having slept for a thousand years… that meant it had lived for at least a thousand years.
On top of that, its title was Great Sage—no matter how he thought about it, it had to be an existence like the Great Toad Sage or the White Snake Sage.
Suppressing the curiosity in his heart, Genshin poked the little panda and asked another question.
“So, A-Bao, what exactly does ‘a qualified contractor’ mean?”
“Haha, qualified… contractor…” A-Bao, being poked, laughed on the tea table, then suddenly tilted its head, stuck out its tongue, and tapped its own skull: “Ah heh, A-Bao forgot!
A-Bao’s just a kid—if Genshin has any questions, just ask A-Bao’s mom and dad and the Great Sage!”
“Reverse Summoning Technique!”
“Wait—”
Before he had even finished speaking, and before Genshin could move to stop it, A-Bao raised a paw pad and slapped it down on the scroll.
A layer of intricate, precise summoning patterns abruptly unfurled with the scroll at its center, instantly enveloping both Genshin and A-Bao.
Boom!
As the white smoke dispersed, Genshin and A-Bao vanished from the room.
…
As the sensation of weightlessness suddenly faded, a mild, fresh breeze brushed against his face.
Genshin landed steadily on both feet and instinctively looked up—only to be instantly stunned by the scene before him.
Green bamboo stretched across the mountains and fields, tall and slender.
As the breeze passed through, layer upon layer of the bamboo sea swayed in the wind, letting out a crisp, pleasant rustling.
All around, a thousand peaks were stacked in verdant green, towering ranges of mountains rolled on endlessly, and clouds and mist wrapped around the mountainsides, ethereal as smoke.
And right at the center, encircled by the mountains, was embedded a boundless, enormous pool of water.
Its waters were clear as jade-green glass—transparent yet deep, so that a single glance couldn’t reach the bottom.
This was the holy land—Fallen Star Pool.
As a modern man used to seeing skyscrapers and high-rises, he really had no resistance to a view like this.
If I retire here someday, would they let me do square-dancing right here?
“Woohoo—!
We’re here!”
A-Bao leapt down from Genshin’s arms, its chubby body bouncing once as it landed on the bluestone slabs, then grabbed Genshin and pulled him toward the depths of the bamboo forest ahead.
“Let’s go, let’s go, A-Bao will take you to see the Great Sage.
If Genshin doesn’t understand anything, just ask the Great Sage!”
Genshin walked in the direction A-Bao was pointing.
At the far end of an ancient bluestone path shaded by the bamboo forest, there was a natural expanse of flat, open bluestone, with stone tables and stone stools arranged in a scattered layout, simple and rustic in style.
It rather resembled, in Genshin’s memory, the stone tables in the parks of his past life where old men played Chinese chess.
Could there really be a retired old geezer living here?
Genshin had been admiring the scenery the whole way, until he saw a figure—and then his eyes could no longer be pulled away.
It was an old panda, roughly the same size as a grown human.
It looked very old, its aged face covered with fine wrinkles.
In its hand it held a bamboo cane, black shading into green, and on its chin grew three long, snow-white strands of whiskers.
Its eyebrows were also very long, drooping down on both sides along the wrinkles of its cheeks—when a light breeze blew past, it looked like five strands of whiskers fluttering in the wind.
But those eyes—Genshin found them unforgettable after a single glance.
Clear, deep and profound, yet hiding within them the vicissitudes of ages and a compassionate pity.
It simply sat there quietly, yet radiated an incomparable sense of presence.
Genshin thought dazedly to himself: so there really is a retired old panda here…
When the Great Panda Sage saw Genshin, a trace of gentle amusement rose in its eyes, and it gave him a slight nod.
Genshin hurriedly straightened his posture: “Greetings, Great Panda Sage.”
The Great Panda Sage nodded with a soft chuckle.
“No need for that.
You don’t mind if I just call you Genshin, do you?”
Genshin hastily nodded in agreement.
Come on—that old panda across from him looked terrifyingly strong just from its standing posture.
Better to back down first if there’s no reason not to.
Off to the side, A-Bao leaned in and nibbled at Genshin’s ear, whispering: “Genshin, Genshin, do you think the Great Sage looks all small and old right now?
Let me tell you!
The Great Sage used to be super huge!”
A-Bao stretched out its little paws to gesture, only to find it couldn’t convey that immensity.
Sheepishly, it withdrew its paws, then turned its head to point at a majestic peak in the distance piercing straight into the clouds, its tone exaggerated yet earnest: “My dad said the Great Sage used to be about as big as that mountain!
Super scary!
Later, as the Great Sage’s Senjutsu grew deeper and deeper, it slowly shrank down and turned into the way it looks now!”
Genshin looked in the direction it pointed, gazing at that towering mountain… Holy crap, Planet Bearzilla?
Then he looked back at the Great Panda Sage before him, who resembled some old man in a park, and made the comparison.
Had it practiced the Strength of a Hundred Seal so hard it trained off all the muscle on its body?
Good grief!
This thing was practically the Bear Emperor of the Seas!
Seeing the shock in his eyes, the Great Panda Sage didn’t explain much.
It merely raised a hand gently, gesturing toward the bluestone table and chairs ahead: “I know you have many questions.
Sit down and we’ll talk it over slowly.”
____
👻🔥Whant more?: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Naruto: Is it reasonable to beat up an Otsutsuki with Hamon, right?
Let’s reach these milestones together: