Ino's descent onto Planet Namek was certainly not in a private capacity; she was here representing her superiors to inspect the work!
The Namekians had not participated in the First Other World Martial Arts Tournament. Their reasoning was that their people loved peace and had no interest in fighting.
Their population was indeed sparse, numbering perhaps only a hundred or so across the entire planet. What sort of martial arts tournament could they participate in?
There was no King Yama here either. The position of Kami was concurrently held by the Grand Elder of Namek, and the life and death of the clansmen existed in a state of internal circulation.
"Even if you do not participate in the martial arts tournament, you must still do your daily work well. The Grand Kai has taught us that we must keep our mission firmly in mind at all times," Ino said, putting on an official bureaucratic tone immediately. She certainly couldn't just say she wanted to use the Dragon Balls here.
The Grand Elder was very old and had lived in seclusion for many years. Unless there was a major event within the clan, even many Namekians never got to see the Grand Elder.
Ino was here to inspect the work, not to conduct a police raid. The Grand Elder had mobility issues and was said to be nearing the end of his lifespan. At a time like this, they certainly wouldn't carry him out to meet her. If he died on the way to see her, whose fault would that be?
There was no need for that. Since the Grand Elder did not appear, the one receiving her was an elder named Moori.
The Namekians were also a race with very mixed abilities. They knew a little bit of everything, and because their skills were so varied, their battle power wasn't particularly high. Ino took a look; the battle power of these people was basically around 1,000 to 2,000. This Elder Moori was slightly higher, but he didn't exceed 3,000.
Facing Ino, who had a base battle power of 50,000 and the status of a superior leader, Elder Moori could only patiently play along.
"Work hard, and your days will get sweeter and sweeter," Ino said with the air of someone giving grand directions, inspecting several villages. secretly, however, she was sizing things up: where had these guys hidden the Dragon Balls?
Elder Moori maintained a facade of respect and spoke in the common tongue, "Yes, yes, the Namekians strictly follow the Grand Kai's teachings."
Ino had wanted to use the inspection as a pretext to 'accidentally' spot a Dragon Ball and then steer the conversation toward that topic. But the result was that after wandering around for half the day, she didn't see even a shadow of a Dragon Ball.
These guys didn't just hide the Dragon Balls; they hid them with extraordinary concealment.
She walked from east to west and flew from south to north. The living conditions of the Namekians were extremely simple, though their material needs were indeed very low. 'Foodies' had no market here; the Namekians operated completely on a '996' work schedule. They didn't need to eat, relying solely on drinking water and photosynthesis to maintain all the nutrients required for their bodies.
Arriving at a village inhabited by seven or eight people, she saw that their houses were all built using a type of plant glue to solidify the soil.
Ino looked around and asked in surprise, "Why don't you improve your living environment? I heard King Kai say that your planet's environment used to be extremely harsh and the climate underwent drastic changes, stabilizing only in recent years?"
This puzzled her. The Namekians clearly had Dragon Balls in their possession. Unlike the 'undocumented' ones on Earth, the Namekians were permitted to use their Dragon Balls within the cosmic scope. This matter had been filed with the Supreme Kai; Ino had seen similar written records in the memories of the West Supreme Kai's remnant soul.
It was said that Planet Namek had recovered some of its vitality by now, but in Ino's view, the survival environment here was still harsh—even more miserable than the shinobi world after Obito planted his trees.
Volcanoes and earthquakes occurred one after another, but the greatest danger came from the sky.
The ozone layer here had been severely damaged. Radioactive rays from space would periodically shine upon the ground, forming patches of dead land. The Namekians were constantly planting a type of green vegetation, attempting to repair the ozone layer, but the results were minimal. At least, Ino couldn't see much obvious improvement. Being this busy every day, weren't they just doing useless work?
The superior leaders had already allowed you to use the Dragon Balls. It was just a matter of one wish, yet you chose to tough it out? Are you stupid?
If it were Ino, she would have used the Dragon Balls long ago. Was there a need to suffer like this?
Elder Moori looked up at her. "Lord Envoy, do you have some matter to discuss?"
Ino looked surprised. "What matter? What matter could I have? Does Elder Moori think that the Grand Kai and the four Kais established this Preparatory Committee just for fun? We discover problems, and then we solve problems. Right now, I just want to help you solve your problems, help you break away from this current state of poverty, and build a prosperous, democratic, and civilized... New Namek!"
The squat Elder Moori looked at her, intuitively feeling there was 'water'—exaggeration—in her words. However, Ino had absorbed the West Supreme Kai's remnant soul, so her resistance to mind-reading abilities had increased ten thousand times over. The Namekian elder couldn't see any problems.
Elder Moori thought for a moment and said, "The Namekians are... are atoning for our sins. Because we abused a certain power, this environment today is our retribution."
Was it because of the excessive use of Dragon Balls that negative energy was produced?
Ino looked around, even secretly using some of the West Supreme Kai's abilities to observe Planet Namek. To be honest, she didn't see any evil energy. Were the Namekians frightened by the Dragon Balls and worrying unnecessarily, or was there really something to it? She wasn't sure either.
She went straight to the point: "...Does the evil energy you speak of refer to the Dragon Balls?"
Hearing her speak of the Grand Kai one moment and the Supreme Kai the next, Elder Moori assumed she knew many secrets. He hesitated slightly, then nodded. "The Dragon Balls fulfilled too many beautiful wishes, but at the same time, they dragged our clan into the abyss. Please tell the Grand Kai that the Namekians need to atone. all suffering is of our own making, and we must bear it ourselves."
In the end, Ino never saw their Dragon Balls.
The Namekians simply believed that there was a fixed amount of suffering. If they proactively 'ate' a portion of it now, the clan might gain a slim chance of survival when disaster descended again in the future.
Ino didn't agree with this way of thinking, but she didn't oppose it either.
From her perspective, Dragon Balls indeed shouldn't be abused. 'Misfortune relies on fortune; fortune hides within misfortune.' If used frequently, one might run into bad luck someday.
Planet Namek was simply too poor. The entire planet had fewer than a hundred people. Such a barren place definitely didn't have any 'local specialties' to pay tribute to a superior leader.
Naturally, Ino couldn't make the trip for nothing. If there was no profit, she would take some fame.
A few Namekians helped dig a pit, and Elder Moori placed a tree inside. Ino held the tree, while two Namekian elders stood on her left and right, front and back. Everyone took a photo together. This would count as the fruit of her labor in responding to the Grand Kai's call to help the Namekians improve their atmospheric environment.
"Come, let's take a group photo for a souvenir."
With a "click," as the photo came out fresh, Ino's first trip to Planet Namek officially came to an end.
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