Jigen's contempt for the Otsutsuki clan isn't without reason.
Think about it—Jigen was tricked by Kaguya, then stayed in the shinobi world for thousands of years doing absolutely nothing.
Part of it might be because it was too humiliating, and part of it is probably because Jigen himself isn't right in the head.
But overall, during those thousands of years, Jigen was still very clear about who he was—he was a member of the Otsutsuki clan.
But that sense of identity came from him looking down on everyone else, not because he had some deep loyalty to the clan.
And when Shanks showed up, Jigen's already shaky sense of identity suddenly solidified.
His thoughts probably went something like this...
"Damn it!"
"Stupid Otsutsuki clan. A bunch of idiots. You've studied the God Tree for so long and still came up with nothing."
"Just a bunch of useless trash!"
Jigen cursed them, but of course he couldn't curse himself too.
So his instinct to adapt kicked in—"I'm nothing like you losers. You're not even worth mentioning."
Anyway, that's what the Otsutsuki's internal unity looks like. Even among themselves, they've got all sorts of conflicts. There's no such thing as harmony in that clan.
But three days later, when Jigen woke up and realized what had happened to him, he was completely stunned.
"What the hell?"
Jigen felt the power in his body—it was terrifying. But at the same time, his face turned pale.
The reason was simple: that long lifespan the Otsutsuki clan was known for... was gone.
"..."
"And it feels like... that's not the only thing."
Jigen sat down, trying to remember what he did when he wasn't fully conscious, but he couldn't recall much.
All he remembered was crushing the Otsutsuki will inside the Ten Tails—and while doing that, also destroying some impurities in it.
Other than that... he didn't seem to do anything else.
"I can't remember!"
He looked at the pirates still lying on the ground, then glanced at the huge red continent in the distance.
Yeah, things were almost ready.
The power of the world's will was slowly fading away. Who knows how much this world grew during that time?
But honestly, it didn't matter anymore.
A crazy, arrogant smile appeared on Jigen's face.
The real peak of this world was right in front of him. It was time to climb it.
"Shanks, meeting you is probably one of the luckiest things that's ever happened to me. Let me, as a representative of the Otsutsuki clan, see what makes you worthy of stepping on us all!"
Jigen didn't hold back in praising and admiring Shanks.
If Jigen were just a normal guy, he'd never have the right to say something like that—but he wasn't.
Whether he admitted it or not, the only reason he could say those words was because of his Otsutsuki blood.
And at the same time, it was also that identity that gave him the right to acknowledge Shanks' overwhelming power.
Shanks wasn't just someone who could dominate the shinobi world—he was a genius who could crush the entire Otsutsuki clan along the way.
A genius whose starting point was much lower than Jigen's, yet still so outstanding.
Even so, Jigen was still confident he could beat Shanks.
It wasn't because he was so strong, but because he stood on the shoulders of giants—he relied on the legacy of the Otsutsuki clan.
…
At this moment, in the southern part of the Land of Wind—
This place was still in complete chaos.
The situation in the South Sea was just as messy as the North Sea.
It wasn't extremely dangerous, but the chaos was absolutely off the charts.
The South Sea had the most major pirates out of the four seas. Most ambitious pirates chose the South—less dangerous, but definitely not easy either.
Orochimaru's presence, without a doubt, put pressure on all the pirates, though not too much, because anyone who could survive here wasn't ordinary.
Right now, on Orochimaru's ship, everyone saw a woman walk out from his cabin.
Even Kabuto's face changed slightly.
"Orochimaru-sama's room…"
"T-There's a woman!!"
"..."
Kimimaro, Kidomaru, Jirobo, and the others were all stunned.
Hiruko looked completely confused.
He had no idea what was going on...
Everyone had been busy these days, the entire ninja world was in chaos, and all the different powers crossing paths made everyone's head spin.
And yet, in the middle of all this... Orochimaru actually—actually—
"Oh! Kabuto-san? It's been a while."
As soon as the woman spoke, Kabuto immediately snapped out of it and let out a long sigh of relief.
Everyone else immediately turned their eyes to him.
"So it's Amado. I really didn't expect this.
To think you could do this without using any secret techniques? You really are the top scientist in the ninja world."
Kabuto praised her.
Amado and Orochimaru had known each other for a long time and worked together on a lot of things. She was also an old acquaintance of Kabuto.
After Shanks took over the Land of the Sea, Amado became one of his crew, rising from an ordinary scientist to one of the top figures in the ninja world.
As for the reality of it—
Only people like Kabuto knew the truth: even if Amado had great power, she couldn't really use it well.
This person was completely useless in a real fight—even worse than Kabuto.
"Sigh... is this really the famous Lady Amado of the Red-Haired Pirates?"
"But…"
"Alright, stop overreacting.
Captain Orochimaru may not be on the same side as Shanks, but he and Amado have been longtime partners."
Kabuto waved his hand, telling everyone not to overreact.
Besides, Orochimaru already had a base in the Land of the Sea for a long time.
So it wasn't surprising that Amado showed up here.
At the same time, Amado was a bit confused.
"Sorry for causing trouble for everyone."
"But if I've shown up here, it means the other clones I prepared have already died."
Amado frowned.
There were a lot of gaps in his memory.
Amado's resurrection method was quite special—the clones didn't inherit the memories from the moment of death, but rather whatever memories the cells had at that time.
In short, Amado left backups of himself in various places around the ninja world. These backups would die after a while, and Amado would update them and send new ones around again.
Or he would back himself up again using other methods.
Of course, it clearly had some major flaws.
But the upside was that he was very hard to kill.
It's not surprising for someone who worked with Orochimaru to have some strange ideas about how to use their talent points.
Hearing Amado's question, Kabuto looked at the people on the boat. Orochimaru wasn't here, so there was no risk of leaking any secrets.
Plus, Amado's death meant that something big really did happen in New World, and that was worth their attention.
"Right now, the South Sea is the most chaotic area. In the first half of the New World, where the dragon veins surfaced, a lot of pirates and Marines are still fighting."
"And a lot of those Marines are actually ninjas, which is why the fighting hasn't stopped."
"Besides that, many small countries among the Five Great Nations have had rebel forces appear. Although they were quickly crushed, many of those rebels ended up becoming pirates."
"The current state of the ninja world is a mess—even we can't make sense of it."
Kabuto sat down, and Amado quietly listened to everything he said.
"Besides rebels from small countries, there are also rebels from the Marine frontlines. Now and then, some ninjas or strong Devil Fruit users break away from the Marines."
"That's exactly why the pirates have been able to keep fighting them all this time."
Amado nodded in response.
This kind of rebellion was a huge problem. There were just too many people. Once one part breaks, the whole system gets shaken up.
As for the pirates, that kind of rebellion rarely happened among them. Pirates didn't really trust each other that much.
If everyone's a traitor, then there's no one left to betray.
But over on the Marines' side, as the fighting got more intense, some people started eyeing the Devil Fruits created from the clashes of White Zetsu's ninjutsu.
People always chase power, and the ninjas couldn't keep watch over the Devil Fruits all the time. That gave insiders the chance to take them.
"Also, this part of the South Sea is close to the Land of Wind. For some reason, some really strong new fighters have shown up there."
"We suspect the Land of Wind also used Edo Tensei to bring back powerful people from Sunagakure."
Kabuto said this himself.
Why say "suspect"? Because that's exactly what they did.
Almost every Uchiha who could be revived by Edo Tensei had already been brought back—even some rare and powerful ones, though Kabuto kept those sealed away.
As for the ones whose souls had been taken by the Reaper Death Seal?
With Shisui and Itachi helping out, Kabuto had already gotten his hands on the Reaper's mask.
Those people had already been brought back long ago.
Anyway, to sum it up—
the situation in the South Sea is the most complicated. There are a lot of people there, and both sides are evenly matched. No one has the upper hand, so it's basically a complete deadlock.
"The North Sea is where the Revolutionary Army is mainly active.
The armies from the Land of Iron and the Land of Thunder have already moved into the ocean, and the main force of the Revolutionary Army is also in the North Sea.
One thing worth noting: Kumogakure Village's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, has somehow become a Devil Fruit user."
"He's reawakened the power of the Tailed Beast. Right now, the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, has become a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit—only second to Orochimaru-sama's White Dragon Fruit."
"The battle in the North Sea hasn't gone in the Revolutionary Army's favor because of Killer Bee's presence.
But the World Government's army, led by the Land of Thunder and Land of Iron, hasn't gained much either. The Revolutionary Army hasn't suffered big losses."
Kabuto continued talking.
Even though not much time has passed, the situation in the ninja world has already changed in a major way.
This chaos has put pressure on everyone.
Every single person is under huge stress. No one can make a move that changes everything under these conditions.
It's just too messy.
"Right now, the North Sea is leaning in favor of the World Government. The South Sea is still stuck in a stalemate.
The West Sea is completely in the hands of pirates because of the presence of Golden Lion.
His target is Shanks, so the World Government hasn't sent many troops to attack the pirates in the West Sea."
"As for the remaining East Blue… huh."
When Kabuto thought of the East Blue's terrifying situation, he felt like, compared to the other seas, East Blue was basically set to nightmare difficulty.
"Right now, more than 700,000 people have already been pulled into the war in East Blue."
The fighting there is still going on. And as the battles get more intense, more and more strong fighters are being drawn to East Blue.
"On land, battles are still happening.
There's this mountain bandit leader named Sig, who led a bunch of people deep into the Land of Fire.
But they got driven out by a general from the World Government with his army."
"From what I've heard, he's still hanging on with what's left of his group somewhere in the Land area, keeping a lot of firepower tied up."
"There's also a major pirate on the sea called One-Eyed Ghost Dragon.
The Pirate Crew from the South Sea's Peek Family has entered East Blue too.
And this big-name pirate named Ross Jess is giving the World Government a serious headache.
He's strangely powerful, and because of the presence of Uzumaki Karin, the World Government has had to shift most of its forces toward Ross Jess."
Kabuto pulled out a few newspapers.
"Big pirate Ross Jess attacks a World Noble general—one general killed!"
"Kagero Peek attacks the City of Water but is pushed back—Marines claim victory!"
"Gambler Ross escapes again while being chased by four World Noble generals."
"…"
Article after article—almost all of them were about Ross Jess.
"These World Noble generals—basically sages—Ross Jess is incredibly strong, and his Devil Fruit power is really strange."
"He's the user of the Fate Fruit.
Within the power range of this fruit, he can change anything in reality, ignoring differences in strength…"
Amado glanced at Ross Jess's intel.
He remembered Shisui once said that this fruit can either be really powerful—or completely weak.
Overall, it just comes down to luck.
"Looks like the immortal who got killed was just unlucky."
"But the fighting in East Blue is definitely more intense than in other places. So many immortals have already shown up."
"Not much you can do. The pirates are too close to the Marine base."
"Since Chiriku became Marine Fleet Admiral, the Marine headquarters is basically set up in the City of Water. The pirates in East Blue are literally camping outside the front door of the main Marine base."
"But aside from the big-name pirates, there are also plenty of smaller issues."
"This is some intel on Uzumaki Naruto."
Kabuto took out the files about Naruto.
"Ross Jess is way too troublesome, and Karin is still on his ship."
"The World Government has now made Uzumaki Naruto a public issue. No one knows if those achievements they listed are real or not, but there's probably going to be more coming soon."
There's nothing wrong with the way the World Government is handling things.
The real problem is that Naruto has clearly become a major target for all the pirate groups.
Who does Naruto think he is, trying to act like he's on the same level as Karin?
That's exactly why Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi are now being treated like true main characters.
The moment they show up, it's never a one-on-one fight—it's a whole group swarming them.
"What about Orochimaru?"
Amado suddenly asked. It's been a while and Orochimaru still hasn't shown up.
"He went to East Blue."
That's what Kabuto wanted to talk about—Orochimaru has already entered East Blue, and that's what makes East Blue such a huge problem now. It's become the most tense area in the current conflict.
---
You can read 50 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu