"Redfeather, you bastard! Come out here! I'm gonna beat the crap outta you!"
Outside the manga shop.
A crowd of people shouted loudly. In no time, the area in front of the store turned into a noisy mess.
Others yelled even louder, "Yunlang Brother, give us all the new comics released over the past month—we want them all!"
A group of low-ranking ninja who had just been released from confinement. These little brats didn't even go home first after being let out—they went straight to the manga shop.
"Hey hey, are you sure it's fine not to check in with your families first?"
Sakuma Yunlang handed out comics with a grin as wide as a chrysanthemum bloom while teasing them affectionately.
"Don't worry about it, Yunlang Brother! We're here to settle things with Akaba. During this time, that guy trained us mercilessly."
Uchiha Ryo shouted loudly.
"Oh? You wanna settle scores with me?"
A gentle and kind voice, but to everyone else, it sounded like a curse—sinister and terrifying.
Akaba stepped out from inside.
Not a shadow clone, but his real body, who had just returned via Flying Thunder God.
"H-How is this possible? We're grateful to you! If not for you, how could we have become this strong?"
Everyone immediately changed their tone.
Including Uchiha Ryo.
One whole month of special training—sure, they hadn't seen Akaba in weeks, but through whispers and hints, they all clearly understood just how powerful Akaba had become.
Sakumo and Shishio were already strong enough, right?
The former entered the battlefield at only thirteen years old, earning the rank of jonin entirely through his own strength.
Though not much was known about Shishio, rumor had it that he recently got promoted to chunin and, during an experimental duel, subdued their strongest opponent using just one hand without resorting to ninjutsu.
That gap was huge.
And yet, without exception, both referred to Akaba with the same word—"freak."
Despite being obviously incredibly lazy, his true power remained unfathomable.
Every time they thought they could surpass him, they ended up getting beaten down—like Sakumo last time, who got thoroughly taught a lesson.
In short, they're all bark and no bite. When facing him directly, no one dared to fight.
"Tch, finally out of the Preparatory Division. You guys might wanna fight, but I sure don't."
Loe picked up a comic and lazily sank into his reclining chair.
Fighting was just too exhausting. He'd trained so hard for weeks, it left him completely drained—he wished he never had to leave the village again.
Luming said lightly.
Eating and drinking heartily, Yizhong Akimichi continued munching away.
His body had gotten noticeably more muscular—still stocky, but now looking far more dependable.
"As someone as brilliant as myself, hiding won't help. In a few days, we'll probably be grouped into squads under certain jonin and start taking on missions ranked C or higher."
Loe replied casually.
Fighting was just too tiring. He'd trained until exhausted these past several weeks, longing deeply for village life—but true talent can't stay hidden forever.
Sigh, the burden of excellence.
"Tch, did you really figure this out already?"
Uchiha Ryo scoffed, then sat cross-legged and resumed reading comics.
He hadn't read any since Sasuke defected—the earlier issues he secretly bought during training using shadow clones.
"Of course. Akaba must've gone to submit reports already. Honestly though, who else will come—I haven't quite figured that out yet."
Loe grabbed a handful of snacks from Yizhong.
He sat back, snacking while flipping through a manga, looking completely at ease.
"Some of you performed exceptionally well in this test. Based on comprehensive evaluations, your skills have reached the standard required for C-rank missions. Therefore, we've decided to allow you to graduate early and form four-member squads under Jonin supervision."
Akaba sat down. "Among them are Loe, Yizhong Akimichi, Take Yamano, Uchiha Ryo, and Inuzuka Ishi."
"As expected."
No one was surprised.
These students had indeed stood out. While some were slightly weaker in combat strength, they all excelled remarkably in intelligence.
"Alright, I'll treat everyone to barbecue tonight. Go home and rest for now. After this period, besides the fifteen who will follow the Jonin, the rest must return to the Preparatory Division for further training."
Akaba sat back and began chatting casually with everyone.
Within the Preparatory Division, he was their teacher and they were his students, but now that they'd graduated, they were all classmates and friends. There was no need to maintain such seriousness anymore.
They'd been cooped up for a month and were dying to let off steam. As soon as they were released, they devoured every last update they'd missed, getting wildly excited. They laughed, criticized, and read along together.
Some weren't satisfied with just talking among the group—they went to the comment board to leave messages, clearly enjoying themselves.
Soon, Izumi Yamano's delivery convoy arrived.
In today's updates, Naruto reached the point where Sasuke and Naruto officially clashed, ending with the Bijū transformation sequence.
One Piece also received many updates. Ace met and then parted ways with the Straw Hats again, while more members of Baroque Works continued to appear.
In the latest storyline, Luffy and his crew had already confronted Baroque Works directly, unfortunately getting trapped inside Seastone-made traps.
Just out of their "manga-free prison" and starving for content, people quickly snapped up most of the new comics.
Akaba took a glance and assigned his clone to handle the remaining work—it was fine since all the updates had been completed. His shadow clones didn't need to keep working temporarily.
As long as he himself...
After working half a day, rewarding himself with an afternoon nap wasn't excessive, right?
Izumi Yamano's shipment was delayed by half a day because part of the One Piece manga had been sent ahead to the Land of River. Therefore, both Konoha and the Land of River completed their One Piece manga updates simultaneously.
At this moment, in Zhaochuan Town within the Land of River.
Nightdance, the swordsman dressed in black, followed the familiar path into town, only to find it completely changed from his memory.
"This is a pirate town?"
He widened his mouth in shock. He wouldn't have believed this was the same Zhaochuan Town he once visited—if not for seeing it with his own eyes.
"Are you a warrior drawn here by reputation?"
A ragged wandering martial artist sitting near the town entrance pushed up his headband and glanced upward.
Nightdance hesitated briefly before nodding. "That's right. I heard there were many warriors here, but isn't this supposed to be Zhaochuan Town? How did it become like this!"
"Zhaochuan was its former name. Last month, it changed to Loguetown!"
The warrior spoke proudly, "Walk along this road, and you'll even see the execution plaza. Except for not being on a small island at sea, this place is nearly identical to Loguetown. In the future, it's definitely destined to become the starting point of the Grand Line."
"Loguetown, the Grand Line."
Nightdance was utterly astonished.
Aren't those things from manga?
Someone actually transformed the Land of River into a place like this? It was unbelievable!
He stepped into the town.
As that wandering samurai had said, this place looked nearly identical to Loguetown from the manga. Moreover, the town had grown even larger than before. Walking along the streets, he soon came across a large river.
This river ran vertically through the entire Land of River, connecting all the way up to the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth, finally leading down to the sea.
Near the riverside of Chaochuan Town, there was a dock built.
After taking a short walk around, Nightdance was amazed at how much the town had changed. At the same time, he understood why the village had given him this mission to investigate the secrets of the Land of River.
"Was this Akaba's doing? No, the village sent me here for investigation, so it definitely isn't that simple."
Nightdance quietly pondered, then headed toward the local manga shop.
It had been a long time since his last opportunity to read manga.
However,
When he arrived at the manga store, he found its main entrance closed, with only a side door half-open.
"Excuse me, I heard you sell One Piece manga here. Is it no longer open?"
"All the manga have been bought in bulk. If you want to read manga, either go to the tavern ahead or buy them at a high price from others. We can do nothing about it either."
The shop owner explained.
Actually, for the store staff, this kind of sales arrangement wasn't bad at all.
Without dealing directly with individual customers, he could still sell manga at the same price—just with a little extra work arranging the deals. After handing over the stock, he only needed to notify buyers when new shipments arrived. There was no need to keep extra staff around.
"Alright, thank you."
Nightdance stepped out, deep in thought.
All the manga had been bought in bulk!
If the market was big enough and manga were monopolized, that would be an extremely profitable business.
In such a chaotic place as the Land of River, who dared run such a business?
Gradually, he began to understand.
Finding out who was behind this—this was the true purpose of his trip.
Still, he needed to be careful. For the rogue ninja to dare not interfere with this business, the force behind it must be enormous. And regarding the Leader's power...
Nightdance secretly made his way to the tavern.
Inside the tavern, he saw a huge bookshelf filled with numerous manga volumes.
Besides Naruto, everything available in the Land of Fire was here, plus even titles nonexistent in the Land of Fire, such as the "Muzan series", the "Icha Icha series", and more.
Additionally, on the walls, he noticed many "decorations."
Figurines of characters, weapons recreated from the manga, and even some fruits displayed on the counter that looked like "Devil Fruits."
The influence of manga culture here far surpassed that in the Land of Fire or Konoha.
Nightdance sat down to read some manga while ordering meals and drinks, spending quite a lot. This meal cost nearly as much as buying several manga books.
All tactics he had seen Akaba use before.
He suspected Akaba was pulling the strings behind this. Especially the way this tavern operated, along with its various decorations, felt exactly like Akaba's style.
At this moment, someone wearing a mask walked through the entrance, appearing very mysterious.
Nightdance couldn't determine the opponent's strength, but instinctively felt this person was extremely powerful. Facing him stirred up childhood memories of confronting an elite Jonin like his father.
Of course, this was merely his instinct as a swordsman, yet in some ways, it revealed quite a lot.
Could he be the Leader pulling the strings behind the tavern?
Soon, the man turned and left.
Nightdance hesitated for several seconds over whether to follow, but ultimately decided against it. Just seeing that figure had triggered involuntary memories of a manga scene where Hayate Gekko failed to kill Baki with one strike—and paid the ultimate price.
Chasing him down might lead to no better fate—especially in this chaotic place known as the Land of River!
It wasn't until the man had been gone for a long time and the pressure was completely gone that he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Nightdance glanced around cautiously.
The others seemed unaffected, still enjoying their meals and laughter as usual.
He took a brief rest, letting his thoughts slowly settle—
"Something's wrong! My strength might have been discovered!"
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