"What do you think, Sengoku? Should we just go all in now and wipe out the Five Elders?"
Garp looked eager, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.
"Idiot! Use your damn brain before you speak!"
Sengoku, furious at the blunt suggestion, immediately smacked Garp on the head.
"Ahhh!!"
Several marines nearby clearly heard Garp's outrageous words, and they all stared at him in disbelief.
To openly discuss eliminating the Five Elders in public—how blasphemous was that!?
"Tch, don't tell me you don't want to. Sure, the Celestials have terrifying weapons, but don't we also have enough power to fight back?"
Garp casually picked his nose, completely unfazed.
In the past, he wouldn't have dared to say such things out loud. But now, with power far beyond the ordinary, he didn't care about consequences anymore.
"Moron. You think I haven't had that thought before?"
Sengoku sighed, rubbing his forehead.
He glanced around, then leaned in close to whisper to Garp.
"It's not that simple. Sure, using force to overthrow them is easy. But the real challenge is what comes afterward—rebuilding the government, managing the nations. Can either of us handle that?"
"Ah…"
Garp's face twisted into a grimace.
Fighting? No problem. But figuring out how to govern afterward? That gave him a headache.
"Well, I'll leave all that to you. With your brains, I'm sure you'll come up with something good."
And just like that, Garp dumped the whole problem on Sengoku.
"Ugh! You bastard!"
Sengoku was about to blow a fuse at how effortlessly Garp shifted the burden.
"Alright, alright. For now, just handle the upcoming meeting with the Five Elders, the Dream Eater, Siren Head, and the Time's Up Bird. I need to focus on mastering the Bull-Piercing Fist."
Garp looked down at the glowing mark on his chest.
He could hardly wait to train in this astonishing power.
"Fine, we'll handle it. But I'm warning you—Siren Head is a nightmare. We'll probably need your help for that one."
Of all threats, what worried Sengoku the most was Siren Head.
Everything they'd seen of it on the screen left him deeply unsettled. Ordinary marines were clearly no match.
Even with the three Admirals, taking it down wasn't guaranteed.
"Got it. Call me when you need me."
Garp nodded, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, syncing his mind with the bull-head tattoo on his chest.
In a flash, he entered the cosmic space within.
"Huh? You came too?"
A familiar voice grumbled nearby. Garp opened his eyes to see Whitebeard looking at him in annoyance.
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that? Why the hell are you here at the same time as me?"
Garp shot back, annoyed.
"What do you mean? I picked this time on purpose! You did this on purpose, didn't you!?"
"You're the one who did it on purpose!"
The moment they met, the two instantly started bickering—heads and noses pressed together, hurling insults and spraying spit.
"Hrm hrmm!!"
A deep, furious rumble echoed from above.
Both men looked up to see the golden Cosmic Bull glaring at them, clearly displeased.
Gulp.
They instinctively swallowed hard.
"It's all his fault!"
Still pointing at each other, they tried to push the blame.
"Hey!!"
Their mutual blame game made them yell at each other in sync again.
A huge force radiated from the Cosmic Bull, suppressing them both and forcing them to quiet down.
"Sorry, we'll behave and focus on training."
They understood the Cosmic Bull's intent clearly.
There was no choice but to set aside their personal grudges for now.
The Cosmic Bull began demonstrating its fighting techniques. Every movement was different from anything human, yet strikingly powerful.
Garp and Whitebeard were mesmerized. They couldn't tear their eyes away.
Astonishingly, their bodies began to move in sync with the bull's actions, mimicking the powerful martial arts and unleashing mighty, bestial strikes.
…
Naruto Universe.
Right now, Jiraiya was combing through various locations in search of Orochimaru.
But Orochimaru was a master of hiding—he wouldn't be easy to find.
While his large-scale search yielded little success, he did run into some of the Blood Pool creatures that had fled far from their origin.
Several villages had already been destroyed by them.
"Sit your ass down!"
With a furious roar, Jiraiya unleashed the Truth-Seeking Orbs at monsters within a hundred-meter radius, wiping them all out.
"More of them… coming out of the Blood Pool? Whatever. The real deal is over there."
He muttered to himself.
Unlike in other worlds, the Blood Pool here hadn't stopped producing monsters—some were still crawling out.
But Jiraiya was stationed right here, picking them off as they emerged.
The truth was, the one performing the large-scale search was only his shadow clone.
Jiraiya's real body stayed near the Blood Pool to guard it.
He had even created another clone dedicated to training the Flame Red Dragon Fist.
Once his shadow clones dispersed, all the experience and progress would return to him.
Meanwhile, other Kage-level figures had departed from their villages as well, slaying monsters they encountered along the way.
They needed to get back home and explain the situation, preparing for future crises.
Especially with the newly gained Phantom Beast Fist—they needed to master it fast and share it widely among their ninja forces.
A new arms race had begun in the shinobi world.
Among the hardest-hit villages, aside from Sunagakure, was Konohagakure.
More than half its structures were destroyed, and problems piled up.
Naruto, however, used his newly acquired Wood Release to build temporary shelters, easing the refugee housing issue.
"Everyone, go ahead and stay in these. I promise the houses I made are super sturdy!"
Naruto said proudly.
"Thank you, Naruto."
"We're sorry for how we treated you before."
"You really are amazing."
"We shouldn't have ostracized you like that…"
Many of the villagers Naruto had saved during the battle were moved. Realizing his worth, they started reflecting on how poorly they'd treated him in the past.
Hearing their apologies, Naruto sniffled hard and rubbed his face with his sleeve.
"Naruto."
Iruka appeared beside him, placing a warm hand on his head.
"You've done it. You changed how everyone sees you."
Hearing Iruka's gentle voice, Naruto quickly wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes and gave his usual cheerful grin.
"Of course I did! I'm the guy who's gonna be Hokage!"
(End of Chapter)
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