Time flowed by, day after day.
Since his identity and abilities had been exposed, Obito Uchiha did not dare to stir up any more trouble. He could only skulk within the shadows of the Shinobi World. After all, he was currently carrying the blame for the theft of the Scroll of Seals and had a bounty of hundreds of millions on his head. The people of the ninja world were hounding him like a pack of mad dogs.
Some might wonder why Obito didn't simply use the Transformation Technique to change his appearance. While he had once been a "dead last" in his academy days, he wasn't so incompetent that he couldn't perform a basic E-rank jutsu. Indeed, Obito could change his looks, but while his appearance could be altered, his scent and chakra signature remained the same.
Every hidden village possessed a multitude of elite trackers. It was thanks to these experts that so many rogue ninjas were captured and sent to the prisons of Kusagakure. Since the Transformation Technique was the most fundamental of ninja arts, every village naturally possessed methods to see through it. Because of this, Obito was constantly being chased from one corner of the world to another.
Reduced to such a miserable state, Obito's hatred for the man who had impersonated him was bone-deep. He wanted nothing more than to tear his flesh and drink his blood. However, after leaving Konoha, that man had vanished from the Shinobi World entirely. No matter how hard Obito searchedeven after dispatching White Zetsuhe couldn't find a single trace.
White Zetsu could infiltrate almost anywhere in the world, with one sole exception: the Land of Demons. Obito had considered visiting the Land of Demons himself, or even trying to divert the attention of the Five Great Ninja Villages toward it to cause trouble, but the Land of Demons was protected by an incredibly powerful barrier. Outsiders simply couldn't get in. Even his Kamui had no way of bypassing that barrier.
Facing this situation, a weary Obito felt utterly haggard, lamenting his terrible luck. He wasn't the only one sighing; Black Zetsu was equally frustrated. He had spent a thousand years plotting, and just as the Rinnegan had appeared and the hope of reviving his mother was within reach, that useless Obito's identity had been yanked into the light. Worse, he was now the scapegoat for the Scroll of Seals incident.
If that were the only issue, they could have simply discarded Obito as a pawn and let Nagato continue the plan. But who could have predicted that the imposter would reveal their entire plot, including the secret control over the Fourth Mizukage? Now the game was truly up. Every village had Tailed Beasts, and none of them would simply sit back and let them be collected now.
In short, because of Obito being the "mastermind" and the Land of Demons' isolationist policy, the Five Great Ninja Villages chose to recuperate their strength rather than launch a new war. They had no desire to fight a war only to let Obito and the Land of Demons act as the "third party" that benefited from their exhaustion.
A year passed quickly. Due to the aforementioned events, the Shinobi World remained relatively quiet. During this year, Qiu Yu focused on his cultivation while assisting Ren Tingting and Maitreya in theirs. With Qiu Yu's help, their progress was incredibly rapid.
While it wasn't as exaggerated as Uncle Jiu or Priestess Zhe, they both reached the Yang Spirit Perfection Realm. They only needed to grasp the Yin-Yang Primordial Spirit to advance to the rank of Zhenren. Of course, if they chose not to refine a Yin-Yang Primordial Spirit, they could also break through directly.
During this time, the cultivation levels of Uncle Jiu and Priestess Zhe didn't increase much. Moreover, because their cultivation was so profound, they had yet to conceive a child. Finally, there were those two fools, Qiusheng and Wencai.
Even though Qiu Yu had never been stingy with Medicinal Pills or Spiritual Qi Vegetables, they had only managed to reach the tenth level of Earth Master after a whole year, failing to even break through to the rank of Celestial Master.
Given the resources Qiu Yu had poured into them, even a pig should have been able to break through. The fact that they hadn't meant they were likely even stupider than pigs.
Land of Demons, Qiu Yu's Cultivation Grounds
"Qiu Yu, if I remember correctly, today marks the end of the one-year period. Is it time to return to the Zombie World?" Ren Tingting asked.
Qiu Yu glanced at his Status Panel and shook his head. "No. The display still says 'Evolving.' I don't know when the metamorphosis will end. However, I can go to the Pirate World now. Do you want to come along for some fun?"
Ren Tingting thought about it for a moment. "The Pirate World? I think I'll go later. I feel like I'm not far from the Zhenren realm. I'll focus on my cultivation for now. Once I break through, I'll join you there."
"Alright, suit yourself!"
Since Ren Tingting wasn't going, and Uncle Jiu and Priestess Zhe were busy enjoying themselves elsewhere, Qiu Yu decided to leave the two idiots behind as well. Qiusheng and Wencai hadn't had their fill of the Land of Demons yet, and even if they had,
Qiu Yu wouldn't take them anywhere until they reached the rank of Celestial Master. Those two were magnets for bad luck; even though Qiu Yu was strong, who knew if their luck would lead them into someone even more powerful?
While the Pirate World was interesting, Qiu Yu remembered the Railgun attack from his previous visit. If he hadn't reacted fast enough, he might have been vaporized. For safety's sake, unless those two gained some actual strength, they were better off staying in the Naruto World.
After falling into a deep sleep in the Naruto World, Qiu Yu departed and arrived in the Pirate World. His location was exactly where he had been when he lefton a small, secluded island.
He had spent over a year in the Naruto World and two months in the Zombie World, so at least a year and a half had passed in the Pirate World. Qiu Yu had no idea what had changed during his absence, so his first priority was to find someone and conduct a Soul Search.
Naturally, he chose targets who were irredeemable criminals. Qiu Yu didn't consider himself a villain, but he had no qualms about using cruel methods on the wicked.
After using Soul Search to scatter the souls of ten vicious pirates, Qiu Yu learned of the changes. First, two years had actually passed since he left. Second, the image of the Marines had plummeted drastically because of him.
Zephyr was fine, as he stayed at Marineford training recruits and didn't venture out. Others were less fortunate. The Three Marine Admirals were now laughingstocks. Without their hats, they looked like Teletubbies; with their hats on,
they looked like a "single flower." Whether they wore hats or not, they looked ridiculous. When pirates encountered them, even if they were terrified of the Admirals' power, they often couldn't help but burst into laughter upon seeing their hair.
Naturally, those who laughed were immediately executed, even by the usually easy-going Aokiji and Kizaru, let alone the short-tempered Akainu.
The three Admirals actually considered staying off the sea entirely, but as the pillars of the Marines, how could they not go out? Even if they could avoid normal patrols, they had to respond whenever a Celestial Dragon was attacked.
Because Qiu Yu had shattered the Red Line, many weak pirates from the Four Seas had used the gap to flood into the New World. While many died, those who survived saw their strength increase significantly. Some returned to the Four Seas via Fish-Man Island or the Calm Belt. The bolder ones began targeting the Celestial Dragons directly.
The reason for their boldness was simple: Qiu Yu, who had a bounty of ten billion Beli from the World Government, had attacked the Nobles and had yet to be caught. If Qiu Yu could escape, they figured they could too.
The World Government and the Marines had acted quite shrewdly. They issued the bounty but suppressed the news that Qiu Yu had beaten two Marshals and eight Admirals, escaped an attack from Uranus, and shattered the Red Line. Consequently, people didn't know the true strength of the "God of Death of the East Blue." They assumed that if he could get away with it, so could they.
Of course, the ends of these pirates were invariably miserable. However, it was worth noting that before they died, they at least got to have a good laugh at the Admirals' new hairstyles.
As for Garp, Kong, and Sengoku... Garp had spent most of his time at Marineford over the last few years, only leaving to visit his grandsons. Besides the residents of Foosha Village, only the Marines knew about his hair.
When Luffy and his brothers saw Garp's new look, they nearly died laughing and were subsequently beaten half to death. Still, Garp's situation wasn't common knowledge. Sengoku and Zephyr were different;
as the Fleet Admiral and the Commander-in-Chief, they appeared in the newspapers frequently. While the public might not have known the full story, the secret of their "new look" had already spread throughout the entire Marine organization.
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