"That guy really isn't afraid of dying, huh?"
Elsewhere, Gato was talking to himself.
He didn't leave right away. Instead, he went to one of the underground black market bases in the capital of the Fire Country.
"Whether you survive or not depends on your luck. Those people won't let you go that easily."
Gato had some connections with the Daimyo of the Land of the Sea, but asking Gato to risk his own life for someone else? No way.
He'd never put himself in danger on purpose—just staying alive was risky enough.
After passing on the information about Mishima Gekkou to the Revolutionary Army, Gato still didn't leave the capital right away.
Leaving now would've been too dangerous.
It wasn't until the next day that Gato calmly left the capital.
But he hadn't gone far when a few people started following him.
"That's the guy, right?"
"Looks like him. They said he's fat and always looking around nervously, like he's scared someone's after him."
"The Daimyo of the Land of the Sea, huh? If we kill him and join the Marines, we could get promoted to Marine officers."
"Let's go—don't let him get away."
A few strong men followed behind Gato.
There were quite a few people attending the meeting, but among them, only two were this fat — one was the ruler of the Land of the Sea, and the other was Gato.
Gato had been overusing a certain technique, and now he had side effects from it. He always kept himself in a state of being full.
Even though he didn't have much fighting power, he was strangely talented in some areas. He had forced himself to master Seimei Kikan to a high level.
He could store a huge amount of energy in his body. Even if he didn't eat or drink for two or three months, it wouldn't be a big deal for him.
But this also had a downside — he got even fatter.
At that moment, Gato didn't know he had been targeted. It wasn't until about thirty minutes later, when the number of people around started to thin out.
The strong men behind him stopped pretending.
"Mishima Gekkou, stop right there. Today is the day you die."
When he heard the voice, Gato looked confused and turned around.
The three strong men behind him pointed their swords at him with cold eyes.
"M-Mishima Gekkou?"
Gato pointed at himself.
Come on, guys, are you serious? The style between me and Mishima Gekkou isn't even close.
"You must have the wrong person. I'm not some Mishima Gekkou."
Gato spoke calmly. After all, he was the leader of the Land of Waves and had seen his fair share of big events — he wasn't about to get scared by a few petty thieves.
"Heh heh heh! Exactly what we expected. If you really were Mishima Gekkou, there's no way you'd admit it."
Another voice came from in front of him.
"Mishima Gekkou, for the sake of our future, we're going to have to borrow your life."
The group of attackers didn't listen to a word Gato said. They were convinced that if he really were Mishima Gekkou, he would never admit it anyway.
At that point, Gato realized what was going on.
He immediately shut his mouth. In situations like this, the more he said, the more mistakes he'd make.
He had already learned that lesson the hard way many times.
The next moment, Gato took off his clothes, revealing his pale, flabby body.
"Mishima Gekkou! It really is you — the freak who stripped at the World Conference!"
"Wait a minute…"
Just as they said that, they noticed something on Gato's body.
Around his waist, he had a ring of bombs strapped on.
Right then, Gato slowly took off his glasses. The harmless look on his face changed to something cold and crazy.
He wasn't like Mishima Gekkou, some noble. He was the kind of ruthless guy who had gone head-to-head with Zabuza in the past.
Looking at the five people surrounding him, Gato gave a small smile.
"Borrow my life? I never make deals that leave me at a loss. My life? You'll need to pay for it with all five of yours."
One hand was on the bomb trigger. In the other, he was already pointing a gun at one of them.
Now you're sweating, huh, kids?
"M-Mishima…"
*Bang!!*
The gunshot echoed through the forest, sending a flock of birds into the sky.
White smoke from the gun in Gato's hand was blown away by the wind.
The large man standing behind Gato trembled—
the bullet had grazed his cheek, leaving a scratch.
That brush with death shook his whole body.
The fear of dying had completely taken over him.
*Clang!!*
The knife in his hand dropped to the ground.
"P-please... spare me, Lord Gato!!"
The next second, he dropped to his knees in terror.
Gato might look fat, but his vibe was totally different from Mishima Gekkou.
Gato was ruthless—he looked and acted like a real pirate through and through.
Back in the Land of Waves, Gato was already a nasty piece of work.
Later, he even went toe-to-toe with Zabuza, a ninja.
After that, he got bold enough to try using Shanks and cozying up to the Uzumaki clan.
Sure, he was eventually caught by Danzo, but that's just because Danzo was too powerful.
Bottom line, just look at Gato's track record—
the guy is ambitious and has tons of experience.
You could definitely call him a major player in the new era.
"You brats can't even handle trash like me, so don't get ahead of yourselves."
"The pirates in the New World are way more dangerous than you think."
Gato's voice rang out.
He wasn't just talking to the people who wanted to join the Marines.
He was also aiming that at the so-called sages.
By the time the five bandits snapped out of it,
Gato was already gone, disappearing down the road.
That choking feeling of being close to death had vanished.
"The... New World!!"
"We're alive. We didn't die."
The five men were shaken, each thinking different things,
but in the end—they survived.
As for Gato, he calmly put his glasses back on,
a strange smile still on his face.
"This... this feeling is great."
Tears ran down his cheeks, sliding past his glasses.
After all this time, Gato finally got to feel proud.
For once, he wasn't the one getting pushed around.
As for those bandits? Just small-time thugs.
Gato wasn't who he used to be—he didn't care about a few nobodies like them.
...
Meanwhile, Lord Mishima Gekkou of the Land of the Sea had reached the Land of Water.
From there, it was just a short trip back to his own country.
"Kiyosu, is anyone following us?"
Mishima Gekkou was calm—
in fact, he had expected to be hunted down.
Those sages weren't as simple as they seemed.
"No one in sight."
Kiyosu replied.
They left quickly, and the others didn't have the time or energy to chase them down—after all, the meeting still had to go on.
"Lord Gekkou, you were too reckless this time."
Kiyosu was a bit worried. Just because no one was chasing them now didn't mean the sea was safe.
It all depended on their luck now.
"If you die, the Sea Nation will fall into chaos."
"No, it won't. As long as the New World stays stable, the Sea Nation will too."
Mishima Gekkou gave a confident smile. He might not be sure about his own safety, but he had full confidence in the Sea Nation.
Just like Gato—or maybe even more than Gato—Mishima Gekkou had big ambitions.
In fact, in the original storyline, more than ten years after the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Sea Nation even dared to invade the Land of Water.
That time point is actually just a little more than ten years from now.
You have to understand what level the Sea Nation is at right now—they're paying the Land of Water protection money, asking their ninjas to keep them safe.
But in just over ten years, the Sea Nation will be strong enough to invade the Land of Water.
That's not something ambition alone can explain. It takes both ambition and real strength.
And the ruler of the Sea Nation has both.
"The New World, huh?"
Kiyosu muttered. He didn't fully understand what the New World was about.
But he did know that the New World wouldn't fall into chaos, because that man was there. As long as he was there, the New World would stay stable.
"The East Blue has the most pirates. Many of them followed Shanks' route when they went to sea. Others tried different paths.
But now, most of these pirates are moving pretty slowly. A lot of them can't even handle Sea Kings."
Kiyosu knew some things about what was going on in the New World.
Shanks and his group weren't moving that fast either, but the newer pirates were even slower.
Of course, that's partly because most pirates don't really know what they're looking for. Only the real big-name pirates understand how important the Dragon Veins are.
That's because the top pirates of this era all carry some trace of the world's will.
And the Dragon Veins contain the power of that same will. When these top pirates come into contact with the Dragon Veins, the power within them resonates with the power they already carry.
So the more they come into contact with the Dragon Veins, the stronger they get.
In some ways, it's kind of like how the sages train. The only difference is, what the sages do on purpose, the pirates experience passively.
As for the cost?
Someone has already paid that price.
"The new pirates still aren't strong enough. And the World Government isn't just going after them."
What they really want to take down are the top pirates of the New World—because only those pirates have the power to tear down the old world order."
"I didn't get it before, but now I do."
Mishima Gekkou never understood what nobles were—because he was one.
But now, he understood.
The moment he saw those sages, it all became clear to him.
The Land of the Sea had no sages, no ninjas.
Even though he held the title of noble, it was really just for show.
To those sages, people like him meant nothing.
Mishima Gekkou had big ambitions. In the past, he had his eyes on the Land of Water. But now, his focus had shifted to the highest powers of the world.
"Sages…"
"This so-called peace and justice of the World Government is a joke. They even went so far as to give Shanks the title of world noble."
"That's even sadder than being a pirate."
Mishima Gekkou didn't bother hiding his mockery. At least pirates could openly go after Shanks.
But the World Government? They gave Shanks the name of a world noble, meaning regular people couldn't just go after him—at least not with deadly intent.
In Mishima Gekkou's eyes, this way of protecting their own class was beyond shameless.
All this talk about peace and justice only ends up helping the world nobles and those high-up sages.
"The ones who write history are never mentioned in it. The sages have already been forced out into the open by Lord Shanks.
No matter how hard they try, they won't be able to escape this new era."
Kiyosu's words were meant to comfort Mishima Gekkou.
This was just the beginning.
Everyone who was supposed to take the stage was already in place. Now, the real beginning of this great era had arrived.
As the ship slowly left the harbor, a figure appeared in the sky above it.
A bit of helplessness flashed across Ichidai Kiyomu's face.
"What a hassle. But for the World Government to be built, someone has to be sacrificed. Even sages are no exception."
Ichidai Kiyomu's eyes turned blue. Behind him, three blue flames lit up.
He didn't chase after them. Instead, he looked toward the direction of the Land of Fire.
In his view, a strong force of natural energy was rising from that area.
"This is our final plan."
"Using sages as Jinchuriki to form the World Government, to stand against the New World. Using a polarized world will to push the ninja world into a new phase of growth."
The founding of the World Government was bound to happen.
"It's just that we sages have already paid the price. Now, it's time for ordinary people to carry the burden."
As soon as he finished speaking, the flames around Ichidai Kiyomu burst out.
Then he looked down slightly, and his powerful aura exploded in full force. A terrifying killing intent was aimed straight below.
Down in the harbor, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all looked up at Ichidai Kiyomu in the sky.
"Kakashi-sensei, what should we do?"
Kakashi's face showed no emotion. He quietly drew his weapon.
"You three go ahead. He's here for me."
Kakashi spoke calmly.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura didn't hesitate. They stepped onto the water and rushed off in the direction where Mishima Gekkou had disappeared.
Ichidai Kiyomu didn't try to stop them.
His real opponent was Kakashi. As for those few genin?
Someone like the Ichidai Kiyomu still had some pride.
"Kakashi, right?"
"I heard you're the next Hokage."
Ichidai Kiyomu's face looked young, almost boyish, but Kakashi didn't let his guard down at all.
This guy might actually be several times older than his old man.
"A sage from the Land of Fire?"
Kakashi asked.
"That's right."
Ichidai Kiyomu nodded with a small smile.
In the next second, flames burst out from him again, and a huge blast of fire shot down from the sky straight toward the port.
Kakashi moved too.
Countless white slashes of light appeared, mixing with the blue flames. In an instant, the intense blade attacks tore the sage flames apart.
Kakashi—
Had gotten even stronger.
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