"Ahhh, Itachi is so cool! I'm in love!"
"Kakashi is cool too!"
Even after being tricked twice, Erika wasn't the least bit discouraged—in fact, seeing Itachi and Kakashi made her even more excited.
After the three exited Sakumo's area, Tsunade remained silent for a moment before whispering to Akaba, "I admit Itachi is cool, but Kakashi only shows one eye—how could she find him cool too?"
"That's because Kakashi must be super handsome under his mask!"
Erika loudly argued back.
"What if he has buckteeth or sausage lips?"
"How could that be!"
Erika got extremely upset. She suddenly turned around angrily.
However—
"Why are you getting mad?"
Tsunade raised her fist, eyes wide.
"I'm just saying... Kakashi probably doesn't look like that."
Erika shrank back slightly as she replied.
"Hmph, this is straight from Akaba's mouth, right?"
Seeing Tsunade's suspicious gaze, Akaba felt a bit confused.
The fire had randomly burned him, although thinking carefully, he really did say those words before.
Back then when Kakashi first appeared, many classmates were fans of him too, and Akaba jokingly made those remarks out of mischief.
"Akaba-niisan, is it true?"
Erika felt desperate. If Kakashi had sausage lips and big buckteeth under his mask...
"I wouldn't dwell on it if I were you."
Akaba didn't explain further because he didn't particularly like this self-righteous princess either.
Her heart sank instantly.
Walking down this path ahead was the exhibition stand set up by Grandma Mito.
Even though she was still in the stands, she used shadow clones!
Sticking with those two firecracker women was pure torture. Akaba decided to find an opportunity to escape using Shadow Clones and Earth Release techniques.
If he stayed any longer, squeezed in between them, he'd surely die.
"The front stall belongs to my grandma. Show some respect when we get there, understand?"
Tsunade turned around to lecture Erika.
Akaba walked behind, taking advantage of this time to form hand seals and create a Shadow Clone. At the same time, he burrowed underground with Earth Release.
"I know, Grandma Mito is a legendary figure!"
Erika answered unhappily.
"Akaba, hurry up, you're so slow!"
Tsunade didn't forget to drag Akaba along.
"I will, coming right away."
"That Akaba" replied calmly, quickened his pace, and soon caught up with them.
A dozen steps away, behind a cluster of bushes, Akaba cautiously peeked out as he emerged from underground.
The Shadow Clone hadn't disappeared. It worked!
After waiting several minutes past the sensing range of Tsunade and the princess, he crawled out looking disheveled.
"I should check up on Yunlang first, then find a hiding spot."
Akaba already had a plan.
Those two women would definitely pass through areas considered dangerous zones—he couldn't stay there long.
A few minutes later, he moved across the woods.
As soon as he turned onto the small path, he spotted Sakuma Yunlang's stall—it was already surrounded by a large crowd.
"Young Master, you finally came—"
"Shhh!"
From afar, Akaba gestured to keep quiet, signaling Sakuma Yunlang not to make noise.
Although Sakuma Yunlang didn't understand what happened, he obeyed, lowering his voice accordingly.
Approaching the crowd, Akaba joined in.
He had already secretly used the Transformation Jutsu to change his appearance, transforming into an unremarkable child.
"What manga is this?"
Akaba picked up a copy of *One Piece* and asked.
"A new one. Seems like it's called *One Piece*."
Someone answered.
"Is it any good?"
Akaba asked.
"Not sure. The art style looks kind of weird at first."
"At first glance it might look odd, but once you get used to it, it's actually not bad. Plus, the power system in this world, known as Devil Fruits, feels really unique."
"We can always pick one up once there's an update."
As the conversation picked up pace, everyone immediately started discussing enthusiastically.
Akaba sat quietly at the side, listening. He realized that *One Piece* had quite a good market—everyone seemed generally accepting.
However, for readers from Konoha, *Naruto* was clearly more popular.
It was a regional advantage, hard to change.
"By the way, Boss Yunlang," one reader asked excitedly, "are these for sale?"
Sakuma Yunlang smiled lightly. "These fifty copies are non-selling items."
"What a shame."
Everyone sighed.
Hundred taels wasn't expensive, but these first fifty copies were definitely worth collecting.
"Boss, what rank is Colonel?"
"No idea."
Sakuma Yunlang awkwardly glanced at Akaba and noticed that this young master showed absolutely no desire to explain, so he could only answer helplessly.
"Such a pity. Why isn't Akaba here today?" Several people sighed again, disappointed that the author wasn't present.
Sitting together, reading manga, and chatting about the plot—this kind of feeling was truly great.
Akaba fell into deep thought. It was indeed something he somewhat neglected.
After all, ranks like Colonel were common knowledge to him, seemingly not even requiring explanation.
But now they were in the Fire Shadow World.
"It looks like I should add a few pages of explanations later. Good thing I didn't let Izumi Yamano print too many copies."
He continued listening while sitting there. Many issues brought up during their conversation gave him great inspiration, which would be very helpful for the official print run under Izumi Yamano's production.
No wonder most games start with a test release these days.
At that moment, a figure walked in from outside, found a seat, and picked up a manga.
Orochimaru?
Although disguised, for some reason, Akaba instinctively felt that it was Orochimaru.
At the same time, Orochimaru also looked over.
Their eyes met, each instantly understanding.
"One Piece—is this a manga about the sea?"
After flipping it open, his eyes quickly scanned the page before turning to the next one soon enough.
Akaba observed his actions from the side.
Page after page,
After flipping through several pages, Orochimaru finally stopped.
He thought for a moment before asking, "Is there really such a thing as Devil Fruits in this world?"
Instantly, the entire room fell silent.
Everyone turned to stare. Those who'd been chatting just moments ago tried to speak, then shut up.
A few seconds passed, until finally someone couldn't help but burst out laughing: "How could that possibly exist? It's just a manga, kid. Maybe you're thinking too much."
"Yeah, if something like that actually existed, that'd be absurd."
Everyone shook their heads in unison.
However, right from the start, Orochimaru had never been interested in any answer. His eyes remained locked onto Akaba, filled with longing for the unknown.
"How could there possibly be Devil Fruits? If such things existed, that'd be too ridiculous," Akaba said, shaking his head.
Of course, he clearly knew that Devil Fruits weren't entirely non-existent.
If he bought one from the System and then simply discarded it, the world would indeed have a Devil Fruit. But points didn't just blow in from the wind; he wasn't rich enough to afford such extravagance.
"What a pity."
Orochimaru sighed, as if his interest in the manga had suddenly dropped several notches.
Though he kept flipping through it, the pace noticeably quickened.
But as he flipped, he suddenly turned back—Rubber Man?
"A body that's both stretchy and soft… actually sounds quite interesting."
Orochimaru thought for just a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up.
Stretching was extremely difficult for a human body to achieve, but developing the trait of softness—well, that wouldn't be hard at all.
"Hmm, worth a try."
He noted it down and found himself once again intrigued by the manga.
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