Out of caution, this time Kurama didn't rashly "meet" with Naruto's consciousness again, but silently observed this strange world through his senses.
Kurama was equally amazed by Naruto suddenly "becoming" an adult again. He had felt something was wrong before—clearly, he had been imprisoned in Naruto's body for decades, but when he first "got out of prison" and saw him, Naruto still looked like a twelve-year-old.
It was just that the contact had been too rushed then, and the fatigue from hastily throwing him out made him forget about this matter. Now remembering it, it was another mystery.
This kid seems even stranger than that guy Minato.
One person, one fox, and one sea cow—they sped away from Cocoyasi Village under the setting sun, heading in the opposite direction from Luffy and his crew.
The next day, they arrived at Baratie again. Taking advantage of the Marines not having reacted yet, Naruto managed to get another meal. Zeff wanted to give Naruto the bounty money from the Krieg Pirates, but he refused with the reason, "put it on my tab, I'll come eat again next time."
After replenishing fresh water, food, and fine wine, Naruto once again rode the sea cow Moo-Moo toward Shimotsuki Village.
Moo-Moo's speed was no slower than ordinary ships, and it could maintain high velocity even in windless conditions. But the downside was—it still needed rest. At night, Naruto would find an island to let Moo-Moo rest peacefully by the shore, and he would also catch some large sea fish as feed for it.
This wasn't like the fishless waters around the Land of Waves—at least Naruto insisted on believing so.
After using Observation Haki to precisely locate deep-sea fish, he would dive shirtless into the sea and catch them bare-handed. Never mind the method—the point was whether he caught fish or not.
With fresh meat to supplement it, the food he brought didn't need to be eaten for now.
Like this, except for finding places to rest at night while never stopping at any islands during the day, Naruto finally reached Shimotsuki Village after about ten days.
In Shimotsuki Village, at the Isshin Dojo.
Childish voices of "hiya" and "haha" echoed throughout the dojo—those were Koushirou's young disciples. The Isshin Dojo did have adult students, but they were basically villagers from Shimotsuki Village who came for short-term training. Today, aside from Koushirou, there were no other adults present.
Just as Koushirou was smilingly instructing the children's training, the door was suddenly slammed open, and a child rushed in frantically.
"This is bad! This is bad! Koushirou-sensei! Pirates! Pirates are coming!"
The child who burst in was also one of Koushirou's disciples. He had been wondering why this student hadn't come to the dojo for training today, but instead heard news of a pirate attack.
So Koushirou strapped on his sword, told the children to hide, and ran alone toward the village entrance.
When he arrived, he saw two groups of people facing off in tense confrontation.
One group was villagers from Shimotsuki Village—numerous, most carrying long swords. Though they weren't famous blades, it showed they weren't without means of resistance.
The other group was a bunch of fierce-looking pirates with various weapons, mostly guns, all with malicious intent. Their leader looked playfully at the approaching Koushirou, seemingly not taking him seriously at all.
"Oh, so you're the 'teacher' they mentioned?"
Seeing Koushirou's non-intimidating appearance, the pirate leader immediately spoke disdainfully, and the other pirates around him also laughed mockingly.
"Hurry up and hand over all your treasure!"
"Hahahaha! A bunch of villagers daring to hold swords—do you even know how to use them?"
"Exactly! This place now belongs to our Black Rope Pirates!"
Koushirou ignored the noisy pirates and discreetly communicated with certain villagers through eye contact. Those people were Revolutionary Army sentries stationed here. One of them gently shook his head at Koushirou.
He immediately understood—this pirate attack seemed to be just a coincidence, not someone targeting the Revolutionary Army.
So Koushirou didn't plan to waste more time on these guys and was about to signal the villagers to attack directly. Don't underestimate these villagers—they all received training from Koushirou and were technically proper swordsmen. Combined with those Revolutionary Army sentries joining the fight, such a third-rate pirate crew was no match at all.
Just as the battle was about to begin, a loud shout faintly came from the sky.
The voice grew from distant to near.
"—Get out of the way!"
A figure fell from the sky under everyone's gaze, precisely hitting the pirate leader with devastating accuracy.
The guy didn't make a sound and instantly lost consciousness.
The person who fell got up like nothing happened, patted his rear, and looking at the unlucky fellow he'd crushed, said somewhat embarrassedly:
"Sorry, didn't see you there... Can he still be saved?"
This seemed to snap everyone back to reality. The villagers were the first to react. Seeing the enemy leader was down, they immediately seized the opportunity and swarmed forward.
The pirates were stunned for a second, then immediately fell into chaos. Without their boss's command, some wanted to fight while others just wanted to escape. This rabble was quickly subdued by the villagers, then tied up to be sent to the nearby Marine branch.
The guy who fell from the sky walked toward Koushirou.
"Are you—Naruto-san?"
Koushirou looked at the familiar figure before him in disbelief.
Naruto smiled lightly and greeted this old acquaintance.
"Yo, Koushirou, long time no see."
"Speaking of which, it's been almost ten years since we last met. You really haven't changed at all."
In the tea room next to the dojo, the two sat facing each other. After pouring Naruto a cup of hot tea, Koushirou said nostalgically.
Already in his fifties, wrinkles had appeared on his face, and several strands of his hair had turned white.
Hearing this, Naruto just smiled, then suddenly asked:
"What about old man Kozaburo? I wanted him to help maintain my sword—"
He took the katana from his waist and placed it in front of Koushirou.
Koushirou was stunned, then answered somewhat embarrassedly:
"I'm truly sorry. My father—my father suddenly left Shimotsuki Village some years ago. We don't really know where he is now."
Hearing this, Naruto's face inevitably showed some disappointment. He had originally wanted to visit the old man.
Seeing Naruto's expression change, Koushirou hurriedly tried to remedy the situation.
"But please don't worry. Father sent us a letter some time ago. Though we don't know where he is, we can confirm the old man is still well."
Then he bent down to pick up Naruto's katana and slowly drew it.
The transparent, glass-like blade still flickered with tiny lights even in the somewhat dim tea room, as if there really were stars trapped inside.
"Is this the Supreme Grade sword Musōkō that Father forged? What a beautiful and dazzling blade—truly like light itself."
Seeing how much the other cherished his father's work, Naruto's face also showed a warm smile.
"Musōkō" was one of the Supreme Grade swords that Shimotsuki Kozaburo had made after coming to East Blue. The crisis from which Naruto had saved them was also caused by this sword. After the crisis, Kozaburo, feeling unable to protect the famous blade, chose to give "Musōkō" to Naruto.
After that, he never forged weapons by hand again.
"Please entrust it to me. If it's just maintenance, I'm confident I can do it."
Resheathing Musōkō, Koushirou spoke solemnly to Naruto.
"Oh! Of course, I trust you."
Naruto nodded, picked up his teacup for a light sip, then seemed to remember something.
"Speaking of which, I think I saw that green-haired kid who used to train at your dojo—was his name Zoro? His appearance has changed quite a bit, so I wasn't sure."
"Eh? You've seen Zoro? How is he doing now?"
Mentioning his disciple, Koushirou's face immediately lit up with a proud smile.
It had been three years since that child left the dojo, saying he would embark on the path to become the strongest. He was quite curious about Zoro's current situation.
"Him... he's doing very well."
"He's met wonderful companions, witnessed the pinnacle of swordsmanship, and has the heart to keep growing stronger—I have high hopes for him."
"Is that so..."
Hearing Naruto's answer, Koushirou nodded with some relief, his eyes gleaming with the satisfaction of a teacher whose student had found his path.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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