"The young lady's child… is already this strong…"
Karin's mother muttered in disbelief, clearly shaken.
She had seen ninjutsu before, but a complex fusion technique like this was beyond her comprehension.
Fire boosts wind, wind feeds fire.
The moment the two combined, a raging inferno erupted, nearly incinerating the Grass Village shinobi.
"Let's go!"
Naruto calmly watched for a few seconds as the flames devoured Kusagakure, then stepped into the fire without hesitation, disappearing completely.
Creaaak—the space gate closed behind him.
Several minutes later, a Jōnin from Kusagakure rushed to the scene, enraged as he gazed at the scorched remnants.
"Bastard! Who did this?!"
His face twisted with fury as he turned to the battered shinobi nearby, roaring: "Find the intruder, no matter what! Bring them to me!"
The surrounding Grass ninja quickly nodded, scattering in all directions to search, flipping the entire village upside down.
But none of that mattered to Naruto anymore—he had already left the Land of Grass.
Gazing around at the forest, Naruto said casually,
"This is within the borders of the Land of Fire, sparsely populated. You two can stay here for now. I'll bring you supplies."
Karin's mother nodded quickly.
As long as she was away from the Grass Village, anywhere was paradise.
Naruto then glanced at Karin, who was staring at him with starry-eyed admiration, and smiled:
"And from today, Karin, you'll begin training in ninjutsu."
In the original timeline, Karin barely used any jutsu in combat—she relied entirely on her kekkei genkai.
Things like physical healing, Kagura Shingan (Kagura Mind's Eye), and Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains)… she had practically awakened the entire Uzumaki bloodline.
Which showed just how much potential the girl truly had.
If she could also learn ninjutsu now, she'd definitely become a powerful ally in the future.
Karin's mother nodded again—she understood how rare this opportunity was, and quickly urged her daughter to accept.
Karin nodded eagerly, admiration written all over her face:
"Got it! I'll train hard in ninjutsu so I can fight alongside Naruto-dono!"
Naruto gave a slight nod and then began pondering something else—maybe he should steal the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques...
"Next… I'll need to recruit a few of Orochimaru's subordinates," Naruto mused.
"Kimimaro… he's a genius, and strong too, but completely brainwashed by Orochimaru."
"Jūgo isn't bad either, but he only listens to Kimimaro…"
"If not them, then perhaps Suigetsu and Guren…"
"Zabuza and Haku are also options…"
"But to gain their loyalty, I'm not strong enough yet. Most importantly—my body. I need to return to the pirate world, quickly."
Naruto soon made up his mind.
Return to the pirate world!
Only in the high-oxygen environment of that world could his body grow quickly.
So in the following days, apart from refining chakra, Naruto spent all his time pushing open the Gate of Worlds.
After a week of effort, he finally forced open a narrow gap once again.
Without telling anyone, Naruto took a deep breath, focused his mind, and stepped into the brilliant blue Gate of Worlds.
One step forward—and the ocean stretched endlessly before him.
Unlike last time, when he arrived in Ohara, this time Naruto appeared directly over the sea.
Feeling the sea breeze, he couldn't help but smile from the heart, then began walking on the water.
The sea was calm, the sun warm.
After nearly an hour of walking, Naruto concluded that he wasn't in the Grand Line or the New World.
Those two places never had weather this pleasant.
He tried opening a space portal to Ohara, but it didn't work—too far.
Compared to the ninja world, the pirate world was far more vast, large enough to contain dozens of ninja realms.
"Don't tell me I'll be stuck at sea for months…" Just as Naruto was starting to worry, he spotted the outline of a ship in the distance.
A grin formed on his lips, and he sped toward the ship.
As he approached, he realized it wasn't just one ship—but a fleet of thirty pirate ships.
He was slightly surprised. In the West Blue, large pirate fleets like this were rare.
"Could I have actually ended up in the Grand Line…?" Naruto muttered, approaching the ships and clearly seeing the flags they flew.
Unsurprisingly, they bore the classic skull insignia—but this one had a fat, rounded face and two red hourglasses beside it.
Naruto instantly recognized the symbol and confirmed his location:
"So I'm in the weakest of the four seas… the East Blue?"
He smiled. The flag belonged to the Krieg Pirates.
Krieg—he was the boss Luffy defeated during the Sea Restaurant arc, with a bounty around 14 million berries.
Naruto arrived at the side of the ship and calmly walked straight up the hull.
On deck, a slacking pirate smoking a cigarette blinked, rubbed his eyes, and then froze in shock as a boy walked up the vertical hull:
"Wait… Who the hell are you?!"
Naruto glanced at him, waved, and said with a smile:
"Yo. Got a newspaper? I'm kinda out of the loop."
The pirate's face twisted, and he swiftly drew a curved sword, slashing down toward Naruto's head:
"You bastard! You're an enemy, aren't you?!"
One minute later—
The pirate, beaten black and blue, knelt before Naruto with a groveling smile, offering up a newspaper:
"S-sir, this one's from two days ago. It's not the latest."
"No worries."
Naruto leaned against the mast, casually flipping through the paper.
While Naruto read, the pirate nervously glanced at his shattered blade on the deck—cleanly split in two.
"He blocked my sword… with a finger… What kind of monster is this guy?!"
Licking his lips nervously, the pirate quietly retreated… then suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! We've been boarded!!"
Naruto didn't even flinch. He kept reading, unmoved—until his brows slowly furrowed.
"How long… has it been since the Ohara Incident?"
He remembered that when he left, the Marines hadn't yet created the Shichibukai system. But now… it was already established.
On top of that, Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru were all Admirals.
It was as if he had been gone for two months… but the pirate world had advanced by several years.
(End of Chapter)
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