All in all, Ino had spent three months traversing Snake Way, fifteen days catching the monkey Bubbles, and had adapted to the ten-times gravity environment. Afterward, she spent two months training under King Kai, cultivating her various abilities and practicing a completely new fighting style.
It had now been almost half a year since she left home.
Normally, this would be the time to say goodbye and return home to a warm family life with her wife and child, but King Kai's sudden illness completely disrupted her plans.
Leaving now would certainly be inappropriate.
The monkey Bubbles only knew the ice-pack method for reducing fever. Ino tried medical ninjutsu, but unfortunately, it couldn't cure the common cold.
King Kai had caught a cold because practicing the Kaio-ken had weakened his body, lowering his resistance and allowing a virus to invade. Digging deeper, his King Kai's Planet had always been very isolated, with no way for outside viruses to enter. So who brought the virus? The answer was self-evident.
King Kai quickly fell asleep. His body's restorative abilities were very strong; he didn't need medicine, and getting enough sleep would be sufficient to repair the damage.
Ino and the monkey Bubbles went outside.
The monkey went off on its own to find food.
Ino began to practice her punches.
"Haaah—!" She also tried practicing the Kaio-ken, no longer placing strict limits on the chakra in her meridians.
The gentle blue light emanating from her body turned into a red glow tinged with the scent of blood.
This technique was very similar in effect to opening the eighth of the Eight Inner Gates. Both involved pushing the body to its absolute limit, extracting its maximum potential, and then releasing it in a state far exceeding its normal capacity. The Kaio-ken, however, integrated the essence of numerous martial arts schools, making it far more profound than the Eight Inner Gates. The burden on the body was relatively smaller, while its potential for growth was much greater.
But forget ten or twenty times, Ino couldn't even manage a two-times Kaio-ken right now. She couldn't do it, and neither could King Kai, its creator. Their physical conditioning was insufficient.
Perhaps only a Saiyan like Son Goku could withstand such a heavy burden. Maybe a battle-hardened Might Guy could too?
The Otsutsuki clan's abilities were abundant, but their bodies weren't particularly strong. Tracing it back to Kaguya Otsutsuki, all of her descendants seemed to have a kind of bone disease. The importance of bones to the body needed no explanation. Ino had obtained several methods for strengthening bones from King Kai; when she returned to Konoha, she would have to start training from the skeleton up.
She wasn't in a hurry about the Kaio-ken. Just like with the Flying Thunder God back in the day, being unable to do it now didn't mean she'd be unable to do it in the future. Allocating stat points would surely solve these physical conditioning problems. If one point wasn't enough, she'd add two. If that still wasn't enough, she'd just add more!
As she was thinking about her future training plans, a "kadada" sound came from the distance.
"Young Ino, help me... help me see..." King Kai's voice from inside the house was very weak. The monkey Bubbles, who had been in a tree, quickly ran down, letting out a series of "chee chee" sounds while pointing into the distance.
Ino had experience taking care of Tonton, and after hanging around for three months, she could now roughly understand the monkey's language.
She looked around mechanically and soon arrived at the center of the yard, where a 12-inch television set was placed.
The "kaka" sound was coming from the TV.
The monkey Bubbles stood to the side, holding a pot-lid-style TV signal receiver. It let out "oooh oooh chee chee" sounds as it circled the TV, searching for a signal. Ino watched blankly, and after a short while, an image miraculously appeared on the screen.
"North Kai... huh? Who are you?" An old man wearing sunglasses appeared on the TV. He was nonchalant at first, but upon realizing the person on the other end of the screen wasn't North Kai, his sharp gaze pierced through his sunglasses and the television screen like a hawk's.
The old man's beard and hair were both white and disheveled, clearly not well-maintained. He wore a tall black hat with the character for "Great" (大) in the center.
"Chee chee!" The monkey holding the signal receiver danced around excitedly.
Ino was completely baffled, only understanding the gist of it through the sounds and gestures. The monkey wanted her to answer the old man's question.
It's a good thing it's me. If some "native" were here, would they even know that the old man on the TV was the Grand Kai?
From the bottom up, it was King Kai, Grand Kai, Supreme Kai, and Grand Supreme Kai. In this hierarchy, the Grand Kai was already a considerably high-level administrator.
Ino couldn't say that she knew the Grand Kai. Her status as a "country bumpkin" deity was nothing in front of him.
"Uh, hello, old sir... I am Lord King Kai's disciple. Lord King Kai... he, he went out on patrol!"
Say that King Kai had a cold? That would be really embarrassing, wouldn't it?
Ino glanced to the side and saw the monkey Bubbles giving her a thumbs-up, indicating she had answered well.
The Grand Kai clearly didn't believe this excuse. "Patrol? How could a lazy fellow like North Kai go on patrol... Forget it, forget it, I won't press the matter. When he gets back, tell him to hurry up and send me the materials. He's dawdling so much, not a hint of urgency. That's all."
The "video call" ended. Ino looked at the monkey, as if to ask, what's the next step?
This monkey was a bit like Tonton; it was usually responsible for helping its master organize various documents. With agile movements, it rummaged through a pile of waste paper behind the house and quickly found the documents the Grand Kai had mentioned.
Ino took them and looked closely.
"Preparations for the First Other World Martial Arts Tournament!"
Seeing this title out of the blue, she jumped in surprise. Had the Dragon Ball world's timeline already reached the stage of the first Other World Tournament? If it was already this far along, what was the point of her practicing the Kaio-ken?!
Ignoring the thick layer of dust on the documents, she quickly flipped to the back. At the end of this document, which looked more like scrap paper than an important file, a line of small text was written: "There are only fifty years to prepare for this martial arts tournament."
Ino looked at the monkey Bubbles. "How many years are left now?"
The monkey held up two fingers, then a full palm.
"Twenty-five years? There are twenty-five years left? You really scared me..."
The work efficiency in the underworld is really low. No rush for anything, right?
Ino carefully read through the "Preparations for the First Other World Martial Arts Tournament." Without a doubt, this was an event hosted by the Grand Kai. With such a long preparation time, he clearly wanted to do a good, splendid job of it.
But how to do it well? Rely on the four King Kais under him? Those four good-for-nothings, hehe, better not to mention them.
Ino felt this was a great opportunity for her to shine. Compared to desperately fighting a bunch of warrior races or ninjas who had been killing and setting fires since childhood, writing documents, organizing events, and helping with fundraising—these were her true strengths!
This was also a good opportunity to send the elite of the ninja villages out into "society." People like the Fourth Raikage, Killer B, and Kitsuchi—those guys who were obstacles to the "unification of the five great mountains"—could be conveniently packaged up and sent to participate in the First Other World Martial Arts Tournament.
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