____________
[—
"First, I'll cut the mouth cloth, drain some blood, and…" The masked shinobi holding Zabuza's body stopped his hand, sensing something.
At that moment, Zabuza opened his eyes.
"That's right… I'll do it myself…" Zabuza grabbed the masked shinobi's hand.
"Oh… You've already come back to life…" The masked shinobi wasn't surprised.
"Damn… You sure are rough…" Zabuza pulled out the needles from his neck as blood flowed.
"Oh!! You shouldn't be so rough yourself; you could really die pulling them out like that." The masked shinobi said anxiously.
"How long are you going to wear that stupid mask?" Zabuza frowned.
"It reminds me of the old days… Plus, it was useful for this act." The shinobi removed his mask while saying this, revealing an incredibly beautiful face, like a very lovely kunoichi.
"If I hadn't saved you, you definitely would have been killed," said the 'beautiful' boy.
"If you were going to put me into a momentary death, you didn't have to use my neck… You could have aimed for a safer acupuncture point."
"You are annoying as always."
—]
The readers in Konoha gasped in shock; they didn't expect this.
"What! He's back from the dead!?"
"This little shinobi is his ally, too?"
"Kakashi was tricked, no… we were all tricked!"
"That was just a fake death!"
"Oh my god, that beautiful face… is it a girl!?"
"A girl? Impossible!"
"What! It's a girl!"
"But they speak as a male, so it's a boy!"
"Are you blind? It's a girl."
A heated discussion broke out among the readers.
They hadn't yet recovered from the shock of Zabuza waking from death, only to be stunned again when the shinobi, who claimed to be from the Hunter Missing-Nin team, removed his mask.
…
At that moment, Jiraiya finally felt the fog lift, that uneasy feeling he had after seeing Zabuza's "death." His sixth sense, honed over the years, told him something was wrong in that manga scene.
"As I expected… he was faking it… the bastard survived by playing dead."
Jiraiya was irritated seeing Kakashi's effort wasted, as a powerful enemy had pretended to die and escaped after receiving help.
Doesn't this mean he'll return for revenge?
"This is really at least an A-rank mission; that old bastard Tazuna must be held accountable…"
"Oh, he has a beautiful daughter, hehe~ Tsunami? Age 29?"
Jiraiya's mind wandered again, but when he saw the masked shinobi remove his mask, his expression froze.
"Very beautiful~ so it turns out it's a kunoichi…"
"Fool, it's a boy," Tsunade mocked Jiraiya.
"A boy? With that face? Not possible!"
"Seems like your years of experience went to waste, Jiraiya…"
Hearing that, Jiraiya nervously examined the boy's beautiful face on the manga page.
…
"So… just as I thought."
Elsewhere, Hiruzen, who had just recovered from the sense of imminent crisis caused by the manga, was re-engaged in the events.
The fast pace of the manga forced him to focus again; the events of the second volume were truly on a different level from the first, and Hiruzen couldn't take his eyes off the pages.
It wasn't just the third hokage—Danzo was also unable to look away from the manga, especially after feeling the danger this book might pose to him.
Beside him, Koharu and Hamura felt regret over Kakashi losing the perfect chance to kill the devil Zabuza.
After recalling what Zabuza had done during his graduation exam, he was already considered a devil. That crime was unforgivable, no matter his background or past; it did not justify killing a hundred students.
"Heh~ Zabuza also uses this child as a tool… He's rational, rebellious, and seems ambitious about returning to the Hidden Mist to change something he doesn't like there."
Danzo muttered, somewhat liking Zabuza's character, seeing a reflection of himself in him.
…
"Sigh~ good to hear he also won't be able to move for a week; at least that will let Kakashi fully prepare for the next clash."
Sakumo sighed lightly; he had anticipated this scenario, so he wasn't stunned.
Yet he worried about Zabuza exploiting Kakashi's current immobility to take them all out.
This was the world of shinobi: harsh, cold, and merciless. How many weak shinobi had defeated strong ones using tricks like these?
Many did in the past, and many would in the future.
Sakumo was shocked by how the battle unfolded but not overly impressed; as a high-level shinobi, he could see through many tricks and understand what even Kakashi at his current level in the manga could not.
"Dad… seems I felt happiness too early…"
Young Kakashi felt sad discovering the truth that Zabuza was still alive, and that his own effort, Naruto's, and the others' had been wasted.
"Don't worry, Kakashi is strong, Zabuza won't defeat him easily." Sakumo comforted his son.
"But he still has a strong assistant… that girl…" Young Kakashi pointed to the shinobi who saved Zabuza.
"He's a boy…" said Sakumo with a strange expression.
…
Unlike Konoha, the atmosphere in Kirigakure was extremely tense at this moment.
"What is this nonsense!"
"Turns out he's a traitor too!"
"That damn Zabuza! He's one of our seven swordsmen, his sword is the Kubikiribōchō! Why is he a missing ninja? Are you kidding me?"
The emotions of the Third Mizukage, Hōzuki Mizuro, were erupting like a constantly active volcano. His usually sharp mind was scattered; this manga was delivering shock after shock, leaving him unable to comprehend what was happening.
(Author's note: The Third Mizukage does not appear in canon; his name is an OC in this story.)
It had been an ordinary day, nearing its end, but since the moment the so-called Art Store appeared, even the village's mist had begun to lift!
The successive shocks brought by the Naruto manga seemed endless.
"Listen… your name is Uzumaki Rubiro, right? You will leave this place and take your store with you, or we will use military force to make you."
At that moment, the Third Mizukage's expression hardened slightly before he spoke coldly.
Meanwhile, Rob, speaking to him, was exhilarated by the torrent of art coins accumulating on him at that very moment.
"What worries you, Mizukage-sama?"
Rob's clone returned to his calm merchant demeanor and approached the Mizukage.
Rob had anticipated this. After all, in a strong village of the Five Great Nations, sneaking in, opening the Art Store secretly, and distributing the Naruto manga in both available volumes was enough to consider Rob an enemy… not just any enemy, but a national threat!
Yet Rob managed to reduce his perceived threat in the eyes of the Hidden Mist shinobi and the Mizukage to a harmless level through his superb merchant conduct. This was the advantage of his title: "Art Seller."
In the end, he overcame the crisis and sold his art to the Mizukage and his people.
But there was nothing he could do to change their opinions as readers.
The second volume of the Naruto manga struck deeply into everything concerning the Hidden Mist Village!
A history that hadn't happened yet— the village of bloody mist—how ridiculous, accusatory, and bullying it seemed to the Kirigakure leaders, enough to warrant Rob's execution.
"This is fiction, just fiction… It's entertainment, Mizukage-sama. What you'll see later in the manga will impress you, believe me."
Rob showed a bright smile as he said this.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 72: Manga Is Your Only Way to See the Depth of the Real World!
Chapter 73: A Harsh World for the Powerless. Kakashi, What's Your Story?
Chapter 74: Defining Chakra?
Chapter 75: The Five Types of Chakra – End of Volume Two!
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BlackStar_BH:
The chapters currently available on Patreon are up to Chapter 96.
There are 25 advanced chapters available now:
5 chapters in the Silver tier ($5 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Gold tier ($10 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Platinum tier ($15 subscription), and 5 more chapters in the Diamond tier ($20 subscription).
On Patreon and Ko-fi, too.
In the coming days, chapters will be made available for all tiers, reaching up to 50 advanced chapters… Enjoy!