"Is it outrageous?" Crossing his arms over his chest, he gradually came to stand beside Sean, glancing at the young man. A touch of pallor had quietly crept onto Sean's rosy face. Obviously, the continuous use of the Rinnegan and Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands had taken a significant toll on Sean himself.
Fortunately...
'It's over. I've sensed that the opponent no longer has the will to fight.'
"Hoho. Not fighting, not fighting. You brat, you really don't have any awareness of respecting the old and cherishing the young! You're exactly the same as your grandfather." From the center where golden light and crimson aura threads intertwined, Netero crawled out of the deep pit in a sorry state. The Chairman blew into his beard and stared, covered in dust. Where was the air of a master?
He looked more like an old man who collected scraps; his well-fitted martial arts uniform had several tears, revealing the withered skin beneath.
"Don't you look fine?"
"A few superficial wounds can't shake your foundation, old man."
'I even used the Zero Hand, what more do you want?' Netero glared at Sean, feeling both angry and amused. "Keep your Eight Inner Gates and Chibaku Tensei to beat up your grandfather. This old man won't keep you company today!"
No. He definitely wouldn't keep him company anymore.
This brat who hid his light under a bushel had so many trump cards it felt like there was no end to them. Did he really take Netero for a fool who would fall for a trap?
He gave up cleanly and decisively, leaving Sean with a desolate retreating figure.
"What a pity." Hashirama smacked his lips, glancing at Netero. "When you get old, your qi and blood inevitably decay. This is a natural law. Otherwise..." The First Hokage turned his head and spoke deeply to Sean, "If he were in his prime, kid, you might not have necessarily had it so easy."
Sean didn't make a sound. He watched Netero walk toward Menchi, rubbed his fingers to dismiss the True Several Thousand Hands, and landed lightly on the ground side by side with Hashirama.
Once the great battle started, there was no holding back. Looking around... trees were gone. Stones were shattered. The ground was covered in potholes and cratered rings. After being plowed successively by Netero and Sean, this mountain forest in front of the warehouse had run into bloody bad luck, looking as if it had been gnawed by a dog. There wasn't a single good spot left.
So...
"Stop saying 'what if', Mr. Hashirama. There aren't that many 'otherwises' in the world, only winners and losers!"
The winner takes all. If you lose... no excuse is useful. Netero's qi and blood were decaying and he wasn't at his peak, but was Sean at his peak right now?
After Pot Shadow Ninja and Pirate King, have you heard of Doraemon?
The corner of Sean's mouth hooked upward diagonally. He patted Hashirama's shoulder gently. "There is always someone better than you, and there is always a heaven beyond heaven. Don't let that fart-sized place called Konoha limit your horizons, Mr. Hashirama. I think I've told you more than once that this world is very big and very wonderful."
"Heh. The brat is lecturing me now." Hashirama looked at Sean with amusement. "When are we going to the Dark Continent? Take this old man to open his eyes. I want to see how that place compares to the Otsutsuki clan's territory."
'That place is stronger by more than just a little bit. Have you heard of the Five Great Calamities?' Sean curled his lips and stepped forward to follow Netero. "The exam isn't over yet, Mr. Hashirama."
"In other words..." Sean smiled. "Welcome, Lord Hokage, to the exam venue to give guidance."
"Bullshit! You brat are just mocking me." Hashirama laughed and scolded, "Cut the crap. Where are the noodles? Where are this old man's noodles?"
'Tch. As if I lack those few bowls of noodles for you?' Extending his consciousness into the spatial dimension, Sean flipped his hand and pulled a few bowls of noodles from the sea of clouds, tossing them to Hashirama. The First Hokage shouted in heartache, "You brat, don't spill them!"
He caught the noodles and slurped them while following Sean's footsteps. After his "capacity" broke the limit, "Sage" was also evolving step by step as Sean's strength increased. Now, the extended consciousness space could accommodate Hashirama, allowing him to stay in the Hunter x Hunter world for two days.
Hashirama was incredibly satisfied with the current situation. Holding the ramen bowl, he passed straight through Netero's body like a ghost.
Whoosh.
It was as if a yin wind had poured into his body.
Netero's expression froze. He suddenly felt his body go cold and immediately sensed something was wrong. He stopped and looked back alertly. Aside from Sean nodding faintly at him with an expressionless face, there was nothing there. It was truly strange.
'Could it be that this old man is overthinking it? Or is that wretched old man Maha still peeping?'
A master's intuition was always sharp. Netero raised his eyebrows and glanced at the clock hanging above the warehouse door. The electronic arc flickering in the core of the watch clearly captured his face and projected it onto Maha's face.
"What are you looking at? Losing to my grandson isn't shameful. Brat... this can be considered punishment for you taking Zigg to sneak onto the Dark Continent back then." Maha smiled triumphantly and spoke without turning his head to Beans, who was playing dead on the floor. "Stop pretending to be dead. Get up and work."
Uh. Beans lay motionless, determined that as long as the old man didn't leave, he wouldn't get up. Unfortunately, his wishful thinking fell through. Maha raised a foot and stomped lightly on the floor.
Boom.
The entire office seemed to shake, bouncing Beans directly off the ground.
"Ouch." 'What is the old man doing now?' Beans cried out in pain, grabbed the sofa to barely stand up, and tremblingly refilled the tea in the cup in front of Maha.
"Hmm... that's more like it." Maha retracted his foot and lay down with satisfaction. Before going to sleep, he glanced at the TV again. following Netero's "inadvertent" glance, Sean had just dismissed his Rinnegan and looked over with a faint smile, mouthing silently: "Just wait. One more year... and it's your turn."
Maha's eyelids twitched fiercely. The triumphant smile that had just emerged on his old face instantly melted away. It changed into a look of irritation.
"Hmph. You beat a piece of trash and now you're floating, is that it?"
"One year is one year, this old man is waiting for you!"
The old man lay on the sofa, tossing and turning, suddenly unable to sleep.
And having lost the attention of this old thing... Netero frowned and muttered in a low voice:
"Hmm... did this old man really feel it wrong?"
The Chairman stroked his beard, suspicious of ghosts and gods, then turned and walked toward the warehouse.
He noticed the abnormality.
Hashirama watched Netero walk toward Menchi, his mouth bulging as he mumbled indistinctly, "Hey, Sean. That old man seems to have noticed me."
"Just don't look at him, won't that work?" Sean rolled his eyes at Hashirama. "Actually, you don't need to speak to me so quietly. Others can't hear you anyway."
Hashirama nodded. "That's true too."
He was just a phantom of will... it was fundamentally impossible to be seen.
The reason Netero could discover the anomaly was rather that he discovered a gaze watching him, and that was all.
"Let's go. I'll treat you to boiled eggs later."
Hashirama smiled. "That sounds good. At least you have some conscience, kid."
Then he realized something was wrong. 'Real eggs? How can a projection of will like me eat those!'
'Kid, you're playing me like a dog, aren't you? Truly hateful.'
"Haha." Overjoyed laughter drifted over. Hashirama watched the boy's cheerful figure, shook his head with a laugh, floated his body, and followed closely by Sean's side.
"Hello, Ben An sensei!"
"Ben An sensei, you are too cool!"
After the aftershocks subsided, order returned... Sean returned to the group of examiners and was instantly surrounded by Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, and a crowd of manga fans!
He rarely enjoyed such... hero-like treatment.
"Ho. This kid is quite supported by the people." Hashirama noticed this scene. Sean's popularity surprised him somewhat.
"Hehe. Hello." "Hello to you too." "It was just average..."
Sigh! Making such a fuss over fighting Netero. Indeed. "In my eyes, you are even more powerful than Pirate King Roger!"
"Right, right. Ben An sensei is being humble. Those Hokages and Marine Admirals are just a pile of dog shit compared to you."
"Look at those names—Dog, Chicken, Monkey. They aren't even acting human anymore. How can they be worthy of comparing to Ben An sensei?"
Hashirama: "..."
The chopsticks slurping noodles paused. He coughed dryly and said:
"Ahem. This old man seems to have heard something incredible. Sean, can you explain this to me?"
What Hokage, Pirate King... 'I am sure I didn't travel to the wrong world, right?'
Could this still be the Naruto world... and this wetland beneath his feet just some unknown depression in the Hidden Rain Village?
Hashirama was instantly a bit confused. He looked at Sean with a ghostly gaze.
Sean: "..."
He touched the bridge of his nose awkwardly, coughed dryly, and said to Hashirama through his consciousness, "Actually, it's nothing much."
"I just drew the events that happened in the world you live in, Teacher, into a manga and spread it, that's all."
'Hmm?' Hashirama stared dumbfounded at Sean. 'Is that the main point? No...' "You brat, you didn't draw this old man's dark history and release it, did you?"