"What do you mean, 'bald old pauper'?!"
"How am I 'down and out'?!"
Master Roshi roared furiously.
Crane Hermit ignored him, continuing instead to pressure Tien telepathically.
"Tien Shinhan! Kill that brat right now, or I'll disown you as my student!"
"Have you forgotten who made you what you are?"
His face twisted.
"Looks like I'll have to kill you myself, you ungrateful traitor."
A calm voice cut in beside him.
"Do you think your student would really be happy winning by such disgraceful means?"
Naruto had appeared next to Crane Hermit. With one hand he dispelled Chiaotzu's psychic hold, and with the other he gripped Crane Hermit's shoulder.
"What's it to you?!" Crane Hermit snapped, trying to shake him off—futilely.
"Who cares about methods? Winning is all that matters!"
"You call yourself a martial artist?" Naruto said sternly. "Then you should know how much a warrior's pride means. Once, you fought side by side with Master Roshi against King Piccolo."
"By rights, I should be calling you a hero."
Roshi had once said that he and Crane Hermit had joined forces long ago to oppose the demon king who tried to rule the world.
So once, Crane Hermit hadn't been such a wretch.
"Hero? I don't need such a useless title."
Unable to break free, Crane Hermit threw a furious punch at Naruto—but Naruto caught it easily.
"Martial artists? Only fools waste their lives on that nonsense!" Crane Hermit spat, eyes behind his sunglasses locking with Naruto's.
Then, suddenly, he froze—his expression softened, and his voice sank into a distant murmur, as if trapped in old memories.
"Hundreds of years ago, that terrifying demon king descended on the world, slaughtering martial artists everywhere. When word spread, every disciple in our dojo fled. In the end, only that timid old turtle and I remained…"
As Crane Hermit spoke, the long-buried history of Earth's darkest era for martial artists began to unfold.
A time when an unmatched demon ruled the world.
"In the end, after countless struggles, we finally defeated the fiends. Our master, Mutaito, sacrificed himself to seal the demon king, and the old turtle sank the seal deep beneath the sea."
"I swore then to carry on the dojo's name, to spread the way of martial arts across the world…"
His face twisted with bitterness.
"But do you know what happened? Barely a year later, no one even remembered Master Mutaito's name—no one remembered what he'd done."
"Only the old turtle and I still remembered."
"From that day on, I understood. All that talk about saving mankind, about world peace—it's all bullshit!"
"The only right way to live is for yourself!"
"To hell with being a martial artist—if you're going to do something, then—"
He suddenly jolted, clarity returning to his eyes.
"Damn it! What did you do to me?!"
A genjutsu, Naruto thought. Uzumaki Naruto's illusion technique—designed to draw out a person's true thoughts.
He wasn't particularly skilled with illusions, so keeping it up this long was already impressive.
After all, with his mastery of Yang Release, dabbling a bit in Yin-based illusions wasn't too far-fetched.
"I think Master Mutaito didn't sacrifice himself just so people would remember him," Naruto said gently.
"Maybe he did it for his disciples—just as Master Roshi later gave his life sealing King Piccolo and left the future to you and Tien."
Perhaps Mutaito, too, had chosen self-sacrifice for the same reason—to leave hope to the next generation.
That was the true meaning of martial-arts inheritance.
Roshi had carried that torch forward—and passed it down again.
"You know nothing!" Crane Hermit barked.
Centuries of resentment couldn't be washed away by a few words.
This was the Dragon Ball world—talk-no-jutsu didn't come with a buff here.
Should Mutaito be respected?
Yes.
Was it wrong for the world to forget him?
Yes.
Just like the Z-Fighters—every time they saved the planet, how many people ever knew?
Was that fair?
No.
But did they ever resent it?
No.
They simply smiled and moved on. That was who they were.
Naruto understood Crane Hermit's pain, though.
When the teacher you revered is forgotten by the world and you're powerless to change it—of course there's bitterness.
But that still didn't excuse letting his brother, Tao Pai Pai, slaughter innocents unchecked.
"Crane Hermit-senpai," Naruto said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder, "take some time to reflect."
Then he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.
A black vortex swallowed Crane Hermit, and he vanished.
After defeating Kaguya, Naruto had taken time to learn the Fourth Hokage's teleportation jutsu. Compared with true interstellar teleportation, Flying Thunder God was simple.
But since Naruto had only recently arrived in the Dragon Ball world, he hadn't yet placed any teleportation marks—so this time, the destination was random.
At least Crane Hermit could fly, so his life wasn't in danger.
Elsewhere in the world…
A black whirlpool opened in mid-air and, like spitting out a seed, ejected Crane Hermit—headfirst.
CLANG!
"Ow, ow, ow!" he groaned, clutching the enormous bump forming on his head as he squatted in pain.
Then he felt something poking him.
Looking up, he saw a little purple-haired girl with round glasses staring at him curiously. She wore overalls and a red cap with tiny wings sprouting from each side.
"Aiyo-yo! What are you?" she asked brightly, pointing toward the sky.
"Why'd you fall from up there?"
"None of your business!" Crane Hermit snapped, muttering under his breath. "That damn brat—next time I see him, I'll give him a real lesson!"
"He-yo-yo!" the girl chirped, grinning ear to ear. "My name's Arale! Nice to meet you!"
Maybe it was something in her cheerful tone, but Crane Hermit found himself replying automatically,
"I'm Crane Hermit."
A beat later, realization hit him.
"Wait—no! You annoying brat, who said I wanted to meet you?!"
"Ahahaha!" Arale burst out laughing. Her mouth, nearly as big as her eyes, stretched into a huge grin.
Then she rummaged behind her back as if searching for something.
"Here, this is for you!" she said, holding something out to him.
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