"Ah, thank you—"
Crane Hermit took the object reflexively from Arale's hand and thanked her politely. Only when it was already in his hand did he realize something was off.
"Wait a minute—who said I wanted your stuff?! What even is this?!"
It was a wooden stick.
And on top of it sat a pink, lumpy object.
When Crane Hermit leaned in for a closer look, the pink lump sprouted eyes and a mouth and greeted him cheerfully.
"Yo! Hello there! I'm Poop!"
"What?!"
Startled out of his wits, Crane Hermit yelped and flung the strange, talking pink blob as far as he could.
"Aiyo-yo!"
"You little brat—trying to mess with me?!"
Furious and humiliated, Crane Hermit glared at Arale, his killing intent overflowing. He extended one finger toward her.
"Dodonpa!"
A sharp beam of golden light burst from his fingertip, shooting straight into Arale's chest. The force knocked her backward, sending her crashing to the ground.
"Hmph. Ignorant child. That should have been enough to end your life."
Snorting coldly, Crane Hermit turned and walked away without another glance.
The idea that anyone could survive his Dodon Ray was absurd. She was just some random countryside brat, after all.
But behind him—Arale stood up, brushing the dust off herself as if nothing had happened.
"That damn Tien betrayed me… That blond brat, that long-tailed brat—they'll all pay."
"To deal with those guys, I'll need to find Tao Pai Pai first."
Lost in his bitter thoughts of revenge, Crane Hermit didn't notice the growing danger right behind him.
"Wow, that was so cool!"
"?!!"
The sudden voice froze him mid-step. He spun around as if he'd seen a ghost—and sure enough, there stood Arale, perfectly fine, grinning brightly. His eyes bulged so wide that even his sunglasses could barely contain them.
"Y–you're not dead?!"
"Yup! I can do it too!" Arale said, laughing heartily as she pointed at him. She took a deep breath—then shouted:
"Gooood Morning!!!"
From her mouth erupted an enormous energy blast, swallowing Crane Hermit whole.
Just as he thought he was done for, the energy wave dissipated.
A puff of black smoke escaped his lips as the once-white Crane Hermit was left completely charred, his skin darkened like a cartoon silhouette. Then—he toppled over.
"Something's wrong with this place…" he muttered weakly.
"A little girl with that kind of power… a talking pile of poop… I need to get out of here!"
Using every ounce of strength he had left, Crane Hermit lifted off the ground with Bukujutsu, his flight technique. His body wobbled unsteadily in the air.
"Ahahaha! So cool!" Arale laughed again, pointing up at him. To Crane Hermit's ears, her laughter sounded like the cackling of a demon.
And sure enough—Arale suddenly bent her knees, kicked off the ground, and launched herself like a rocket straight at him.
Her headbutt landed squarely in his gut.
For a moment, Crane Hermit felt as though every meal he'd eaten that week was about to come back up. The impact sent him crashing from the sky, face-first into the dirt.
"Aiyo-yo, he fell again!" Arale giggled, poking him with her little stick once more.
Crane Hermit tried to crawl away—but Arale grabbed him by the leg.
"Let's play!"
Her cheerful laughter echoed as she dragged the miserable Crane Hermit across the ground.
Poor old hermit.
Meanwhile, at the World Martial Arts Tournament, the match between Goku and Tien Shinhan had just ended.
Goku, thanks to sheer bad luck, lost by the slimmest of margins.
But through the fight, the two had gained mutual respect.
They had tested each other, and both recognized the other's strength.
"Next match—Naruto versus Krillin!"
Naruto and Krillin stepped onto the ring together.
Krillin's mind raced:
My strength is roughly equal to Yamcha's. This guy beat Yamcha easily… which means he could beat me just as easily.
I can't fight him head-on. I need to keep my distance.
Krillin's power level was about the same as Yamcha's, but in a real fight, Yamcha would lose. Unlike Yamcha's flashy, showy techniques, Krillin was a pure pragmatist.
He didn't care about looking cool.
He cared about what worked best.
If a move was effective, he used it.
If a strategy yielded results, he followed it.
From the first exchange, Naruto grasped his opponent's fighting rhythm.
Krillin moved like an eel—slippery, agile, darting in and out of range, never letting Naruto catch him head-on.
"You're smart," Naruto said after a series of quick exchanges. "You think fast, adapt faster, and you understand your own limits. You know when to strike—and that's your strength."
"With that kind of fighting style, you can pull out 120% of your potential… maybe even more."
Even this early in the Dragon Ball timeline, Krillin already had a distinct style—unorthodox, cunning, endlessly inventive.
Back in the last tournament, he had even hidden a pair of panties to distract "Jackie Chun" (Roshi in disguise), nearly catching him off guard. If not for the huge gap in power, Krillin might've actually won by surprise.
Later arcs would showcase his brilliance even more:
In the Saiyan Saga and the Frieza Saga, Krillin's Destructo Disc became one of the most lethal techniques in the series.
When he first used it—with barely a power level over 1,000—he nearly killed Nappa, whose power dwarfed his own.
Later, with a power level in the tens of thousands, he even sliced off Frieza's second-form tail—whose strength was over a hundred times his own.
If not for the ridiculous power scaling of Dragon Ball Z's later arcs, Krillin would've remained a top-tier fighter.
"Of course, you've got weaknesses too," Naruto continued mid-fight.
"Being cautious isn't wrong for a martial artist—but if you're too cautious…"
"Then you stop being a real warrior."
"You've got to be flexible when needed—but when it's time to go all-in, you go all-in!"
"A fighter should never lose his will to advance."
Naruto moved like a coach—dodging, countering, and teaching all at once.
From the stands, Master Roshi chuckled softly, shaking his head.
"That kid… he's not fighting, he's lecturing," Roshi murmured.
"I don't know who you are, or what your goal is—but I should thank you on behalf of my two useless students."
Krillin and Yamcha had always been two of Naruto's favorite characters back in his previous life—along with Piccolo, Tien, and the rest of the Z-Fighters.
It had always saddened him that, in later Dragon Ball arcs, they were reduced to bystanders—barely even background extras.
Dragon Ball was a magnificent world—especially in its early years, full of wonder, humor, and adventure. That sense of discovery had captivated Naruto deeply.
Looking at it now, he thought—
If fighters like Tien and the others hadn't given up on martial arts, if they had kept training despite the power gap… maybe they could've caught up to the Saiyans.
After all, Tien once managed to suppress Second-Form Cell with his Neo Tri-Beam—something even base-form Super Saiyans struggled to do.
In one famous Dragon Ball fan manga—Super Dimensional Battle—there's even a universe where no Saiyans exist, and Earth's defenders, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien, defeat Frieza, the Androids, and even Majin Buu themselves.
Who says Earthlings are weak?
Naruto's goal was to train th
em early—to see if Earth's mightiest humans could once again stand among the first ranks.
Because—
The Earth shouldn't belong only to the Saiyans.
And it should never belong only to the Super Saiyans.
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