Just as everyone said, it really had been padded out. Salted Fish could feel it too.
There was no helping it. This part should originally have been split up, but because the ninja world arc had been moved forward, the follow-up had not been planned properly. The earlier parts could not connect, and the later parts could not continue, so the only option was to patch it up as quickly as possible.
So all the patches had been crammed together. It was too rushed, a bit here and a bit there, resulting in nothing being explained properly. It really did feel padded when read!
There were still two patches left. Once they were done, things should get a little better afterward.
Salted Fish was not in the right state today, so I was taking a day off to sort through the plot and think about how to handle what came next better—and faster!