Visitors from the Navy (Seeking Monthly Votes, Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The Empress briefly recounted what had just happened to Shisui, then added with some reluctance.

"A pity—that guy's strength wasn't much, but he sure could run. He vanished from the spot in an instant."

"Vanished from the spot?" Shisui frowned.

"Your Majesty must be talking about Obito. How did that bastard follow us here?"

Uchiha Yoru's voice suddenly rang out.

Then Yoru, Fugaku, and the others appeared before everyone in an instant.

An orange spiral mask, a Sharingan, and a habit of stirring up trouble.

It had to be Obito, no doubt about it.

"Can Obito's Space-Time ability freely travel between different worlds?"

Fugaku's brow furrowed deeply.

He was too satisfied with the current state of the Uchiha Clan—no external enemies lurking, no internal suspicion, the entire clan thriving and moving forward. This was his ideal Uchiha.

Fugaku was terrified of someone coming to ruin it all.

"Probably not. I remember Obito's Space-Time ability isn't that strong," Uchiha Yoru recalled.

More likely, Obito had followed the Space-Time passage opened by his own Amenomikado.

Imagine each world as a separate room, each covered in black cloth.

Obito's Space-Time ability could pierce through that black cloth, creating his own Kamui Dimension behind it.

But beyond the black cloth lay solid bricks. Obito's power couldn't break through the strong barriers between different rooms—he'd just smash into the bricks.

As for his left eye's Amenomikado ability, it opened an absolute passage between different rooms, piercing both the black cloth and the bricks behind it.

When he brought the Uchiha Clan to the Pirate World, he'd briefly left an absolute passage at the Naka Shrine.

Now, Obito used his own ability to pierce the black cloth and followed the passage Yoru left behind to reach the Pirate World.

But worlds had a restorative nature.

Without the support of Yoru's Amenomikado ability, that passage would gradually shrink until it vanished completely.

If Uchiha Yoru wasn't mistaken, could it be that Obito couldn't go back?!

But what was that bastard up to?

No movement for months, then suddenly popping out today?

"You fought?" Yoru pressed, looking at the Empress.

"Hmph, that guy coveted Shisui's eyes. I had to teach him a lesson,"

the Empress said bitterly. "I petrified one of his arms. He must be badly injured!"

Hearing this, Yoru immediately gave orders, dispatching elite squads to conduct a grid search centered on Kuja Island, while asking the Empress to command the Kuja Warriors to help watch for unfamiliar faces.

Of course, these were all overt search forces.

Yoru knew that if Obito hid in the Kamui Dimension, even turning Kuja Island upside down would be useless.

So in secret, Yoru didn't sit idle either. He stealthily followed the search squads, using his Space-Time ability to comb through Kuja Island inch by inch.

Yet, days passed, and the search yielded nothing.

Neither the Uchiha elites nor the Kuja Warriors familiar with the terrain found any trace of Obito.

Uchiha Yoru stood by the sea, gazing at the vast ocean:

"Could that bastard Obito have been scared and fled straight out to sea?"

No way, no way. Was he really that cowardly?

But thinking about Obito's personality, the guy really didn't seem to have much guts.

In the original story, he had an incredibly powerful Mangekyo, no fear of going blind from overuse, and inherited a pile of Madara's leftovers.

Yet he was still cowed by Itachi—wouldn't dare make a move until Itachi was dead.

A total coward!

Actually, back on the night of the massacre, Yoru's tone toward Obito had been harsh, and he kept exposing his secrets.

But that was entirely because the situation was urgent, Uchiha Yoru was irritable, and he didn't have the time to convince Obito.

Now that he thought about it, Obito really hadn't done anything truly heinous yet.

Well, killing his master didn't count—killing the Fourth Hokage had nothing to do with the Uchiha.

Now that the massacre night hadn't happened, Obito's corruption was Madara's doing. The poor fool was still kept in the dark.

As the Uchiha clan head, Yoru was actually willing to give Obito a chance.

Tell him the truth about Rin's death and see how he chose.

Even if he didn't want to return to the Uchiha, if he honestly admitted his mistakes and offered some benefits, Yoru wouldn't be opposed to letting him go back to the Hokage World.

Why are you running?

How strange.

Just as the Uchiha Clan was on high alert due to Obito's appearance, a naval warship flying a seagull flag was slowly sailing toward the waters of Kuja Island.

On the deck stood Vice Admiral Momonga, his face stern, a cigar clamped between his lips. He had been dispatched by the World Government to deliver the latest conscription order to one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Boa Hancock.

However, when the warship reached about five kilometers from the coast of Kuja Island, a lookout suddenly shouted, "Vice Admiral, there's someone in the waters ahead!!"

"This is the Calm Belt. How could there be a ship? Are you sure you're not seeing things?" Rear Admiral Shark, standing behind Vice Admiral Momonga, questioned before the latter could speak.

Sea Kings roamed rampant in the Calm Belt. Aside from their naval warship, equipped with the latest Seastone Technology that allowed it to come and go freely, it was nearly impossible for any ordinary vessel to operate here.

"No, it's not a ship. It's a person. A person standing on the sea. He's just standing there on the water!!"

The lookout rubbed his eyes hard, unable to believe what he was seeing, and confirmed again, his voice cracking from shock.

"What?!"

Even Vice Admiral Momonga furrowed his brow. He quickly strode to the ship's railing, picked up a telescope, and looked toward the direction the soldier had pointed.

There, on the mirror-like surface of the Calm Belt, stood a young man in a black short-sleeved outfit, with a strange crest resembling a table tennis racket printed on his back. He stood silently, his feet planted firmly on the sea, rising and falling gently with the barely perceptible waves.

It was as if the sea beneath him—a place that had swallowed countless lives—was solid ground.

He looked young, with a clean, handsome face that still carried a hint of boyishness. But his eyes were eerily calm, betraying no emotion as he stared straight at them with a blank expression.

"Really... standing on the sea?"

Rear Admiral Shark saw it too and sucked in a sharp breath.

Was he a Devil Fruit user? Or some kind of new technology?

Vice Admiral Momonga lowered the telescope, his expression grave. He had a sharp intuition that this suddenly appearing young man was no ordinary person, and that his intentions might not be friendly.

Just then, the young man on the sea moved. Without using any tools, he stepped across the water as if strolling on flat ground, unhurriedly walking toward the warship.

His speed seemed slow, but within a few breaths, the distance between them had already shrunk considerably.

"On alert!"

Vice Admiral Momonga immediately gave the order, and all the naval soldiers swiftly moved into combat positions. Cannons and rifles were aimed at the steadily approaching figure.