Zoro's bounty hunting job finally resumes and he works diligently to hunt criminals. He targets ninjas that aren't too powerful but not too weak either to try a few things to improve his swordsmanship that feels stagnant.
It's hard to find the right solutions to improve his swordsmanship, so he just keeps trying. He also still trains in the Genjutsu World with Instructor Moss Head to find clues, but he just can't find anything.
"Hmm, maybe I need to fight with powerful swordsmen. The last time I fought against a swordsman was B and I learned a lot. Maybe because I have been fighting ninjas so many times that my fighting style is adapting with how ninja fights. If that's the case, then it's no wonder that I feel stagnant. It's not because I don't improve, but my swordsmanship is changing, adapting with my situations, so it doesn't feel stronger."
Zoro thinks like that after finding out that his battle style deviates a bit from what Instructor Moss Head taught him in Genjutsu World.
In the past, his style was like a copy of the original Zoro's style even if he applied techniques like Chakra Blades.
But now his movements are different even when they use the same skill while training in the Genjutsu World. That's why Zoro comes to that conclusion after thinking about it every day for a few weeks since he left Kumo.
"I need to fight powerful swordsmen to confirm it and it must be a real fight, not a sparring match like what I did with B."
But there are no powerful swordsmen worth his time and effort in the Bingo Books. Most ninjas don't use long weapons like swords and prefer short ones like Tanto or just use kunai that are easy to carry and can be used in narrow spaces.
Also, short weapons are more suitable for ninja missions that involve stealth and they are better for assassinations. Ninjas also prefer disposable weapons like kunais or shurikens, so there aren't many swordsmen among them.
"The most famous swordsmen are the 7 Swordsmen of Mist. But they aren't wanted, so fighting them means opposing Kirigakure. Hmm, well, not like it's a problem for me."
Zoro's impression of the current Kirigakure is really bad. He has claimed a bounty in Kiri once and he was very disappointed by their treatments.
Other villages often look down on independent Bounty Hunters. But at most they would just talk to him rudely and want him to leave quickly after giving him his rewards.
Even Kumo and Konoha were like that to him at first. Though he understood that they were being cautious of him because he is an outsider.
But Kirigakure was different. They were openly showing hostility to him and the ninjas they sent to monitor him weren't even hiding properly.
Worse, they even sent ninjas to follow him after he left Kiri until he entered a town quite far from Kiri. He really wanted to kill those ninjas, but it would be problematic if he can't move freely in the Land of Water because he becomes Kiri's enemy.
But now he doesn't care about such a thing anymore because not only does he never hunt any missing nins from Kiri after that, he also rarely goes to the Land of Water because it's an Archipelago Country, so the transportation is difficult.
"Those 7 Swordsmen, if I ever meet them, then I will surely fight them. I wonder just how strong they are. I'm looking forward to it."
Zoro knows they are strong, so he needs to prepare himself. He keeps training every day and hunts missing nins to polish his skills while gathering information about the 7 Swordsmen of Mist.
This will be his first time hunting people who are not wanted by their own village and labeled as criminals.
Zoro didn't want to hunt these types of people in the past, but now that he feels like hitting a wall, he decides to do it for his growth even if it means being a whole country's enemy.
It's not like he will run out of jobs even if he becomes Kirigakure's and the Land of Water's enemy anyway. He can always hunt criminals from other countries to get money.
Besides, if it really comes to that, he can just hunt ninjas from Kiri that are wanted by other villages. Also, Kiri's bad reputation as the Bloody Mist makes him unable to form a good relationship with them, so it doesn't really concern him.
Though Zoro still feels quite sorry for Kiri because they become Madara's pawns as their current Mizukage is being controlled by Black Zetsu and Obito.
Well, they are the idiots for letting something like that happen. There are many things that Kiri have suspected about their Mizukage being controlled by someone, but they don't even make a move and let themselves be controlled too.
Zoro wants to confront Obito and Black Zetsu before the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan succeeds. But he knows he still doesn't have enough power to confront them now.
So the best thing he can do now is get stronger and change things for a better future. He will just do what he can and wants without forcing himself too much.
Even if he knows that Naruto and Sasuke who are the Main Characters of this world will eventually defeat those villains, Zoro doesn't want to just sit still and wait to be saved.
Besides, his existence alone might change the future and he has changed some things too. So he isn't sure that everything will go according to the story at all.
"Well, I'm sure the main plots in the future won't change too much. After all, Madara's plan is really thorough. As long as Obito and Black Zetsu do everything according to the plan, then the main plots regarding Infinite Tsukuyomi won't change too much. Maybe how they execute their plan will change, but the big line will still be the same."
The Infinite Tsukuyomi plan is what Zoro worries the most. Other plots can change and he won't care, but the change of things regarding the Infinite Tsukuyomi might make things complicated.
Though it doesn't mean that he is afraid of the changes. He is just worried that things would get worse instead and he can't handle it.
"Well, let the future me solve the future problems. For now, I need to think of my current problems."
He might be worried, but he won't let his worry affect what he wants and needs to do. If the future he knows is changing, then he just needs to adapt and do everything based on the situation.
As long as he has the necessary power, then he can solve whatever happens in the future. That's why he is just as excited about the future just as he is worried about it.
Time flies again and it's been a few months since he resumed his bounty hunting. He has killed or captured some notorious criminals and received a lot of rewards.
Zoro also has visited Kumo twice and Konoha once in the last few months for bounty rewards, of course.
While in Kumo, he does some swordsmanship sparring matches against B. Both of them only use their swords to fight without any jutsu or chakra manipulation techniques to polish their basic swordsmanship abilities.
Those sparring matches actually confirm Zoro's speculation. His swordsmanship really doesn't get weaker, it just changes to adapt with his situations because his opponents are mostly ninjas, so his swordsmanship can't stay the same as the original Zoro.
It really lifts his spirit and makes him want to improve faster now. Although his most important task now is to complete his swordsmanship style that is being adapted to the Shinobi World.
That's why when he is in Konoha, he also asks Minato if he can do some sparring matches against strong ninjas to gain experience.
It's an unexpected request, so Minato is taken aback by it. He never thought that the 1st thing Zoro will ask after not seeing each other for months will be a fight.
"You won't refuse, right? I mean it's not a difficult request to grant to someone who has helped you a lot. Sigh, I can still feel the pain in my body when I fight the 9 Tailed-Fox and how I got attacked by Danzo's people. Ugh, when I think that I almost lost my young life in another country because of their mistakes."
Zoro says it with a pained tone, but his face doesn't show any pain at all. Minato is face palming, Tsunade tries to hold his laughter, Shikaku is stunned, and Fugaku is sighing at Zoro's bad act.
"Sigh, fine, I'll make some arrangements, so stop your bad joke. I'll contact you tomorrow."
"Nice. See you tomorrow then."
Zoro leaves the Hokage office as if he is just getting out of a classroom. But no one says anything because all of them are indebted to him.
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Chapter 77. Still Doesn't Work
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