Among the twelve universes, four were deemed qualified and eight were not. To say the Seventh Universe ranked fourth-from-last was, frankly, no longer accurate. Thanks to the timely assistance of their neighbors serving as convenient benchmarks, they had shed their place at the bottom of the barrel. Among the eight underperforming universes, the Seventh now ranked fifth from the top — a genuine improvement.
The Grand Minister summoned Supreme Kai Shin to Grand Zeno's Palace once more, offering him a warm and thorough commendation. At the same time, the Supreme Kai of the Tenth Universe — that sallow-faced, gaunt old senior, Gowasu — received a round of earnest, friendly... encouragement.
Progress deserves praise; failure deserves criticism. So get moving already, won't you?
Old Kai Gowasu had every intention of pulling himself together — but the problem was Zamasu. The man's confidence and sense of justice were nothing short of volcanic.
The depravity and rot of the Demon Realm was simply beyond his tolerance. That festering pit of sin was, quite frankly, an affront to every belief he held dear. The Apprentice Supreme Kai erupted into a fierce argument with his teacher, declaring in no uncertain terms that he could not and would not tolerate evil in any form.
I didn't know before. But now I do. And now that I know, I will destroy evil. It's that simple. There's nothing more to say.
War meant casualties? Zamasu couldn't have cared less.
His creed was the eradication of evil — not the protection of intelligent life. As far as he was concerned, those were two entirely different things.
Old Kai Gowasu found himself at a loss for words. Did the Supreme Kais of other universes lack a sense of justice? Of course not — they simply minded their own business. Now the Tenth Universe had thrust itself into the spotlight, becoming the vanguard of resistance against the Demon Realm, and everyone was applauding from the sidelines. He genuinely didn't know how to talk his most promising disciple down from this.
The young man's intelligence and capacity for action were both exceptional. The counteroffensives he spoke of weren't empty words — he had already put them into practice.
Thanks entirely to Zamasu, the Tenth Universe had drawn the lion's share of the Demon Realm's attention. For the remaining universes — including the Seventh — the intensity of the conflict dropped sharply.
On the Blue Planet, the Demon Clan had managed to occupy the offshore territories: the Land of Water, the Land of Waves, the Land of Whirlpools, and the southern Land of Moon. Using a chain of islands, they had formed a partial encirclement of the continent — but they had launched no further large-scale invasion. The bulk of their forces had been redeployed to the Tenth Universe.
The ninja villagers, for their part, were stabilizing internally, rebuilding their strength, and making no major counter-offensive push of their own.
Ino, as an Apprentice Supreme Kai, was not the guardian of a single planet like the Blue Planet — the entire universe demanded her attention. The Otsutsuki God had only provided the Blue Planet as one set of coordinates; there were still plenty of collaborators scattered elsewhere. The Seventh Universe currently had four active fronts, and the Blue Planet was just one of them.
As an Apprentice Supreme Kai, Ino lacked Zamasu's flair for the dramatic, but she was far from derelict in her duties. She made her rounds across the various battlefields, redistributing supplies and personnel as needed, providing support to the other three fronts.
The Seventh Universe's war against the Demon Clan simmered along at a low, steady burn — which at least gave her the free time to sit back and enjoy the spectacle of Zamasu's drama.
"Heh. Zamasu wants to lead the Tenth Universe's top fighters and raid the Demon Realm directly?" When the news reached Ino through Supreme Kai Shin, she was genuinely puzzled.
In all honesty, aside from Zamasu himself, she couldn't recall a single notable fighter from the Tenth Universe — including their performance in the Tournament of Power later on, which had been decidedly unremarkable, with no standout figures to speak of.
Shin gave a gentle nod. "Senior Gowasu tried to dissuade him, but the young Apprentice Supreme Kai is set in his ways. He intends to sweep the Demon Realm clean using his own power."
Ino smiled and said nothing. This Zamasu really does love taking things on himself. How long has the Demon Realm existed? The higher-ups haven't managed to deal with it in all that time — and you, a Supreme Kai who still hasn't even taken off his apprentice badge, are going to wipe it out? Where does that leave your seniors' dignity?
She chose not to wade into the matter any further.
Zamasu sent out invitations to the other universes affected by the Demon Realm's invasion, requesting their assistance in a campaign to purge it. What he actually wanted, of course, was for the Supreme Kais of other universes to personally join the war — but how was that ever going to happen?
The reason Shin had dared enter the Demon Realm before was threefold: first, because Ino was capable enough to keep him alive; second, because he was young and easy to nudge into things; and third, because his fate was bound to Destroyer Beerus's — if Shin died, Beerus died too — yet Whis had chosen not to intervene. The other universes weren't in the same situation. The moment a Supreme Kai fell in battle, their Destroyer would follow. Who in their right mind would let their universe's Supreme Kai go gallivanting around on a whim? And if something went wrong, who would take the blame?
As for asking the Destroyers to go purge the Demon Realm themselves — Zamasu simply didn't have that kind of pull.
The several universes affected by the Demon Clan's invasions — the Seventh included — all sent substantial material support to the Tenth Universe. You must hold the line! The more enemies you draw, the safer the rest of us are!
Zamasu was, to his credit, genuinely formidable. His teacher Gowasu also carried the fate-link that would drag his own Destroyer down with him should he die — meaning Old Kai couldn't move recklessly, but Zamasu could. Over the span of half a year, he launched three raids into the Demon Realm, battering Dabura into an absolute frenzy. For the sake of the Demon Realm King's pride, there was no choice but to keep pouring more troops into the Tenth Universe. Both sides were locked in a blazing, all-out war.
In the midst of it all, Ino carved out a moment to check in on Earth.
Piccolo's arrangement had been elegantly orchestrated. When Son Goku returned home to rest, he walked in to find Son Gohan critically wounded by Bojack, and his second son Son Goten taken hostage. The Saiyan erupted in fury. The fighting spirit of his youth — the same fire that had once driven him to clash with King Piccolo and Vegeta — blazed back to life in an instant.
Blue lightning crackled across his entire body. He transformed into Super Saiyan 2 and obliterated Bojack with a single punch.
Vegeta, thoroughly shaken and provoked, handed diaper duty and childcare off to Bulma and threw himself back into solitary, grueling training.
...
Through four years of steady, unrelenting investment — food, clothes, handbags, jewelry — Ino's relationship with Vados had grown warmer and warmer.
Four full years of searching, and Ino had finally tracked down all three Super Dragon Balls within the Sixth Universe.
Android 16 had convinced the metal man Auta Magetta, claiming the planet beneath his feet in the process. The other two Super Dragon Balls had been found on uninhabited worlds with no owners to speak of.
Ino then located the final Super Dragon Ball at the border between the Sixth and Seventh Universes.
And with that, all seven Super Dragon Balls were gathered.
Did finding them mean they were hers to use? Not quite.
Whether it was the Earth's Dragon Balls, the Namekian Dragon Balls, or the Super Dragon Balls — the prerequisite for using them was always the same: they all had to be brought together in one place. Separated by an entire universe, they were completely unusable.
Even with Ino's considerable power, pushing the three Super Dragon Balls of the Seventh Universe and the three of the Sixth Universe out beyond their respective universes — then gathering them on the nameless planet where the seventh one resided — had taken the better part of half a year.
Moving planets was no easy feat. Fortunately, her current strength was just enough to get the job done — barely.
Push for a while, then pull with gravity. Then push again. Like a tireless laborer hauling freight across impossible distances, she endured every hardship and obstacle until, at last, the seven Super Dragon Balls scattered across two universes were piled together in one place.
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