A few days later.

The new issue of POO Studio’s comic magazine went on sale.

The newly serialized comic had officially landed.

..

Naruto.

Chapter 1: Uzumaki Naruto.

Once upon a time, there lived a fox spirit with nine tails who was so powerful that a shake of the tails resulted in landslides and tsunamis.

The suffering people gathered the greatest shinobi clans to fight this menace.

One ninja risked his life to imprison the demon’s soul. In doing so, he laid down his life.

That shinobi was the Fourth Hokage.

“Lord Hokage!”

“What’s wrong? Some new outrage by Naruto, I presume?”

“That young devil is graffitiing the mountainside images of all the heroes of our village—your honored forebears! In PAINT!”

..

Online.

“Have you read One Piece yet?”

“I read it yesterday. It was really exciting!”

“It’s getting better and better.”

“I’m only reading Shōnen Magazine now. I no longer buy the other comic magazines.”

“Me too, it’s all about One Piece now.”

“I read a very amazing comic today!”

“Which one?”

“It’s called Naruto!”

“I’ve never heard of that before.”

“It’s a new serialization by POO Studios. The first chapter was just released, and it’s fantastic. If you haven’t read it yet, hurry up and go read it. You definitely won’t regret it. It’s as good as One Piece!”

“I’ve read it too. It’s so damn good!”

“Yeah, there are so many hot-blooded scenes in the first chapter!”

“There’s comedy, emotion, and hot-bloodedness. It’s awesome!”

“I have a feeling that Naruto will be popular!”

“This new serialization from POO Studios is too strong!”

“Are you serious? I’ll go have a look!”

On this day.

POO Studios released the popularity poll results for their serializations. The newly serialized Naruto actually crushed all of the other titles by an overwhelming margin to take first place in the poll! What did an overwhelming margin mean? It meant that it had gotten three times as many votes as the title that came in at second place! This sort of crushing was almost never seen before at the level of the large-scale comic publishers. Even One Piece did not manage such a result at Shōnen Publishing!

For a moment, the entire industry turned its attention to them.

However, it was just their attention. No one at this time believed that a new serialization like Naruto could possibly compete with One Piece.

POO Studios.

The editorial department was a scene of elation.

“It’s on fire!”

“I knew it!”

“But it’s still not enough.”

“Yeah, it needs a further push!”

“Hai, if only Teacher Ozawa can match the two chapters a week release rate by Teacher Aoi. The rapid explosion in One Piece’s popularity also has a lot to do with his update speed.”

“Forget it, how many crazy people like Teacher Aoi can there be in the world?”

“True. Other than him, no other cartoonist can update at a speed of two or three chapters a week.”

Everyone felt a tinge of regret.

Meanwhile, Fujiwara Koji, who was taking a call close by, froze.

When he put down the phone and heard the conversation between everyone and the editor-in-chief, he couldn’t help but cough. Then he said dumbfoundedly, “Teacher Ozawa’s representative just called to say that he can update two or three chapters a week. His stockpile is already at over a dozen chapters!”

Everyone was stunned!

Then they were pleasantly surprised!

“What?”

“Is that true?”

“Holy shit! God is on our side!”

“This is great! This is the best!”

“There’s actually someone else who can do three chapters a week?”

“Oh my God, are the rookie cartoonists these days all so aggressive?”

“Teacher Ozawa is mighty!”

“Down with Shōnen Publishing!”

“Take down One Piece!”

With another boost from this news, POO Studios no longer had any worries!

Elsewhere.

In the editorial department of Shōnen Publishing.

They were very concerned about their competitor’s moves. After the emergence of Naruto, they also went to read it for research.

“What the heck!”

“Yeah, in so many years of reading comics, this is the first time I’ve come across a youthful main character with whiskers. What kind of character design is this? It can’t do well!”

“This is bad! I’ve just received some news!”

“What news?”

“Naruto is going to be updated with two chapters a week as well!”

“Holy shit!”

“They can release two chapters a week too?”

“Isn’t Teacher Aoi the only person capable of doing that?”

“Who is this Ozawa person?”

“They’re trying to provoke us!”

“Motherfucker, they’re coming straight for us!”

“Hmph! It’s just a new serialization. How can it possibly compete with us?”

“Is there going to be a battle soon? Alright then! We’re up for it!”

And just like this, the two biggest comic publishers in Japan began their war.

..

One day.

Five days.

Ten days.

One Piece was still as popular as ever!

Meanwhile, Naruto’s results were gradually climbing upwards!

A lot of Japanese people were also divided into two camps and taking each other on!

“Naruto is such a fun read!”

“Yeah, I never expected that POO Studios could bring out such a good series this year!”

“Supporting Naruto!”

“Get lost, One Piece is the best!”

“I love One Piece to death!”

“I’ll only support Naruto!”

“Those who like Naruto are dumbasses!”

“Those who like One Piece are fools!”

“Fuck, stop arguing. They’re both very good series.”

But in the end, it was still the results that spoke. The sales figure of a million copies of One Piece’s standalone volume had broken countless records and laid the foundations for it to be labeled as a “national cartoon.” No matter how good the word of mouth on Naruto was, the foe they had in front of them was just too great. Even with so many people supporting it, it was still unable to be mentioned in the same breath as One Piece. What dictated this was always the market itself.

And on this day.

Naruto finally reached enough chapters to get released as a standalone volume.

The first volume of Naruto went on sale!

The industry insiders turned their attention to it.

The media was reporting about it.

Shōnen Publishing was waiting to see them make a fool of themselves.

But on this day, an unbelievable event occurred. The same scene from the time One Piece attracted tens of thousands of people to line up and make a mad rush to buy its standalone volume happened once more!

..

Tokyo.

At a bookstore.

“Give me a copy of Naruto!”

“Naruto!”

“I want one too!”

..

Nagoya

“Do you have Naruto?”

“It’s sold out?”

“How did it run out of stock so quickly when it only just got released?”

..historical

Osaka.

“Oh my God!”

“It’s been sold out?”

“I’ve been in line since 6 in the morning!”

..

These scenes were taking place all over Japan concurrently!

The employees at POO Studios were shocked by this!

Shōnen Publishing and the entire comics industry were shocked silly as well!

It was insane. This wasn’t just about buying comics anymore. This was a fucking stampede to get the comics!

Additional print run!

Additional print run!

And another additional print run!

The machines at the printers kept spinning without stop. In the end, two of the printing machines even had to be scrapped. It was only through this that they could manage to keep up with the demand of the fans’ intense buying!

Finally, the sales figures were released!

This was a number that stunned the entire comic world!

Sales of the first standalone volume of Naruto: 1.09 million copies!

It had actually done better by some tens of thousands of copies than the first volume of One Piece. Although it didn’t do better than the 1.2 million copies sold for the second volume of One Piece, Naruto still set the record for the most copies of the first volume of a comic series sold in Japan by knocking One Piece aside!

POO Studios.

The editorial department went crazy!

“Heavens!”

“It’s on fire! It’s really on fire this time!”

“This is too frightening!”

“1.09 million copies?”

“This isn’t a dream, right?”

Immediately, POO Studios announced their plans for an animated version of Naruto!

Shōnen Publishing.

The people here were trembling with anger!

“How is that possible!”

“They really caught up?”

“Where the heck did this comic pop out of?”

“It’s so well-drawn, and it can even match Teacher Aoi’s crazy release speed? Damn them! Where did POO Studios find a cartoonist like this?”

The industry blew up!

“Unbelievable!”

“Why has another national cartoon appeared?”

“We’re in the golden age of comics!”

“A national cartoon has not even appeared once in the past six years. But look at what we have now! Two such series have popped up one after another within a span of a few months? And they were both created by rookies?”

“Yeah, and they’re both young adult comics ¹ too. What’s more, the quality is very high and it’s really difficult to say which is better. The comics world is experiencing the birth of a genius generation right now!”

Naruto!

One Piece!

The whole of Japan had been taken over by these two comics!

All of Asia was turned upside down by these two comics!

This was a matter that shocked and excited everyone at the same time!

Since when did national cartoons become so freely available like cabbages in the market, popping up every now and then?