Six months later, the Area 4 of the Gourmet World.
Two ferocious beasts with Capture Levels above 100 roared furiously. One was a three-headed Asura Tiger, the other a King Mandrill with a body harder than iron.
Just as the two beasts were about to clash, a faint, almost imperceptible aura caused them to drop to the ground, prostrating themselves and whimpering pitifully.
Setsuna emerged from the forest. The bloodlust behind him was so dense it almost condensed into a demonic apparition, but it vanished like an illusion at his will.
"Titan, time to eat."
At Setsuna's command, a giant serpent nearly a thousand meters long charged out and devoured the two massive creatures.
A year had passed, and Titan's size had increased tenfold.
This was even with Setsuna intentionally controlling its growth, worried that taking Titan back to Konoha might bankrupt the entire Naruto World.
"It's a pity your Gourmet Cells haven't attracted a Food Spirit yet. Otherwise, your presence alone would be enough to make most Food Spirits submit," Jiro said, emerging behind Setsuna, sounding somewhat regretful.
Setsuna was surprised. "Even transplanted Gourmet Cells like mine can attract Food Spirits?"
Food Spirits, also known as Appetite Demons, are the wills of super-powerful beings in the universe that do not completely vanish after death. Instead, they transform into Food Spirits, waiting for a suitable host to appear.
But as far as Setsuna knew, these Food Spirits generally only inhabited those who were born with Gourmet Cells.
The more a host uses the Appetite Demon's power, the greater the degree of erosion by the demon, until eventually, their own body is taken over by the Appetite Demon.
In Setsuna's view, these Appetite Demons were similar to Tailed Beasts… you could use their power, but you took corresponding risks.
Jiro said, "Of course they can. Appetite Demons are selective about their hosts."
Setsuna nodded thoughtfully. Jiro's expression suddenly turned serious. "Setsuna, the Human World is facing a great crisis."
"A great crisis?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow.
"Look." Jiro took out his watch and projected a virtual screen in front of them.
The screen showed scenes of panicked civilians fleeing and screaming. The news anchor also appeared terrified but was professionally reporting: "Generally speaking, creatures from the Gourmet World are not interested in unpalatable food. That is to say, they do not specifically come to the Human World for it. This is our good fortune as humans."
"But the Four Beasts are different. They particularly relish the taste of humans. They come to the Human World once every few hundred years, and this is a catastrophe for humanity. We urge all citizens viewing this broadcast to evacuate immediately to the central regions of the Human World. Do not remain in the border areas under any circumstances..."
Setsuna watched with an expressionless face, unable to resist commenting, "Not to mention you, Master Jiro, shouldn't there be plenty of powerful individuals in the Human World capable of dealing with these four beasts?"
"Haha, caught me." Jiro didn't seem embarrassed and continued, "It's true that us old folks could defeat the Four Beasts without much difficulty. But this arduous task must be accomplished by you young people."
Setsuna frowned. "I don't understand. Why make a simple thing so complicated, even forcing tens of billions of people to undergo a massive migration?"
Jiro smiled and explained, "Because the invasion of the Four Beasts is both a disaster and an opportunity. The meat of the Four Beasts can subtly promote cellular evolution for all of humanity. Even humans without transplanted Gourmet Cells can gain immense benefits from consuming the Four Beasts' meat."
"But the Four Beasts are a very unique life form. The more their fighting spirit boils, and the more damage they sustain, the more delicious their meat becomes. Only this highest quality meat can fully unleash the potential of the Four Beasts. It's like repeatedly tenderizing beef, and only after being pounded hundreds or thousands of times does the meat become more tender."
Setsuna nodded slightly but asked further, "What if you controlled your strength and fought them slowly?"
Jiro shook his head. "The Four Beasts are very perceptive. It's difficult to hide your true strength from them. Once they lose their will to fight, no matter how much damage they sustain afterward, it becomes very hard to cook the Four Beasts to perfection."
Setsuna couldn't help but quip, "What's with this feeling of being preordained? The Four Beasts' mechanics seem specifically designed to test humanity."
Jiro laughed. "You guessed correctly. The Four Beasts are indeed not naturally occurring creatures. They were created by the God of Creation to make us humans... more delicious."
Setsuna pondered, "God of Creation? More delicious?"
He hadn't read the entire plot in his previous life, but he knew quite a bit. The God of Creation Jiro mentioned was probably a strange bird-like race called the Nitro.
Jiro said solemnly, "You'll find out eventually anyway, so I'll give you a general idea now. Based on my explorations over the years, all species in our world might originate from the Gourmet Nobles known as Nitro. Gourmet Cells were also sown on this planet by them. They even caused the Earth to expand hundreds of times over during its long geological history."
"But these beings don't have good intentions. They simply want to turn Earth into a gourmet market, or perhaps a grazing pasture. We hunt the Four Beasts to evolve all of humanity. And the Four Beasts were created by them precisely to make humanity evolve. Perhaps when humanity evolves to a certain degree, those Gourmet Nobles will descend upon this planet once more to harvest all humans."
Setsuna nodded. In this regard, he knew more than Jiro. Those Gourmet Nobles didn't want to cook humans, instead, they wanted to cook the entire Earth.
Seeing Setsuna's worried expression, Jiro smiled and patted his shoulder. "Don't trouble yourself with future concerns. Even if the Four Beasts are a delicious bait, we have no choice but to take it. If we passively avoid it, when disaster truly strikes, we won't even have the qualification to resist."
Setsuna gave a wry smile. If he didn't know the subsequent plot, he might have been intimidated by Jiro's words.
Jiro used to consider Nitro as snacks to go with his drinks, although those were the low-level Red Nitro.
But even the later, higher-level Blue Nitro weren't much better, being taken out by Jiro one punch at a time.
Of course, Setsuna understood Jiro's concerns. After all, the Nitro weren't individuals but an entire star-faring race. Who knew how many Nitro existed in the universe?
Jiro continued, "My senior brother, Ichiryu, originally planned for his four disciples, the Four Heavenly Kings, to deal with the Four Beasts. Disregarding the Gourmet Corp. established by Midora, those four are probably the strongest among the younger generation. But judging from the result of your last fight, their strength would be barely sufficient to handle the four clones of the Four Beasts."
"You should go as well. Help them defeat the main body of the Four Beasts, and enjoy the delicacy of the Four Beasts while you're at it."
Setsuna nodded firmly. He had actually been wanting to meet Coco, the Poison Master among the Four Heavenly Kings. He intended to ask him for advice on how to improve poison resistance, to avoid capsizing in a ditch like Goku did.