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Manda had been perfectly content staying quietly by Sasuke's side, but Naruto's single remark about a competition provoked Manda into launching a ferocious attack.
And with that, you still want to shift the blame onto others?
Orochimaru had plenty of dark stains and dirty water on his own record; he didn't mind adding a little more.
But if the dirty water was being thrown by Jiraiya, that was unacceptable.
"I didn't know they would start fighting!" Naruto felt like crying but had no tears left.
"What do we do now?" Jiraiya was starting to get a headache. Even if they wanted to stop the fight, Manda would have to be the first to stand down.
Otherwise, if Gamabunta stopped first and Manda refused to listen, the situation would become even more troublesome.
Due to the intense fluctuations of chakra from the battle, many Konoha shinobi were rushing toward the training grounds.
Even teams from the Anbu were continuously converging on the area. Even the Third Hokage, who had been resting in retirement at home, had arrived.
From a distance, the Third Hokage watched the two massive summoning beasts locked in fierce combat, feeling somewhat puzzled.
Why was Manda fighting Gamabunta?
Had Orochimaru and Jiraiya gotten into a conflict?
"What else can we do? Let them keep fighting. Things have already reached this point. Once they've fought to their heart's content, it'll be over. Shizune, go inform everyone outside that these are just two summoning beasts sparring. There's no need to panic. Have the Anbu secure the perimeter to prevent anyone from getting too close and getting hurt."
"Huh?" Shizune was momentarily stunned but quickly collected herself. "Understood."
Since Kazuki had given the order and Tsunade showed no intention of objecting, she would simply carry it out.
Shizune hurried out to notify the shinobi and the approaching Anbu squads, instructing them not to get any closer and to just secure the surroundings.
This was the order of the Hokage's advisor; they just needed to comply.
Let them keep fighting?
Tsunade's face darkened. Her lips moved slightly, but in the end, she didn't call for a stop.
Jiraiya forced a bitter smile and scratched his head. "Kazuki, won't this make things too chaotic?"
The relationship between the snakes of Ryūchi Cave and the toads of Mount Myōboku had always been tense. Gamabunta and Manda had never gotten along well either.
A fight wasn't exactly unheard of—at most, Jiraiya would just get an earful from Gamabunta afterward. He was already mentally prepared for the scolding.
But letting the two summoning beasts go at it like this—wouldn't the repercussions be unfavorable?
"It won't get out of hand. They won't bring the sky down. If two summoning beasts fighting could cause that much chaos, the village might as well not even exist."
"Manda, put some more effort into it! If you win, I'll have Orochimaru prepare a whole pile of supplements for you!!!"
Not one to avoid stirring the pot, Kazuki even shouted encouragement to Manda.
Orochimaru: "..."
Why drag me into it when you're the one encouraging Manda? You provide the words, and I provide the labor?
"Yes, my lord!!!"
Hearing this, Manda's spirits soared instantly. The force with which it bit down on Gamabunta increased considerably.
Gamabunta felt like cursing its own existence. What the hell did I even come here for?!
It had been summoned to Konoha in a daze, inexplicably got bitten, and was then forced into a fight with Manda.
As if that wasn't enough, someone was now cheering Manda on, telling it to try harder to take it down in exchange for rewards.
Could you people have some decency?!
Seeing Manda grow even fiercer with the encouragement, Jiraiya, for some inexplicable reason, also shouted:
"Gamabunta, hang in there! If you take down Manda, I'll help you dig for worms!!"
"Get lost!!"
Already struggling to hold its ground, Gamabunta nearly spat out a mouthful of blood upon hearing this. It turned its head and roared back with a curse.
"Tsunade, what's going on here?"
The Third Hokage entered the training grounds, frowning as he asked, "Why are Manda and Gamabunta fighting?"
"Don't ask me; I have no idea either," Tsunade replied helplessly.
She was still trying to figure it out herself. You're asking me, but who should I ask?
"???"
What did that mean? Could someone please explain this to me?
The Third Hokage's gaze shifted between Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
Orochimaru simply smiled faintly without saying a word. Jiraiya scratched his head awkwardly, not knowing how to explain.
Fortunately, Kazuki spoke up. But as soon as he did, the blood pressure of both the Third Hokage and Tsunade began to spike.
"It's nothing serious. Jiraiya just suggested that Sasuke and Naruto compare their use of summoning techniques and the strength of their summoning beasts. So, we let them fight. It just so happens that both summoning beasts were itching for a fight anyway. Letting them go at it is actually a good thing."
"....."
It's gone mad! Completely mad!!
Manda had lost its mind.
This wasn't the first time Gamabunta had fought Manda.
In fact, they had often clashed in the past. Orochimaru looked down on Jiraiya, Manda looked down on Gamabunta, and Gamabunta was never one to back down from a challenge. If you look down on me, I'll fight you.
Coupled with the already hostile relationship between their two sacred lands, the two summoning beasts frequently ended up in fights.
But never before had Manda been this frenzied, chasing it down and biting without any regard for itself.
It didn't care about trading injuries; it just wanted to take Gamabunta down.
Manda's frenzied fighting style left Gamabunta with no choice but to complain inwardly. It just couldn't adapt to this level of ferocity.
"You madman!!"
After exchanging blows for a while, Gamabunta realized that Manda was only growing more and more energized. It decisively decided to retreat.
It wasn't afraid of fighting Manda, but it had no desire to brawl with a snake that had completely lost its mind.
Winning would bring no benefits, and losing would be humiliating.
"Damn it, Jiraiya! You'd better give me a proper explanation for this!"
After cursing loudly, Gamabunta promptly canceled its summoning and returned to Mount Myōboku.
Now things had really become troublesome.
Jiraiya felt like crying.
Kazuki shot him a look that seemed to say, "Is this stimulating enough for you? Is it as exciting as you imagined??"
It's enough, it's more than enough. no more stimulation needed, and I certainly won't dare to seek it out again.
Jiraiya swore to himself that from now on, when educating Naruto, he would absolutely not drag Sasuke into it again.
Otherwise, if Kazuki decided to give things a push from behind, the one who would end up suffering would undoubtedly be him.
After all, Naruto and Sasuke were just children. The only one left to take the blame would be Jiraiya.
After all, the suggestion to pursue excitement had come from him.
"My Lord."
Having successfully driven Gamabunta away, Manda was immensely pleased with itself. Dragging its massive body, it swam cheerfully over to Kazuki.
Despite its enormous size, even larger than Gamabunta's, Manda was surprisingly fast—absurdly so compared to the toad.
"You did well. Go back and rest. Orochimaru will prepare your rewards for you."
"Understood."
With that promise secured, Manda left in high spirits. Everyone's eyes turned toward Kazuki, who looked back at them with confusion.
"Why are you all looking at me? Manda isn't my summoning beast. That guy is very strong, but you need to work hard to keep up. Don't let a situation happen where your own summoning beast looks down on you. That would be very embarrassing. Not only would you lose face, but you'd also bring shame to your family. Understand?"
Finally, Kazuki took the opportunity to impart some earnest advice to Sasuke, while also subtly warning everyone else to be mentally prepared.
In the future, Manda would be Sasuke's summoning beast. They shouldn't think that just because the kid was young, he would be easy to bully.
After all, Manda wasn't something an ordinary shinobi could handle.
You make the promises, and I have to fulfill them?
Orochimaru was starting to regret his decision to come and watch the spectacle. Wouldn't it have been better to just stay in the research lab?
Now, not only did he have to prepare a whole pile of supplements for Manda, but they had to be the good kind.
Compared to the methods shinobi used to enhance their strength, the ways summoning beasts improved their power were much simpler.
For a creature like Manda, eating certain highly nutritious foods could significantly speed up its strength growth.
The problem was that such foods were rather hard to come by.
And Manda was notoriously picky.
Damn it, you even managed to dig a pit for me at the very end?
By publicly declaring in front of everyone that Manda was Sasuke's summoning beast, what was he supposed to do now?
Noticing that Naruto's gaze had settled firmly on him, Jiraiya dearly wished he could dig a hole and hide in it.
There was no way he could convince Gamabunta to become Naruto's summoning beast.
Unless Naruto's strength earned Gamabunta's recognition.
If Jiraiya dared to go to Mount Myōboku and suggest such a thing, he would undoubtedly be beaten to death by the toads there.
The toads of Mount Myōboku did not look favorably upon members of the Uchiha clan, and Kazuki saw no issue with making things a little more inconvenient for them.
*****
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