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"My blood boils with fury! Once one of the Sannin, now a sage! The toad monster of Mount Myoboku! That's me, the great Lord Jiraiya!"
A booming voice echoed through the sky as Jiraiya stood atop a massive purple toad's head, striking an utterly exaggerated pose.
Midorima glanced at the toad—it could only be described as enormous.
Jiraiya standing on its head looked like a tiny toy in comparison.
It wielded a harpoon-like weapon covered in protruding spikes, staring around in bewilderment.
Gamaken...
Midorima jolted at the sight of the toad, quickly turning to Pain, only to see no sign of him moving to act.
'Hey, they weren't seriously expecting us to take on Gamaken, were they?'
Giant summoned beasts had a clear edge in size and strength; ordinary ninjas trying to go toe-to-toe with them in those aspects rarely came out ahead.
The best way to deal with a summoned beast was to summon one of your own.
As far as Midorima knew, among those present, only Pain could summon a giant one. If he wasn't stepping in, the only thing that could match it in raw power might be "Susanoo."
In a situation like this, Midorima probably wouldn't unleash "Susanoo."
Using it would mean revealing that Yoshida Shin (Midorima) possessed the "Mangekyo Sharingan," and he had no way to explain where his eyes came from.
Besides him, that left only Itachi.
But Itachi had no intention of using Susanoo either; instead, he joined the others in attacking Jiraiya.
Midorima was a bit surprised, then realized that without Pain getting involved, Jiraiya might actually have a real chance to escape.
But why wasn't Pain making a move?
Midorima didn't have time to dwell on it and charged forward as well.
Kisame unwrapped his bandages, revealing a massive shark-shaped sword in his hands.
Samehada, one of Amegakure's seven ninja blades—or so the rumors went. It was said that Watermelon Mountain's death had something to do with this blade too.
"Samehada: Flying Chain Slash!"
Kisame swung Samehada, its handle suddenly extending over ten meters as the blade slashed toward Gamaken.
Gamaken parried Samehada with his harpoon-like weapon, shifting his body back slightly, while Sasori seized the opening to lash out with his steel tail, probing for an attack.
Even if a summoned beast wasn't up to par in strength, it would just return to Mount Myoboku—under normal circumstances, they weren't killed outright.
Sasori understood that, but without neutralizing the summoned beast's fighting ability, hitting Jiraiya would be incredibly tough too. In this scenario, even knowing he wasn't suited for this kind of brawl, he had to give it his all.
Unexpectedly, Gamaken pulled a pot-lid-shaped shield from his back and blocked Sasori's strike head-on.
"Needle Eight Waves!" Sasori bellowed. Hiruko's mouth gaped open, unleashing a countless barrage of poisoned needles.
Relying on Hiruko to smash through Gamaken's defenses head-on would be a tall order, but "Needle Eight Waves" was a hidden weapon technique—each needle coated in deadly poison. As long as even a few hit Gamaken, it might not kill him, but it would sharply reduce his combat effectiveness.
Faced with the sudden volley of poisoned needles, Gamaken leaped high into the air.
For all its massive bulk, among these giant summoned beasts, it was still fairly agile.
After a couple of bounds, it latched onto a water pipe on a building, hanging its body from it.
Just then, Kisame whipped Samehada around for another strike at Gamaken.
"Take out that four-legged freak!" Jiraiya could tell Kisame posed a bigger threat to him than Sasori, so he figured he'd handle one first, then deal with the other four.
"But he'll spit needles..." Gamaken grumbled, but still vaulted high, leaping toward Sasori.
"Can't you dodge them all?"
"Because I'm useless..."
"Watch out—he's throwing something at you!" Jiraiya spotted a white speck hurtling through the air and shouted a warning.
Gamaken didn't hesitate, raising his shield again and curling his body as tightly as possible behind it—even though he knew it wouldn't fully protect him.
Sasori eyed the prosthetic arm he'd launched. Upon impact with the shield, the poisoned needles inside would fan out in all directions.
But because it was too close, most of the needles were blocked by the shield, while the ones that missed shot off in the opposite direction.
"What an idiot—why throw it right at his shield?" Sasori fumed in frustration. It had been a golden opportunity, but the arm colliding with the shield had rendered the damage to Gamaken next to nothing.
As Sasori zoned out in annoyance, Gamaken's "harpoon" came smashing down toward him.
Sasori rolled desperately, but he landed on his back, limbs splayed skyward, unable to get up right away—and the "harpoon" was hot on his heels.
This is bad!
He tried to eject from the puppet, only to realize it was too late.
At that moment, a massive earth pillar erupted from the ground, propping up against the descending "harpoon." But the pillar only held for three or four seconds before shattering with a boom, sending debris flying everywhere.
Sasori had just broken free from Hiruko when the "harpoon" struck it, instantly reducing it to rubble.
"Thanks!" Sasori stumbled to Midorima's side, gasping for breath.
If Midorima hadn't stepped in, he might've been crushed flat by that "harpoon."
"No time for that now... You're out of the fight, aren't you? Get behind me!" Midorima glanced at Sasori.
Sasori's face flushed red. "Who says I'm done?"
"Your strongest puppet's wrecked—in front of Jiraiya, you're basically combat-ineffective." Midorima said.
"If you think that, you're underestimating me!" Sasori sneered, pulling a scroll from his sleeve. "This is my prized possession, my favorite collectible... It's stronger than you, and even Jiraiya will have a headache dealing with it."
Midorima's lips curved up, but he feigned surprise in his voice: "What is it?"
"You'll see soon enough!" Sasori unrolled the scroll, and a puff of smoke billowed out, revealing a humanoid puppet in the haze.
The Third Kazekage!
Midorima let out a quiet sigh of relief in his mind.
If he hadn't saved Sasori, he might've died—but dead men held no value. After all, no one put stock in a corpse.
But forcing out Sasori's trump card? That changed everything.
The Third Kazekage's disappearance had directly sparked the Third Great Ninja War, and to this day, Sunagakure still had no clue where their Kazekage had gone.
If Sasori unleashed the Kazekage puppet, it would mean something entirely different.
The others might not recognize the Kazekage's appearance, but Jiraiya had been active since the Second Great Ninja War—he'd had plenty of chances to cross paths with him. Identifying the Third Kazekage shouldn't be hard.
As long as Jiraiya could escape, Sunagakure would catch wind of their missing Kazekage's whereabouts.
Back then, Sunagakure had ignited the Third Great Ninja War over the Third Kazekage. Now that they knew where he was, they surely wouldn't let Sasori off the hook, right?
Jiraiya unleashed a "Great Fireball," forcing Itachi back, and caught sight of the charging Kazekage puppet in one glance—his face twisted in shock.
"The Third Kazekage!? How is he here?!"