Late at night.
It had already been six hours since the battle at [Hozuki Castle].
Because Jiraiya had to maintain the Water Prison Technique,
the traveling speed of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and the giant toad was extremely slow.
At the same time, it placed a massive strain on Jiraiya's chakra reserves.
After all, in the previous fight against the beast Satori,
he had summoned the Three Bullies of Myoboku Mountain one after another and unleashed various offensive ninjutsu techniques, draining most of his chakra in the process.
Then, on top of having to maintain the Water Prison Technique for such a long time,
his chakra was now nearly completely depleted.
"Jiraiya, are you okay?" asked the elder toad while they were moving.
"I'm fine. I can still hold up!"
"At this pace, we should be able to return to the village before noon tomorrow," Jiraiya quietly calculated.
He could only pray his chakra would somehow hold out till then!
Meanwhile, looking at Tsunade trapped inside the water sphere—her head the only visible part as she remained unconscious—
Jiraiya felt like a knife had pierced his heart, filled with regret.
Regret for failing to protect Tsunade...
Fortunately, during the entire journey,
under the suppression of the water prison, the cursed seal marks on Tsunade's body had not activated.
As for her injuries,
though serious, the physical constitution of the Senju Clan wasn't weak.
If they could remove the seal and provide treatment soon, there wouldn't be any life-threatening danger.
Jiraiya took a deep breath, clearing away distracting thoughts.
His right hand still deep in the water sphere, he continued feeding chakra into it to keep the Water Prison Technique steady.
However,
just a few minutes later,
Jiraiya suddenly sensed something and instinctively paled.
"Hey! Jiraiya, did you feel that?" the elder toad suddenly warned.
"Yeah! Someone is chasing us from behind!" Jiraiya replied darkly, seemingly already knowing what it was.
"The Hidden Grass ninja pursuing us?"
"Most likely."
"Damn it! They probably want to kill us to cover up everything and prevent us from taking information back to our village!" Jiraiya angrily cursed.
He had actually felt sympathy for those small Hidden Villages before.
To avoid excessive casualties, he had held off the monster alone.
But instead of gratitude, these bastards stabbed him in the back and even sent people to hunt them down.
Absolutely despicable!
"They're quite a few of them! At least twenty or thirty! This won't be easy, damn it!" Jiraiya sensed again, his expression turning even more grim.
Although the elder toad had intentionally slowed its speed several times over,
thanks to its massive size advantage, it was still no slower than an average ninja.
Yet within just a few hours, the pursuers had already caught up.
That proved it—these twenty guys were definitely jonin elites from the Hidden Grass Village and their allied factions.
Under normal circumstances,
a fully energized Jiraiya wouldn't have feared such a small number of enemies.
But now, his chakra was almost gone, and due to maintaining the Water Prison Technique, he couldn't even move freely.
His combat power had dropped to less than ten percent.
Fighting over twenty jonin-level opponents?
No chance at all.
Even handling two or three jonin would be tough for him...
After all, once the Water Prison Technique breaks, Tsunade's cursed seal will activate — that would be dangerous!
"What are you afraid of? They're just a bunch of bugs. Let me take care of them!"
Elder Toad declared confidently.
Although he couldn't defeat that strange beast Satori, Elder Toad's overall strength was nothing to scoff at.
Not even counting powerful techniques like the Tailed Beast Ball,
he could actually go head-to-head with the One-Tail.
Dealing with dozens of jonin from minor Ninja Villages would still be more than manageable...
"No way!"
"Without you, how am I supposed to move while protecting Tsunade?"
Jiraiya immediately rejected the idea.
He couldn't move while maintaining the Water Prison Technique.
If Elder Toad turned back to fight the enemies, how could he protect Tsunade and continue their journey?
As for fighting together with Elder Toad, that was even less acceptable!
More than 20 jonin.
Who knew what strange ninjutsu they might have mastered?
Even if Elder Toad were strong enough, concentrating on defending both Jiraiya and Tsunade from a barrage of jutsu attacks would be nearly impossible.
If something unexpected happened and harmed Tsunade, it would be too late to regret...
"So then what do you suggest? Don't start whining like an old woman..."
"Are we gonna wait until those vermin catch up and force us into a defensive position?"
The fiery Elder Toad roared furiously, clearly displeased.
Jiraiya remained silent for a moment.
Then he gritted his teeth.
Keeping his right hand motionless,
he slightly jumped, slapped his feet together, and formed a hand seal with his feet, activating a ninjutsu.
[Shadow Clone Jutsu!]
Quickly conjuring up a shadow clone.
He already had little chakra to begin with, and was still maintaining the Water Prison Technique — creating one clone was already pushing his limit...
"Go! Intercept those damn pursuers at the rear!"
Jiraiya immediately barked the order.
Then, this clone quickly leapt backward and turned around, disappearing into the darkness of night,
to confront the attacking enemy ninja.
Seeing this, Elder Toad felt as though Jiraiya had gone mad and shouted furiously:
"Have you lost your mind?"
"With such little chakra to begin with, after creating a clone, how can you maintain the water sphere? How will you make it back to Konoha?"
"And come on, one lousy clone like that won't even slow those vermin down!"
Jiraiya shot back, his eyes blazing with conviction:
"I know exactly what I'm doing!"
"At the moment, this is our only option."
"Elder Toad, please!"
"Head toward the front-right direction. About 300 miles away, there should be the [Fire Temple (Hi no Tera)]!"
Elder Toad was momentarily taken aback, as if catching on to the meaning behind Jiraiya's words.
"[Fire Temple]? You're thinking about—"
"That's right! That clone doesn't have enough chakra to defeat all the pursuers; but it should buy us some time."
"And the chakra I have left isn't enough to make it all the way back to the village either."
"But based on the distance, reaching the [Fire Temple] should be feasible."
"There are many accomplished monks there, and Master Chiriku as well — he will be more than capable of dealing with all these pursuers."
"We might even find a way to break Tsunade's cursed seal there!"
Jiraiya patiently explained.
This was also the most solid plan he could come up with at the moment.
It was much safer than taking Tsunade and fighting desperately against the pursuers behind them.
"I see, I understand!"
Elder Toad suddenly realized, immediately changing direction toward [Fire Temple].
...
Meanwhile, inside [Hozuki Castle].
After a full meal, Shimoku didn't stay overnight in the same room as Shinyu and her daughter.
Since they weren't close enough yet,
spending the night together would make Shinyu and her daughter too nervous to sleep.
He probably wouldn't be able to sleep either.
It was better to rest separately and fully replenish their energy.
After all, they had plenty of time ahead to get along. No need to rush.
The night passed in silence.
Compared with Jiraiya and others who were exhausted beyond measure and fleeing for their lives, Shimoku slept very comfortably.
With clones on guard duty, there was no need to worry about his safety at all.
As for what happened during this night,
Shimoku didn't care about what the remaining people in [Hozuki Castle] had done.
When the gap in strength surpassed a certain threshold, strategy became meaningless.
However, just as the first light of dawn appeared,
[Hidden Grass Village] still punctually fulfilled Shimoku's second request.
They brought the specified girl 'Ryuzetsu' from the village
and personally delivered her into Shimoku's room.
The girl looked around eight or nine years old, roughly the same age as Shinyu.
She had snow-white short hair, blue-white eyes, and was dressed in a white dress. (Image added)
Very pure and youthful.
In fact, one could clearly tell
that the Grass ninja had carefully dressed her up, intentionally highlighting the girl's charm.
I suppose they must have misunderstood Shimoku's intentions.
Well, Shimoku couldn't be bothered to explain anyway.
As long as he got the person, nothing else mattered.
"Ryuzetsu?"
"Y-yes, greetings noble sir!"
The girl was somewhat nervous, visibly uneasy.
This wasn't surprising; anyone taken away in the middle of the night to a wickedly notorious prison city would feel frightened.
Especially for an eight- or nine-year-old child.
In addition, the village elders had repeatedly warned her before entering
that whatever requests the important figure in the room might make, she must comply!
It was like meeting a villain straight out of a fairy tale.
How could she not be afraid?
Seeing this, Shimoku instantly guessed the girl's concerns and reassured her:
"Don't worry, I'm not *that* kind of person."
"I won't do anything to you either."
Ryuzetsu: "..."
The girl remained silent but clearly trembled even more.
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