When the raging sea suddenly goes calm, you know a far more terrifying wave is building just beneath the surface.
Emiya Shirou had only used nature energy to slow Jiraiya down, but everyone watching knew the next move would be the last. There was a sense of dread in the air, a feeling that they were powerless to stop what was coming.
"Honestly..." A bitter smile formed on Jiraiya's lips. The pressure felt like a mountain crushing him, and his heart ached with everything he'd failed to accomplish in this duel. "I can't even move a single inch?"
He'd gathered a good amount of intel, sure. But all that information did was make him painfully aware of his own weakness.
"Is he about to use some kind of horrifying jutsu?" Shima asked, her eyes fixed on Emiya Shirou with worry.
"Screw that!" Fukasaku growled, looking at Jiraiya's disheartened expression. He'd never seen him like this before. Like a stern elder, he barked out a plan. "No matter what, we have to break Jiraiya free from that nature energy! If we unleash a massive, powerful jutsu, it'll shatter the balance!"
"Full power! Use that move!" Fukasaku shouted.
Jiraiya and Shima didn't have time to second-guess it. They immediately followed Fukasaku's lead, preparing to unleash a terrifying Sage Art together.
But it was already too late.
The ground beneath them suddenly ripped apart.
Before Jiraiya and the two toads could even react, a strange force locked onto them. Huge chunks of earth ripped from the ground and swarmed toward Jiraiya, clinging to his body.
"Planetary Devastation."
Emiya Shirou's clasped hands finally closed into a tight fist.
Under his control, Jiraiya and the two toad sages were completely encased in rock. Soon, they were sealed inside a massive sphere of earth, floating high in the air. Compared to a standard Earth Style seal, this was on another level. Planetary Devastation was a prison no ordinary person could ever hope to escape.
Jiraiya and the sages struggled desperately, but it was useless. They were trapped, forced to watch helplessly as the sphere closed around them.
Luckily for them, Emiya had no intention of killing them.
He released the Planetary Devastation, and the three of them came crashing down, landing in a heap on the ground, completely drained of strength. But just as they lay there, defeated and exhausted, the truly fatal blow landed.
"Emiya is so strong!" Uzumaki Naruto yelled, running toward him with a look of pure awe on his face. "He beat Master Jiraiya with just one hand!"
To a kid, it was the absolute truth.
From releasing ninjutsu to using the Rinnegan's abilities and even forming a chakra scalpel, Emiya Shirou had only ever used one hand. To Naruto, his master Jiraiya was already incredibly strong. The jutsu he used were huge and powerful, and he could summon a toad the size of a mountain.
But Emiya Shirou... all he had to do was raise a single palm to brush aside every one of Jiraiya's attacks. And he looked way cooler doing it.
He was like a god.
"Emiya, you're just too amazing!" Naruto shouted, hugging Emiya's leg. "You only used one hand! Master Jiraiya couldn't do anything!"
"Hey, hey..." Jiraiya's eye started twitching.
You little brat! Do you have any idea what you're talking about?!
Do you know how many different abilities 'Lord Emiya' just used?
Sure, it looked like he'd only used one hand. But every time he raised that hand, he was unleashing a devastatingly powerful jutsu. The only reason it looked so casual was that he didn't need hand seals, which made him seem completely effortless in battle.
Jiraiya desperately tried to think of a way to correct Naruto, but he knew it was pointless. The kid had zero grasp of the real danger in that fight. He was just a ball of confusion and excitement.
Take the Almighty Push, for example. The first time Emiya used it, the power was so low that to Naruto, it looked like nothing happened at all, and his master had just cooperatively flown backward.
"That jutsu is called Almighty Push," Emiya explained, ruffling Naruto's hair. He casually dropped intel for both Naruto and Jiraiya to hear. "The second time, I increased the power. There's a five-second cooldown between each use, and I can control its strength."
"Ohhh," Naruto nodded, only half understanding.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, was secretly committing every word to memory.
What a shame, he thought.
If he'd had this information before the fight, it might not have been such a one-sided ass-kicking. He had actually managed to figure out some of Emiya's weaknesses. He'd even worked out a strategy.
First, bait out the Almighty Push. Then, trick Emiya into absorbing the chakra from a big ninjutsu.
While he's distracted, get in close—or have Shima use her Tongue Cutter Binding—and shatter his reanimated body.
On paper, it was a solid plan. In a real fight, though, just getting past Emiya's first move—a powerful, seal-less jutsu that could appear at any second—was a nightmare.
Jiraiya's thoughts drifted to his student, Minato Namikaze.
If Minato were still alive... he thought. Maybe he'd have a chance. He was a master of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He could move fast enough to dodge Emiya's attacks...
If he could just bait out an Almighty Push, Minato could instantly teleport next to Emiya and end it.
-----
Jiraiya wasn't the only one whose thoughts had turned to Minato.
Far away in the Land of Sound, Orochimaru was having a similar conversation with Obito Uchiha. As he had Kabuto hunt for the bodies of powerful shinobi from the past, he was also trying to squeeze information about the Rinnegan's abilities out of Obito.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru had reached the same conclusion as Jiraiya. To take down Emiya Shirou, they needed a space-time jutsu user who could get in close for a one-hit kill.
"What kind of joke is that?" Obito scoffed at the idea. He thought back to the only two times he'd ever been defeated since awakening his Mangekyo Sharingan. "That man, Emiya Shirou... he can use the Flying Thunder God Technique too."
Orochimaru's brow furrowed.
This was a problem. He knew exactly how troublesome space-time jutsu users were.
But just as quickly, his expression relaxed, and he licked his lips. "Heh... so that means we need a space-time user even more."
"Unfortunately," Orochimaru sighed, thinking of the man he once competed against for the title of Hokage. "I can't reanimate Minato Namikaze."
Perhaps...
Orochimaru recalled a top-level secret he'd gotten from Danzo Shimura. "It's because Minato used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal before he died. His soul was swallowed by the Reaper, so it isn't in the Pure Land. That's why he can't be reanimated."
"Even if you could get him back," Obito sneered at Orochimaru's wishful thinking, "do you really think you could control someone with that much power?"
Orochimaru's long, thin eyes narrowed.
Yes, that was another problem.
The Impure World Reincarnation was still imperfect. He needed to find a way to let the reanimated shinobi keep their full power while ensuring he could still control them.
Especially someone like the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Finding his cells was easy, but controlling a fully-powered Hashirama would be next to impossible. If he weakened him too much, though, he'd be useless against Emiya.
"I need more time," Orochimaru sighed. He would have to continue his research on both the Impure World Reincarnation and the Reaper Death Seal. "From what you've told me, we're dealing with a space-time user. I have to find a way to bring back Minato Namikaze."
"Whatever," Obito said after a moment, acting as if he couldn't care less about the teacher he'd gotten killed. "But... we have, at most, seven or eight years."
He couldn't wait forever.
Thinking of the intel Kisame had given him, he added coldly, "According to my sources in the Akatsuki, Emiya Shirou has personally gone to Konoha to protect the Nine-Tails."
"Konoha?" Orochimaru's eyes flashed.
An idea began to form.
Maybe, just maybe, there was a solution to the Emiya Shirou problem after all.
Of course, any plan would require a Flying Thunder God user. He had to bring back either Minato Namikaze or the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. The bad news was, both were currently impossible to reanimate.
He couldn't exactly rely on Obito, could he?
Obito was a space-time user, sure, but he was completely untrustworthy.
It wasn't his ability Orochimaru doubted, but his sanity.
The guy acted as if the entire world should bend to his will, and Orochimaru wasn't about to become another one of his pawns.