From the way Jiraiya looked, Arata could instantly tell he had absolutely no idea what had been happening lately.
"You really never leave Mount Myōboku, huh? You don't even know what I've been up to?"
Jiraiya became even more curious.
"What happened? Don't tell me you awakened some kind of kekkei genkai?"
Arata's biggest problem in chasing Tsunade had never been flirting skills—it was that he had no confidence in his strength. In the past, he'd always complained that the heavens should grant him a kekkei genkai already.
Arata smirked.
"You guessed right. A kekkei genkai on the same level as Wood Release. Scared yet?"
Jiraiya shook his head, clearly not buying it.
"Cut the crap. I've never heard of a random civilian awakening a kekkei genkai—let alone one comparable to Wood Release. You must be dreaming. Well? Did you use some kind of drug to trick Tsunade?"
Arata stopped joking and said seriously:
"It's real. And if I used drugs on Tsunade? Please. She'd have smashed my bones to powder by now."
Jiraiya had only been teasing. He might be goofy, but he wasn't stupid.
Ever since they reunited, Arata felt completely different. His aura was nothing like before—there was a pressure to him, a dangerous feeling Jiraiya had never gotten from the old Arata.
In the past, Arata had been just a tokubetsu jōnin—good with a sword, sure, but nowhere near threatening to a true jōnin like Jiraiya.
Recently, Jiraiya had made progress in sage training. By all logic, the gap between them should have only grown bigger.
Yet Arata felt like a threat. That meant Arata's strength was at least jōnin-level… maybe even Kage-level.
Jiraiya clicked his tongue dramatically.
"To think—I originally planned to bring you back to train in Sage Mode. Looks like you don't even need it anymore!"
Arata genuinely appreciated that Jiraiya was willing to share Sage Mode with him.
But he also knew himself. Back then, when Jiraiya first started sage training, he had suggested Arata try it too.
But Arata didn't even meet the minimum chakra requirement—his chakra reserves weren't even on par with a regular jōnin.
Trying to absorb natural energy without enough chakra control meant he would turn to stone instantly.
The sages at Mount Myōboku had rejected him for that exact reason.
Arata had never blamed them—his talent was just too average at the time.
Hearing Jiraiya bring it up again, though… Arata didn't feel much interest anymore. Now that he had the Rumble-Rumble ability, he was practically made of nature energy already. What would he need Sage Mode for?
Though he didn't rule it out. Once he hit a bottleneck, Sage Mode might help him push his lightning abilities to new heights.
"Sage Mode isn't needed for now. But you—after all this time training, have you actually improved?"
Training Sage Mode was nothing like what the manga made it seem. Jiraiya had trained from childhood all the way to the end of the Second Shinobi War before he really mastered it.
And before mastering it fully, Sage Mode barely boosted his strength. That explained why Jiraiya was such a late bloomer—he was arguably the weakest of the Sannin early on, but once he activated Sage Mode, he could fight Pain's Six Paths to a standstill.
Hearing Arata tease him, Jiraiya proudly declared:
"I think someone's gotten cocky! Luckily for you, I've made real progress recently. Let this great sage show you what true power looks like!"
Arata laughed. This was their usual ritual—whenever they met, a spar was inevitable.
He plucked off a rabbit leg from the roasting spit and tossed it to Jiraiya.
"Then I'll show you what 'Konoha's Blue Lightning' really means."
He finished the rest of the rabbit leg in one bite.
Jiraiya grabbed the roasted rabbit and devoured it in a few mouthfuls, even licking his lips afterward.
"Konoha's Blue Lightning? You mean yourself? Sheesh, you even came up with a title. Then I, the great Toad Sage Jiraiya, will show you what a real sage looks like!"
Before the words even finished, he broke all etiquette and opened with a jutsu:
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
His ninjutsu talent was top-tier. His seals flew faster than lightning, and in an instant he spat out a massive A-rank fireball infused with toad oil—over ten meters across.
If he used this in Sage Mode, he could've instantly killed Pain's giant bull summon.
Arata knew Jiraiya well, so the moment the flame bullet left his mouth, Arata reacted.
"Thunder God Mode!"
Arata's entire body transformed into lightning—blue sparks crackling violently around him, the air heating up sharply.
Thunder God Mode sounded long, but activating it took less than a blink.
And Jiraiya's flame bullet was fast—so fast that in a single blink it was already in front of Arata.
Old Arata would've barely dodged it and still gotten singed.
But now?
The fastest man in Konoha didn't even need to try.
To Jiraiya, Arata vanished.
A moment later, the flame bullet smashed into the ground, erupting in a sea of fire.
And Arata reappeared dozens of meters away—his clothes untouched.
"A lightning-based kekkei genkai? That speed is insane…"
Jiraiya was about to praise him—when suddenly his expression froze, shock twisting across his face.
Arata stopped attacking, puzzled.
Given his strength, he didn't need a sneak attack to win.
But Jiraiya stammered in disbelief:
"Y-Your lightning… your whole body… it's all natural energy!?"
Having trained Sage Mode for years, Jiraiya understood natural energy better than anyone.
His perception was sharp—razor-sharp. He could see instantly that Arata's condition was monstrous.
A normal person who absorbed that much natural energy would turn to stone instantly.
But Arata was completely unaffected?
Arata finally realized what shocked Jiraiya—and it confirmed his guess.
The Thunder Fruit really was a body of pure natural energy!
Arata grinned mischievously.
"Now do you understand how strong I've gotten?"
Jiraiya swallowed hard. He had trained half his life, nearly killing himself in the process, and even then he could only manage to balance natural energy through about half of his body.
But Arata? The moment he activated his jutsu, he transformed entirely into natural energy.
How was anyone supposed to fight that?
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