Jiraiya, you need to be fast.
Sage Fukasaku stood on Jiraiya's shoulder with a grim expression. It was clear that the virus inside him was making him feel quite miserable.
Beside him, Sage Shima said with concern, Old man, why don't you head back to Mount Myoboku first and let the Great Toad Sage help you with treatment?
Fukasaku shook his head. I can still hold on. We just need to be quick.
Jiraiya nodded firmly. I understand.
To buy time, he decided to strike first.
Jiraiya pressed his hands together in front of him, quickly channeling the Sage chakra gathered by Fukasaku and Shima into his hair.
His flowing white hair instantly flared up like a lion's mane. Under the influence of the Sage chakra, it transformed into countless hard, sharp steel needles, raining down like a storm toward the three figures ahead.
The sharp strands pierced through the air with high-pitched whistles. Every tree along the path was instantly riddled with holes and toppled over as if sprayed by machine-gun fire!
The dense attack swept forward with a momentum that threatened to penetrate everything!
Shana immediately used her hawk-like legs to hook onto Rie Uzumaki and soared straight into the air.
Meanwhile, a large number of Cursed Seals emerged on Jugo's skin, swirling like flames around his arms. His hands began to shift, hardening into a thick, man-sized keratin shield in front of him. Furthermore, a large amount of pale blue Sage chakra flickered across the shield's surface.
The violent white needles, infused with powerful Sage chakra, slammed relentlessly into Jugo's shield. However, the strength of this shield was clearly beyond expectations. Even an all-out strike from Jiraiya couldn't break through it in a short amount of time.
On the other side, Shana and Rie, who had flown into the sky, launched their counterattack.
"Even though I really don't want to cooperate with you, for Lord Simu's sake, I suppose I have no choice."
Shana muttered with a disdainful remark. Before Rie could retort, Shana took aim at the enemy and threw her downward with great force.
Furthermore, she quickly used Wind Style, using powerful air currents to accelerate Rie.
Rie wanted to talk back, but with the whistling wind howling in her ears, she could only grit her teeth. She prepared to vent all her fury on Jiraiya.
Once I finish this guy off, I'll settle the score with you!
With that thought, she wrapped a massive amount of chakra around her fists.
This chakra rapidly stimulated the activity of every cell in her arms—especially the muscle cells—allowing her to explode with unimaginable, terrifying power in an instant!
Holding a massive sphere of chakra in her hands, Rie Uzumaki crashed down like a falling meteor.
Gamabunta immediately pivoted, drawing his massive shinobi blade and slashing upward with incredible speed toward the falling enemy!
Clang!
The sound of clashing steel rang out through the air.
Rie's punch slammed into the giant blade. The terrifying power that erupted caused the entire sword to vibrate violently, even making Gamabunta's arm go numb!
What's the deal with this woman? How does she have such terrifying monstrous strength?
Even the massive Gamabunta couldn't help but complain in the middle of the fight.
Jiraiya glanced at Rie's hair color, and a certain suspicion formed in his mind.
She might be from the Uzumaki Clan. No one else could possess such a terrifying constitution except for them.
The Uzumaki Clan, huh...
Gamabunta muttered, his body forced back two steps by the massive force.
Rie was also pushed back several meters by the reaction force, but soon, as her crimson pupils flared, a large number of tentacles shot out from her back. They formed a cage, intending to trap Jiraiya firmly.
"Get out of the way, Bunta!"
Although he didn't know her specific abilities, the two previous battles with the Jashin Religion had proven that these tentacles were extremely dangerous!
Following Jiraiya's command, Gamabunta kicked off the ground, intending to use his powerful jumping ability to dodge.
However, Rie was too close. The speed of the tentacles exceeded his expectations. Despite his immediate reaction, one of his calves was caught and tightly bound, successfully halting his attempt to leap away.
"Caught you."
Rie's lips curled into a charming smile.
Black cursed markings instantly appeared on the tentacles wrapped around Gamabunta's leg, and a powerful sealing force was released.
An indescribable sense of weakness immediately washed over his body. Gamabunta felt the chakra within him slowly falling into a dormant state!
"It's a Sealing Jutsu! Senior Fukasaku, cut those tentacles!"
Jiraiya himself was not proficient in Wind Style, so he chose to let Fukasaku act.
Though infected by the virus, Fukasaku had not completely lost his combat ability. Hearing Jiraiya's request, he immediately spat out a sharp stream of air. Like an incredibly sharp longsword, it severed the tentacles wrapped around Gamabunta's leg.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya and Sage Shima lunged from the top of Gamabunta's head. In an instant, they appeared before Rie. Jiraiya's palm condensed a Rasengan made of Sage chakra, and he slammed it heavily into her.
Boom!
The Sage Art: Rasengan exploded with terrifying power. Under this force, the ground instantly formed a hemispherical crater.
Rie's body was torn open with a large hole, and she collapsed on the ground like a broken rag.
"That's one dealt with."
Coldness flashed in Jiraiya's eyes.
However, Sage Shima, standing on his shoulder, shook her head. Little Jiraiya, I'm afraid things aren't going as smoothly as you think.
Following her gaze, they saw that at the end of the severed tentacles, Rie—who should have been dead—actually crawled out from within.
Moreover, she released a fresh swarm of crimson tentacles from her body, tightly binding Gamabunta once again.
"Oh no!"
Just as Jiraiya was about to use the Body Flicker Jutsu to rush back and provide support, a playful female voice rang out. "You've fallen for it, Lord Jiraiya."
Shana had already moved to block his path.
Not only that, but Jugo appeared beside Jiraiya like a rampaging tank.
Countless streams of chakra erupted from the mutated "exhaust ports" on his back, providing him with immense propulsion.
Furthermore, even more chakra exploded from his elbows. This powerful thrust was instantly converted into unimaginable strength. As he threw a punch, the entire force was slammed into Jiraiya.
The latter clearly didn't expect the enemy's offensive to be so fierce. He quickly raised his hand, using Sage chakra to cast an Earth Style defensive jutsu, but he was still sent flying by Jugo's punch!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Legendary Sannin skipped across the ground like a stone thrown for ducks, bouncing, hitting the earth, and bouncing again...
Finally, he slammed heavily into a small hill!
This single punch seemed to consume a massive amount of Jugo's chakra. Even the Cursed Seals on his body began to slowly recede. Although he still looked monstrous, his size was no longer as exaggerated as before.
"Jiraiya!"
Seeing Jiraiya being blasted away, Sage Fukasaku's expression turned solemn.
Meanwhile, a swarm of tentacles radiating sealing power was binding Gamabunta tightly and heading toward Fukasaku on his head.
In this crisis, Fukasaku was forced to circulate his chakra. Risking further erosion by the virus, he released another Sage Art.
"Sage Art: Frog Call Slash!"
He opened his mouth and released a series of croaks. These sound waves spread out like ripples.
Eerily, when these rippling sound waves touched the tentacles wrapped around Gamabunta, they sliced through them with ease!
Furthermore, the sound waves wore away the sealing formulas on the toad's body!
"Bunta, your target is too big, go back first!"
After giving the order, the shrewd Fukasaku immediately used his small size to dash into the forest at top speed.
Gamabunta, battered and nearly drained of energy, quickly followed Fukasaku's command. He dispelled the summoning and returned to Mount Myoboku.
"I didn't expect that stinky toad to have a move like that."
Rie Uzumaki frowned, staring intently at the scene.
She had originally intended to use the Uzumaki Clan's sealing techniques to temporarily seal Fukasaku and Bunta by surprise.
She hadn't expected the green toad's strength to be even greater than she imagined; the Sage Art it released could even break her sealing jutsu.
However, forcing out such a powerful Sage Art must have cost the toad dearly.
Otherwise, even if the toad could escape, that big fellow would have certainly been sealed by her. By then, it wouldn't have been something a simple dispelling of the Summoning Jutsu could fix.
"What a waste. You actually let such a big target get away."
Unsurprisingly, Shana's heartless mockery rang out from behind Rie.
Rie was just about to snap back when Jugo interrupted them in time.
"The enemy hasn't been dealt with yet."
Indeed, from within the shattered hill, Jiraiya's figure emerged once more.
His hair was disheveled, blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and he clutched a limp shoulder. It was clear that the heavy blow had caused significant damage to his body.
Yet, his eyes showed no sign of defeat; they remained resolute.
"A tentacle girl from the Uzumaki Clan, a bird woman using toxic gas, and a monster that can use Sage Art..."
Jiraiya summarized through gritted teeth.
His left arm was currently completely useless. Even with natural energy enhancing his constitution and the Earth Style jutsu he used for defense, Jugo's full-power punch had made him suffer greatly.
If he weren't in Sage Mode, he might have lost his ability to fight by now.
This was the severe consequence of not having prior intelligence!
If Jiraiya had known about the enemy's abilities earlier, he never would have exposed his flank so easily to Jugo, and he might have set traps to hinder the ambush.
In a battle between shinobi, victory or defeat is often decided in a single moment.
Sage Shima looked at Fukasaku as he quietly emerged from the forest. Although her face was filled with worry, she said nothing given the urgency of the situation.
Instead, Fukasaku spoke up. "Jiraiya, we can't drag this out any longer."
"I know."
Jiraiya performed a one-handed seal.
"Let's use that move next."
"Understood."
The two Sages, one on each side, nodded simultaneously.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
A massive volume of toad oil, like a river, was spat out by Jiraiya in the center.
At the same time, Sage Fukasaku on the left released a terrifying Wind Style.
Sage Shima on the right used a massive Fire Style to ignite the toad oil.
The surging oil caught fire and, accelerated by the wind currents, instantly formed a rolling, terrifying sea of flames that swept toward the three priests!
The scorching flow destroyed everything in its path. Trees were turned into glowing red ash in an instant, soaring into the sky under the heat.
The entire sky was dyed red, and the ground cracked and hissed under the intense heat.
Whether underground, on the surface, or in the sky, everything was within the range of this attack!
"This is a bit much..."
The dazzling firelight reflected the incredulous expressions of the three.
Clearly, Jiraiya's full-power strike had deeply shocked these young priests.
However, Simu hadn't sent them to "hunt" Jiraiya just to have them die.
"Lord Jiraiya, between the three of you, how old are you combined? It's not very nice to bully three young people like this."
A voice that was etched into Jiraiya's mind rang out. In the next second, the earth split open!
An incredibly deep, pitch-black fissure tore across the ground between the sea of flames and the three priests. Immediately, countless mountain-like heaps of iron sand surged out, forming an indestructible Great Wall that firmly blocked the oncoming fire!
The sea of flames released its heat with abandon. The surging hot oil flowed up the iron wall toward the sky, and the fire followed.
But the black iron wall pursued relentlessly, also shooting into the sky, blotting out the sun as it held back the flames.
The fire continued to release its terrifying temperature. Grains of iron sand were melted into liquid iron, only to solidify again into even thicker blocks of iron. Like the sturdiest city wall, it blocked the raging fire.
Simu, wearing his square-rimmed glasses, slowly appeared atop the black wall. The rising heat waves billowed his clothes, and a faint smile played on his indifferent face.
With his appearance, the stifling sea of flames ceased its useless surging.
And as they looked out, the previously aggressive Jiraiya had already vanished along with the two Sages.
"He ran away..."
Simu lightly adjusted his glasses.
He had no intention of pursuing. For the upcoming chess game, he still needed Jiraiya as a piece.
"Let's head back."
Simu gave the command, and his figure disappeared once again.
If it weren't for the towering iron wall in front of them, Jugo and the others might have doubted if Simu had truly appeared at all.
"As expected of Lord Simu..."
Rie Uzumaki looked at the spot where Simu had vanished, her face slightly flushed.
Even Shana rarely refrained from mocking Rie, her eyes similarly filled with adoration.