Chapter 445: Jiraiya the Gallant
The dazzling light forced Kenichi to close his eyes.
It was a truly spectacular burst of lightning. Kenichi had gathered almost all the visible negative and positive charges into this single attack. Although doing so had nearly exhausted all the energy within the thundercloud, it had also caused the power of the strike to rise to an astonishing level.
The lightning came quickly and vanished just as quickly.
Before long, the blinding light that made it impossible to open one's eyes finally faded, and Kenichi opened his eyes again.
What appeared before him was a magnificent, almost unreal scene.
The impact of the lightning had left all the surrounding buildings in a half-melted state. The houses that had once been sturdy now looked like chocolate left beneath a scorching sun, soft, warped, and collapsed.
At the center of the lightning storm was a vast expanse of white. The place where Jiraiya had been standing had strangely crystallized under the immense energy of the lightning.
And in the very center of that storm stood two pitch-black shapes.
"What is this?"
Kenichi used the Body Flicker Technique and moved closer. He silently observed the scene before him.
A huge frog-like creature was shielding a much smaller black humanoid figure. Both of them were completely still.
Normally, when lightning struck a person, it would leave lightning-like patterns across the skin while causing severe damage to the nerves and internal organs. But that only applied to ordinary lightning.
What had struck Jiraiya was the super lightning Kenichi had captured with the ability of his Mangekyo Sharingan.
All the energy of an entire lightning storm had been gathered and released in a single instant.
That was an incredibly terrifying feat.
Under an attack like that, even preserving the bodies of Jiraiya and Gamabunta had become a luxury. Both of them had been reduced to charred remains.
Kenichi looked at the blackened remains before him.
Jiraiya, the Toad Sage and one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, had met his end here today.
For a moment, Kenichi felt somewhat conflicted.
After all, he had actually liked Jiraiya quite a bit. He was even a fan of Jiraiya's books. Jiraiya's novels were excellent. Although works such as Icha Icha Paradise and The Story I Had to Tell with Orochihime contained some explicit descriptions, their true strength lay in the compelling core of their stories.
It could be said that Jiraiya had truly raised the art of adult novels to a particular height.
He was Konoha's...
No.
He was the entire Shinobi World's undisputed literary giant.
Previously, Kenichi had met Jiraiya and spoken with him for a while. Although their relationship was not particularly close, they could still be considered acquaintances.
Kenichi shook his head. Then he stomped down and rushed toward his laboratory.
With Jiraiya dead, he now had time to deal with Obito.
He hoped Shiori and the others could hold Obito back. If Rin were taken away by Obito, then the fun would immediately be reduced by a great deal.
After Kenichi left, a figure appeared beside the bodies of Jiraiya and Gamabunta.
The figure stood with crossed arms, golden vertical pupils silently watching Jiraiya's remains.
No one knew what he was thinking.
Outside the capital walls of the Land of Water, two figures in black cloaks patterned with red clouds stood silently in the air. Their eyes were fixed on the battlefield ahead, on the tiny black dot at the center of the conflict.
Kenichi had no idea someone had appeared right after he left.
He had just rushed back to his laboratory, which had already fallen into complete disorder. Traces of battle were everywhere, and even bloodstains could be seen in several places.
"Kenichi-sama."
Shiori darted out. Her expression was the same as usual, but there was blood on her shoulder.
"You're injured?"
Kenichi frowned as he looked at Shiori.
Shiori possessed high-level parasite authority, allowing her to command other parasites. Moreover, there were many jonin from the Land of Water and the Land of Snow near his residence.
How could so many people fighting Obito still result in her being injured?
It had to be remembered that these were not ordinary jonin. These jonin all possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan. With so many Mangekyo Sharingan, even if each of them used only one ninjutsu, it should have been enough to give Obito a serious headache.
"It's just a scratch. Nothing serious, Kenichi-sama."
Shiori casually pulled open her clothes, revealing her fair shoulder and the bloodstain on it.
"The mission you assigned has been completed. The masked man did not take Rin away."
Kenichi nodded.
Obito's ability was indeed troublesome, but Kenichi had already told Shiori what Obito's Sharingan ability was. As long as they paid attention, there should not be any major problems.
"No one died, right?"
Kenichi looked at the ruined garden and the damaged houses, rubbing his brow with some irritation. With this level of destruction, he wondered how much it would cost to repair everything again.
Fortunately, the Daimyo of the Land of Water had accumulated a considerable amount of wealth. Otherwise, Kenichi might truly have had to worry about money.
"Forget it. Let the residents return. I'll rebuild the capital later. Gather some designers and have them give me a reconstruction plan."
Kenichi sighed.
Today's events had truly given him a headache.
He had only intended to strike at Obito and make him lose his composure. He had not expected Obito to actually lose control, and then Jiraiya had arrived as well.
If Jiraiya had not come, Kenichi definitely could have entangled Obito. Perhaps that earlier move could even have been used on Obito.
Kenichi knew Obito's Mangekyo ability, and Obito's other Mangekyo was still in his possession. If he wanted to kill Obito first, he could simply stuff a thermobaric bomb inside and beat Obito fiercely.
Last time, he had nearly killed Obito in this way.
Unfortunately, that bastard Obito had somehow obtained a Mangekyo Sharingan that could use Izanagi, which made things rather troublesome.
Now, Jiraiya was dead.
As for Obito, who knew where he had fled?
"Understood, Kenichi-sama."
Shiori immediately noted it down.
Kenichi nodded. He was about to say something else, but then he paused. He waved his hand at Shiori, and Shiori immediately withdrew.
Kenichi turned his head and looked at the ruins behind him.
A moment later, a person walked out.
Kenichi's eyes narrowed.
It was Orochimaru.
"Sensei, did you see it?"
Kenichi had no intention of pretending otherwise. The battle here had caused such a massive commotion that even if his sensei was devoted to research, he was not so obsessed that he would notice nothing.
Now that his sensei had come here, it meant he had witnessed Kenichi killing Jiraiya.
"I saw it."
Orochimaru looked calmly at Kenichi.
He was currently using his familiar Orochimaru appearance. That cold expression reminded Kenichi of the first time he had met his sensei.
Back then, his sensei had come to the orphanage in search of research material. Beneath that seemingly gentle, smiling mask had been a pair of indifferent, emotionless eyes.
And now, his sensei looked exactly the same.
Orochimaru silently watched Kenichi.
Kenichi quietly looked back at Orochimaru.
Although he had spent a considerable amount of time with his sensei and had developed a teacher-student bond with him, if his sensei intended to avenge Jiraiya, Kenichi naturally would not hold back.
"You did very well."
Orochimaru remained silent for a long time before suddenly speaking.
Then, as if all the tension in his body had drained away at once, he sat directly on a broken pillar behind him.
Kenichi was stunned.
"Did very well?"
The last time he had killed the Third Hokage, Hiruzen, his sensei had been extremely agitated. Kenichi had not expected him to react like this now.
"Jiraiya came here with the resolve to either kill you or be killed by you."
Orochimaru spoke in a low voice, looking up at the sky.
From the moment he saw Jiraiya battling his student, the emotion in his heart had mostly been amusement. He had wanted to see whether his student could defeat his old friend.
If Kenichi could not, then it would not matter. Orochimaru only intended to watch for a while, because he would step in eventually anyway.
However, as his student continued revealing one trump card after another, causing Jiraiya's seemingly certain attacks to fail again and again, Orochimaru's expression had grown serious.
Especially when Gamabunta sacrificed his hands to restrain Kenichi, Orochimaru had already planned to intervene.
He could tell that Jiraiya's Rasengan was aimed to kill.
But what Orochimaru had not expected was that his student still had more trump cards. Even after restraining Jiraiya, Kenichi still had enough chakra remaining to unleash such a terrifyingly powerful ninjutsu.
At that moment, Orochimaru's concern shifted to Jiraiya.
He was somewhat at a loss for words. He did not know whether he hoped Jiraiya would be killed or not.
But in the end, as he watched the ninjutsu unleashed by his student grow more and more terrifying, Orochimaru admitted that he became anxious.
He did not want his old friend to die at his student's hands.
Memories flashed through Orochimaru's mind.
Studying under the Old Man.
Taking missions together.
Fighting side by side.
He had intended to act. He wanted Jiraiya to live, then cripple him and force him to stay obediently in Konoha as a literary master.
However, when he saw Jiraiya charge toward Kenichi, fully aware that it meant certain death, Orochimaru fell silent.
He understood his old friend's will.
Succeed, or die trying.
So Orochimaru did nothing.
He personally witnessed the terrifying feat his student accomplished. His student had developed an S-rank ninjutsu, no, perhaps even something that surpassed S-rank, a technique of unparalleled power.
And then...
Jiraiya died in battle.
Until the moment of his death, Jiraiya never gave up on performing ninjutsu.
Orochimaru had seen Jiraiya's ruined body. From the final movement of his hand, Jiraiya had still been forming hand seals. It was likely for a Summoning Jutsu.
He had wanted to send Gamabunta back.
But Jiraiya had not been able to do it.
The dark clouds in the sky began to drizzle.
However, because Kenichi had used up all their energy, there was no lightning and no thunder. Only a continuous, gentle rain remained.
Rain fell onto Orochimaru's face.
Kenichi silently opened an umbrella.
He did not open it for his sensei, because he saw what seemed to be even more streaks of water on Orochimaru's face.
Rain was good.
Because when it rained, even the strongest person could quietly release their emotions.
At the center of the battlefield, where Jiraiya had died, two figures appeared.
"Sensei."
Nagato looked at the charred remains through Pain's eyes. If not for the familiar build, he would not even have recognized that the person before him was his former mentor, Jiraiya.
Nagato and Konan had witnessed Jiraiya's entire battle.
When Kenichi began gathering chakra, Nagato's hands had started trembling, and Konan had turned away, closing her eyes.
But neither of them had intervened.
Nagato and Konan both knew what kind of person their sensei was. They had also seen Kenichi's hesitation at the time. If their sensei had pleaded or surrendered, Kenichi would not have delivered a killing blow.
But their sensei did not.
Their sensei continued fighting.
He fought like a shinobi.
"Jiraiya-sensei."
Konan's voice choked.
She tremblingly reached out her hand.
The rain soaked her hair, but it did not touch Jiraiya's remains.
A paper umbrella shielded Gamabunta.
It also shielded Jiraiya.
Just like in the past, when that gentle white-haired uncle had held up an umbrella to protect three little children.
"Nagato, I want to..."
Konan looked at Nagato.
She could not bear to leave her sensei's body exposed in the wilderness. She had witnessed Jiraiya's will, but now that he was dead, she wanted him to rest in peace.
"Take him, Haku."
Kenichi walked over, but it was only a Shadow Clone.
From the moment he saw a white umbrella appear in the distance, Kenichi knew who had arrived. He also knew about Jiraiya's bond with the Akatsuki Organization.
Naturally, Kenichi would not stop them.
Jiraiya was someone he respected as well.
A pure shinobi.
Konan glanced at Kenichi, her eyes somewhat complicated.
Although she knew this was what her sensei had wished for, facing Kenichi still brought pain to her heart.
Nagato said nothing.
After nodding to Kenichi, Nagato gently took Jiraiya's body.
And Gamabunta's.
Their sensei had wanted to send Gamabunta back until the very end.
And Gamabunta had wanted to protect their sensei until the very end.
At the edge of the battlefield, Fukasaku and Shima, who had only a breath left in them, activated the Summoning Jutsu and returned to Mount Myōboku.
—
Tsunade sat in the Hokage's seat, staring blankly at the documents in her hand.
She had just won.
Earlier, when she happened to pass by a casino with nothing to do, her hands had started itching. So, using a Transformation Jutsu, she had gone inside to gamble.
And she won.
The last time she had won like this, the Third Hokage had died.
"Jiraiya."
.....
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