"Roar!"
Even with her catlike agility, facing the barrage of senbon unleashed by Jiraiya in Sage Mode, she still couldn't dodge completely. The needles didn't cause any serious wounds, but the tingling pain running across her body made Yugito Nii let out a low, furious roar.
Chakra burst out from her again.
She knew very well that against Jiraiya of the Sannin, staying in just a half–Tailed Beast state wasn't nearly enough.
…
Dark blue flames gradually wrapped around Yugito's entire body, and the fire grew larger and larger.
"Lady Yugito is going full Tailed Beast mode—everyone, fall back!"
"Retreat! Retreat!"
They knew their own jinchūriki better than anyone. The moment they saw Yugito's movements, the Iwagakure shinobi understood she was about to transform completely into a Tailed Beast. According to their battle plan, only the jinchūriki would enter full Tailed Beast Form.
Their own forces had to retreat—otherwise, with the sheer size of a Tailed Beast, a single stray kick wouldn't distinguish between ally and enemy.
The Konoha shinobi who saw the Iwagakure troops pulling back didn't give chase. Instead, they scattered in all directions.
When faced with such a colossal enemy, gathering in one place was suicide. Spread out—otherwise they'd be wiped out in a single sweep.
Before long, a gigantic cat wreathed in dark blue flames appeared on the battlefield—the fully transformed Two-Tails, Matatabi. It lowered its body and let out a deep, rumbling roar at Jiraiya.
A fireball began to form in its mouth, growing larger and larger as flames compressed into a blinding sphere.
"Roar!"
The fireball was unleashed, the scorching heat distorting the air wherever it passed.
Even that overwhelming blaze couldn't shake Jiraiya. He couldn't dodge—if he did, the Konoha shinobi who hadn't managed to escape yet would be burned alive.
Jiraiya formed a hand seal with both hands, and the two toad sages on his shoulders mirrored the motion.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
A torrent of oil spewed from his mouth, and the two Toad Sages—one exhaling fire, the other wind—followed up in perfect sync.
Oil and wind combined, turning the Fire Release into a raging sea of flames.
Boom!!
The giant fireball collided head-on with the sea of fire. The battlefield instantly became a massive furnace, a wave of flames surging high into the sky.
The falling rain evaporated in an instant.
The two Fire Release techniques cancelled each other out, sparks scattering in the air as the ground was scorched pitch-black.
"Roar!!"
Seeing its fireball erased, the Two-Tails roared and charged forward.
The blue flames covering its body burned with terrifying heat. The Tailed Beast itself was a walking catastrophe; with its enormous size, anything caught in its path would be trampled into dust—and then there was the searing temperature radiating from its body.
Any ordinary person who approached would be roasted alive.
"Of course… if it's that big, I've gotta match it with something just as huge."
Jiraiya let out a small grin, bit his thumb, and slammed his palm to the ground.
"Summoning Technique!"
Boom!!
White smoke exploded outward, and a massive toad appeared on the field, a huge scar over one eye and a giant katana strapped to his back.
It was none other than the chief toad of Mount Myōboku—Gamabunta. He'd been Jiraiya's summon and partner for years.
Gamabunta hadn't even figured out what was going on when, the moment he appeared, the Two-Tails came barreling straight toward him.
He felt a flash of panic, but his body still moved on instinct. He planted his feet and wrapped his huge arms around the charging Tailed Beast, wrestling it into a hold.
A faint smell of roasting meat wafted through the air.
The front of Gamabunta's chest had already been charred black.
That was the terror of the flames naturally surrounding the Two-Tails.
"Hey!! Jiraiya! Are you trying to kill me here?! Hurry up and do something!"
Sweat poured down Gamabunta's forehead. If he kept holding on like this, he wouldn't need to be hit—just the flames alone would be enough to turn him into grilled toad.
"Hahaha! Sorry, Boss Bunta—just hang in there a second!"
Jiraiya gave a strained laugh, then raised his right hand high.
A massive yellow Rasengan began to form, growing larger and larger—several times bigger than his entire body, radiating like a miniature sun.
"Sage Art: Ultra–Big Ball Rasengan!"
Hoisting the gigantic Rasengan, Jiraiya leapt from Gamabunta's head and hurled himself straight toward the enemy.
The Ultra–Big Ball Rasengan smashed into the Two-Tails' head.
Boom!!!
The earth shook violently. The Two-Tails let out a pained roar as it was blown backward. An attack on that level was something even the thick-skinned Three-Tails would struggle to withstand head-on—let alone Matatabi.
Its vision swam. For a moment, everything spun.
Swish!
Gamabunta wasn't about to waste that opening. He reached back and drew the katana from his back in one fluid motion.
"Damn furball, you burned me good—go to hell!!"
The tens-of-meters-long blade came crashing down, carving a deep gash into the right side of the Two-Tails' chest. Blue flames scattered like embers, raining across the battlefield.
Gamabunta pressed the attack, sword swinging again and again as he chased the reeling Tailed Beast, while Jiraiya began condensing yet another Ultra–Big Ball Rasengan…
Finish it while it's staggered.
Seeing Yugito's Two-Tails being pushed to the brink, Rōshi couldn't stay put any longer.
"Lava Release: Chakra Mode!"
His entire body was suddenly wrapped in molten chakra, high-temperature lava flowing and solidifying over his skin like armor as he sprinted straight toward Jiraiya.
Jiraiya, as if he hadn't even noticed him, still hurled the Ultra–Big Ball Rasengan straight at the Two-Tails' head.
Just as Rōshi was about to crash into Jiraiya, a shadowy figure suddenly flashed into the air in front of him.
"Orochimaru!"
Rōshi's expression hardened, but his body kept surging forward. Under Lava Release: Chakra Mode, both his offense and defense were wrapped in superheated magma, and all of his physical abilities had been boosted.
Right now, rescuing the Two-Tails was all that mattered. Rōshi intended to force his way through.
"Heh… Rōshi, where do you think you're going?"
A strange, sinister chakra erupted from Orochimaru's body, and the Four-Tails, Son Gokū, inside Rōshi sensed it at once.
『Back off, Rōshi!!』
Swish!
Hearing the Four-Tails' roar inside his mind, Rōshi tried to dodge sideways, but he was still a step too slow. One of his arms was left behind, severed and falling to the ground.
He didn't scream. Instead, he gritted his teeth, raised his remaining hand, and used the superheated magma to cauterize his own wound shut, glaring at Orochimaru in shock.
At this moment, Orochimaru was surrounded by a swirling layer of yellow chakra.
That yellow chakra took on the shape of two massive phantom arms, one of which held a sword—the blade that had just sliced off Rōshi's arm.
"Sharingan?! How is that possible?!"
Orochimaru's slit pupils were gone, replaced by a pair of blood-red eyes.
Three tomoe spun slowly in each eye—rotating in an eerie, inverted pattern.
"This twisted chakra… the Uchiha clan? Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Tailed Beasts were all too familiar with those eyes. After the Sage of Six Paths, it had been Indra, and later Uchiha Madara—Four-Tails had seen them once and had long since told Rōshi about them.
Mangekyō Sharingan was the natural enemy of Tailed Beasts.
And the Susanoo wielded by Mangekyō users, as recorded in the shinobi world's history, possessed destructive power on par with a Tailed Beast.
How could Orochimaru have those eyes? How could this be?!
"How shocking… and disgusting at the same time," Rōshi sneered. "Tell me, do the Uchiha clan know about this? You understand what it means for someone like you to be carrying a Mangekyō, don't you?"
He was clearly trying to sow discord—after all, a non-Uchiha possessing Mangekyō Sharingan usually meant those eyes had been taken from an Uchiha.
Too bad for him, though. Orochimaru had received this power directly from Namikaze Kirito—and this Mangekyō Sharingan was uniquely his.
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