Naruto swallowed hard, his legs already starting to shake. "That thing is huge... how are we supposed to fight it?!"
Shizune was scared too, but she still couldn't help asking, "Akira's summon is a snake too?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah. A huge one. About the same size as that monster."
As the giant snake came closer and closer, its bloody maw opening wide, its foul stench washing over them, Akira asked in an unhurried tone, "Jiraiya-sama, you rested enough yet? Still not there?"
Jiraiya shook his head grimly. "Not yet. Whatever she gave me is still hitting hard."
"All right then. Watch closely."
Akira turned to face the mountain-like serpent bearing down on them. He didn't bring his hands together in a seal. He simply traced lightly through the air.
The dry air around them suddenly turned damp.
Tiny droplets of water began appearing out of nowhere, gathering in an instant.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
Jiraiya's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "Hey! This is dry land! There's no water source, so how are you using that level of... holy hell!"
Before he could finish, the moisture around Akira condensed all at once, and a ferocious water dragon dozens of feet long burst into existence with a roar.
Under normal circumstances, Water Dragon required more than forty hand signs.
What Akira had just done was practically instant cast.
"ROAR!"
The water dragon bellowed with ear-splitting force and slammed hard into the giant snake's neck.
The monster that had looked so unstoppable a moment ago was now treated like a worm hit by a fire hose. It was blown clean off course in an instant.
The water dragon moved like a living creature, coiling tightly around the snake's body. The crushing pressure forced a shrill scream out of it.
Boom!
The giant snake's enormous body smashed into the ground, then vanished in a puff of white smoke, fleeing back to Ryuchi Cave in disgrace.
Silence swallowed the whole battlefield.
Jiraiya's mouth hung open so wide it looked like his jaw might fall off. "This... forcing out a Water Style attack on that scale in a place with no water... that chakra control is insane!"
Shizune was just as dazzled. This was supposedly only a B-rank jutsu, but if someone called that power S-rank, nobody would question it.
Even Tsunade, who had been keeping her head lowered the whole time, was jolted by the commotion and looked up.
Seeing the boy standing with his back to her, suppressing a giant snake with one hand as if it were nothing, a strange sense of safety stirred inside the fear gripping her heart.
When the water dragon dispersed, the dry ground had turned into a flooded marsh.
Orochimaru and Kabuto stood on the water's surface, both wearing ugly expressions.
Before they could even think of a response, the water at Akira's feet suddenly flashed with blinding lightning.
Crackle! Crackle!
The current spread through the water at terrifying speed.
"Damn it! Jump!" Orochimaru shouted in alarm.
Too late.
"Aaaagh!"
Kabuto screamed as his whole body seized up and dropped to his knees in the water. His hair stood on end from the shock.
Orochimaru was far more resistant, but even he was jolted numb and had to leap clumsily onto a tree branch.
Jiraiya had gone numb at this point. "Lightning Style without hand signs too... just how many cards is this kid still hiding?"
Standing on the branch, Orochimaru glared down at the boy below, who looked almost like a god commanding thunder itself, his eyes dark enough to drip venom.
"Kabuto, forget the two women for now. We kill Akira first. As long as he's alive, neither of us is getting anywhere near Tsunade."
Kabuto crawled out of the water, twitching, his face partly blackened, looking like he might cry. "Orochimaru-sama, you're giving me way too much credit. That thing is a monster. How exactly do you expect me to fight him?"
Orochimaru clenched his jaw, madness flickering in his eyes. "Then there's no choice. We use that... Summon Manda!"
Kabuto nearly dropped his glasses. "Manda? In this condition? If that thing realizes your hands are ruined, it'll turn on us and swallow us whole without hesitation!"
Orochimaru's voice turned colder. "We don't have the luxury of worrying about that. If we don't go all in, we'll both die here today."
Watching Orochimaru prepare to gamble everything, Akira lost interest almost immediately. "That's it? You're panicking already? Boring."
He glanced back at Tsunade, who was still crouched there like a frightened quail, and sighed inwardly.
This wasn't going to work.
Relying on Naruto's hot-blooded emotional therapy was too slow, and there were too many things that could still go wrong.
Akira's gaze sharpened.
Then he made a bold decision.
He walked over to Tsunade, crouched in front of her, and took her face in both hands.
Tsunade shuddered, staring at him blankly, not understanding what he was about to do.
"Tsunade-hime, if normal treatment doesn't work, then there's only one option left. A harsher remedy."
The instant the words left his mouth, under Shizune and Naruto's horrified eyes, the three tomoe in Akira's Sharingan twisted together into an eerie new pattern.
Mangekyo Sharingan, activated.
Genjutsu: Demonic Illusion, Death Mirage Jutsu. Enhanced version.
Tsunade's pupils instantly lost focus, and the whole world in front of her turned blood-red.
Within that horrifying illusion, she saw Akira dying to protect her, pierced through by Orochimaru, blood erupting from his body and soaking her hands, soaking the whole world.
That warmth.
That sharp, metallic smell.
That unbearable image felt even more real than the day Dan had died.
"No...!"
Tsunade screamed so violently it sounded like her heart was being torn out, and tears burst from her eyes.
In the real world, Shizune nearly lunged forward. "Akira! What did you do to Tsunade-hime?!"
Akira didn't answer.
He only stared straight into Tsunade's eyes, sweat already forming across his brow. Controlling genjutsu at this level drained an enormous amount of mental energy.
Twenty seconds later, the illusion shattered.
Tsunade gasped for air like someone dragged back from drowning, her eyes slowly regaining focus.
And when she saw Akira standing there unharmed, the overwhelming relief of getting back what she had just lost smashed straight through her remaining reason.
She threw herself into him, clutching him tightly and sobbing like a child. "Thank God... you're alive... you're not dead..."
Feeling the warm, soft weight in his arms and the fact that her body was no longer trembling, Akira couldn't help the crooked grin that tugged at his lips.
"Got it."
"So this kind of blunt-force treatment really was the fastest answer. Could've saved everyone a lot of trouble if I'd just started with that."
Unfortunately, he started congratulating himself a second too early.
Still in his arms, Tsunade abruptly stopped crying.
She shoved him away, wiped the tears from her face, and her gaze turned razor-sharp.
The more she thought about those vivid scenes in the illusion, and the more she looked at Akira standing there grinning at her, the more obvious the truth became.
A terrifying wave of killing intent burst off her.
Tsunade stood up, cracking her knuckles one by one, veins bulging at her temples as she glared at Akira through clenched teeth.
"You little brat! You actually dared use genjutsu on me?! And that kind of genjutsu?!"
Seeing the fist the size of a wrecking ball, Akira's heart skipped. He backed away with a dry laugh. "Now hold on, this was for medical purposes. You have to admit it worked immediately, right? Wait, wait, let's talk this through, don't— holy—"
With a miserable scream, someone shot off into the distance like a human meteor.
And just like that, the knot that had been sitting in Akira's chest finally loosened, and he let out a deep breath of relief.
If it really came down to it, even Tsunade at full strength would not have been his match anymore.
But there was no reason to seriously hurt the future Fifth Hokage, much less kill her. That would only be creating trouble for no reason.
At the moment, an awkward silence hung over the battlefield.
Akira's honest preference was that nobody move at all. Let everyone just stare at each other and call it a day.
Tsunade lowered her head and stared at the red staining her body.
Kabuto's blood.
It carried a thick iron scent that rushed straight into her lungs.
To be fair, Kabuto really was ruthless. To trigger Tsunade's hemophobia, he had stabbed straight through his own hand without hesitation, turning himself into a walking blood bag.
But the fear in Tsunade's eyes was gone now.
What remained was steel.
She took a breath, then stepped over to Jiraiya and spoke in a steady voice. "Jiraiya. Your chakra should be close to recovered by now, right?"
Jiraiya wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and nodded, still looking irritated. "Almost. But she really didn't hold back. She actually drugged me."
Tsunade paid no attention to the complaint, her expression calm as still water.
"If that idiot hadn't pulled a stunt like that, I probably never would've broken through my fear of blood."
As she said it, her eyes swept coldly toward Orochimaru.
The image from the illusion rose in her mind again without her consent, Akira run through by Orochimaru, blood everywhere, collapsing right in front of her.
That image clung to her like a fresh nightmare.
It stabbed at her nerves every second.
"I swear I won't let something like that happen in the real world! Summoning Jutsu!"
The moment the words fell, Tsunade's hands were already moving at incredible speed, her seals little more than blurs.
Boom!
A huge burst of smoke exploded outward, swallowing the battlefield.
Seeing Tsunade move, Kabuto didn't dare waste time. He immediately smeared his own blood across Orochimaru's cursed-mark-covered arm and activated his summoning jutsu as well.
At the same time, Jiraiya, though still weakened, moved through hand seals at terrifying speed. "Summoning Jutsu!"
All three sides slammed their hands down at almost the exact same instant.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three enormous clouds of white smoke shot upward like they were trying to tear open the sky itself.
When the smoke finally thinned, three mountains of living flesh had appeared on the once-open ground.
Katsuyu from Shikkotsu Forest.
Manda from Ryuchi Cave.
Gamabunta from Mount Myoboku.
Three colossal summons had arrived together.
And with that, the legendary Three Sannin finally bared their real fangs.
Akira stood firmly on Katsuyu's soft back, right behind Tsunade.
Shizune and Naruto stood nearby too, their faces tense.
Jiraiya stood alone with imposing confidence atop Gamabunta's head.
Opposite them, Orochimaru and Kabuto stood ominously on Manda's massive skull.
As the last of the smoke vanished, the crushing presence of the three giant summons was laid completely bare.
Tsunade didn't turn around, but she ordered Shizune and Naruto behind her, "You two leave. Now. Find somewhere safe and stay out of the way."
"The level of this fight is too high. It's too dangerous. There's nothing either of you can do here."
Naruto clenched his fists, ready to insist on staying, but when he looked up at the three beasts towering over the battlefield, his throat worked.
He knew.
This was a gods-fighting sort of battle.
If he forced his way in now, he'd only become dead weight.
So he gritted his teeth and jumped down from Katsuyu's towering back with Shizune.
Seeing that, Akira understood exactly what was coming next.
He knew the story already.
And there was no part of him that wanted to get dragged into more trouble than necessary.
He turned, ready to jump down with them.
But just as his toes left the ground, a warm but powerful hand clamped around his wrist.
"And where do you think you're going?" Tsunade's voice sounded at his ear.
Akira blinked and turned back, meeting the perfectly serious look on her face.
He pointed down at the ground innocently. "Going down with Shizune to safety. This is the Three Sannin at full power, isn't it? What am I supposed to do up here?"
From below, Shizune and Naruto both looked up in confusion when they realized Akira hadn't followed.
Naruto scratched his head and shouted, "Shizune, how come Akira's still up there?"
Shizune narrowed her eyes at the figures on Katsuyu's back. She couldn't hear what was being said from this distance, but judging from the helpless look on Akira's face, she could guess well enough.
"Tsunade-hime probably insisted on keeping him there. With Akira's strength, he's fully qualified to be involved in a battle on this level."
A flash of envy crossed Naruto's face, but it was clean envy, not bitter.
He clenched his fists tightly. "Someday I'm going to be just as strong as Akira and stand in a place like that too!"
At this point, the gap between them was so vast that jealousy had no room to exist. What Naruto felt now was pure admiration.
Shizune didn't waste time and quickly pulled Naruto farther away to safety.
Meanwhile, on Katsuyu's back, Akira found himself forcibly left standing shoulder to shoulder with Tsunade.
Without taking her eyes off Orochimaru in the distance, Tsunade said, "This may be a battle between the Sannin, but Orochimaru is cunning. He won't be easy to deal with. You have the strength to stay here."
She finally turned her head and pinned Akira with a sharp gaze. "Or what? You planning to run away?"
Akira sighed helplessly and spread his hands. "Come on, this is your generation's old grudge match. What does any of it have to do with me, exactly?"
Tsunade's face hardened, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Enough. You're staying right here and watching. Pay close attention to how Kage-level fighters battle. It'll help you build real combat experience. Understood?"
Akira could only nod. "Fine, fine. Whatever you say."
Truthfully, Tsunade herself couldn't quite explain the unease sitting in her chest.
The illusion Akira had shown her had left too deep a scar.
She had the irrational feeling that if she let him out of her sight for even a second, he might die.
Keeping him where she could see him made her feel steadier.
The three summons stared each other down, and the air seemed to freeze in place.
Gamabunta blew out a plume of smoke, glanced sideways at Manda and Katsuyu, and rumbled, "Well now. Is this some kind of Three Sannin reunion?"
The moment Manda saw Orochimaru, his rotten temper exploded. His purple scales bristled as he roared, "Orochimaru! What the hell did you drag me out here for? Believe me, I could swallow you whole right now!"
Orochimaru said nothing, face dark, and Kabuto quickly stepped in with an oily smile. "Manda-sama, please don't be angry. Today we're dealing with the other two Sannin. The situation is difficult. We'll need your invaluable support."
Manda didn't truly want to refuse. This was just his usual bad temperament and habit of extorting a better price.
"Fine. But if I'm going to risk myself, then after this battle, Orochimaru, I want a hundred live humans as sacrifice. Not one less."
Orochimaru remained silent, which was as good as agreement.
Kabuto's brow tightened. Inside, he was cursing. If Manda realizes Orochimaru-sama's hands are ruined and he can't use ninjutsu properly, this beast will absolutely turn on us on the spot.
At that moment, Katsuyu's gentle voice sounded, her curiosity focused on the boy standing on her back.
"Tsunade-hime, who is the young man beside you?"
Katsuyu could feel it clearly.
The amount of chakra inside that boy was absurd.
It felt bottomless.
In fact, it felt even greater than what Tsunade or Jiraiya carried.
And Tsunade was someone with the Strength of a Hundred Seal. Her chakra reserves were already monstrous.
Yet even compared to that, this boy seemed to surpass her slightly.
If Katsuyu were not the kind of creature that was extraordinarily sensitive to chakra, no one would ever have noticed how much this kid was hiding.
Tsunade answered casually, "Akira. You could say he's my new apprentice."
The moment he heard that, Akira's mouth twitched.
He shot Tsunade a flat look.
Sure, she'd taught him a lot of medical ninjutsu, but wasn't claiming him as a disciple a little too casual?
Still, when he saw the seriousness in her eyes, he chose not to argue. In the end, it was only a title. And having one of the legendary Sannin as a teacher wasn't exactly a loss.
Deep down, Tsunade simply wanted to bind Akira to herself a little more tightly.
That irrational sense of if I don't keep an eye on him, he'll die was still clouding her judgment.
If Akira ever found out what she was thinking, he'd probably laugh himself sick.
Across the entire ninja world, the number of people who could actually kill him at this point could be counted on two hands.
By normal means, it was a fantasy.
Katsuyu sounded enlightened. "I see. If he's your student, then I suppose he'll be coming to Shikkotsu Forest to sign a contract someday?"
Strictly speaking, Shizune had grown up by Tsunade's side and learned medical ninjutsu too, but she had never signed a summoning contract.
In Tsunade's heart, Shizune was closer to family, or a trusted assistant, than a true inheritor of her legacy.
That was clearly not the same kind of treatment she was now giving to Sakura or Akira.
Katsuyu politely greeted him. "Akira-sama, it's a pleasure."