The explosive shockwave, spreading outwards, instantly covered the entire ground in front of Konoha's South Gate. The surging air currents solidified into a tangible white film, expanding at supersonic speed, raising vast clouds of dust that blotted out the sky. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed Jiraiya's figure.
However, just as Yamishibai continued to step forward—
"Don't underestimate me!"
With a furious roar, Jiraiya's figure suddenly burst out from the endless smoke, leaving arcs of trailing smoke behind him.
The wooden staff in his hand swung horizontally with a sharp whistle, sweeping towards the young man's head at a speed too fast for the average person's eyes to follow.
"Whack!"
However, this fierce and brutal strike seemed to crawl in front of Yamishibai. He simply raised his hand, extended his palm, and easily caught it.
Jiraiya, still mid-air, froze with the immense force, the wooden staff bending taut and then springing back.
The wild force unleashed from the tip of the wooden staff channeled directly into the ground through the young man's body, exploding into a crater more than five meters in radius with a booming sound.
"Hm?!"
Jiraiya's pupils contracted to a pinpoint, revealing a hint of horror.
The young man opposite him showed no surprise, merely looking at him calmly with his pure Byakugan.
The next moment—
The young man's figure suddenly vanished.
The powerful sensory abilities granted by Sage Mode allowed Jiraiya to instantly determine the killing intent came from behind him. He immediately flung the staff in his hand, twisting his body in mid-air. The staff whizzed as it swept towards the direction he sensed behind him, stirring up a wind that felt like needles pricking the skin.
However, when he came to his senses, he saw only empty space.
"Bang!"
A heavy elbow strike came from the ground, like a spring released after being stretched to its limit, causing Jiraiya's entire waist to fold in half instantly. His body tumbled, plowing a long furrow in the ground.
Before he could get up, he saw the pale figure approaching him even faster.
The moment Jiraiya raised his head, his nose even brushed against his forehead.
"Thud!"
Another dull thud.
Sour liquid almost squeezed out of Jiraiya's abdomen, overflowing into his mouth and nose, carrying a faint scent of blood.
'How can he be so fast?!'
After years of arduous training, and with Sawara Kiri as a powerful, almost unreachable goal, Jiraiya had put no less effort into Sage Mode than anyone else over the past few years, leading to his current perfect Sage Mode.
For this, he even swallowed his pride and sought out Orochimaru to make the gourd on his waist.
But—
Jiraiya's unwillingness flashed by. As he shot out again, he endured the sharp pain in his abdomen and slammed his staff downwards with a dull thud.
"Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs Technique!"
Immediately following, living tendrils suddenly shot out from the tip of the staff, piercing into the ground and pulling Jiraiya's body. They also seemed to grow like roots deep into the earth, making hissing sounds.
Yamishibai's gaze clearly lingered on Jiraiya's staff for a moment, causing his movements to briefly pause, as if he was curious.
However, before he could continue to reach for Jiraiya's head—
Jiraiya's eyes suddenly widened.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss—!"
Wood spikes, shooting like blades, suddenly surged from the ground beneath his feet, one after another, darting towards his feet and thighs.
Yamishibai's footsteps merely paused, then shifted sideways, and his body easily dodged all the spikes shooting towards him.
At the same time, his palm suddenly joined together like a blade, and a faint Wind Release Chakra fluctuation could be subtly perceived on the surface of his palm.
"Clang!"
The moment the hand-blade sliced through the horizontal wooden branch, it produced a crisp metallic clang.
This made the surprise on his face even more pronounced.
However, the rapidly shooting wooden strips still had no resistance against his hand-blade. With just a gentle downward motion, all the branches were completely torn apart.
As he performed this action, Jiraiya's hand seals were already complete.
"Sage Art: Fire Release: Oil Dragon Fire Technique!"
Jiraiya's chest suddenly puffed up like a balloon. The extreme contraction of his muscles instantly perfectly fused the oil and fire condensed from Chakra in his mouth, forming an extremely precise flame trajectory along the direction the branches extended.
"Boom—!"
The oil-fire dragon that erupted in an instant ignited the dark ground beneath this forest with scorching brilliance. The surging flames illuminated Jiraiya's profile.
The fierce fire, enhanced by oil under the magnification of Sage Art Chakra, formed a flame wall as tall and thick as a city wall in front of him, advancing relentlessly towards Yamishibai, as if even the ground beneath their feet would be crushed by this surging, tsunami-like wave of fire.
Unfortunately, Yamishibai looked at the wall of fire covering him, and his face showed no change whatsoever.
He calmly raised his hand towards the fire wall.
"Thud!"
With a dull thud like a drumbeat, the fire, like a collapsing mountain, was completely blocked within a foot's radius in front of him. No matter how it roared, it could not advance an inch, and even the ground beneath his feet formed a clear horizontal line of black and green with the scorched earth covered by flames in front of him.
Too weak.
"Buzz!"
Amidst a muffled tremor, Yamishibai gently pushed his palm forward.
Suddenly, a raging hurricane blew, like a heavy hammer striking water, creating surging ripples.
The fire that had ignited everything in front of Jiraiya suddenly vanished.
It was as if the wildly roaring wind had torn open a vacuum channel in the midst of the sea of fire.
"Wind Release?!"
"Impossible!"
Despite witnessing the scene before him, Jiraiya's heart was suddenly filled with an unbelievable feeling, and goosebumps even subtly rose on his skin.
Wind aiding fire is the natural order.
But how could his Wind Release be condensed to such a terrifying degree?!
Unfortunately, Yamishibai clearly had no intention of giving him a few extra seconds to think. Or rather, from the very beginning, he had not taken this ant before him seriously.
Almost the instant that vacuum channel formed, his figure had already shot through this sea of fire at a speed impossible for the naked eye to catch.
He was so fast, it was like a flickering electric spark.
Before Jiraiya could react, he saw his right hand had already joined two fingers, pointing straight at Jiraiya's glabella like a sword.
"Whoosh—!"
However, a faint sound of wind suddenly echoed in his ears.
Yamishibai's movement stopped midway, and he turned to look at the other side.
Beneath the roots of a giant tree, a young man with brilliant golden hair was carrying Jiraiya's tall body on his shoulder like a sack. He was half-crouched, facing him, and in the fist resting on the ground, he clutched a highly distinctive three-pronged Kunai.
"Jiraiya-sensei."
"Is this the enemy?"
He stared intently at the young man, who appeared to be just a teenager, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
However, the battle scars nearby, which had almost altered the terrain, forced him to be wary.
He had rushed here at full speed the moment he received the alarm, and it had only taken a few seconds in total.
But the opponent had already engaged Jiraiya-sensei in such a heated battle.
In that instant just now, if he had been even a second later, Jiraiya-sensei's head would probably have been pierced.
"You brat, put me down first before you talk!"
Jiraiya, carried on his shoulder, was clearly a bit embarrassed.
Although there was truly no other choice in the situation just now, it was still somewhat humiliating to be seen in such a state by his own disciple, making it a bit hard for him, as the teacher, to save face.
"Yes."
Minato replied, his gaze still fixed on the young man opposite him.
Yamishibai, on the other hand, looked at him, then at the direction he had come from, seemingly sensing the spatial fluctuations and distortions with his Chakra.
In Minato's eyes, this young man's behavior was completely inconsistent with his age, and instead reminded him a bit of Orochimaru-sama?
That feeling of being immensely curious about everything.
It inexplicably aroused a sense of threat in his heart.
After Jiraiya got down from Minato's shoulder, he once again picked up the wooden staff, also staring intently in Yamishibai's direction—this guy's speed was simply too fast. If it was just about Body Flicker, perhaps only Minato or Kiri, those two little monsters in all of Konoha, could compare to his performance just now. Jiraiya dared not let down his guard in the slightest.
At the same time, he also asked, "Why are you the only one who came?"
"Where are they?"
"Orochimaru-sama received news from Kiri and temporarily changed strategy—Phase Two can be advanced."
Upon hearing this, Jiraiya's expression clearly darkened a bit, but he still said in a muffled voice:
"I understand."
Yamishibai listened to their conversation, showing no intention of interrupting. Unconsciously, he displayed an extremely strong sense of confidence—or perhaps, contempt for mere ants.
However, before he could make any further move, Minato suddenly grabbed Jiraiya's arm.
Their figures vanished into thin air with a whoosh.
Yamishibai's expression clearly paused. He turned his head and looked towards the direction of Konoha Village, as if he had already sensed their landing point.
"Awooo—!"
The next moment, a prolonged air raid siren sounded from various loudspeakers within Konoha Village.
Yamishibai's movements remained unhurried as he stepped towards Konoha Village.
Inside Konoha Village.
Amidst the piercing sirens, figures of Anbu Ninja swiftly leaped across rooftops, moving at top speed towards their designated positions according to the Tailed Beast defense plan they had learned in school. They rapidly evacuated civilians from various districts and homes, guiding them into the air-raid shelters set up in each town.
Other combat personnel orderly converged towards the South Gate, all organized into squads and platoons, mostly Ninjutsu-type and Medical-type—when facing an enemy of this caliber, Taijutsu-type Ninja approaching too close would only hinder the effectiveness of combined Ninjutsu bombardments.
Orochimaru stood on the rooftop of the Hokage Building, gazing far towards the South Gate, a hint of excitement in his expression.
"Is that the guy?"
"Truly, a Chakra response even more terrifying than a Tailed Beast."
For others, an overly massive Chakra response reflected in their senses was almost like an overwhelming blaze, impossible to discern its size. Even when compressed, it would appear as a very dense dark red form.
However, Orochimaru, who had undergone multiple self-modifications over the years, could clearly distinguish the difference between the opponent and a Tailed Beast.
Both the quality and quantity of his Chakra were astonishing.
"Perhaps, only that thing inside Kiri's stomach can compare to him in the entire Ninja World, right?"
"I really want to study him properly."
Just as he was muttering this, Minato and Jiraiya's figures appeared on the rooftop.
"Orochimaru-sama!"
Minato immediately spoke, "The contingency plan can be activated."
"Rest assured."
Orochimaru's tone was very gentle: "Uchiha Megumi has already reached the industrial district."
"That should be his target."
Just as Orochimaru said.
After entering Konoha Village, Yamishibai seemed to completely ignore the figures of Ninja, like fleas, darting around him, constantly releasing combined Ninjutsu in squads.
Most ordinary Ninjutsu that landed on him were easily neutralized, as if hitting an invisible wall.
Compared to Nagato's Shinra Tensei, which required a clear countdown and had significant limitations, the Dojutsu displayed by this figure was clearly not on the same level.
However, as he swept away all the surrounding figures like shooing flies, stepped onto a collapsed ruin, and walked towards Konoha's industrial district, he saw a tall figure waiting calmly in front of him.
Upon seeing this woman, or rather, the pair of scarlet eyes in her eyes, Yamishibai's face clearly showed some surprise, as if he hadn't expected these lower beings, like ants, to be able to develop the Ōtsutsuki bloodline to such an extent.
He looked at Uchiha Megumi and spoke his first words since appearing here.
"Quite good eyes."
"Let me see."
"Your Dojutsu."
The voice was not childish at all, but faintly carried a unique husky quality of a middle-aged man.
Looking at his arrogant demeanor, as if he didn't take her seriously at all, Uchiha Megumi's expression remained unchanged. Instead, just as he said, she unhesitatingly connected the three black tomoe in her eyes into a single line.
She spoke in a calm tone:
"As you wish."
The next moment, a cold, tide-like surge of ocular power, like a piercing awl, suddenly flooded into the young man's mind.
'Amaterasu'
The burgeoning Mangekyo Sharingan power instantly captured the strongest thought in this person's mind—curiosity.
Then, it distorted it into a power sufficient to dominate his every action.
Uchiha Megumi looked at him with her chilling eyes and said indifferently:
"Self-destruct."
"..."
After several seconds of silent confrontation, a crisp sound suddenly emanated between the two.
"Crack!"