The massive toad loomed like a hill, its bulk casting a shadow over the Sand-nin below.
"Jiraiya, you didn't summon me out just to swat a little snake, did you?" Gamabunta grumbled around his pipe.
Jiraiya chuckled and didn't explain. He wasn't about to tell Gamabunta that this kind of entrance looked cooler.
Gamabunta held his pipe in one hand and blew a lazy smoke ring. Knowing Jiraiya, he could guess the man's thoughts.
"What's going on?!"
Seeing the three-headed serpent they'd just summoned get erased before it could do anything, the Sand-nin wore mingled shock and rage.
"H-he's Jiraiya—one of the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja)!"
The title needed no explanation anywhere in the shinobi world.
"Damn it. I heard Jiraiya left Konoha—why's he here now?"
Another Sand-nin couldn't hide the frustration. Of all times to run into a living legend…
"This is no time to freeze up! If a summon won't cut it, we go in ourselves!"
The squad captain barked the order, snapping everyone out of it.
Ten Sand-nin stepped forward together, hands flashing through seals before slamming to the ground. "Doton—Doryūheki (Earth Flow Wall)!"
Dozens of earthen walls surged up—forming a ring that boxed Gamabunta in rather than shielding the Sand-nin.
As those ten finished, the captain completed his own seals. "Doton—Doryū Taiga (Earth Flow River)!!"
The earth beneath Gamabunta's feet grew soft, then melted into a churning, sand-thick river of mud. Hemmed by the ring of walls, the slurry rose at visible speed.
In a blink, the viscous flow swallowed Gamabunta's four feet, then began to harden.
They meant to immobilize him. With a body that big, even a shoulder-check could pulp a squad.
"Not bad as an idea. But they're underestimating you, Bunta," Jiraiya said, amused.
Gamabunta didn't bother replying.
Four corded legs pressed down—and the giant toad sprang straight up, the earthen ring and sucking river might as well not have existed.
He dropped like a falling mountain—straight at the clustered Sand-nin.
Rrrrrr-BOOM!
The impact thundered through the forest, a wave of dust blanketing half the trees.
"With this level, you think you can assault Konoha? Suna's getting more fanciful by the day," Jiraiya said coolly.
He hadn't spared the Sand-nin below a serious thought.
His concern was Orochimaru.
Thanks to his early return—and the prophecy from the Ōgama Sennin (Great Toad Sage)—Jiraiya had taken this attack very seriously.
Unlike in that "other" sequence of events, where the assault from Orochimaru and Suna had caught them somewhat off guard, that play wasn't happening in Konoha today.
Jiraiya and Hiruzen had prepared in advance to head off surprises.
Suna and the Sound wouldn't strike only two approaches.
There were other Sand units pressing Konoha's flanks elsewhere—
—and the same scene repeated. Before Suna and Sound could get momentum, Konoha forces appeared as if from nowhere and crushed them.
They'd picked out-of-the-way targets, yet even there they were smothered.
Causing "major damage" was a fantasy, never mind "taking Konoha."
Even so, the one surprise for Jiraiya and Hiruzen was the village kekkai (barrier) being knocked offline.
For reasons he couldn't name, despite Konoha holding the advantage everywhere, a bad feeling kept needling Jiraiya.
"Konoha falls into war"—that was the Ōgama Sennin's prophecy. But with Suna's current power… they shouldn't be able to push Konoha into true war.
Was the prophecy imprecise?
Or was prophecy itself inherently uncertain?
Jiraiya shook his head and looked back down into the dust.
Whatever the case, he'd finish this squad, then head to his sensei.
"Bunta, end it in one go."
"Already planning to!" Gamabunta lifted a titanic foot and fanned the dust with a single sweep.
A gale roared out, like a Wind Release jutsu, stripping the air clean and baring the Sand formation below.
Everyone was scuffed and bleeding. Nearly a third, too slow to escape, had been perforated by stone shards kicked up when Gamabunta landed—severely injured on the spot.
It hadn't taken long. In only moments, this Sand detachment lay in ruins.
"How… how is he this strong?!"
"So that's the power of the Densetsu no Sannin!"
Cries of fear trembled through the ranks.
The captain stared up at the proud figure standing on Gamabunta's head. His fists clenched until the knuckles whitened.
"Does Suna really have no hope of rising…?"
He knew better than anyone here: if they lost this strike on Konoha, what awaited Suna.
Hokage Rock, atop Hashirama's face.
Yuto dangled his legs, lounging there with an easy grin.
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