Chapter 189: Sage Mode vs. Sage Mode
To avenge, and to pay with a life.
Is it domineering?
Is it not normal for a ninja to die in battle?
It is normal. Where there are missions, there is battle. And where there is battle, there is death.
But what does a death in battle have to do with revenge?
Other villages might recover the body of a fallen ninja, posthumously declare them a hero, and then tell their family, "So-and-so died for the village. He was a good man."
But in the Cloud, they will find out who did it, and then they will make them pay with their life. They will use the enemy's blood as the village's answer.
It is the answer of the entire village.
You don't even have to have known the person who was killed. You can wait if you're not strong enough. But the one who killed a Cloud ninja is an enemy of the entire village.
Some people's revenge is only for their family. But the Cloud's revenge is the will of the entire village.
From a young age, this was what the Third Raikage had taught him.
He grabbed Orochimaru by the neck and lifted him into the air.
"I hear you're hard to kill," he said. "But I want to try. So how do you want to die?"
Orochimaru's yellow, snake-like pupils were forced to meet his.
He suddenly understood why he had come alone, with no subordinates, without even calling for a Heavenly Transfer.
Because he wanted all three of them to die.
Both him and Jiraiya, and the Thunder Daimyo.
Blood trickled from the corner of Orochimaru's mouth. "Yotsuki Dana," he coughed, "they were right to call you the Purple Moon Demon. So bold."
The next moment, with a twist of his hand, he broke his neck.
But the body immediately dissolved into a swarm of small snakes, which scattered in all directions.
"Lightning Release: Overclocked Earth Runner."
A large amount of lightning spread across the ground, and the small snakes were all electrocuted, one by one.
They scattered, but they could not escape the fate of being cooked well-done.
At the last moment, a tall figure emerged from the fleshy wall of a nearby rock.
He was a man with black hair and black eyes, still in his disguise. He put his hands together in front of his chest and, looking straight at Dana, said, his voice grim, "This is a jutsu I have trained for almost a year to master. And because of it, I missed my teacher's last moments. Yotsuki Dana, you are about to witness the White Demon of Mount Myoboku, the Toad Sage!"
As Jiraiya walked forward, his aura grew stronger and stronger. When he was less than ten meters away, he stopped.
"SAGE MODE!"
A silent gust of wind blew through his black hair. Red markings appeared around his eyes, his pupils became horizontal slits, like a toad's, and even his nose was slightly deformed.
Dana: "Hmph."
"I'm not done yet!" Jiraiya roared. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Two puffs of white smoke appeared on his shoulders, and an old male and female toad appeared.
"Sage Shima, Sage Fukasaku," he said, "lend me your strength!"
"...Who are you?" Fukasaku said.
Jiraiya: "..."
"Are you an idiot?" Shima said. "From this aura, it's obviously little Jiraiya!"
"Oh, it is!" Fukasaku said, enlightened. "Jiraiya, have you finally decided to dye your hair?!"
"Sage Masters," he said quickly, "I'm sorry I can't show you my real face, but this battle is not to be taken lightly. The opponent is strong! Please, lend me your strength."
"If he wasn't tricky, you wouldn't have summoned the two of us," Shima said, her expression now serious. "Who is the enemy this time?"
They both looked at Dana. "Such a young boy," Fukasaku said, curious. "To have already made little Jiraiya feel the pressure at such a young age. Why does he have the disgusting smell of snakes from Ryuchi Cave on him? Wait, and what's that? The sour smell of Shikkotsu Forest!"
"To have a contract with two of the great sage regions," Shima said.
"Sage Masters," Jiraiya said, interrupting their conversation, "this man does indeed have contracts with two of the great sage regions, but he has never used summoning jutsu in battle. His style is lightning release and taijutsu."
"Lightning release and taijutsu," Fukasaku mused.
"Don't worry," Shima said. "We two old bones still have a few tricks up our sleeves."
With the two great sages on his side, Jiraiya relaxed a little. "You can still choose to negotiate," he said to Dana. "If you were just letting off steam, then it's probably enough."
"Letting off steam?" he said with a gentle smile. "You think I came here to let off steam? Well, I have witnessed a famous scene. Now it's my turn."
And then, to the shock of the man and the two toads, he clapped his hands together and whispered, "Sage Mode."
There was none of Jiraiya's boisterous shout. For him, Sage Mode was now a familiar and completely mastered technique.
Blue, flashing markings appeared at the corners of his eyes, and a lightning bolt pattern appeared between his eyebrows, forming a trident-like shape. His hair turned a pale blue and stood on end.
Unlike Jiraiya's red markings, his were glowing and pulsating, as if energy were flowing within them.
Jiraiya's pupils contracted.
"How is that possible?!"
Half of Konoha had seen him in his colorful armor, but no one had connected it to Sage Mode. The only one who might have, the Third Hokage, had not had time to leave a report.
Jiraiya had always thought that he was the only one in the ninja world who could use Sage Mode.
"This Sage Mode," Shima said, her expression grim, "I've never seen anything like it."
"It's not the Sage Mode of Shikkotsu Forest, nor the Sage Mode of Ryuchi Cave," Fukasaku added.
"You're right, you've never seen it before," he said, suddenly appearing a meter in front of him. "This is Thunder Sage!"
With that, he chopped at him with his hand.
He didn't know how much strength he had put into the blow, but Jiraiya had barely managed to react and had raised his arm to block.
A massive force struck him, and he soon found that he could not hold.
Seeing that he was in trouble, Fukasaku shot out his tongue to help him block.
"A close-quarters fight is not advisable! Create distance!"
Jiraiya, barely holding on, used the force of the blow to create distance, his body spinning like a top.
"Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon, Infinite Barrage!"
Countless hairs turned into hardened senbon and shot out in all directions. The two great sages had activated his hair follicles, and the barrage was endless.
As he was spinning, the three of them were also secretly forming hand seals.
Dana, with his bare hands, caught all the senbon that were flying at him, as if he were plucking leaves from the air.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
Jiraiya suddenly stopped, and the three of them used wind, oil, and fire.
The super-heated combination jutsu, enhanced with sage chakra, was something even he could not ignore. He sidestepped.
The combination jutsu did not stop, but followed his spinning steps, and the small island was instantly engulfed in a sea of fire.
In the distance, Manda, who was wrestling with the thunder dragon, was singed by the flames.
"Hot, hot!"
The Sage Art-enhanced combination jutsu was burning his scales as if they were paper. He and his new brother, the thunder dragon, quickly rolled away.
He decided he would play for a little while longer and then go back to Ryuchi Cave.
But he didn't know that on his back, a human face had grown from one of his scales.
Dana, who had been running, suddenly accelerated and, finding an opening, charged into the flames.
"Lightning Release: Heavy Stream of Violence!"
His right hand formed a claw, and a flash of lightning appeared in his palm as he thrust upwards at Jiraiya's heart.
"I was waiting for you! Sage Art: Tongue-Cutter Slash!"
Two thick tongues shot out and wrapped around his right hand. Enhanced with sage chakra, they were tougher than steel.
He pulled, but he could not break free.
Jiraiya formed a series of hand seals, and a massive fireball shot from his mouth.
"Sage Art: Great Flame Bullet!"
With no escape, he had to counter with his left hand.
"Sage Art: Great Thunder Rasengan!"
The massive impact sent cracks through the already devastated island, and the two of them were sent flying.