Chapter 191: The Death of Jiraiya (Part 2)
"I didn't want to use this move," he said, "but now, I don't seem to have any other choice."
He held out his hands, palms up.
"Sage Lightning Art: Takemikazuchi Drums!"
Liquid chakra poured from his back and formed into five, head-sized drums, which floated behind him.
He then reached out, and a long staff of condensed lightning chakra appeared in his hand.
His pale blue, upward-floating hair, his brilliant and magnificent armor, the five floating drums, and the glowing staff.
At that moment, Jiraiya, who was now highly toad-like, suddenly felt that his opponent was the real sage, and that he was just a toad.
The next moment, he, with his staff, tapped the five drums, and a crisp sound echoed. The five drums, as if activated, lit up, a faint light of electricity flowing within them.
Without hesitation, he flew low to the ground and swung his staff.
Jiraiya, at the last second, jumped back.
The seemingly thin staff had shattered the ground.
Jiraiya used the same trick, and the two great sages on his shoulders once again began their duet.
"Demonic Illusion: Toad Confrontation Chant!"
But at almost the same time, the drums behind him automatically turned and fired several lasers.
Jiraiya barely managed to dodge, but he was still grazed across the chest, and his clothes instantly caught fire. The two great sages had to stop their singing.
"This is a tricky ability."
He didn't stop. He charged, and as he moved, the five drums followed him like funnels, firing terrifying lasers from time to time, giving the toad sages no chance to open their mouths.
After barely dodging a volley of lasers, he was on him, the long staff swinging down.
Jiraiya, who had lost his balance while dodging, could not avoid it. He could only block it with the stone sword of Mount Myoboku.
The stone sword, which had been tempered by natural energy for many years, shattered under the blow of his staff.
And the next moment, the five drums, all at once, turned and fired their powerful lasers at the point of contact.
The drums had been programmed to fire wherever the staff struck.
"Aah!"
A beam of lightning broke through his defense and shot through his chest.
Even with his iron will, he let out a cry of pain.
"Little Jiraiya!"
Dana kicked upwards, sending him flying.
The five drums turned again, all aiming at him in mid-air.
The next moment, five lasers shot out.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!"
Fukasaku used a Wind Release to block, but he was still hit in the right leg and both hands, and he fell to the ground in front of him.
Seriously injured, he could no longer fight, and he had lost the opportunity to use the Reverse Summoning.
The two toad sages also fell from his shoulders, and Shima passed out.
"Jiraiya? One of the three Sannin of Konoha? Or... the future master of the Child of Prophecy?" he said, looking at the man who was now more toad than human, and calling him by his real name.
"Hehe," Jiraiya said, surprised, and then enlightened. "Tsunade told you, didn't she? Haha."
"What? Would you be upset if she did? Does that mean she betrayed you?"
"How could I be?" he said, shaking his head. "I would be very happy. It means you won't kill her."
Dana was speechless. Was this what they called a simp?
"I told you today," he said, "that if you kill one of us, you should be prepared for us to come for you. To avenge, and to pay with a life. Jiraiya, you always seem to be lamenting the darkness of the ninja world, as if you're the only one who sees it. I wonder, when you decided to kill two young men for the sake of intelligence, did you ever think that you are also a part of that terrible ninja world? And of all the civilians who have been caught in the crossfire, how many of them were affected by you?"
The weakened Jiraiya's face was grim.
"In the end," he continued, "the beautiful ninja world you seek is just the ninja world you approve of, the ninja world that Konoha can accept. The thousands of people in this world are not as important as your village."
"What right do you have to say that to me?!" he roared, struggling to his feet. "Have you never killed anyone?!"
"Of course I have," he said with a laugh. "And a lot of them. But I don't go around killing people and starting wars and then sighing, 'The ninja world is so dark.' But none of that matters today. One, to avenge. Two, to pay with a life. All I know is that your life is no more valuable than the lives of those two young men."
"You're right," Jiraiya said, looking up at the sky with a bitter smile. "It is normal for a killer to be avenged. Sage Masters, I will send you back to Mount Myoboku."
"Wait, don't!"
Before Fukasaku could stop him, he and the unconscious Shima disappeared in a puff of white smoke. And he did not stop them. He had come here to avenge two young men. The two toads were not on his list.
Jiraiya felt the feeling in his back disappear, but it didn't matter anymore.
"Is this how my Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja ends?" he thought. "A killer... avenged."
The next moment, the staff in his hand pierced his throat.
With Jiraiya taken care of, only Orochimaru was left. He had already been beaten to a pulp, but with his notorious difficulty to kill, he was certainly not dead. In the previous battle, he had released so many small snakes. His real body was probably hidden in one of them. And without his hands, he probably couldn't use the Reverse Summoning to escape. And his "pulse" vision had been active all this time.
But this was the open sea. He had plenty of time. He could just kill every living thing on the island.
In the distance, Manda, who was still wrestling with the thunder dragon, had not yet realized that the battle on the other side was over. He and the thunder dragon had been at it for three hundred rounds.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.
"Idiot! Run!"
Manda froze, not understanding.
"Use the Reverse Summoning! Go back to Ryuchi Cave!"
He hesitantly tried, and sure enough, the unknown obstacle was gone. He decisively ended his intestinal battle with the thunder dragon and disappeared in a puff of white smoke.
And the dazed thunder dragon, its enemy gone, also gradually dissipated.
He glanced in Manda's direction, and after a moment of thought, he went back to searching for Orochimaru.
But hours later, after he had turned over every rock on the island and had even dived into the sea, he still could not find any trace of him.
"I was going to deal with the tricky Jiraiya first," he grumbled. "That Orochimaru is really hard to kill."
After a few more hours of searching, he had to give up. He even suspected that Orochimaru's real body might have been on the first island all along. The guy had so many strange, inexplicable life-saving techniques.
He gave up and went to the underground space on the island, where the Thunder Daimyo had been lying all this time. He had known he was there from the very beginning.
He looked at the half-dead Daimyo, and after a moment of thought, he reached out a finger and touched his forehead.
A subtle natural energy was pushed from his own body and into the Daimyo's brain.
Half an hour later, he sealed Jiraiya's body in a scroll and, carrying the "deeply unconscious" Daimyo, he left the island.