Chapter 16: The Sage and the Rose
"Wind Style Art: Clouds, Mist, and Rain!" Fei'er's voice, though youthful, carried a sharp edge. In an instant, a gale whipped up, and the clouds in the sky converged rapidly above her head.
"So it is a Bloodline Limit!" Jiraiya's brow furrowed deeply. His gaze swept over the figures lying motionless across the courtyard, and a wave of irritation washed over him.
He had never expected this girl, who seemed no older than ten, to possess such potent ninjutsu. Before he could properly react, she had unleashed a strange technique, causing clouds and mist to billow from her body. He had mistaken it for a simple Hiding in Mist Technique, but by the time the mist cleared, everyone present had collapsed, their fates unknown.
And now, she was using another ninjutsu he couldn't comprehend, deepening his frustration.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
A similar white mist, but with a vastly different effect. A massive toad, a smoking pipe clutched in its mouth, materialized out of nowhere. The mansion's structures groaned and buckled under the immense weight of Gamabunta, crushed beneath his bulk.
"Gamabunta, scoop up everyone on the ground into your mouth for now. Don't let them get caught in the crossfire," Jiraiya ordered from his perch atop the great toad's head.
"Got it, got it, what a pain!" Gamabunta removed the large smoking pipe from his mouth, opened his jaws wide, and with a powerful inhale, sucked all the unconscious forms into the safety of his mouth. His eyes, each as large as a person, narrowed as they scanned the surroundings. "So, where's the enemy?"
Swish!
"Right here!" A figure shot out from the concealing clouds above—one of the two remaining men in black from the Blood Gate.
The man in black lunged, kunai gleaming as he slashed toward Jiraiya.
Jiraiya twisted his body, dodging the attack by a hair's breadth. The man in black smirked inwardly. Is this all one of the Legendary Sannin is worth?
FWOOSH! ! !
A scythe-like wave of compressed air suddenly erupted from the man's kunai, rushing toward Jiraiya at point-blank range. It was impossible to evade!
"Die!" the man in black yelled in triumphant excitement as the air wave connected. But as it passed straight through Jiraiya's body, his expression froze solid.
He turned his head in disbelief to find the real Jiraiya standing behind him, the tip of a kunai already protruding from his chest. The Jiraiya pierced by the air wave dissolved into a puff of white smoke.
"A Shadow Clone... when...?" The man's clothes grew slick with the blood bubbling from his lips before he slumped lifelessly onto Gamabunta's head.
Jiraiya of the Sannin was every bit as formidable as his legend suggested.
"Quxiao was too reckless!" the final man in black muttered from his hiding place within the clouds, his face tight with displeasure.
"It's not that Quxiao was reckless," Fei'er corrected, her eyes like chips of ice. "It's that Jiraiya is too strong." She paused, thinking. "I didn't expect them to have hired Jiraiya this time... We're withdrawing. We'll return another day!"
"Yes, Sect Master!" The last man in black was Fei'er's most devoted follower, obeying her without question.
The two of them burst from the cover of the clouds, fleeing the Land of Tea at their absolute top speed.
Swish!
A figure materialized beside the fleeing man in black. It was Jiraiya, his face now marked with the distinctive red, pig-like markings of Sage Mode. He had gotten serious.
"Even if the leader is a beautiful little girl," Jiraiya's voice was cold, "this time, I'm ending it!"
"Sect Master, go! I'll hold him back!" the man in black yelled, his hands flying through a sequence of seals.
Fei'er bit her lip, a pang of grief striking her heart. "I'm sorry..." she whispered, then continued her desperate flight without looking back.
"Hmph!" Jiraiya roared. "Gamabunta! Stop that girl! I'll handle this one!"
"Tch, fine, fine, I got it," Gamabunta grumbled. He leaped into the air, covering a vast distance with a single bound, landing with a ground-shaking crash that put him almost on top of the fleeing Fei'er.
Ryouma, still en route, felt the earth tremble. He looked into the distance and saw a toad the size of a small mountain, spewing powerful water cannons from its mouth!
He recognized the toad instantly from its appearance—it was Jiraiya's summon!
Ryouma's eyes followed the trajectory of the water cannons and his breath hitched. The target was Fei'er!
She was moving with incredible speed, her feet seeming to glide on clouds, but she was utterly helpless against the massive attacks from the colossal creature.
While she was fast, Gamabunta could cover more ground with a single leap than she could in a full sprint. And to mount an effective counter-attack, Fei'er needed time to gather and condense the clouds in the sky. But Gamabunta's relentless assault gave her no such opportunity, placing her in extreme peril.
"Jiraiya will be here soon... When he arrives, it'll be over for me... Father... Mother... Grandmother... Grandfather... Fei'er is coming to find you..." The thought drifted through her mind as she slowly closed her eyes. "I'm sorry... Fei'er was too arrogant... I failed to avenge you..."
FWOOSH!
A water cannon struck Fei'er squarely. The impact sent her flying backward. She smashed through two large trees before her body finally came to a stop.
Cough... Pfft... Fei'er lay on the broken ground, spitting up a mouthful of blood. She pushed herself up with trembling arms, managing to sit up. When she looked up, another water cannon was already rushing toward her.
"I'm coming..." Fei'er murmured softly, watching the jet of water hurtle toward her. The faces of her family seemed to appear before her eyes, smiling and waving her forward.
BOOM! ! !
A deafening explosion. A brilliant light seemed to fill Fei'er's vision. Water splashed across her face, shocking her back to full awareness. She stared at the figure standing before her—not particularly tall, but resolute—who had intercepted the water cannon attack. The silhouette looked familiar, gradually overlapping with the person she had met before. She shielded her eyes from the dazzling light and whispered, "Big... big brother?"
"Yeah, it's me," Ryouma replied, the Great Ball Rasengan held defiantly before him. He glanced back at the fragile girl and offered a helpless smile. "You're a real handful, you know that?"
Ryouma's hair was whipped back by the churning energy of the Rasengan. And something in Fei'er's heart stirred along with it.
"Haha..." she let out a weak, breathy laugh. "No one has scolded me like that... for a very long time..."