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POOM!
With a puff of smoke, the Two Great Sage Toads summoned Jiraiya directly to the mist-shrouded entrance of Ryūchi Cave.
"Little Jiraiya," rumbled Fukasaku. "Forgive the abrupt summons. This was an emergency."
"No, the apology should be mine," Jiraiya said, his expression serious. "I've dragged you both into the shinobi world's conflicts again."
"Enough with the formalities!" Shima clicked her tongue, her beady eyes scanning the swirling mists of the cave entrance. "Just settle this quickly so I can get back! The little ones are waiting for my special bug stew!"
Her eyes gleamed. "Though… snagging a few well-aged five-step pit vipers for the broth wouldn't hurt. Give the kiddos some extra nutrients!"
Fukasaku sighed. "Dear! We can't do that! We're here asking for a favor. We can't just go around snatching their young!"
Jiraiya stepped forward. "Maybe I should go in alone. You two wait here, and we'll head back together after!"
Fukasaku puffed up. "Think again! We're not your personal summoning taxis!"
"And that cave is far too dangerous," Shima added, hopping onto Jiraiya's shoulder with a light plop. "You'd be walking straight into the dragon's den. But with us two old-timers here, they'll at least have to show some respect for the Great Toad Sage. They won't dare kill you."
Fukasaku landed on Jiraiya's other shoulder with another plop. "Hmph."
Jiraiya nodded, a grateful but grim look on his face. "Alright… but if anything goes wrong, you leave my shoulders immediately and save yourselves. Otherwise, I couldn't live with it."
"Enough chatter," Shima chirped, settling in. "Let's see what all the fuss is about this White Snake Sage! See if that smoky old crone lives up to her rivalry with our own silly old man!"
As the trio stepped into the devouring mists of Ryūchi Cave, deep within, at the heart of a decaying temple…
A figure lounged on a bone-white throne.
She had a waterfall of black silk for hair, a figure that curved in all the right places, and lips painted a blazing crimson. A robe of purest black, adorned with golden serpent motifs, draped over her form. In her slender hand, a long pipe smoldered, wreathing her in fragrant smoke.
Within that smoke… faint images flickered. Three pairs of eyes, moving cautiously through the outer mists.
She was the White Snake Sage.
Months ago, Sasuke, Itachi, and Kabuto—guided by Orochimaru—had come seeking her power and medicine. The latter had offered her a prize: the Elixir of Rejuvenation.
The White Snake Sage had shed her ancient, wizened form… and emerged like a butterfly from a chrysalis, in the full bloom of impossible youth.
Her beauty was otherworldly, a sight unseen in the mortal realm. Perhaps only the legendary Kaguya Ōtsutsuki could have rivaled her.
The Sage took a slow, deliberate pull from her pipe, violet eyes smoldering as she exhaled a perfect smoke ring. "Maa… so they've finally come."
Below the dais, her niece and heir, the Second Snake King—Princess Kuntokanyū—flicked her forked tongue. "Kekeke~! Let me handle them! I'll send them packing~!"
"You're too heavy-handed for an opening move, dear," the Sage purred, her gaze drifting to the subtle, gentle curve of Kuntokanyū's abdomen. "Kill them, and things would get… complicated with our other acquaintances."
She smiled, a hint of warmth in her serpentine eyes. "Besides… you're carrying the future of our lineage now. Best not to exert yourself."
"Kekeke, fine," Kuntokanyū conceded, slithering closer. "Who shall we send then, Grandmother?"
The White Snake Sage pondered, sipping more smoke. "Mmm… No need for the grand reception we gave little Sasuke last time. Something symbolic. Send one of the Third Generation Kings."
Kuntokanyū tapped her chin. "Keke… Grandmother, what about the King Cobra? It's still fuming over its humiliation at Kabuto's hands! But now that Kabuto is… family, it can't vent its rage on him. This is perfect! Let it take its frustrations out on some humans. Might stop it from brooding!"
The White Snake Sage's lips curled. "A fitting choice. Very well… let little Cobra have its fun."
BOOM…!!
Jiraiya trekked through the thick mist for what felt like an age, encountering no resistance. He was just beginning to think they might pass unchallenged when—
The fog ahead surged.
A sound like mountains grinding together echoed through the pass.
A titanic shape, a living pillar of scaled muscle, blocked the path ahead, its shadow swallowing them whole.
A pair of malevolent, vertical-pupiled eyes glared down from the gloom, burning with pure malice.
"HUMAN!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!"
Tap.
Jiraiya stopped. Three sets of eyes looked up.
"Now that's excessive," Jiraiya whistled low. "Even Manda, the one Orochimaru used to summon, would look like a hatchling next to this thing!"
"Indeed," Fukasaku agreed, his voice tense. "It's not just size. The sheer power radiating from it is on another level."
"Hmph. Too big for the stew pot," Shima critiqued. "But sliced up and roasted as char siu? Might work."
The trio's casual assessment was the final spark.
"YOU DARE!!!" the King Cobra roared, its voice shaking the very cliffs. "THAT MANDA YOU SPEAK OF… WAS MY SON!!! MURDERED BY YOUR KIND!!!"
Jiraiya's expression sobered. "I see… A grieving father. My condolences. I mean no disrespect. I merely seek an audience with the White Snake Sage. Will you grant us passage?"
"PASSAGE?!" The Cobra King's massive head weaved, its focus narrowing. "YOU… AND THOSE AMPHIBIAN VERMIN ON YOUR SHOULDERS… WILL BECOME SUSTENANCE FOR THIS LORD!!!"
No more words.
Its colossal body coiled—a mountain of sinew compressing—and then sprang forward in a devastating headbutt aimed to crush them into paste!
Whoosh…!!
Jiraiya blurred, reappearing to the side just in time.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The cobra's skull slammed into the earth where they'd stood. Rock shattered. A crater ten meters wide yawned open, dust and debris blasting outward.
"Tch. That temper… definitely runs in the family," Jiraiya muttered, landing in a crouch.
He didn't wait. Taking a deep breath, he expelled a torrent of sticky, flammable oil that ignited mid-air!
"Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
A wave of blistering heat roared toward the serpent's face.
The King Cobra didn't flinch. Deep within its maw, a sinister violet light gathered and condensed.
Not fire. Not a blast.
A spear. A javelin of hyper-concentrated, liquefied venom shot forth with a vile hiss!
Sizzle…CRACK!
The venom spear met the fireball. Intense heat flash-vaporized the liquid toxin instantly—but the poison didn't vanish. It exploded outward as a thick, purplish miasma, rapidly filling the narrow mountain pass!
Fukasaku's eyes widened. "Poison! It's using poison!"
"The range is too wide!" Shima cried. "A wind jutsu won't clear it all in time!!"
But Jiraiya was already moving. He held his breath, hands flying through seals before slamming them onto the ground.
―Wood Release: Toad-Shell Bulwark!
RUMBLE…!
Wood erupted around them—but not in simple walls. The sprouting timber twisted and grew, forming the distinct, rounded shape of a giant toad that hunched protectively over them. With a resonant croak, the wooden toad's maw gaped wide…
And began to inhale, greedily sucking the spreading purple poison mist into itself!
The Two Great Sages stared, stunned. It had been a while since they'd fought alongside Jiraiya. This display of Wood Release… and its unique form… was a shock.
"Little Jiraiya, this Wood Release…!!!"
Jiraiya grinned tightly from within the bulwark. "My Wood Release has its limits. To make it truly effective, I had to get creative. Kabuto focused on micro-manipulation. I… took inspiration from nature's own designs."
Fukasaku let out a hearty, approving laugh. "That's my boy!!"
But the sight of that green wood, that familiar, hated chakra, was the ultimate insult to the King Cobra.
"WOOD RELEASE…! DAMNABLE WOOD RELEASE AGAIN!!!"
Its rage was a physical thing, vibrating the air. Its fight with Kabuto… it had been so close to victory! Then that insect had used his delicate, infuriating Wood Release to turn the tide!
Miniature flower petals blocking its nostrils! A tiny wooden dragon coiling around its maw! It had passed out from sheer frustration and lack of air!
The shame! The ridicule from its fellow Third Generation Kings! Even the upstart Fourth Generation brats whispered behind its back!
The humiliation had festered for months, a poison in its own heart. And now… another human wielding that accursed power!
SCREEEE—!
Its maw distended, compressing a roiling sphere of fire chakra. Its tail stabbed into the ground, and with terrifying force, it launched its entire front half hundreds of meters into the air above the pass.
Then… its anatomy shifted.
The mouth holding the fireball… became its tail tip.
And simultaneously, the tail now positioned high in the air… became a second maw.
ROAR…!!!
Flames vomited from this new, skyward-facing mouth, a violent jet propulsion that whipped its entire body into a devastating, burning corkscrew dive.
The original mouth—now a flaming, spear-like tail—aimed directly for Jiraiya and the wooden toad shelter below.
The air screamed. The world narrowed to that single, falling point of annihilation.
"DIIIIE…!!!"
―Secret Art: Fire Cannon Tail Spear!!!
Jiraiya looked up, a smirk playing on his lips despite the imminent doom. "Leaving your rear unguarded in a fight… that's just asking for trouble."
Swish!
He flashed to the side of the cliff face, his hands already weaving a new, more complex series of seals. Sage chakra, drawn from the two on his shoulders, surged through him, causing the red markings around his eyes to darken.
―Sage Art: Sealing Fire Swamp of the Underworld!
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