Jiraiya Arrived Late
"Do you want to fight me, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru stared at the white-haired man with his cold, vertical eyes, licking his lips. "Naruto Uzumaki has already started fighting. It's not good for you to stay here! What if something happens to him..."
Jiraiya's brows furrowed sharply.
Orochimaru is right. Naruto is currently facing two members of Akatsuki. Even with Sakura watching over him, it will be difficult for him to hold out for long!
However, allowing Orochimaru to get close to the battlefield is also extremely dangerous.
Jiraiya was caught in a dilemma.
Seeing Jiraiya's expression change slightly, Orochimaru stepped forward and followed suit.
"Hmph! It seems you really don't know... The reason Sasori is here is because he wants to find out my hiding place from the guy behind me! As for why your Konoha ninjas are here, hehe, that's a question for you to answer!"
Orochimaru's explanations were mostly the truth.
He wouldn't stoop to lying about something like this to Jiraiya.
"Did you come here to kill Sasori?" Jiraiya, narrowing his eyes.
Orochimaru smirked, a wicked smile playing on his lips. "Looks like you're not completely hopeless, Jiraiya! But too bad, your Konoha beat you to it... I'm also hesitating whether to help Sasori deal with your people, or help you take care of Sasori first, or perhaps, while both sides are weakened, wipe out all of you and Sasori, those despicable people!"
They made no attempt to conceal their malice!
"You bastard...!" Jiraiya said hatefully, his eyes fixed on Orochimaru. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, quickly suppressing the sudden impulse that surged within Jiraiya. He endured it!
The emotional fluctuation only lasted for a moment; his patience quickly calmed him down, and he regained his composure.
Jiraiya's mind raced.
The reason the Konoha Ninja were here was simply because they discovered Sasori's whereabouts. They were spotted while tracking him, which led to the encounter. It seems to have been an accidental event.
Orochimaru was also surprised that Sasori had clashed with Konoha ninjas.
The problem now is how to both stop Orochimaru here and go to support Naruto's side...
Jiraiya was considering whether to summon one of the Toad from Mount Myōboku or use Sage Mode to solve the problem. Suddenly, the other side of the mountain nearby lit up sharply, followed by a huge explosion. By the time the sound of the explosion reached this side of the mountain, it had weakened into a gust of wind, whipping up countless pebbles and sand with a crackling sound.
"It's Deidara's technique..." The three of them glanced over at the same time. Orochimaru said calmly, "If you don't go over there soon, the treasure left behind by the Fourth will be blown to bits!"
Jiraiya remained unmoved. "Sakura Haruno's Ice Release blocked this attack... This child is strong."
"Foolish! They didn't find the second bomb, and neither did you?" Orochimaru sneered. Unlike Jiraiya, who had been keeping a close eye on him to prevent him from playing any tricks, Orochimaru was keeping a close eye on the battlefield. He keenly sensed that Deidara had laid two bombs this time!
Jiraiya's expression shifted, and he immediately realized that Orochimaru's words were true. Then, boom—a very short interval, the second bomb exploded. The Chakra fluctuations in the distance made Jiraiya's heart tighten, and his rock-solid expression finally softened!
The Nine-Tails 'Chakra dissipated... Naruto was injured and fell unconscious.
In a flash, Jiraiya made a decision. He couldn't worry about anything else; he had to get to the battlefield immediately!
When he arrived at the battlefield, he witnessed Sakura Haruno Body Flicker Technique up and swiftly killing Deidara.
If it weren't for the girl's pink hair instead of blonde; if it weren't for the silver water lines she was activating instead of a blue Chakra ball.
Jiraiya almost mistakenly believed that his beloved student had been resurrected.
His expression momentarily blank.
He quickly recovered and surveyed the battlefield: Naruto's Chakra was relatively stable, with little fluctuation or weakness, so he seemed to have only been stunned; Sasori's side was stunned by Sakura Haruno's clean and decisive defeat of Deidara, and the puppets were tightening their defenses, not taking the opportunity to attack Naruto.
"Phew..." Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief. Naruto was unharmed; it seemed to be just an accident.
However, when he came to his senses, he realized what Sakura had done.
The one she killed, wasn't he a member of Akatsuki?
As far as he knew, all the members of Akatsuki were extremely dangerous missing-nin, and their strength was almost all at the level of "Kage"... That blond youth, who should be called Deidara, was no exception.
He was instantly defeated like that?
Jiraiya was somewhat taken aback, suddenly recalling Minato Namikaze's illustrious record; the Yellow Flash had slaughtered Jonin like dogs, many Kage Level couldn't last more than a few rounds against him, and Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, two Kage Level ninjas, were almost instantly killed by him...
As a result, Jiraiya was no longer in a hurry to show himself. He hid in a corner where he could provide support at any time, and quietly observed how things unfolded.
Sasori Sakura Haruno faced off briefly against Naruto.
Sakura Haruno's weakness was impossible to conceal, even with her best efforts; she seemed to be injured. Sasori noticed this, but he suspected Sakura was deliberately feigning weakness, since the girl showed no signs of injury, and her Chakra hadn't decreased much...
More importantly, he vaguely sensed that someone had broken in— Jiraiya had rushed over without trying to conceal his presence.
After a moment's thought, he quickly made a decision.
"Do you want to run away?" Sakura Haruno asked coldly, looking at Sasori who seemed to be retreating.
"You want me to stay?" Scorpion smiled faintly, not denying it, but said, "With you injured?"
Sakura remained silent, her face cold.
She's in so much pain just standing; she's only able to stand steadily because she's secretly using an ice pack under her clothes to support herself.
So I didn't feel like arguing with him.
"If you still had a strong fighting ability, you would have attacked by now, wouldn't you?" Scorpion, having suppressed his killing intent, wore a shy and innocent smile, as if he had returned to the pure-hearted boy he once was. "You seem to be barely able to stand. Is that a block of ice?"
He looked at the girl in front of him; the ripped holes in her clothes, blown by the wind, revealed her true nature—a fierce exterior masking a cowardly interior.
Sakura, exposed, was speechless with embarrassment.
"Let's end this battle here," Scorpion said calmly, glancing around. "I have no interest in fighting in front of an audience."
"The audience?" Sakura immediately realized, it must refer to Jiraiya, right? He really did come...
"Aren't you coming out yet, you sneaky rats?" Scorpion said coldly, glancing left and right.
"Them"? The girl was taken aback. Who else?
She found out very quickly--
A massive fireball suddenly struck Scorpion's puppets from the side of the battlefield. The puppets nimbly dodged it, calmly watching as the fireball crashed into a rock on the other side, exploding with a deafening roar and kicking up clouds of dust.
Jiraiya stopped his Fire Style Hand Seals and walked over to Sakura and Naruto.
"Aren't you coming out yet, Orochimaru?" he said coldly, staring at the rocks shattered by the fireballs.
Under the watchful eyes of four pairs of eyes on the field—if you count the hundred or so pairs of eyes on Sasori's side as well— Orochimaru and Kabuto emerged from the thick dust.
"How lively today!" He licked his lips with his long tongue and sneered.
As he said, there are currently three opposing forces standing on the battlefield...
The three parties stood in an equilateral triangle, wary and on guard against each other!
It's really lively!
(Bonus chapter for 1.500 monthly votes guaranteed! Chapter 2 will be updated at 8 PM! The fifth chapter should be completed before 12 PM, with over 1000 words expected today!)
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