Mission Complete

"Damn it, where did that kid go?"

In a forest of stark white bones, Jiraiya was hurrying anxiously deeper in. He had no idea how Kitagawa Gen was doing right now.

Just looking at his surroundings made even him swallow despite himself.

"What the hell is this thing? Is this Shikotsumyaku? How is it this strong?"

Jiraiya had been through so many wars that he knew plenty about Shikotsumyaku, but the scale before him seemed to exceed his imagination!

At this moment, the once-lush forest had completely changed.

The towering trees had all been replaced by thick, sharp white bone spikes. Even under the blazing sunlight, he could feel a chilling aura spreading through the air.

If he had not reacted quickly just now, leaping up and landing on Manda's body,

then using Manda as a cushion together with Orochimaru, his current situation probably would not have been good.

As for what happened to Manda, neither of them had probably cared.

"Kid, you'd better not let anything happen to you!"

Withdrawing his gaze, Jiraiya sped up again. Before long, he finally saw Kitagawa Gen deep within the bone forest, smashing bones apart as he walked outward.

"Phew."

At that moment, Jiraiya finally let out a breath of relief. Earlier, he had truly felt his heart pounding wildly.

But very quickly, he frowned slightly again, because he noticed that Kitagawa Gen's clothes were in tatters, with several places showing signs of having been slashed open.

"Kid, are you all right?"

He quickly jumped over, and before Kitagawa Gen could say anything, Jiraiya immediately began checking him over.

"Uh, Lord Jiraiya?"

Kitagawa Gen had long since sensed Jiraiya coming over, but he had not expected this kind of scene the moment he arrived. He smiled and shook his head.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. No need to be concerned."

"Better to be careful."

After Jiraiya finished checking him over, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he found it strange that the clothes were torn to this extent while he could not find even a single wound on his body, those were all unimportant details.

"What happened here? Was this caused by the guy who fought you?"

"Mm. That guy erupted with powerful Chakra just now, and then it turned into this. He's disappeared too."

Kitagawa Gen nodded, with no intention of hiding anything.

"And that guy was very unusual. He could pull bones out of his body to fight. I remember seeing descriptions of traits like that in books. He seemed to be..."

"The Kaguya Clan, from Kirigakure."

Jiraiya explained directly, then could not help shaking his head.

"But that guy was far stronger than any members of the Kaguya Clan I've ever seen. At least, those people couldn't do something on this level."

That was only natural. After all, Kimimaro had made even his own clansmen deeply wary of him, getting himself a prison package at such a young age.

In Kitagawa Gen's memory, it seemed that in a certain game, there was also an Uchiha who received similar treatment.

"Come to think of it, these two clans really are quite alike."

The Uchiha were famous lunatics, while the Kaguya Clan was also notorious in that regard, except the Kaguya were more like madmen.

And they had also been driven to the corner of the village, because they loved fighting and often clashed with the people in the village.

Aside from that, they had also launched a coup, and in the end, they likewise ended with their clan exterminated.

He had to say, these two clans really were a matching pair of "crouching dragon and phoenix chick."

"If Kirigakure hadn't shut itself off from the world, maybe the Uchiha would have heard what happened to the Kaguya Clan and restrained themselves a little."

Kitagawa Gen grumbled inwardly, but his gaze turned to Jiraiya as he asked curiously,

"By the way, Lord Jiraiya, where's Orochimaru? And how did our mission go?"

"There was such a huge commotion just now. I was worried about you, so I didn't bother with him."

When Orochimaru was mentioned, Jiraiya also looked somewhat depressed and embarrassed, but very quickly, he grinned again.

"All right, don't worry about the details. Although there was a tiny little mishap in this operation, this great sage still handled it!"

"..."

A tiny little mishap?

Kitagawa Gen gave Jiraiya a strange look, then looked back at the vast expanse of bone forest.

That look seemed to be saying, if you had listened to advice just now, it wouldn't have ended up like this, right?

"Why are you speaking so loudly?"

However, even though Kitagawa Gen clearly had not said anything, Jiraiya himself could not save face anymore.

Sometimes, silence was even more deafening.

"All right, the mission's complete. Let's go!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Kitagawa Gen did not argue with Jiraiya any further. After all, to him, no matter which mission they were talking about, it had indeed been completed!

Completed Lord Jiraiya's exclusive Side Quest

If We're Brothers, Slash Me Twice

Reward acquired: Kimimaro's special Yin Release Power

"How is Kimimaro?"

"Lord Orochimaru, he still needs treatment."

In another forest in the Land of Hot Water, Orochimaru was watching as Jugo continuously treated Kimimaro.

Jugo had a very special technique called "Cell Rejection." He could give his own Chakra-containing cells to an injured person and allow their wounds to recover.

However, the prerequisite was that the target had his Cursed Seal and could adapt to it. Otherwise, he had no way to help.

In truth, Orochimaru felt that doing this did not mean much. After all, Kimimaro's condition was not merely external injuries; more importantly, it was the matter of his Bloodline Disease.

"The Dance of the Larch just now probably had no ordinary effect."

Orochimaru frowned. "Dance of the Larch" was Kimimaro's last resort, and it was also a technique he did not want Kimimaro to use.

He just had not expected that Kimimaro would actually be forced to this point this time, which truly gave him something of a headache.

This would affect his progress!

"But that little brat was rather interesting."

Orochimaru calmly looked at Kimimaro lying on the ground, but in his heart, he could not help thinking back to the brat following beside Jiraiya, whom he had only glanced at earlier.

He did not know or care what that brat's name was, but now he was somewhat interested, especially in the technique that brat used!

He had already heard from Jugo about that brat's battle. That kid was fast and strong.

Most importantly, he also had a Lightning Release technique that possessed three traits at once!

It was by relying on that Lightning Release that the brat had beaten Jugo and Kimimaro into this state, and had even forced Kimimaro to use Dance of the Larch!

"He pushed Lightning Release's shape transformation and nature transformation to the extreme?"

For a ninjutsu expert like Orochimaru, how could he not know exactly what was going on with that Purple Lightning?

At such a young age, the boy had created a technique like that. Such talent made Orochimaru look at him differently.

"And that kid is also following Jiraiya."

Orochimaru licked his lips, and suddenly, a thought surfaced in his mind.

"Could he be another Minato Namikaze?"

Thinking of this, Orochimaru, who had originally been full of interest, suddenly felt it all turn dull.

Jiraiya really was an annoying guy.

Shaking his head, Orochimaru did not bother thinking too much about it. The most important thing now was still to withdraw from this place.

Who knew whether Jiraiya's dog nose would catch the scent and come over again?

"Fortunately, Jiraiya seems to have taken the bait too. Let him and those Akatsuki people tear each other apart."