The sunset glow cast the earth in yellow.
Jiraiya's shadow stretched long in the fading light, reaching all the way to Nagato's feet.
When Nagato looked up, he found that not only were two palm-sized toads standing on Jiraiya's shoulders, but Jiraiya's appearance had also changed drastically.
"Little Jiraiya, it's about time you learned to enter Sage Mode on your own, isn't it?" Sage Fukasaku surveyed the battlefield. After his gaze paused briefly on Ichikishimahime, he spoke to Jiraiya.
"My natural talent is limited. It may take a while longer." Jiraiya looked up at Nagato with a grave expression. "So I'll have to trouble you two to put in some effort during this time."
"Here we go!!"
The moment he finished speaking, Jiraiya leaped into the air and slammed down in front of Nagato.
Boom!!
The hard ground beneath his feet instantly cracked and caved in, and countless stones were blasted into the air by the immense force.
"You went through all that just to summon these two toads?" Nagato looked at Jiraiya with some disappointment. The Konoha Legendary Sannin, who had once been incomparably formidable in his mind and made a resounding name for himself in the Ninja World, did not seem as powerful as Nagato had imagined.
At the very least, the sense of danger Jiraiya gave him was, in some respects, not even as intense as the danger Uchiha Asuka inspired when using his Mangekyō Sharingan techniques.
At that moment.
Sage Fukasaku looked around blankly and asked.
"Little Jiraiya, where is the Sage's Eye you mentioned?"
"Are your eyes getting bad now that you're old?" Shima raised a hand and pointed at the Uzumaki standing before them. "Isn't he right in front of you?"
At those words, Fukasaku fell silent.
It was not that he had failed