"..."
"..."
Naruto and Sasuke had already gotten used to it. After spending so long with Jiraiya, they had long known that he could be reliable at times and especially unreliable at others.
Amidst the awkward silence, Naruto and Sasuke went to assist the Barrier Squad ninjas. Though Sealing Jutsu was not their specialty, they could still help with odd jobs.
"Thank you."
Jiraiya looked at Naruto, who had created dozens of clones to busily work all around, and Sasuke, who had activated his Sharingan for delicate operations, then thanked Nagai Ukaku.
"No need for that. Even if I hadn't brought them around, they would have been fine."
Even so, there was no guarantee that fainting this time without even seeing the ghosts' true forms would not leave them psychologically scarred, making them fare even worse in future operations against ghosts.
What Nagai Ukaku had said about "nine ghosts" had given them a hint.
It was not that they were too timid. It was that there were simply too many ghosts confronting them!
"Let's not talk about that for now. How are things inside?"
Jiraiya had already decided that once they returned, he would praise Nagai Ukaku in front of Hinata and get the guy promoted.
"Very bad." Nagai Ukaku looked toward the magnificent waterfall blocking off Takigakure, his expression extremely grave. "You heard the number of ghosts just now."
"There are nine in total."
"And each of those nine ghosts' Oni Domains overlaps with the others!"
"Like a tower, counting real space as well, it forms a ten-story tower!"
"I tried to draw out a single ghost, but found that I couldn't. The ghosts are too close together!"
Jiraiya felt deeply troubled after hearing this. The situation inside was even worse than he had imagined.
He had considered drawing