Am I Too Late, Teacher Jiraiya?

Normally, a ninja's peak was between the ages of twenty and forty.

Only a few powerful individuals could extend their peak period.

Jiraiya had been chosen by Sarutobi Hiruzen in his youth thanks to his immense Chakra reserves.

His training at Mount Myōboku had transformed him from a Dead Last into someone who could keep pace with Orochimaru.

Of the Sannin, his fighting style most closely resembled Sarutobi Hiruzen's. It was extremely well-rounded and could handle almost any situation.

The so-called Sannin was actually a somewhat humiliating title.

It was Orochimaru and Jiraiya's performance in the war that turned the title into a legend.

Jiraiya had already reached the limits of what an ordinary person could achieve.

Unfortunately...

He was facing a monster.

The frenzied, violent battle continued.

Large swaths of forest along the border of the Land of Hot Water had been flattened.

Halfway through his Tailed Beast Transformation, Blue B threw back his head as Yin-Yang Chakra compressed into a ball at a ratio of two to eight.

Boom!

The immense pressure cracked the ground and forced it downward in many places.

The A-B Combo stood behind him, their clothes somewhat damaged.

"B, eat more meat when we get back and hurry up and grow!"

"If you could use the same power as me to unleash Liger Bomb, we could definitely take that guy down!"

"Got it, big bro! Yo! Bakayaro~"

"Jiraiya, I can't block that thing..." Gamabunta, gripping a Short Sword in his webbed hand, was breathing somewhat heavily.

He could deal with ordinary Tailed Beast attacks, but he had no way to handle a Tailed Beast Ball.

"Gamabunta, go back first."

"If there's time, I'll use Reverse Summoning to go to Mount Myōboku."

"Hey! Do you think..."

Bang!

Before Gamabunta could finish, Jiraiya voluntarily dispelled the summoning.

He still couldn't bring himself to use a Summoning Beast companion as a shield against a Tailed Beast Ball.

Earth Release—Multiple Earth Style Wall.

Layer after layer of thick earthen walls surged from the ground, and then...

Ninja Art—Needle Jizo.

Jiraiya's white hair wrapped around him from every direction, leaving only one eye exposed.

I wonder if this can hold...

If only Orochimaru were here. His Triple Rashomon would definitely be able to stop it.

Whoosh!!

The massive Tailed Beast Ball came roaring over, carrying the power to destroy everything in its path. The earth split apart wherever it passed, and even the air seemed to burn.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The thick Earth Flow Walls were as flimsy as paper and failed to do anything at all!

It charged forward like a savage prehistoric beast, unstoppable.

Wherever it passed, it left behind a bottomless ravine.

It was close.

Wrapped in layers of silvery-white hair, Jiraiya could only hope his scalp was thick enough to hold out until Gamabunta found a toad to summon him.

"Am I too late, Teacher Jiraiya?"

Warm Chakra, like the sun, made Jiraiya lift a corner of his heavy curtain of hair.

"Minato!"

"Kagami!"

"Hey, hey! Can't you see me?"

A cascade of fiery red hair whipped through the air, spilling Crimson Chakra.

"Kushina! How did you..."

"I'll knock this thing away first. We can talk afterward!"

The Chakra Cloak formed in an instant, and a black sphere of energy condensed.

Jiraiya's pupils contracted sharply.

Kushina... could she already use the Nine-Tails' power?

--

--

The air seemed to freeze at that moment, and the immense pressure made it almost impossible to breathe.

Two colossal forces collided head-on like comets.

BOOOOM!!!!!!

A blinding radiance erupted, stabbing painfully into their eyes. Its brilliance even eclipsed the sunlight.

A tremendous shock wave spread wildly outward in a circle from the point of impact!

The earth looked as though it had been smashed by a giant's hammer, splitting into countless massive cracks.

Flying sand and tumbling stones filled the air as billowing dust swept across the entire battlefield like an apocalyptic storm.

When the dust settled, Jiraiya withdrew his long hair.

"You look pretty pathetic, Lecherous Old Man."

The handsome, slightly curly-haired youth looked back, a hint of amusement in his scarlet eyes.

"It was only a Tailed Beast."

"Ha..."

Jiraiya threw his head back and laughed, utterly relieved.

"You brat... show your teacher some respect!"

"Those are Konohagakure's Crimson Eyes..."

Kagami Uchiha's appearance had long circulated through the black market, and the major ninja villages had copies as well.

"What is that woman...? Isn't Konohagakure's Jinchuriki Kagami Uchiha?"

A's mind was not suited to analysis at all, and he couldn't make sense of the situation before him.

At that moment, Jiraiya noticed the inconspicuous little old man and was somewhat surprised.

"Uncle Kosuke! You're here too!"

"Yes, Lord Jiraiya."

"...Please don't call me that."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A group of Cloud Village ninjas arrived using the Body Flicker Technique. The two sides faced each other from several hundred meters apart, and the atmosphere was unbearably tense.

"Red hair...? Didn't the intelligence say the Jinchuriki was a Uchiha?"

Compared with the ninjas of various clans, whose hair came in all sorts of colors, the Uchiha Clan had possessed pure black hair for generations.

"That is..."

"The Crimson Eyes, Kagami Uchiha!"

A trace of anger appeared on Kagami Uchiha's face.

Which bastard came up with that nickname? It's so embarrassing!

He noticed the young Killer B. The boy's traits were unmistakable.

Then the burly man beside him had to be Fourth Raikage A.

So Eight-Tails was still Blue B.

Kagami Uchiha vaguely remembered that Orochimaru had sabotaged things, causing Eight-Tails to break free from Blue B. Only afterward had Killer B become the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.

According to the intelligence gathered in the past, Blue B should not have become a Jinchuriki very long ago.

They dragged him out for a test so soon. I suppose this really is Cloud Village.

Regardless of whether the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was that red-haired woman or Kagami Uchiha,

the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had definitely arrived.

A battle between Jinchuriki was practically equivalent to an all-out war, and Cloud Village was not prepared for that.

Their original goal had merely been to test the power of Eight-Tails. If they could take advantage of the situation in the Land of Fire, even better.

"Tch! Cloud Village!" Kushina's disgust was completely undisguised.

She still felt a lingering fear whenever she thought about being kidnapped by Cloud Village years ago.

If not for Minato...

"Teacher Jiraiya, can you still fight?" Minato asked quietly.

Jiraiya sensed the pull coming from Mount Myōboku. After ending the communication, he said,

"Of course I can. I should let that Kagami brat see his teacher's dashing battle stance!"

"Don't worry. After discovering you peeping into the women's bathhouse, I already have a pretty good idea of how dashing you are."

Kagami Uchiha slid a Kodachi from his sleeve and held Sode no Shirayuki as he walked step by step toward the Cloud Village formation.

He showed not the slightest fear of Blue B's half-Tailed Beast Transformation.

If it had been Killer Bee, who had completely reconciled with Eight-Tails, Kagami Uchiha would still have had to think twice.

Someone who had only recently become a Jinchuriki was probably easier to deal with than Roshi.

"Brat... walking over here like that? Isn't that a little too arrogant?"

A could not stand such an arrogant person and strode out of the formation.

Kagami Uchiha remained unhurried. Every step carried him the proper distance, as though he were strolling across a battlefield.

His scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan held not a trace of emotion.

"Get lost."

A barrage of slashes poured down like a torrential rain!