"Sure thing!"
Gamabunta nodded and charged toward the fallen One-Tails Shukaku.
Leaping in front of the One-Tails, Gamabunta was about to stab it with his blade to pin it down when a Void Bullet came flying straight at him.
Boom!
The thunderous blast sent Gamabunta tumbling to the ground. He nearly lost his pipe from his mouth.
"Whew... whew... That hurt!" Gamabunta broke out in a cold sweat and cursed, "You jerk! Don't hit me with those Chakra-filled balls! Even I can't take many hits from Chakra blasts that powerful!"
"Hahaha! Die! Just die!" the One-Tails roared madly, firing Void Bullets one after another.
Seeing this, Gamabunta hurriedly used Water Release to block them, but he was still driven back repeatedly.
Shukaku's limbs were nearly restored, and Gamabunta grew increasingly anxious.
They had worked hard to bring things to this point.
If the One-Tails recovered completely again, all their efforts would be for nothing.
By then, catching the now-alert One-Tails again wouldn't be so easy.
"Jiraiya, think of something! I can't get close enough to grab it!" Gamabunta shouted.
Jiraiya nodded. "Summoning Technique: Giant Toad Destruction!"
A gigantic toad, Gamaken, dropped from the sky and slammed into Shukaku's head, driving its whole body into the ground.
Gamabunta immediately charged forward and slashed at Shukaku's tail. It fell to the ground with a thud.
With the tail no longer getting in his way, Gamabunta felt more at ease. He swung his blade again, severing one of the One-Tails' legs.
Pinned down by Gamaken, Shukaku couldn't dodge. It could only watch as its leg was cut off.
The tremendous impact brought out Gaara, the medium Shukaku had kept hidden away.
Seeing Gaara lying unconscious, Jiraiya shouted, "Gamabunta, Gamaken, hold Shukaku down!"
"Got it!"
"Same here!"
Jiraiya sprinted forward, leaped into the air, and landed on Shukaku's head in front of Gaara. In his hand, he held a bright blue sphere of Chakra.
"Rasengan!"
The Chakra sphere slammed into Gaara's chest. The sleeping Gaara spat out a mouthful of blood from the force of the blow and slowly began to wake.
"No!!!"
"I finally got out! I haven't had enough fun yet!"
"I don't want to go back! I want to play out here!"
The One-Tails roared in frustration, but its voice grew fainter and fainter.
"Foolish human, I'll remember you! Just you wait! The first one I kill next time I get out will be you!"
After those final words, the One-Tails' Chakra gradually vanished, returning to the seal inside Gaara.
The Tailed Beast Mode covering Gaara disappeared as well, leaving him human once more.
Thud!
Nearly unconscious from exhaustion, Gaara fell heavily to the ground. He didn't even have the strength to stand.
"I... I... How could I have lost?"
Gaara had no memory of what had happened, but when he saw Jiraiya and the toads standing before him, he understood what must have taken place.
"Lord Jiraiya won!"
"Shukaku was defeated by Lord Jiraiya!"
"As expected of Lord Jiraiya! He won so quickly!"
The ninjas defending Konoha sensed Shukaku's Chakra vanish and cheered excitedly. Their morale soared to its peak.
Meanwhile, the ninjas attacking Konoha saw that even Gaara had been defeated. Their morale plummeted, and they lost all will to fight. The Konoha Ninja routed them, and they fled in disarray.
In less than ten minutes, Konoha's ninjas had quelled the uprising.
The ninjas who had attacked Konoha were either dead or had fled.
Thanks to Jiraiya's timely arrival, Konoha suffered no major losses this time.
Naruto, who had woken at some point, had also witnessed the entire battle between Jiraiya and the One-Tails.
He was utterly shocked. He could hardly believe that the lecherous old man he'd met before had such incredible strength.
"He seems a lot stronger than Teacher Kakashi!"
Naruto swallowed and tried to process everything he'd seen that day.
Only after he came to his senses did he start looking around for Ye Fan.
Before passing out, he vaguely remembered Ye Fan showing up.
"Ye Fan! Ye Fan!"
Naruto shouted as he leaped from the rooftop.
Ye Fan had been facing Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin. Naruto was extremely worried.
He knew Ye Fan was strong, but he didn't think Ye Fan could defeat Orochimaru.
Panicking, Naruto sprinted toward the Forest of Death.
"Cough, cough... Naruto, I'm over here."
Naruto had barely run off when Ye Fan's voice sounded beside him. He turned and saw Ye Fan sitting on the rooftop where he'd been earlier.
"Ye Fan, you scared me to death! Are you hurt? Where's Orochimaru?"
"Orochimaru? I beat him. He should be in the Hokage's Office now."
"Yeah, right. You're just bragging. How could you beat Orochimaru?"
"Wasn't it Grandpa Third who saved us?"
Naruto ran up to Ye Fan and poked him here and there. Only after making sure he wasn't hurt did he smile.
"Ye Fan, did you see the Pervy Sage fight that monster? He was so strong!"
Admiration filled Naruto's clear eyes as he said, "I'm going to become a ninja as strong as him. I'll protect the village just like he did!"
Ye Fan smiled. "You mean Jiraiya? He really is a powerful and excellent ninja."
"Jiraiya?" The name sounded familiar to Naruto.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! He's Jiraiya, the one as famous as Orochimaru! One of the legendary Sannin?!"
"Yes." Ye Fan nodded with a smile. "Do you want to learn from him?"
"Haha! If I can learn ninjutsu from the Pervy Sage, I'll definitely be able to beat Sasuke!"
"Naruto, if you want to learn, I'll ask him to teach you." Ye Fan smiled gently, his expression as warm as a spring breeze.
"Really? You can get him to teach me ninjutsu?" Naruto's eyes were full of hope.
"Of course. I lived with him for ten years. He'll do me that favor."
"Huh?" Naruto was astonished. "No wonder you're so strong! You trained with the Pervy Sage!"
"Come on, let's go..." Ye Fan led Naruto off to find Jiraiya.
As they left, Ye Fan cast an intrigued glance toward Sasuke on the other side.
Because Ye Fan had intervened, Orochimaru hadn't placed a Cursed Seal on Sasuke.
Ye Fan was curious about what path Sasuke would take from here, and looked forward to finding out.
After leaving Naruto with Jiraiya, Ye Fan planned to question the Third Hokage and Danzo.
The questions he'd kept buried in his heart for so long would finally be answered today!
Before you continue