"Ninja Art—Needle Jizo!"
The sudden appearance of the black flames would have caught 99 percent of ninja off guard and burned them to a crisp. But Jiraiya was undoubtedly one of the exceptionally rare few who could withstand them.
His extensive combat experience and knowledge of the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan finally allowed him to block the flames with his spreading hair at the very last moment.
The pitch-black flames blazed wildly, engulfing Jiraiya like a torch in an instant. But the next moment, they gradually faded, revealing a hollow shell of burned hair.
"What a dangerous technique... Your Uchiha Clan really takes things to extremes!"
Jiraiya slowly emerged nearby. His once thick mane of white hair now looked as if a dog had chewed it, but as he fed it Chakra, it gradually returned to its original style.
Pain showed on Uchiha Itachi's face. He covered the eye he had used to cast Amaterasu, his voice low.
"How did you dodge Amaterasu? Did you know about my Dojutsu from the beginning?"
"Amaterasu... A Dojutsu named after a deity, huh? You can use your Dojutsu by focusing your gaze, right?"
"It's certainly an ability beyond imagination. If the flames of Amaterasu didn't make the air heat up before they ignited, even I wouldn't have been able to dodge them."
That was right. Jiraiya had noticed the temperature rising where Uchiha Itachi's gaze had focused on him, so he'd instinctively used Needle Jizo to defend himself. Otherwise, he'd already have been roasted like a toad.
Only a battle-hardened ninja could develop that kind of combat instinct. And without the reaction speed of a Kage-level Ninja, even someone who felt the temperature rise and tried to dodge at once would already be too late.
"I see... Amaterasu's flames are ultimately condensed from Chakra.