The battle on Souya's side had taken a turn. He was no longer the one chasing Fugaku Uchiha. Under the power of Fugaku's Mangekyo, he had finally found an ally he could count on.
Just as the countless golden needles controlled by Souya swept toward Fugaku Uchiha, mixed in with the rattling raindrops,
a white-haired man in a Konoha flak jacket suddenly stomped down from the sky. His strength seemed immense; he slammed into the ground and left a huge crater.
"Sage Art: Needle Jizo!"
The white-haired man's long hair instantly hardened and stretched, becoming like a white blanket of thorns that wrapped around Fugaku and himself.
Clang! Clang! Clang...
A dense chorus of crisp metallic impacts rang out. Only after quite some time did the sound gradually die away.
"Elder Fugaku, are you all right?"
The white-haired man helped Fugaku Uchiha, who had collapsed on the ground, to his feet. Usually, he was always serious in the village, carrying himself with the dignity of a Clan Head, but now he looked utterly disheveled.
He was covered in mud and blood, and his whole body was soaked through by the rain.
"J-Jiraiya, you finally... made it!"
Fugaku panted heavily. He didn't seem surprised by Jiraiya's arrival.
But when Fugaku raised his head, Jiraiya's heart suddenly lurched.
Both of Fugaku's eyes were completely filled with fine, branching blood vessels, as if he were a severe insomniac who hadn't slept in ten or fifteen days.
At first glance, there was no white left in either of his eyes. They were entirely blood-red!
Two faintly congealed trails of blood had formed beneath his eyes. Even the rain pouring down from above couldn't wash them away. He must have kept bleeding while fleeing with his head lowered.
At the moment Jiraiya arrived, Fugaku's Sharingan,