Sage Mode

Hanzo's words made Jiraiya's expression turn grim.

His original intention was simply to clear up any misunderstandings between them, and to avoid fighting if possible.

After all, Hanzo's reputation wasn't built on empty boasts.

He and Orochimaru and Tsunade combined hadn't been a match for him back then, and now, with only himself left, even with his increased strength, he wasn't confident he could win.

Unfortunately, Hanzo had already summoned Salamander Ibuse, and battle was now unavoidable.

Allowing himself to be captured was out of the question; if they wanted to fight, then they would fight.

Hanzo moved quickly. The moment Salamander Ibuse appeared, it violently opened its massive mouth and spewed out a wide-ranging poisonous mist.

This was a more potent poison mist than the one Hanzo produced himself.

During the Second Shinobi World War, this move by Hanzo had inflicted immense damage on the Leaf Village's forces.

Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!

At the critical moment, Qingshui opened his mouth and spat out a gale.

To ensure the poisonous mist would be dispersed, he held nothing back, expending his remaining Chakra completely.

Instantly, a fierce wind raged, blowing back all the poisonous mist Ibuse had spewed.

Ibuse itself was naturally unaffected by the poisonous mist.

Hanzo also promptly put back on the mask he had just removed, allowing him to ignore the blown-back poisonous mist as well.

"Well done, Qingshui."

Seeing this, Jiraiya praised Qingshui, then formed Hand Seals and used Summoning Jutsu.

Poof!

Following a cloud of white smoke, a giant red toad, whose size was no less than Ibuse's, appeared.

This toad held a giant pipe in its mouth, wore bandages around its waist, and had a short sword tucked there.

It was none other than Gamabunta of Mount Myōboku.

"Jiraiya, why are you up against Hanzo of the Salamander again?"

As soon as Gamabunta saw Hanzo and Ibuse, he recalled the memorable battle they had in the Land of Rain previously.

"There's no time to explain the details now, Gamabunta, use that move immediately."

As Jiraiya's Summoning, Gamabunta naturally understood Jiraiya's meaning.

So it immediately opened its mouth and spat out oil, while Jiraiya spat out flames at the same time.

This was their combined ninjutsu, Fire Style: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!

As the saying goes, adding fuel to the fire, the power of this move was far greater than the Great Flame Bullet, and a huge oil flame bullet shot towards Hanzo and Ibuse.

Hanzo's response was also very simple. He performed a hand seal and used Water Style: Water Wall.

It easily blocked the Toad Oil Flame Bullet.

While Jiraiya and Hanzo's ninjutsu clashed, Qingshui took out a Ration Pill and swallowed it.

He had obtained this from a Blue Orb earlier. It was a common food for ninjas during combat, with the effect of quickly restoring Chakra.

Of course, with Qingshui's current Chakra reserves, one Ration Pill certainly couldn't fully restore it.

But it could at least allow him to recover some combat power.

Furthermore, he could only eat a maximum of three pills per day.

Exceeding this amount would result in consequences similar to indigestion from eating too many compressed biscuits.

Feeling his Chakra recover, Qingshui then handed Jiraiya an Antidote Pill to prevent him from being poisoned in the upcoming battle.

Although Ibuse couldn't release poisonous mist for another five minutes, Hanzo himself was poisonous, and his scythe was also poisoned.

Jiraiya was currently the main force fighting Hanzo, and he absolutely could not afford to be lost.

Jiraiya naturally wouldn't refuse. At the same time, he also learned from Qingshui that Hanzo's weakness was in his abdomen.

After Jiraiya took the Antidote Pill, Ibuse had already charged over.

Bunta naturally wouldn't be outdone and met him head-on.

The two behemoths began to fight like this.

Hanzo, standing on Ibuse's head, leaped up and charged towards Jiraiya.

Jiraiya met him without hesitation.

The battle between the two was fierce, but it was clear that Hanzo had the upper hand.

After all, Hanzo was already stronger than Jiraiya, and now he was getting serious and fighting with all his might.

Yes, when dealing with Qingshui and Mikoto earlier, Hanzo had held back.

Otherwise, with his true strength, he would have dealt with the two of them in an instant.

The current Jiraiya was also younger, and both his strength and combat experience were inferior to his original self in the story.

Knowing Hanzo's weakness, he made his attack intentions very obvious.

Of course, they were only obvious from Hanzo's perspective.

Thus, Hanzo took advantage of this, intentionally exposing a flaw to Jiraiya.

Soon, the disadvantaged Jiraiya fell for the trap, his body struck by Hanzo's Scythe.

Although he had taken an Antidote Pill and was not afraid of the poison on the blade, the Scythe's edge was long and could easily pierce through a human body.

Even though Jiraiya had managed to avoid a vital spot in time, after sustaining such a heavy injury, he found it even harder to parry Hanzo's fierce onslaught while already on the back foot.

He had no choice but to use Body Flicker to create distance, simultaneously performing Hand Seals rapidly to spit out a Flame Bullet at the pursuing Hanzo.

Facing his attack, Hanzo did not dodge or weave at all, instead performing Hand Seals just as quickly to unleash Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet.

The massive water dragon not only instantly extinguished the Flame Bullet but continued toward Jiraiya with its momentum undiminished.

Just as the water dragon was about to hit Jiraiya, another Water Dragon Bullet suddenly appeared, successfully blocking Hanzo's attack.

This was Qingshui's support.

With his help, Jiraiya successfully put distance between himself and Hanzo, returning to Qingshui's side.

There was no time to treat Jiraiya's wounds, nor was it possible to do so at such a moment.

Hanzo would never give them the chance.

Sure enough, he had already charged over once again.

Just as Qingshui prepared to engage Hanzo, he was held back by Jiraiya.

"Lord Jiraiya?"

Qingshui looked at him in confusion, only to suddenly notice red markings appearing on Jiraiya's face.

This was Sage Mode!

Back during the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya had not yet truly mastered Sage Mode.

But ever since his defeat by Hanzo, he had strived for self-improvement, spending over a year to finally learn it.

However, Jiraiya's Sage Mode was not yet perfect; it required a long time to absorb natural energy before it could be activated.

Having rushed over to save the day just now, he had no time to absorb natural energy.

Because that required one to "calm down."

Thus, he had a flash of inspiration: he thought of using a Shadow Clone to absorb the natural energy, and then, by dispelling the Shadow Clone, he could enter Sage Mode directly.

It was originally just an experimental idea, but I didn't expect it to actually succeed.

This made Jiraiya very surprised and fortunate.

"Sorry Qingshui, I was careless just now. Now I will show you my true abilities."

Under Sage Mode, Jiraiya's strength would greatly increase.

However, the duration would not be too long. The current limit was only one minute, so he dared not delay.

"Huh?"

Hanzo also noticed the change in Jiraiya, but he had never seen Sage Mode before, so he did not pay enough attention to the current Jiraiya.

Therefore, when the two fought again, Hanzo suffered a great loss.

His attacks were easily dodged by Jiraiya, and then Jiraiya punched his chest, and an extremely terrifying force was transmitted.

Feeling the sharp pain in his chest, Hanzo's expression changed drastically, and he was directly sent flying.

After landing, blood was already trickling from the corner of his mouth.