Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!
Jiraiya slammed a palm down, and an earthen wall surged from the ground, spreading out in a ring like a city wall to block the raging flames outside.
Standing atop the earth wall across the sea of fire, Jiraiya watched Kakuzu with a grave expression.
Though they had exchanged only one move, the instinct shared between strong opponents told him that this man would not be easy to handle.
Jiraiya's gaze shifted from Kakuzu's green eyes to his forehead as he slowly spoke. "A rogue ninja from Takigakure?"
"Hmph, that's right!"
Because of his particular feelings toward Konoha, Kakuzu did not flee immediately after succeeding. Instead, he stood across the "sea" from Jiraiya and began talking.
"Though Konoha has no obligation to help other villages capture rogue ninjas, you harmed Konoha's shinobi. You'll have to pay the price!"
Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!
Roar!
A dark brown, sharply angular earth dragon burst from the ground and roared at the sky. Opening its jaws, it fired a barrage of mud balls at Kakuzu.
"Child's play!"
Kakuzu snorted disdainfully and used Earth Style: Earth Spear Technique to harden his arms, smashing each one apart with a single punch without the slightest difficulty.
"His taijutsu is this strong too?"
Jiraiya's mood grew increasingly grave.
These past few days, under his leadership, Konoha had held the advantage against the Mist Four Swordsmen. But he knew full well that this slight edge rested entirely on his suppression of Suikazan Fuguki.
Making an enemy of another strong opponent under such circumstances was absolutely no good thing for Konoha!
But the situation left him no choice. Kakuzu had already taken the initiative to kill an Anbu member, and with Jiraiya's personality, he would never pretend nothing had happened.
In that case...
"Attack