He Was a Senjutsu Genius!

Those rock projectiles were incredibly fast. Even Gamabunta would feel it if they hit him, so he had no choice but to jump aside rather than take them head-on.

Jiraiya seized the chance to leap down and retreat with the two sages, Shima and Fukasaku.

He needed time to enter Sage Mode and couldn't afford to be disturbed. With Gamabunta there, he could hold the enemy off for a while. As for the most troublesome Space-Time Ninjutsu, the two sages could help keep it at bay...

"Soldiers fight soldiers, generals fight generals. Great Toad, I've found you an opponent!"

Uchiha Arashi suddenly bent down and pressed both hands to the ground. The Eye of God hidden inside his collar blazed with unprecedented light. Then, with him at the center, the ground within a hundred meters began to tremble.

Countless rocks churned as a rocky mountain rose from the earth, growing visibly by the second.

"What's he doing?"

Jiraiya and the three toads stared wide-eyed at the scene before them.

The earth churned more and more violently. Countless rocks rose from underground, flew into the air, and gathered around the rocky mountain.

Some of the rocks were only fist-sized, while others were as big as houses.

The countless rocks converged, grinding and stacking against one another as a colossal figure gradually took shape.

Jiraiya's eyes widened further and further, and his expression quickly turned to shock.

"W-what is that?!"

Before him, a Rock Giant dozens of meters tall—larger even than Gamabunta—was rising from the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey! Jiraiya, you never told me the other guy could do something like this!"

Gamabunta didn't even have time to smoke. He gripped his short sword at once and watched the Rock Giant tensely.

"How would I know...? Damn it, just how powerful is this guy's dōjutsu?!"

Jiraiya felt just as aggrieved. Controlling rocks without having to perform any Hand Seals was already an absurdly powerful dōjutsu. And now he'd conjured up this ridiculous Rock Giant, too. Was this really something one person could make?

Uchiha Arashi knelt on one knee atop the Rock Giant's head and panted hard.

Although he had the Eye of God and could manipulate rocks, the entire process consumed his own chakra. The Eye of God provided no energy to ease the strain; at most, it let him use his own power to do things he'd never been able to do before.

Creating a stone giant of this size had taken an absurd amount of energy. Fortunately, he was an Uchiha with an excellent talent for chakra. An ordinary ninja would have been spent as soon as they managed to make the giant, with no strength left to fight.

But it was worth it. He knew how much trouble Sage Mode was, and he wasn't about to give Jiraiya the chance to enter it.

But with that enormous toad Gamabunta blocking his way, he had to deal with this mountain of a foe first.

And so the Rock Giant had come into being.

"Get moving."

Uchiha Arashi patted the Rock Giant's head and gave it a thought.

Roar!

The Rock Giant threw its head back and roared. It plunged an arm into the earth and pulled out an enormous stone sword.

Then it hefted the sword and charged straight at Gamabunta.

The ground rumbled and shook with every step.

"Jiraiya, hurry it up! I can't hold out much longer!"

Gamabunta shouted.

"I know. Just hold on a little longer."

Jiraiya gritted his teeth and tried to absorb Natural Energy faster.

The Rock Giant strode up to Gamabunta and raised its sword to slash at him.

Gamabunta leaned back and met the stone sword with his short blade.

The next moment, the two swords slammed together with a deafening boom.

Taking advantage of the opening, Uchiha Arashi leaped from the Rock Giant's head, vaulted over Gamabunta, and charged straight at Jiraiya.

"Honored sages, I'll leave what comes next to you."

This was Jiraiya's second line of defense. He needed the two sages not only to help him gather Senjutsu Chakra more effectively and extend the duration of Sage Mode, but also to protect him from threats while he entered it.

"Don't worry. Leave it to us."

"Little Jiraiya, focus. Don't let yourself get distracted."

The two sages spoke in turn, then attacked Uchiha Arashi together.

The two old toads weren't weak. They weren't very good at direct combat, but they had all kinds of ways to restrain their opponents, both physically and through genjutsu.

"Kid, don't get too cocky! Tongue Bind!"

Sage Fukasaku struck first. He opened his mouth and shot out his tongue, which flew toward Uchiha Arashi like a rope, trying to wrap around him.

Beside him, Sage Shima had already gathered her chakra. The moment Uchiha Arashi was caught, she could unleash Toad Song and pull him into a genjutsu.

The Toad Clan's genjutsu was different from the Uchiha's. They were better at casting it through Frog Song. This sound-based genjutsu was harder to guard against than ordinary genjutsu and even more difficult to break, even for an Uchiha.

Uchiha Arashi knew exactly what the two toads could do, so he had already prepared a jutsu. And this time, he wasn't using an ordinary ninjutsu.

"Senjutsu: Great Flame Explosion!"

He modified the Hand Seals slightly. As Natural Energy joined in, new Senjutsu Chakra gathered inside Uchiha Arashi. Fueled by this new chakra, his Fireball Jutsu evolved on the spot into a more advanced form.

A golden fireball appeared in the sky, like a blazing sun.

Radiating heat powerful enough to scorch all things, it roiled as it bore down on the two toads and the man below.

"Old man!"

Sage Shima shrieked.

Sage Fukasaku hurriedly pulled back his tongue.

"Little Jiraiya, get out of the way!"

"I know!"

The moment Jiraiya saw the fireball, he had already leaped backward.

The fireball crashed to the ground.

Boom!

Terrifying flames surged skyward, as if a hundred Explosive Tags had gone off at once. The golden flames swept over the earth, melting even the scattered rocks in their path.

"What a terrifying jutsu. That's no ordinary Fire Release..."

Jiraiya barely escaped the flames. When he looked back at the place where he'd been standing, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Old man, did you see?"

"I did. It's Senjutsu Chakra!"

The two sages were more concerned with Uchiha Arashi than the fireball. They could vaguely sense a change in him, and it was exactly like the change in Jiraiya.

"What? He can use Sage Mode too?"

Jiraiya was stunned.

"It's not Sage Mode. He's only mastered Natural Energy and refined Senjutsu Chakra on his own."

"To have done that without anyone teaching him..."

"He's a senjutsu genius!"

The two sages said in unison.