Shadow Clone Showdown

A Shadow Clone? When did he use it?

No, that's not a Shadow Clone.

Because Jiraiya realized that the little guy in front of him had dissolved into an afterimage and vanished the moment the voice rang out.

I see. So that kunai wasn't a missed shot, but a deliberate move?

"You had this tactic planned out the moment you activated your Sharingan, didn't you? You're not simple, kid. To think you even know Minato's Flying Thunder God."

I suppose it's my fault for not returning to the village in so long. Are the talents of the new generation really this good now?

Jiraiya was no slouch either. With a flick of his long white hair and a sharp twist of his body, he pushed the mini Rasengan in his hand to meet Qiuyang's Rasengan head-on.

He couldn't even remember the last time his blood had boiled with such excitement. The last time it was like this... must have been when he fought his dear friend Orochimaru.

This boy is truly as the Great Toad Sage described. Jiraiya acknowledged this heaven-defying talent.

Both of their Rasengan surged forward, colliding squarely. Despite the massive difference in size, the moment they touched, it was like the tip of a needle meeting a whetstone, each struggling to prove which was stronger.

With a "boom," the ground where Qiuyang and Jiraiya stood collapsed under the energy wave, forming two interlocking circles centered on them.

The surrounding leaves were blown away by the shockwave, drifting into the nearby river, only to be pushed even further by the ripples caused by the Rasengan's impact.

From the lingering shockwaves alone, one could see just how terrifying the destructive power of the Rasengan was.

However, how could the power of the Rasengan that Qiuyang used for the first time compare to one polished by Jiraiya?

Even though his Rasengan was a size larger, it could not contend with the mini Rasengan used by Jiraiya, whose strength had reached the pinnacle.

Therefore, the spiral shock produced by the clash of the two Rasengan was naturally conducted mostly toward Qiuyang's side.

Starting from the sleeve of his right arm, Qiuyang's clothes began to be torn to shreds by the rotation.

By the time the rotational force reached his shoulder and could no longer destroy the fabric, a new round of tearing began.

Gradually, small cuts began to appear on his arm. In no time at all, the entire arm was soaked in red, but Qiuyang stubbornly gritted his teeth and held his ground.

"Hey, hey, kid. If you don't cancel your Rasengan and dodge, you're going to pass out from blood loss soon."

To be honest, seeing this, Jiraiya felt a bit of heartache in addition to being pleasantly surprised by Qiuyang's tenacity.

In truth, as the one dominating the clash, he could have backed off, but that wouldn't befit his status as the Toad Sage, so he urged Qiuyang to take the initiative.

Yet, Qiuyang showed no intention of backing down. Instead, he revealed a strange, triumphant smile:

"You can't move your body at all now, can you, sensei?"

Jiraiya felt a chill run down his spine. He had a feeling there was something impure about the way the kid said that, but he couldn't put his finger on what was wrong.

After all, he hadn't been baptized by the Japanese films that Qiuyang had experienced in his past life.

"Teacher, you know, sometimes life is just so miraculous."

Qiuyang spoke so earnestly that Jiraiya couldn't help but meet those Sharingan eyes.

But it was just that casual glance that allowed him to see the black tomoe in the scarlet pupils of the person opposite him suddenly rotate once, causing Jiraiya to lose focus for a split second.

He shook his head quickly, just about to retort that the kid hadn't gotten the bells yet, so he wasn't allowed to call him teacher.

Who would have expected a voice to suddenly come from the side:

"Don't you think?"

Jiraiya's pupils contracted sharply. It was too late to react; he only felt a sudden numbness in his waist...

Then, he heard a "jingle."

The tone was as crisp as when he had received the bells earlier that day.

The kid was as elusive as a ghost. If this were a formal battle, then... Thinking of this, a few drops of cold sweat involuntarily rolled down Jiraiya's face.

The main body, who had been competing with the Rasengan, saw that the clone had succeeded, hurriedly withdrew the Rasengan, jumped back, and said:

"Thank you, Teacher Jiraiya. I appreciate you going easy on me!"

Jiraiya looked at the Qiuyang who was identical to the one who had used Chidori, and patted his head a few times in frustration.

Sigh, I misjudged based on common sense.

When fighting against a Sharingan, one really shouldn't be careless, just as the old man said. Otherwise, it's easy to be caught in a flaw—the kind of flaw that could be fatal.

Back then, when the kid threw the shuriken for no reason, he had already made two preparations:

First, to arouse his suspicion and make him look away, allowing the kid to take the opportunity to set an ambush with a Shadow Clone;

Second, naturally, was to use the Flying Thunder God to deliver an unexpected Rasengan attack, forcing him to use his own Rasengan to counter it;

Then, by saying something confusing to make him look into the Sharingan, the kid used the Sharingan to cast a simple genjutsu to create a momentary opening.

And judging by the result, the clone of Qiuyang had seized that opportunity.

After straightening out the cause and effect, Jiraiya slapped his thigh, realizing he had been thoroughly outplayed.

He should have realized it back when Qiuyang made the sword-finger seal with his left hand; that was the same seal Minato needed to perform spatial movement when he first started using the Flying Thunder God.

It was just that after Minato earned the title of "Yellow Flash," he no longer needed to weave hand signs to perform spatial leaps.

Since no one else had been able to use this high-difficulty ninjutsu afterward, he had selectively forgotten about this characteristic.

Now, he deservedly suffered a major loss.

Jiraiya thought, filled with regret.

Qiuyang, of course, understood that he had only managed to snatch the bell by taking advantage of a loophole; in terms of raw strength, a hundred of him currently couldn't beat Jiraiya.

So, the moment he got the bell, he hurriedly explained to his makeshift teacher, claiming he had relied entirely on luck.

Things like, "Teacher, you used the weakest version of the Rasengan," and "Teacher, you didn't even summon any of your powerful summoning beasts."

"Grandpa Third Hokage often says that Teacher Jiraiya is the strongest ninja in the village." (Anyway, that old geezer, the Third Hokage, would kick the bucket during Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan in a while, so there would be no one left to verify the truth.)

He directly maxed out Jiraiya's emotional satisfaction, and in the end, Jiraiya stopped dwelling on it and tacitly accepted Qiuyang calling him "Teacher Jiraiya."

"Meet at the usual spot tomorrow."

He then formed hand seals and vanished into a puff of smoke, and the bell Qiuyang was holding in his hand also disappeared into smoke along with him.

"????"

What was going on?

Now it was Qiuyang's turn to have his jaw hit the floor. He used his Sharingan to scan the surroundings several times, but he couldn't find a trace of Jiraiya anywhere.

Could it be that the Teacher Jiraiya he had just fought was also a Shadow Clone? If so, when exactly...

Qiuyang frantically replayed the events in his mind several times until he finally figured it out—

It must have been when he was washing dishes by the river; the teacher had already left a Shadow Clone behind and slipped away.

But fortunately, the result was what he wanted; it was clear that Jiraiya had already tacitly accepted him as a student.

Isn't it perfectly normal for a student to be worse than their teacher?

Yes, that's exactly right.

At this moment, far away in a bathhouse in town, Jiraiya, who was peeking through the fence and drooling over "material," paused when he received the memories transmitted back by his clone.

Then, a grin spread across his face. He took the bell hanging from his waist and placed it into his pocket with great solemnity.

After all, this was the first gift from the fifth disciple he had ever taken on, and it held great commemorative significance.

"To think he could even learn the Flying Thunder God technique; I must train him well."