"Yo, Senior Jiraiya, you really are in a sorry state. This hardly looks like the bearing the Toad Sage, one of the Sannin, ought to have," Ueno Kei said with a teasing smile as he looked at the disbelief on Jiraiya's face.
Though his tone was mocking, Ueno Kei's eyes revealed immense relief and relaxation. At last, at last, he had still managed to save Jiraiya!
To Ueno Kei, this was an enormous comfort. He was truly afraid—if, if someone close to him died before his eyes again, he simply would not be able to accept it.
Tsunade had been fortunate. As a member of the Senju Clan and a medical ninja herself, her physical constitution and vitality were far stronger and more vigorous than those of ordinary people. She had even been able to heal herself with such grievous injuries. If it had been anyone else, they would have met the Reaper long ago.
If he had arrived one step later—just one step later—he would likely have found Jiraiya's cold corpse.
Ueno Kei was deeply grateful that he had made it in time.
"Kei... why are you..." Jiraiya said with shock and hesitation, as though he still suspected he had fallen under a genjutsu and was seeing some sort of illusion.
"Senior Jiraiya, we can talk about everything else after we return. Sage Fukasaku, please immediately return to the summoning realm and use Reverse Summoning to summon Senior Jiraiya over. I'll hold them off here first!" Ueno Kei said gravely to Fukasaku.
"Mm. Kei, be careful. That fellow is no simple opponent," Fukasaku said with a nod. Without further hesitation, he and Shima formed hand seals with both hands and vanished, returning to Mount Myoboku.
Ueno Kei stood before Jiraiya with his blade held across his body, staring coldly