That Was Too Much

"Since Teacher Jiraiya has the upper hand, let's not cause him any more trouble," Uchiha Matsuri said casually.

Hearing this, Minato Namikaze and Kiba Inuzuka nodded.

If this had happened earlier, Kiba might have excitedly argued against Uchiha Matsuri's "cowardice." But now, with all three of them nearly out of chakra (though Uchiha Matsuri still had a little more than the others), rushing over could easily put them in danger. So neither Minato nor Kiba objected to Uchiha Matsuri's idea.

After spitting out a large mouthful of Toad Oil, Jiraiya suddenly used Needle Jizo.

With a scream, the Iwa-nin caught in Jiraiya's hair was sliced in half.

Seeing his comrades die one after another at Jiraiya's hands, the sole surviving Iwa-nin suddenly turned and ran toward the village. But with Toad Oil all over him, his escape was greatly slowed.

"Trying to run?"

Jiraiya rapidly formed Hand Seals.

"Fire Release—Great Fireball Technique!"

A huge fireball burst from Jiraiya's mouth.

When it hit the Iwa-nin, the Toad Oil helped the flames engulf him in an instant.

After the fight, Jiraiya brushed the dust off himself and headed toward Iwagakure.

"Going to Iwagakure without a plan is dangerous, but those kids seem to be in quite a bit of trouble," Jiraiya thought.

As he walked, Jiraiya suddenly sensed a threat rapidly approaching from behind on his left.

"Could there be another group of Iwa-nin?"

After swiftly dodging a Kunai, Jiraiya spun around and kicked the attacker.

When he turned to look, he saw a middle-aged man sprawled awkwardly on the ground.

Without hesitation, Jiraiya gripped a Kunai and rushed toward the man. Just as the blade was about to pierce the man's neck, the middle-aged man hurriedly dodged to the side, evading the attack.

"Earth Release—Earth Rising Spear!"

The middle-aged man used the Earth Release technique, and more than ten sharp rocks suddenly jutted up beneath Jiraiya's feet.

Jiraiya reacted at once and dodged the attack.

Before the middle-aged man could respond, Jiraiya rapidly formed Hand Seals.

"Ninja Art—Needle Jizo!"

Jiraiya's hair quickly grew longer, taking on the shape of a lion's mane as it surged toward the middle-aged man.

"So fast," the middle-aged man thought, breaking into a cold sweat.

He had to admit that, aside from the Flying Thunder God Technique, this was the fastest technique he had ever seen. Even so, he knew that the move Jiraiya was using was nowhere near a fifth of his true strength.

"Earth Release—Earth Flow City Wall!"

The middle-aged man braced himself and used this defensive Earth Release technique, hoping it would withstand Jiraiya's Needle Jizo.

But he was doomed to be disappointed. The moment Needle Jizo struck the Earth Flow City Wall, it shattered the wall into pieces.

The next second, Jiraiya's hair wrapped around the middle-aged man. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't break free.

"Your Earth Flow City Wall is too brittle. Even my hair can pierce it easily," Jiraiya said, shaking his head.

"Is that so?" The middle-aged man gave a bitter smile.

Come to think of it, his Earth Flow City Wall had never successfully stopped an enemy attack before.

Seeing the middle-aged man give up resisting, Jiraiya slowly tightened his hair around him.

As he felt Jiraiya's hair tighten, the middle-aged man's expression gradually twisted in pain.

"Damn it, I have no choice but to use that move."

But just as the middle-aged man was about to use "that move," two middle-aged men suddenly sprang out of the bushes by the roadside.

"Stop, Teacher Jiraiya!"

The two men hurriedly shouted.

"Teacher?" Jiraiya looked surprised.

Although he had taught quite a few students, he was certain he had never taught these three men, who looked much older than him.

Poof, poof, poof.

The three middle-aged men dispelled their Transformation Technique and returned to their original appearances.

"You three..." Jiraiya looked speechlessly at Minato, Kiba, and Uchiha Matsuri, who was still caught in his hair.

Seeing Jiraiya's bemused expression, Minato and Kiba awkwardly scratched their heads.

"Do you three think it's fun to trick your teacher like this?" Jiraiya pretended to be angry.

Seeing that Jiraiya was angry, Kiba spoke up before Minato could say anything. "Teacher Jiraiya, you can't blame us. It was all—it was all Matsuri's idea."

Hearing Kiba give him up so quickly, Uchiha Matsuri couldn't help grumbling inwardly, Who was the one who enthusiastically agreed with both hands when I suggested this?!

Even so, Uchiha Matsuri couldn't blame Kiba. He had been the one to come up with the idea, and his reason for doing it was, well, simply a passing whim.

"Oh?"

At the same time, hearing Kiba obediently tell the truth, Jiraiya shook his head and put on an amused expression.

Glancing at Uchiha Matsuri, who was tightly bound in the distance, Jiraiya acted as if he hadn't seen him and started chatting with Minato and Kiba.

"Minato, Kiba, did you successfully escort Mr. Moriya and the caravan to their destination?"

"Yes, Teacher. After we completed the mission, Mr. Moriya said he'd give us an extra fifty thousand ryo as a reward."

"You didn't cause any trouble in Iwagakure, did you?"

"Uh... we did cause quite a bit of trouble. It went like this..."

Over the next few minutes, Jiraiya chatted with Minato and Kiba, each taking turns to speak.

Off to the side, Uchiha Matsuri had been deliberately left hanging by Jiraiya for quite a while. As he watched the three talk without sparing a thought for the fact that he was still wrapped up in Needle Jizo, he couldn't help sighing.

He's definitely doing this on purpose! Uchiha Matsuri thought.

What Uchiha Matsuri didn't know was that Jiraiya had recognized his chakra from the very beginning. That also explained why Jiraiya hadn't gone all out during the fight.

When Jiraiya still didn't let him down, Uchiha Matsuri finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Teacher Jiraiya, could you let me down first?" Uchiha Matsuri called weakly after being tangled up in Jiraiya's hair for so long.

Jiraiya glanced at Uchiha Matsuri, whose face was a picture of embarrassment, then smacked his forehead as if he'd just remembered. "I almost forgot—you're still there!"

After releasing Needle Jizo, Jiraiya let Uchiha Matsuri drop to the ground.

Only after seeing Uchiha Matsuri stagger over to Minato did Jiraiya speak.

"You three went too far."