Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan? Not Enough to Stop One Punch from Me!

Jiraiya straightened up from the rubble, the sage markings on his face turning even brighter red from the overload of natural energy flooding into him.

The air around him began to twist visibly. That was an extremely dense mass of sage chakra compressing, collapsing in on itself.

"Little Jiraiya! If you drain all the natural energy for this attack and miss, you won't even have the strength left to stand!" Sage Fukasaku warned loudly.

"I've got nowhere left to run!" Jiraiya pressed his palms together, and a blinding mass of blue-white light erupted between them. "With this strike, I'm betting the name of the Legendary Sannin of the Hidden Leaf!"

The blue-white light swelled wildly, and the fierce wind, sand, and stones within dozens of meters were all dragged into the sphere by that suction. In just a few seconds, a super-giant Rasengan over five meters in diameter appeared above Jiraiya's upraised hands. The aura of destruction radiating from that Rasengan was even more suffocating than a Tailed Beast Ball.

"Sage Art: Super Giant Rasengan!"

Jiraiya roared, carrying that energy sphere like a small meteor as he charged at Yuan with utter abandon. Along the way, the ground was forcibly scraped away layer by layer by the enormous wind pressure.

Yuan stopped and looked up at the Super Giant Rasengan blotting out the sky. The six-pointed star of his Mangekyo Sharingan spun to the limit in his eyes. A fanatical will to fight burned in his chest.

He could have used the insight of his Mangekyo Sharingan to dodge with ease, but he did not retreat. This kind of head-on collision was exactly the release his berserk body craved most.

"Your strongest strike? Fine. I'll smash it to pieces with my own hands!" [Arrogant behavior, Berserk Value +5%]

Yuan slammed his hands together. All the chakra in his body poured out like a flood bursting through a dam.

"Susanoo!"

Dark-red light shot into the sky, and a massive warrior god rose from the ground, directly tearing through the clouds overhead. The warrior god wore indestructible tengu armor, twin wings spread from its back, and in its hand it gripped a gigantic chakra longsword burning with thunder and flame.

Yuan stood inside the crystal on Susanoo's forehead and swung his right hand down hard.

Susanoo raised that sword, dozens of meters long, and with terrifying force capable of splitting mountains, mercilessly hacked toward the Super Giant Rasengan above Jiraiya's head.

"Rumble—!!!"

The instant the blade collided with the Rasengan, heaven and earth seemed to lose all sound.

Immediately afterward, a blinding white sphere of light erupted between the two of them. An indescribably destructive explosion swept in every direction. It was pure chaotic energy; every building, tree, and stone within a hundred meters was instantly vaporized by the high temperature, without even a single intact brick left behind. If Yuan had not deliberately kept the battlefield at the edge of the clan grounds, a quarter of the entire Hidden Leaf Village would have been reduced to ashes in that explosion.

Violent smoke and dust shot hundreds of meters into the air, forming a small mushroom cloud.

The aftershocks of the explosion lasted a full minute before gradually subsiding.

A breeze scattered the smoke. A huge, devastated meteor crater appeared where they had stood.

Yuan strode out from the ashes filling the sky. The black windbreaker on his body had been completely torn apart, exposing his lean, powerful upper body. Several bone-deep gashes had been left on his chest and shoulders, injuries caused by the aftershock of the Super Giant Rasengan.

But under the passive enhancement of the [Strength of a Hundred Technique] he had taken from Tsunade, that torn flesh was healing at a visible speed, growing new meat.

Yuan casually wiped away the blood mixed with dust on his face, his gaze cold to the extreme.

"Your strongest strike... was only that much."

On the other side of the deep crater, Jiraiya knelt on both knees. The sage markings on his face had completely faded, and the toads Fukasaku and Shima had also been forced to undo the summoning and return to Mount Myoboku because their chakra had been exhausted.

Jiraiya gasped for breath in great mouthfuls. Both his arms hung limply at his sides, and he no longer had the strength to lift even a finger.

He looked at the unharmed Yuan and gave a bitter laugh.

"I... lost." Jiraiya's voice was hoarse and exhausted. He did not beg for mercy, nor did he curse like a beaten dog.

Yuan walked up to Jiraiya and looked down at this legend who had once shaken the ninja world.

"You killed Tsunade. You killed the Anbu the old man left behind. And in the future, you'll kill even more people." Jiraiya raised his head and looked at Yuan. "The chain of hatred can never be cut."

"Anyone who deserves to die, I won't let a single one go." Yuan replied coldly, "Spare me your grand speeches. All I want is my enemies' lives."

Jiraiya took a deep breath, knowing he could not escape death today. At the very end, he looked deeply toward Hokage Rock.

"A monster like you really is beyond me. You think violence can erase everything, but you can't protect everyone. One day... someone will stand up and stop you. The one who inherits the Will of Fire will definitely break your pathetic cycle of hatred."

Yuan gave a disdainful cold snort. "Fine. I'll be waiting for that day. Let's see who can come take my life."

Jiraiya's eyes began to lose focus, and the important people in his life flashed through his mind: the Third, his teacher holding the bells; Orochimaru's resolute back as he walked away; Tsunade throwing a temper and smashing a table; and that blond boy who was always making a racket and never gave up.

"Naruto... I believe in you..." The corners of Jiraiya's mouth lifted into a relieved smile.

"Too much nonsense. Go down there and join them."

Yuan's right fist shot out violently. Without the slightest hesitation, it pierced straight through Jiraiya's chest. One strike killed him, crushing his heart.

The great hero of a generation, the Toad Sage, died atop the ruins of the Hidden Leaf.

[Ding! Killed Kage-level Jiraiya! Obtained orange fragments ×50!]

[Fragment count has reached the requirement! Does the host wish to exchange for skills?]

"Exchange for [Sage Art Sensing], [Toad Summoning], and [Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan]! Use all the remaining fragments to strengthen my meridians and expand my chakra capacity!"

Yuan pulled out his hand and felt that cool natural energy inside him perfectly merging with his own berserk chakra. His perception instantly covered the entire village.

Just then, a heart-rending roar came from the edge of the ruins.

"Pervy Sage!!!"

Naruto Uzumaki, wearing an orange tracksuit, rushed over like a madman. From far away, he had already sensed the terrifying disturbance here, and when he arrived, he happened to see Yuan pulling his hand out of Jiraiya's chest.

Naruto stumbled and scrambled to Jiraiya's side. Looking at that corpse that had lost all warmth, his tears instantly burst free.

"You killed Pervy Sage?! He was a good man! He was always running around outside to protect the village! Why did you even have to kill him!" Naruto raised his head, and his originally azure eyes had now completely turned into beastlike vertical pupils.

Red Nine-Tails chakra surged uncontrollably from the seal in Naruto's stomach, forming a demonic fox cloak with one tail around his body. His nails lengthened, his teeth sharpened, and his whole body pounced at Yuan like a crazed little beast.

"I'm gonna slaughter you!!"

Carrying the Nine-Tails chakra of one tail, Naruto moved with shocking speed. A heavy claw slashed straight toward Yuan's throat.

"Overestimating yourself, brat."

Yuan did not even lift his eyelids. The Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes turned. He casually slapped out.

That slap looked casual, but it carried terrifying physical strength and the prediction granted by his newly exchanged Sage Art Sensing, striking Naruto precisely across the side of his face.

"Smack!"

An explosive crack rang out. The Nine-Tails cloak on Naruto's body was directly scattered by that slap, and he spun through the air like a top more than a dozen times before smashing heavily into a broken wall dozens of meters away.

Naruto spat out a huge mouthful of blood and no longer had the strength to crawl up, but those bloodshot eyes still stared fixedly at Yuan.

"You want to protect everyone? Want to avenge your master?" Yuan slowly walked up to Naruto, crouched down, and patted Naruto's badly swollen cheek. "You're still too weak. So weak I'm not even interested in killing you. If you want to stop me, then let out that fox in your belly. Come find me again once you've gotten stronger."

Naruto clenched his teeth hard, his nails digging bloody marks into the ground. "I'll definitely get stronger... I'll definitely protect everyone, and I'll definitely slaughter you!"