A Chance Encounter with Jiraiya

"Want to join us? You're a smart person. You should know how to choose!"

As he spoke, the man pointed at the surrounding ninja and samurai, making his meaning obvious.

"There are quite a few of you." Chentian nodded noncommittally, then said, "If you want me to join, shouldn't you introduce yourselves first?"

"Hahaha." He chuckled softly, unconcerned by Chentian's little scheme. "What, you destroyed one of our bounty exchanges a few days ago, and now you don't recognize us?"

He knew Chentian was trying to gather information, but with so many people here, could Chentian really escape?

The moment those words were spoken, Chentian understood. So they were from the bounty exchange, here for revenge.

The bounty exchange's strength truly could not be underestimated. Three jonin, a samurai at the elite jonin level, and one person he could not see through.

He wondered whether this was the bounty exchange's full strength.

He wanted to keep probing for information, but the other side gave him no more chances.

"Join us now, or die immediately!"

Chentian grinned. Since there was no more information to gather, it was time to fight.

"Water Style—Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

His hands, hidden behind his back, moved at high speed. A violent tidal wave suddenly surged forth and crashed toward the enemies before him.

He had already been secretly forming hand seals before trying to gather information. Now was the perfect time to unleash it.

This was a hidden system benefit Chentian had discovered: there were no chakra fluctuations when he formed hand seals.

As long as no one saw his hands, no one could tell that he was forming seals.

"Secret Technique—Swallow Reversal!"

"Ghost Warrior—Shikigami!"

"Earth Style—Earth Flow Rampart!"

Three voices rang out in succession as the strongest ninja and the strongest samurai attacked at the same time.

Chentian's Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave was completely dispersed by two attacks and one defense, achieving nothing.

The instant he unleashed the Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, a Tailed Beast Bomb began gathering in front of Chentian's face.

As the Tailed Beast Bomb grew larger, Chentian's expression became increasingly grim!

It was not only because his chakra was almost depleted, but also because of that strangely dressed man. He was actually an onmyoji!

Onmyoji had a long history, existing even before ninja were born.

Only after the Sage of Six Paths created the Ninja Sect did onmyoji gradually disappear.

Although becoming an onmyoji was extremely difficult, their strength was not much inferior to that of ninja, and their methods were exceedingly bizarre.

One only had to look at the blue-faced, fanged ghost floating beside that man to know.

If Chentian had not seen the Reaper in the original story, he would have thought this guy was the Reaper.

"Tailed Beast Bomb—!"

The instant the tidal wave was shattered, the basketball-sized Tailed Beast Bomb in Chentian's mouth shot forth with overwhelming power.

This Tailed Beast Bomb contained a full two thousand points of Chentian's chakra. After releasing it, less than a hundred points of chakra remained in his body.

"Shikigami—Transposition!"

"Secret Technique—One-Slash Kill!"

"Body Flicker Technique!"

Watching the Tailed Beast Bomb grow ever larger, their expressions immediately darkened. None of them had expected Chentian to possess such a trump card.

The shikigami transported its master out of the Tailed Beast Bomb's range, while the two jonin used the Body Flicker Technique to escape.

The strongest samurai was terrifyingly fast, comparable to a jonin's Body Flicker Technique.

"Rumble...!"

Only after those four had escaped the Tailed Beast Bomb's attack range did it reach its target and explode instantly.

There was not even a scream. Everyone else was obliterated without a trace, vanishing from the world.

All that remained was a massive crater dozens of meters wide, enough to make anyone shudder.

The four who had avoided the Tailed Beast Bomb looked grim. What they had thought would be an easy mission had cost so many lives. This was absolutely unforgivable!

"Kill him! Kill him for me!"

The man controlling the shikigami was utterly enraged, and even his voice became shrill.

"Tsunade, Jiraiya! If you two don't step in, I'm going to be dead meat!"

Watching the four charge toward him, Chentian did not panic in the slightest, even though he only had enough chakra left to use a Great Fireball Technique.

The commotion here was so great that Tsunade had definitely heard it and rushed over.

As for Jiraiya, during the earlier battle, Chentian had accidentally spotted a tuft of white hair on the inn's roof.

"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"

"Painful Heaven Kick!"

"Rumble!"

The two truly were Kage-level powerhouses. The moment he acted, Jiraiya bound one jonin with his hair and strangled him to death.

Because of her hemophobia, Tsunade merely kicked one person so hard that he could not stand, then instantly appeared behind Chentian and turned away.

"Jiraiya, they're yours!"

Before Jiraiya could speak, Tsunade had already assigned the tasks. Jiraiya would handle all the enemies while she and Chentian left first.

There was naturally no need to say more about what followed. A samurai and an onmyoji could not stir up any trouble before Jiraiya.

In less than five minutes, Jiraiya had killed the two and found Tsunade and Chentian.

That was only because the onmyoji's methods were strange. Otherwise, he could have ended it even sooner.

"Tsunade, it's been a long time." He greeted Tsunade first, then asked Chentian, "Who are you, kid? How did you provoke the bounty exchange?"

As expected of Jiraiya—he had identified the bounty exchange after only one exchange. Though secretly startled, Chentian answered truthfully.

The three chatted as they walked and soon returned to the inn. Only then did Shizune run out.

"Chentian, you're incredible! You killed more than twenty people and left only four alive, including even jonin!"

Little stars practically shone in Shizune's eyes as she looked at Chentian, her pretty face full of admiration.

She was already thirteen and still a chunin, but Chentian was only six and was already this powerful. It was simply amazing!

Even Jiraiya and Tsunade looked at Chentian in surprise upon hearing that.

They had arrived just as Chentian was using the Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, so they had not seen the earlier battle.

They had originally thought Chentian had merely blown up a bunch of small fry. They had not expected that he had already killed a jonin beforehand.

"Are you really six years old, kid? You're not actually several decades old and just unable to grow up, are you?"

Jiraiya's gaze turned somewhat vacant as wild thoughts filled his mind beyond his control.

Although Tsunade said nothing, her astonished stare made Chentian uncomfortable all over. He immediately prepared to slip away.

Several cards had dropped on the battlefield, and he still needed to collect them. How could he have time to chat with them?

"Sister Tsunade, Old Man Jiraiya, I'm heading out for a bit. I'll be back soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chentian used the last of his chakra to perform the Body Flicker Technique and vanished.

After Chentian disappeared, Jiraiya immediately turned black and white. He mechanically turned his head toward Tsunade and asked, "Tsunade, am I really that old?"

Those two words, "old man," dealt devastating damage to Jiraiya in the prime of his life, comparable to taking Chentian's Tailed Beast Bomb head-on.

After leaving Tsunade and Jiraiya, Chentian quickly returned to the battlefield. There were no bodies left here.

Even the enormous crater he had blasted out had disappeared, evidently restored by Jiraiya using Earth Style.

However, the glowing cards were still lying where they had fallen.

Chentian remembered that one of these cards had dropped when Tsunade kicked. He did not know whether it was Painful Heaven Kick or the Senju Physique.

This made Chentian unable to wait any longer.