"Hyuga Tianyi-for the Leaf Village, I would give everything! I won't back down, even if it means standing against the entire world. I will stop you!"
Jiraiya tilted his head back, his gaze piercing the swirling sand and drifting dust to lock onto the figure hovering high above.
His voice echoed briefly between the dunes.
Vast amounts of chakra continued pouring from his body, and the facial markings of Sage Mode lit up one by one across his cheeks.
Sage Mode activated!
His hands rapidly formed hand seals. Shadow Clone Technique! Three figures identical to him split off from his sides and raced in three different directions.
They moved extremely fast, as though following predetermined routes to their positions, establishing three fixed nodes around the battlefield's perimeter.
The lines connecting the four positions formed a complete quadrilateral in space, enclosing the entire battlefield.
Jiraiya stood atop Gamabunta's head. "Gamabunta-toad oil."
Gamabunta put away his pipe and sneered. "Yeah-I've disliked that brat for a long time."
His belly swelled, then abruptly contracted, sending a massive stream of toad oil shooting upward from his mouth.
Once the column of oil reached midair, it rapidly spread into an oil curtain that blotted out the sky, covering a vast stretch of space beneath Tianyi and staining the heavens dark brown.
Tianyi glanced at the approaching oil curtain and shook his head slightly. "Oil? Too slow."
He rose farther into the air, lifting himself beyond the oil curtain's reach.
Just as he ascended, Jiraiya's ninjutsu came hurtling toward him.
"Sage Art: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Bolstered by senjutsu chakra, what had originally been a C-rank ninjutsu was elevated far beyond its normal level.
A violent storm surged from Jiraiya, carrying sand and air as it drove the floating oil droplets outward at tremendous speed.
The