"Youngster, are you Jiraiya of Konoha?"
As soon as Madara Uchiha finished speaking, Jiraiya's pupils sharply constricted. He immediately realized that this uninvited guest had come for him.
At that thought, Jiraiya's expression grew even more serious, but he said:
"Oh? I never imagined that my name, Jiraiya the Toad Sage, was so renowned that even someone who returned from the Pure Land would have heard of me."
From the abnormalities in Madara Uchiha's body, combined with the intelligence he had previously gathered, Jiraiya had already deduced that the man before him was in a state of Impure World Reincarnation.
He then asked:
"Did that fellow Orochimaru send you?"
As far as Jiraiya knew, only Orochimaru had mastered the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, and the man before him was very likely someone Orochimaru had summoned from the Pure Land.
At that thought, Jiraiya secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Orochimaru had defected from Konoha long ago, they had still been teammates for so many years. Someone he had summoned probably would not deal Jiraiya a ruthless blow.
Still, the man before him gave Jiraiya a strong sense of familiarity.
Upon hearing Jiraiya's words, Madara Uchiha frowned slightly and said in a low voice, sounding somewhat displeased:
"Can just anyone call himself a sage these days? Or are you merely an arrogant fool?"
In Madara Uchiha's experience, those who could call themselves sages were all quite powerful. Though they fell short of him and Hashirama, they could still withstand a few of his attacks.
Hashirama in Sage Mode, in particular, could fight him to a standstill. Even the fully manifested Nine-Tails was no more than a tiny pet before Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands.
Yet the aura emanating from this man named Jiraiya felt somewhat weaker.
At