The fierce battle in Snow Moon Castle's Black Ice Hall did not end in the romantic fashion a storyteller might have embellished, with "mutual respect and a promise to fight again."
The truth was far more abrupt and bizarre.
Just as Naruto and Sasuke, who had entered his Cursed Seal form, stood poised for another round of bloodshed, two suffocatingly vast surges of chakra descended without warning from opposite sides of the hall, crashing down like landslides and tidal waves.
One was fierce and searing, carrying scorching gusts and a bold, unrestrained presence, like an erupting volcano.
The other was cold and cloying, carrying the hiss of snakes and a chill that seeped into the bones, as though it had risen from the deepest reaches of the underworld.
These two utterly opposing yet equally terrifying powers were not aimed at Naruto and Sasuke. Instead, they collided head-on in the center of the hall!
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
"Ninja Art: Many Snakes Formation!"
A blazing firestorm mixed with toad oil clashed with a torrent of hundreds upon thousands of venomous snakes pouring forth like a tide. They tore into one another in the cavernous hall, devouring and annihilating each other.
The explosion's shock wave sent the remaining ice crystals, rubble, and even Kazahana Dōtō's headless corpse flying. The entire palace shook violently!
Naruto's and Sasuke's expressions changed at once. Both retreated swiftly, avoiding the shock waves of a battle far beyond their current level.
Amid that earth-shattering clash, the "Jiraiya" Naruto had remained wary of and the "Orochimaru" lurking in the shadows finally revealed a little of their true identities-or rather... gave themselves away.
That scorching, violent firestorm, carrying the distinctive scent of toad oil, was unmistakably one of Mount Myōboku's signature toad Senjutsu techniques.
Yet the chakra radiating from the "Jiraiya"