The black light at his fingertip did not pierce Jiraiya's skull as intended.
A shrill rush of wind forced its way into that space of certain death.
It was the explosive report of a fist scraping through the air-and the roar of a woman staking everything.
"Get... the hell away!!!"
Boom!
The ground to the side exploded, countless stones rising as though gravity had reversed. A figure wreathed in pale blue chakra flames smashed through the air like a shell from a heavy cannon, charging straight for Chiya's temple with overwhelming force.
Tsunade.
The woman who had just been thrown into a nest of snakes now seemed to be making one final rally before death. Her skin flushed crimson with blood as she recklessly wrung chakra from her Strength of a Hundred Seal, funneling it all into a right fist that was hardly bulky, yet held devastating power.
This was a blow powerful enough to shatter Susanoo with a single punch.
It was the Hokage's fury.
And her final struggle to snatch a comrade back from the clutches of death.
Jiraiya had already closed his eyes to await death. Feeling that familiar, savage chakra, he snapped them open, his bloodshot eyes trembling violently.
"Tsunade! Stay back!!"
He shouted.
His Sage Mode senses told him that the boy in black before him was far too dangerous to overcome through brute force.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Tsunade's fist was already there.
Before the wind of her punch reached him, Chiya's black hair streamed wildly backward. The rocky ground beneath his feet could not withstand the pressure, cracking into a web of fractures in advance.
"Die! Monster Strength: Peerless!!"
Tsunade's eyes were stretched wide with fury, her fist less than ten centimeters from Chiya's cheek.
And yet.
Those ten centimeters became a