Warm blood slid over his fingertips. The body in his arms went from rigid to relaxed, then finally slumped, limp.
Pitch-black shadows intertwined with crimson blood like demons baring their fangs and claws, slowly tearing apart the world before him.
Someone gripped his ankle, sending a sharp pain through it.
Jiraiya looked down. Big Brother Leaf Dragon smiled up at him, his face covered in blood.
"Go, Jiraiya. Don't stop here..."
Thump!
Someone struck him hard on the head.
"Clear your mind, little Jiraiya."
Sage Fukasaku held a dark wooden staff and sighed helplessly.
"Take a break. It's time for dinner."
"...Yeah."
Jiraiya took the lunch box Sage Fukasaku handed him.
He opened it, and-whoa.
Pale, plump worms lay in neat rows, drizzled with sauce.
Beside them, fried blue-green bugs formed a small mound, giving off wisps of steam.
In the soup bowl, strange-looking insects with spotted bodies floated in a purple broth.
"Ugh, those colors really do look strange."
"Leaf Dragon," seated beside him, spoke.
Jiraiya's fingers paused. Without shifting his gaze, he opened the lid and began eating, expressionless.
"Little Jiraiya, someone from Konoha is looking for you."
After finishing the box of bugs, Jiraiya washed it in the nearby stream, then looked up at Sage Fukasaku, who was waving him over.
"That girl Tsunade sent you a scroll. She said it's a mission involving some Jashin Cult and asked whether you wanted to go."
The Jashin Cult?
The lunch box creaked in Jiraiya's grip.
"Wait for me."
"We're at the Land of Wind Border."
Jiraiya, who had shot up considerably, held the mission scroll and checked their destination once more.
According to reliable intelligence, signs of Jashin Cult activity had been discovered here.
Under the combined scrutiny of Konoha and the Shadow Organization, seven of the