Taotie's gift

At the mountaintop.

Liumu appeared there in the pouring rain, looking full of life. He gazed out through the rain; all was silent, and there was not a soul around.

Even so, only after a thorough inspection did Liumu take out the Taotie template in anticipation.

Looking at the imposing Taotie on the template in his hand, Liumu flung it out. As a sound like a trigger rang out in his mind, the Taotie template flying through the air suddenly gave off a dazzling radiance.

"Roar!"

Under Liumu's gaze, a gigantic, fur-covered claw reached out of the template into the void. Then, with a furious roar that resounded through heaven and earth, a beast's head resembling a true dragon finally emerged.

The radiance continued. With seven-colored starlight on his back, the divine beast Taotie fixed his eyes, as deep as the sun and moon, on Liumu, who was as small as an insect beneath his feet.

Under the downpour, the Three-Flavour Divine Fire burned even more fiercely, forming what was effectively a barrier shrouded in steam.

"Young man..."

Taotie spoke in a human tongue, his voice like thunder as he boomed, "Was it you who summoned this god?"

Although Liumu had integrated the Saitama template, for some reason, his entire body now seemed locked in place by an invisible pressure. He could not move at all, or even muster the strength to answer.

Liumu might not have known how powerful the divine beast Taotie was, but the one thing he could be certain of now was that even with the power of the One-Punch Man Saitama template, a faint tremor of fear still stirred within him before Taotie.

Taotie looked around blankly at the cold, gloomy sky surrounding him, his tiger-like eyes half closed as his roars continued.

"Such a familiar presence... but because of my appearance, the space-time here has already begun to teeter on the brink of collapse."

Space-time?

Liumu did not understand. Looking at the divine beast before him, one that had only ever appeared in legends, he gradually began to break out in a cold sweat.

"You..." Liumu used almost every ounce of his strength to resist the pressure bearing down on him. His faltering feet had already sunk into the ground, but he still raised his head and asked, "Are you my summoned beast?"

Taotie's template had classified Taotie as a summoned beast, but sensing the vast gulf between their strengths, Liumu did not believe a divine beast like this would willingly obey him.

At those words, Taotie slowly lowered himself. His scorching breath washed over Liumu, instantly evaporating the rain around him.

Taotie replied, "I do not belong to this world, so I cannot help you."

Just as expected.

If his summoned beast could not help him, what else could he say?

"However..." Just as Liumu was feeling disappointed, an unusual gleam flashed through Taotie's divine eyes, and he spoke again. "I see a hint of something I have been looking forward to in you. But this world is too weak. My appearance will shatter it, so before I leave, I will give you a gift."

An unknown amount of time passed.

The day was drawing to a close, and darkness filled the sky. Liumu lay flat on the clifftop, letting the rain beat against his face.

Taotie's appearance had been beyond his expectations. Or rather, he had never expected this template system to be capable of summoning a deity like that.

Thinking of the gift Taotie had left him before dissipating...

Liumu immediately sat up and crossed his legs. As he closed his eyes, his mind gradually settled into stillness.

Myths said that a creature such as Taotie could devour heaven and earth, feeding on all things, his belly like a boundless abyss, not limited to merely that.

And what Taotie had left Liumu was precisely that power to devour.

As a ninja, if one set aside the Taijutsu he had gained after integrating the Saitama template, Liumu was not actually strong. His natural aptitude was poor, and he fell short of his peers in both ninjutsu and genjutsu.

The sweeping power of ninjutsu made Liumu envious, but the mystery of genjutsu was equally alluring to him.

Liumu's Taijutsu could no longer be described as second to only one person, but even he still had a weakness.

And that weakness was none other than genjutsu, an ability that could not be evaded.

The cold wind blew ceaselessly. Clad in a straw rain cape, Jiraiya stood outside the house, watching the Chakra vortex that had formed on the distant mountaintop create a tornado-like spectacle that left him astonished.

Though he knew this undoubtedly had something to do with Liumu, he suppressed his shock and chose to stand there at a distance, leaving Liumu his own unique mystery.

"Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit."

With a bang, a puff of white smoke burst from the puddle at Jiraiya's feet, and a green frog with black spots appeared before him.

"Did you find them?" Jiraiya asked calmly.

Hearing this, the green frog eerily spat a secret scroll out of its mouth.

Jiraiya took it, read its contents, then raised a flame in his palm and burned the secret scroll to ashes.

"They... have grown up."

Jiraiya looked up at the sky and sighed, but indescribable pride showed in his eyes and expression.

The bonds of fate had made the three as close as blood siblings. Since they, despite their tragic backgrounds, had resolved to change the tragedy of the Land of Rain through their own strength, Jiraiya was naturally happy as their teacher.

Peace could not be obtained simply through war, yet for the sake of peace, the world often could not do without war.

"Yo!"

Early the next morning, Liumu barely stirred awake on the hard wooden bed, his eyes bleary. At a glance, he saw Jiraiya waiting beside him with his bags already packed.

"Teacher, what's all this?" Liumu asked blankly.

"We're wanderers. Countless youthful, beautiful sources of inspiration await this sage. How could we keep staying here?" Jiraiya raised a thumb with a lecherous look and smiled meaningfully. "Let's set off, young man! Training is a cruel thing."

In the rainforest.

Two figures, one large and one small, flickered through the forest. During a spare moment, seeing that they were already nearing the border of the Land of Rain, Liumu asked Jiraiya, "Teacher, do you know Hanzo of the Salamander, the one known as the Demigod?"

Hearing Hanzō's name from Liumu, even Jiraiya had a sudden sharp gleam flash through his eyes.

"You've heard of him too?" Jiraiya turned his head and asked expressionlessly.

Liumu nodded. "He must be powerful, right? After all, he bears the title of Demigod."

Jiraiya nodded at that.

He recalled the first time he, Tsunade, and Orochimaru had fought Hanzō. Although they had held out against him for a long time, they had still been at a disadvantage. But because they had earned Hanzō's recognition in that battle, the name of the Sannin had resounded throughout the Shinobi World.

"Very powerful. The Land of Rain is his territory. Whether it's ninjutsu or strategy-and especially after he summons Ibuse-even Orochimaru is extremely wary of his poison."

Liumu remembered that in the original story, Hanzō would plot to eliminate the Akatsuki, which had already achieved some success, for the sake of his own power in the Land of Rain. Yahiko would also die in that battle.

"Rumor has it that he has a black salamander's venom sac inside his body. Besides giving him immunity to poison, it lets him poison people just by breathing."

Jiraiya seemed to be talking to himself, his thoughts unknown.