"Little Liumu, what are you staring for? Go on, eat."
Mount Myōboku.
Liumu stared at the tableful of insects, his stomach already churning.
Beside him, Fukasaku wore an apron as he brought over a plate of black things that looked like cockroaches and set it before Liumu.
"Urgh..."
"Sage Shima, I'm not hungry. You and Sage Fukasaku go ahead."
Speechless now, Liumu put on a grin and hurriedly tried to decline politely.
"That won't do. If anything happens to your original body from hunger, all those clones you've scattered outside will disappear too."
As Sage Shima spoke, she picked a few maggots out of her own bowl and put them into Liumu's, saying with concern, "They're delicious, you know. When little Jiraiya trained here back then, he could eat several bowls in one sitting."
Jiraiya?
Several bowls?
You've got to be kidding me!
Were his tastes that extreme?
Thinking back to the chopsticks Jiraiya had used when he ate at my house...
Those were all fucking communal chopsticks!
"Urgh!"
Help! Someone, save me!
I couldn't just punch these two elderly... toads to death!
Just then, a dazzling burst of purple light suddenly shone beneath the chair Liumu sat on, instantly enveloping him.
It was here!
Watching the technique's formula rapidly take shape beneath his feet, Liumu immediately realized... his savior had arrived.
"The Summoning Technique?"
Fukasaku looked at the brilliant light and immediately recognized the technique. But why was Liumu the one being summoned?
With a whoosh, before the two Toad Sages could react further, Liumu instantly turned into a streak and vanished, laughing wildly in relief.
Desert Ridge.
Boundless gales swept across the land, stirring up waves of drifting sand.
The blazing sun hung overhead, yet not a ray of sunlight could be seen.
Camel bells rang