Snap!
The crisp snap of fingers echoed across the empty training ground.
The instant Shengu Xuan snapped his fingers, his shadow, stretched long by the setting sun, suddenly churned and boiled violently like bubbling asphalt!
"Glug... glug..."
Pitch-black shadow energy spread outward like a tide, instantly staining the ground for dozens of meters around a deep, deathly black. Within that absolute darkness, pairs of scarlet eyes lit up one after another, like demonic eyes opening in hell!
Meanwhile, the enormous cloud of white smoke produced by Jiraiya's Summoning Technique finally dispersed.
"Ribbit!!!"
With a deafening croak, a toad as enormous as a small mountain appeared in the middle of the battlefield, his body covered in red markings, a gigantic short sword tucked at his waist, and an enormous pipe clenched in his mouth!
The toad boss of Mount Myōboku, Gamabunta!
His enormous size brought an unparalleled sense of visual oppression. Merely standing there, Gamabunta cast a shadow that completely enveloped Shengu Xuan.
"Jiraiya, you bastard! Nothing good ever comes of you summoning me! Which blind fool picked a fight with you this time?" Gamabunta exhaled a thick smoke ring, his voice booming through the air like muffled thunder.
Jiraiya stood atop Gamabunta's broad head, clutching his faintly aching chest as he pointed gravely at Shengu Xuan below.
"Gamabunta, don't let your guard down. That brat is a monster through and through. His physical strength and defenses are terrifying, and he can use a dark red flame that melts even stone in an instant. Ordinary attacks are completely useless against him."
"Oh? Even you took a beating from him?" Gamabunta's enormous eyes shifted as he looked down from above at the ant-sized Shengu Xuan. A trace of disdain flashed in his eyes. "Hmph, whatever kind of monster he is, my short