"A slightly oversized loach, and you dare flick your tongue at me?"
Those utterly arrogant words echoed through the streets of Tanzaku Town, amid rubble and smoke. His voice was not loud, but it reached everyone present with perfect clarity.
Dead silence fell over the scene.
The enormous pipe in Gamabunta's mouth dropped to the ground with a clatter, scattering sparks. The giant toad, accustomed to throwing his weight around Mount Myōboku, now stared with bulbous eyes at the black-haired boy standing directly beneath Manda as though he were looking at a madman.
"Jiraiya, who is this brat? Is he out of his mind? Even I don't provoke that lunatic Manda lightly, and he actually dared call Manda a loach?!" Gamabunta roared in his gruff voice, his tone full of disbelief.
Jiraiya was also drenched in sweat. He knew Shengu Xuan was powerful enough to instantly kill even the former Hokage brought back through Impure World Reincarnation, but this was the great serpent Manda of Ryūchi Cave! This was a terrifying summoned beast that could clash head-on with tailed beasts. His enormous size and iron-hard scales alone were enough to drive anyone to despair.
"Shengu! Don't push yourself! Get back here! Manda isn't someone you can handle!" Jiraiya shouted anxiously.
Tsunade, who had fallen amid the rubble, barely managed to stand with Shizune's support. As she looked at Shengu Xuan's back, which was not particularly broad, a trace of complicated emotion flickered in her eyes. Although this brat had just cleaned her out and blocked her monstrous strength with that bizarre defense, how could human physical strength possibly contend with a monster on Manda's level?
"Lord Orochimaru, this brat is practically asking to die." Embedded in a wall, Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his shattered glasses as he coughed blood, a cruel