Shinobi World No. 1.
Year 46 of Konoha, winter.
Mount Myōboku.
Mist churned endlessly under the impact of evil power. Dark red, dark purple, and dark green light intertwined, staining this once-peaceful sacred land with the colors of hell. The Great Toad Sage's corpse lay on the stone platform, his enormous body bereft of life. Dark red blood slowly flowed from his wounds, pooling on the stone platform.
Fukasaku knelt beside the Great Toad Sage, tears falling silently. He still held the short blade in his hand, but its edge hung low, unraised. Because he knew-raising it would do no good. The enemy was too strong. So strong that-even the Great Toad Sage could not stop them.
Hashirama Senju and Minato Namikaze were still fighting. Fragments of the Wood Golem littered the ground, and the Apostle of Pain's evil power still roiled. The golden flashes of Flying Thunder God darted through the mist, while the Apostle of Madness's battle claws traced dark green trails through the air. But both men were injured. Hashirama Senju's reanimated body was covered in cracks, and the Apostle of Madness's battle claws had carved a wound into Minato Namikaze's left arm deep enough to expose the bone.
Just then, space rippled slightly.
Bang!
A cloud of white smoke burst forth.
Jiraiya rushed out of the white smoke, his long white hair disheveled in the wind, his face filled with an unprecedented, almost frantic urgency. He had used the Reverse Summoning Technique-to teleport straight from the camp in the northern Land of Fire to Mount Myōboku.
"Great Toad Sage!"
His voice was hoarse, filled with irrepressible fear.
He saw it. The Great Toad Sage's corpse. The tears of Fukasaku kneeling beside him. Hashirama Senju and Minato Namikaze's battered states. And—the Three Great Apostles.
"What's the hurry?"