"Are you joking, Lord Jiraiya? Don't tell me accomplices are innocent. Yes, of course, Konoha has never started wars, but are you trying to use that to absolve Konoha of its sins? Konoha, a central player in those wars?"
Otsutsuki Toneri chuckled, his handsome face full of mockery. His almost accusatory words left Jiraiya utterly silent.
"War... is beyond Konoha's control. But you are not, Otsutsuki Toneri. Fight me!" Jiraiya replied gravely. War had never been something a single ninja village could control.
Konoha had indeed been complicit in the deaths of those innocent souls lost to war, but that had not been their wish.
And right now, arguing about this with Otsutsuki Toneri was not what mattered most. He needed to save his teacher.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was getting on in years, after all. He might not be a match for Orochimaru.
"You lot?" Otsutsuki Toneri gave a disdainful laugh at that, and a savage edge slowly crept into his smile.
He was in a rather foul mood right now!
"Save your boasting for afterward." Jiraiya's expression darkened, and he charged toward Otsutsuki Toneri at high speed.
I can't drag this out any longer. I have to save the old man!
Jiraiya cast a worried glance at the barrier nearby. Orochimaru...
"You still dare get distracted?" Otsutsuki Toneri sneered at the sight. There had to be a limit to how much this Jiraiya could underestimate him.
His pure Tenseigan flickered, and an incomparably powerful repulsive force swept outward in a ring.
"What is this..." Jiraiya had no time to react. Encountering such a bizarre, invisible, colorless force for the first time, he was sent flying without any chance of resisting.
······ Please send flowers ······
He crashed heavily to the ground!
Still, Jiraiya's constitution was exceptionally robust. He stood up