"What!?"
Jiraiya's eyes were practically spitting fire as he glared at Naruto with murderous fury.
"You dare treat Tsunade like that!?"
He genuinely felt the urge to kill.
That was Tsunade, the woman he had secretly loved since his youth—now taken away to warm another man's bed?
His breath came in ragged bursts, his fists clenched with anger as if he could no longer restrain the urge to attack.
Orochimaru, on the other hand, let out a raspy laugh.
"Jiraiya, calm down. He probably hasn't done anything to Tsunade just yet."
Jiraiya froze.
Orochimaru continued, licking his lips with a twisted grin,
"After all, it's only been a few hours... but if more time passes, well, who knows? Next time we see her, her kid might already be six years old."
Jiraiya's rage roared like a blaze, almost material in its intensity.
Naruto watched and shook his head slightly.
"Jiraiya, do you really need to be this angry?"
Jiraiya snapped,
"Cut the crap! Give Tsunade back now—or you're not walking out of here alive!"
But Naruto spoke calmly, ignoring the threat.
"If it weren't for your constant running away, would things have ever come to this?"
He looked Jiraiya in the eyes, his voice indifferent and cool.
"You've always loved Tsunade, but never confessed. You care about Konoha, yet never returned."
"You've been running from everything your whole life—and all that ever did was make things worse."
"In the end, everything that happened to Tsunade... you share in the blame. You have no right to act righteous."
The anger in Jiraiya's eyes gradually faded. He picked up on something in Naruto's words and asked, his brow furrowed and voice heavy:
"Who... exactly are you? Have we met before?"
Even Orochimaru was puzzled now.
"Jiraiya, why do I get the feeling this guy holds some serious grudge against you? What happened between you two?"
"I've never seen him before," Jiraiya muttered, frowning deeply.
"I've never even heard of anyone named Bofū Menma..."
But why does he know so much about me? Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, staring hard at Naruto's face—but no matter how he looked, he couldn't place it.
Orochimaru, however, had begun to understand.
"You two must have met before... or at least, he saw you. Maybe all this—his hatred toward Konoha—stems from that."
Jiraiya thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"I'm sure I haven't seen him. But none of that matters right now. We take him down first—he must be hiding Tsunade somewhere!"
Orochimaru gave a slight nod, licking his lips as he stared at Naruto with greedy eyes.
"Fine by me. I'm quite interested in him as well... Hehehe, come to think of it, it's been a while since we teamed up, hasn't it?"
"It has!" Jiraiya said, then suddenly slapped Gamabunta on the head.
"Gamabunta, prep the oil!"
"Got it!"
Gamabunta puffed out his cheeks and spat out a massive flood of thick, flammable oil that flowed like a river.
Jiraiya's chest swelled, and he exhaled a torrent of flames that ignited the oil:
"Gamayu Endan!!" (Toad Oil Flame Bullet!)
The burning river of oil surged forward like a fiery tsunami, heading straight for Naruto.
"Menma-dono...!" Uchiha Izumi almost cried out his real name, but thankfully corrected herself in time.
"Are you going to fight them here...!?"
She watched Jiraiya and Orochimaru anxiously.
She still hadn't recovered her chakra and dōjutsu power from the battle with the Fourth Raikage and Killer Bee.
"We'll fight them a bit... but I don't need your help," Naruto replied coldly.
Seeing Jiraiya's face again had clearly soured his mood.
Back in Konoha, when he'd been bullied and isolated every day, he had prayed countless times for someone to come save him.
But the man who was both his father's teacher and a renowned hero—Jiraiya—had never once shown up.
He had known.
He had to know. Naruto was the Kyūbi's jinchūriki. He had to know how he was being treated.
"A man who always runs away... maybe he should just keep running forever."
Naruto muttered to himself, raising his right hand toward the incoming fire-river of burning oil.
"Kō!!" (Blaze!!)
Blistering flames erupted from his fist as he punched directly into the Gamayu Endan.
In an instant, the two fires collided and merged.
Before Jiraiya's shocked eyes, the fire reversed course—rushing back toward Gamabunta!
"Jiraiya! What the hell is going on!?"
Gamabunta cried out as the returning flames scorched his foot, forcing him to retreat in pain.
"Wait—right!" Orochimaru, standing atop Manda, suddenly remembered something.
"Fire won't work on Bofū Menma. He possesses a technique similar to the Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Jutsu—only his is a Pyrofication Jutsu. He can control all fire... and he's immune to physical attacks."
Jiraiya gasped sharply.
Just from that explanation alone, he knew how dangerous this guy was.
"Why the hell didn't you say that earlier!?" he growled, face darkening.
Forming hand seals, he released a roaring stream of water:
"Suiton: Suishōha!" (Water Release: Water Colliding Wave!)
The water clashed with the flames, instantly turning to steam—but it managed to stall the fire's spread.
Seizing the moment, Gamabunta leapt backward, avoiding further burns.
Meanwhile, Naruto placed a hand on Uchiha Izumi's shoulder and vanished using Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique).
Jiraiya's eyes widened to their limit as he gasped.
"Was that... the Flying Thunder God!?"
Naruto had disappeared in an instant—no sign of what technique he used.
But Jiraiya knew that chakra signature anywhere.
It was unmistakably the Flying Thunder God.
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.
"So it really is the Flying Thunder God... I heard he stole the Scroll of Seals, but I never imagined he actually mastered it..."
The two exchanged looks, both stunned.
The Flying Thunder God—one of the most difficult techniques to master, even among space-time jutsu.
In all of Konoha's history, only two people had ever learned it: the Second Hokage, and... Minato Namikaze.
"We're screwed..." Jiraiya's face turned grim as he realized what this meant.
"If he's mastered the Flying Thunder God, how the hell are we supposed to catch him and rescue Tsunade? There's no way we can keep up with space-time ninjutsu..."
Orochimaru fell silent. He hadn't expected things to turn out like this.
To a regular shinobi, an enemy who had mastered space-time jutsu was a living nightmare.
They simply weren't on the same level.
And just then—
A flash of golden light. Naruto reappeared in the canyon, holding none other than Tsunade in one hand...
...wearing a slave collar around her neck.
"The Legendary Sannin, reunited at last. What a heartwarming reunion," he said with a smile.
(End of Chapter)
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