Ōnoki, upon hearing Hoshiyomi's order, of course couldn't just sit back and let the Konoha shinobi retreat. Lowering his head, he shouted down to the ground at Rōshi:
"What are you standing there in a daze for? If you don't attack now, they'll all get away."
As he spoke, Ōnoki began forming hand seals. As the Third Tsuchikage, he was a master of Earth Release — his skill with it even surpassed his famed Dust Release. With him, it was almost a matter of two claps and the jutsu's there.
In the blink of an eye, Ōnoki unleashed Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears. Though it was a fairly basic technique, in his hands its power was on par with Kimimaro's Dance of the Seedling Fern.
Countless sharp earthen spikes erupted from the ground in a wide area. Any Konoha shinobi who was even slightly careless risked being skewered into a bloody mess. The sudden assault caused heavy casualties in an instant.
Rōshi snapped out of his daze at Ōnoki's shout. After a moment's hesitation, he quickly formed seals and unleashed his widest-range attack — Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Jutsu.
A blazing torrent of molten rock swept forward, joining Ōnoki's Earth Flow Spears from the other side, the two attacks threatening to wipe out Konoha's entire forward camp.
Of course, Hoshiyomi's group would not allow Ōnoki and Rōshi to continue slaughtering the Konoha shinobi.
Jiraiya formed seals and activated the Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu. His long hair grew rapidly, as if it were free, and didn't stop until it was more than ten meters long.
After his hair stopped growing, Jiraiya manipulated it, lashing it toward Ōnoki in midair.
Earlier, while casting his jutsu, Ōnoki had lowered his altitude somewhat — enough that he was now within the Wild Lion's Mane's attack range.
Seeing the whip-like hair rushing toward him, Ōnoki frowned. He had no choice but to rise higher into the air, abandoning his continuous output of the Earth Flow Spears.
On the other side, Hoshiyomi used Nature Transformation to change his chakra nature to Earth Release. At the same time, he stomped heavily on the ground and leapt several meters into the air.
While airborne, he drew the Mikazuki Munechika from his waist. In one sweeping slash, a massive earthen-yellow blade of chakra cleaved through the air.
It struck the ground not far from the lava river, gouging a trench dozens of meters long.
But it didn't end there — the surging earth-nature chakra within the slash continued to act, widening the trench further.
The raging lava that had been headed for Konoha's shinobi now poured into the trench instead, unable to advance any farther toward them.
Hoshiyomi turned to Jiraiya and Shinku:
"Jiraiya, you and Shinku keep Ōnoki busy. Once I deal with the Four-Tails, I'll come support you."
Both of them felt a pang of dread at his words, but they knew the situation was dire — if they didn't follow his plan, all three of them might die here today.
Besides, Hoshiyomi was about to face a Tailed Beast alone — a risk no less than their own. There was nothing more to say.
They gritted their teeth and each brought out their trump cards.
Hion targeted Ōnoki in the air with the strongest genjutsu he had developed to date — Genjutsu Secret Art: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.
As a genjutsu master even among Mangekyō Sharingan users, Shinku's ultimate genjutsu was enough to ensnare even a Kage-level opponent like Ōnoki.
Ōnoki, who had been planning to keep attacking with ninjutsu, was caught off guard and truly fell into Shinku's genjutsu, momentarily frozen in place.
On the other side, Jiraiya seized the opportunity, biting his thumb without hesitation and slamming his hand to the ground, activating the Summoning Jutsu.
A puff of smoke erupted — but instead of the familiar giant toad Gamabunta, two smaller toads appeared.
Both were clearly elderly, and at a glance Hoshiyomi immediately recognized them as none other than the two highest-ranking sages of Mount Myōboku aside from the Great Toad Sage himself — Fukasaku and Shima.
Once they appeared, neither seemed to pay much mind to the battle in front of them. Instead, they leapt onto Jiraiya's shoulders — Shima to the left, Fukasaku to the right. Shima smiled and said:
"Little Jiraiya, what's this? Calling us out all of a sudden? I was in the middle of cooking when you dragged me here. And by the way, you haven't been to Mount Myōboku in ages — your training's still not complete, you know. No slacking off, little Jiraiya."
Fukasaku glanced around at the situation and, with a headache, stopped his wife:
"Wife, can't you look at the situation before you start talking? If little Jiraiya summoned us, it's obviously because he's run into trouble he can't handle alone."
Jiraiya quickly nodded in agreement:
"I really am in trouble here. You see that little old man floating in the air? That's the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure. I need to find a way to stall him for a while, but with my current skill set it's hard to hold him off completely.
So I need you two to help me — use your Senjutsu to give me early warning."
At that, Shima and Fukasaku couldn't help but grumble:
"And whose fault is that? If you'd studied Senjutsu properly, you wouldn't need us to be your warning system right now…"
Jiraiya's head was pounding, but he didn't dare talk back. Fortunately, Shinku spoke up to save him:
"You two, if you want to chat with Jiraiya about his habits, could you wait until after the fight? I really can't hold on much longer."
He could clearly feel Ōnoki continuously battering against his genjutsu. If not for the constant chakra he was pouring into maintaining the genjutsu, Ōnoki would have broken free already.
Shinku's chakra was visibly draining away. If Ōnoki kept up the pressure, Shinku wouldn't last five seconds more.
——
Meanwhile, Hoshiyomi was rapidly closing the distance to Rōshi. On the way, to keep Rōshi from attacking Konoha's shinobi, he continued taunting him:
"Hey, you're Rōshi, right? Weren't you just saying you wanted revenge on me? Well, here I am. If you want my head, come and take it yourself."
Rōshi knew this was a provocation, but his youthful pride still led him right into the trap. He abandoned his attack on Konoha's shinobi and turned his attention to the approaching Hoshiyomi.
Seeing Rōshi focus on him, Hoshiyomi didn't hesitate — with a flick of his wrist, he sent a blade of sword energy slashing toward him.
Unfamiliar with the power of Hoshiyomi's sword strike, Rōshi trusted in the unparalleled might of his Lava Release and didn't evade. Instead, he coated his fist in a layer of molten rock and swung it straight into the slash.
When fist and sword aura collided, a sizable explosion erupted. Afterward, Rōshi staggered back three steps, a sharp pain throbbing in his hand.
Glancing down instinctively, he saw that the sword energy had completely shattered his molten gauntlet and left a deep wound across his fist.