"You stinking brat? Jiraiya?"
As the figures drew closer, Tsunade stood frozen on the spot. She was stunned. Didn't the ANBU captain say they had left this morning? Why had they suddenly appeared again now?
The ANBU captains didn't hesitate and immediately went forward to greet them. By the time Jiraiya and Kusuo had walked right up to them, Tsunade was still completely baffled.
"Haha! I didn't expect you to be so late, little Tsuna. And you only brought this many people." Looking at Tsunade and the others, Jiraiya laughed heartily, his face filled with relief.
A Hokage plus four ANBU captains who were infinitely close to the Kage level, at the peak of jonin strength... this was actually the highest-spec force that could be mobilized. But how strong was Pain? Anyone below Kage-level was not even worth looking at. If these people had really come, it would probably have just been to send heads to the enemy; they wouldn't have been able to solve the problem at all.
Good thing those guys from Pain have already been taken care of by this brat Kusuo, Jiraiya muttered to himself, looking at Tsunade with a smug expression.
Tsunade's willow-like eyebrows stood on end. With her hands on her hips, she shouted delicately, "What did you just call me?"
POW!
She threw a punch, which landed squarely on Jiraiya's forehead. With a clang, the latter fell straight down.
"Hmph!" After doing this, Tsunade snorted delicately and turned her gaze to Kusuo. She and the ANBU captains had already seen it. Jiraiya's body was covered in wounds, as well as traces of mud and seawater. He had definitely experienced a fierce battle. But this Kusuo's attire... aside from being a little damp, as if he had been rained on, his relaxed posture showed no sign of having gone through a great battle. Could it be that he couldn't get a hand in and could only provide support for Jiraiya from the side?
"Pain has been completely dealt with. Lady Tsunade, there's no need to worry. Let's go back," Kusuo suddenly said.
His words instantly disrupted the guesses in everyone's hearts.
"Stinking brat, what... what did you say? Pain has been completely dealt with?!" Tsunade's almond-shaped mouth was slightly agape, her face filled with disbelief.
It wasn't just the Hokage who had lost her composure. The ANBU on the side were even more astonished. They hadn't seen Pain's combat power with their own eyes, but the fact that he was the leader of the Akatsuki, and that Lord Jiraiya had been secretly ambushed and had to flee with serious injuries, was enough to show how formidable and terrifying an enemy he was.
And now... the stinking brat/Kusuo was saying that he had already dealt with all of Pain?
"Mm. All six Paths of Pain have been destroyed. Their names will never appear on the battlefield again," Kusuo nodded, his expression still as calm and self-possessed as ever, without any change. What look of pride or arrogance? It didn't exist at all.
"This..." Even Tsunade, who had been so confident in Kusuo's combat power, was now uncertain. She kicked out, directly kicking the aggrieved Jiraiya, who was lying on the ground, to his feet.
"Speak up! What did the stinking brat mean just now?"
This one kick from Tsunade made Jiraiya, who had been lying on the ground feeling wronged, suddenly stand up. He patted the dust off his body, tidied his hair, and coughed once. Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, he nodded. "Mm, that's right. Pain has been completely slain by Kusuo. Not a single one was left alive."
Hiss!
At that moment, everyone took a sharp breath in. Their hearts were like a raging sea.
But Kusuo was in a hurry to go back and deal with the Rinnegan in his possession and had no time to waste. He walked forward directly. The reason he had said the name "Pain" would never appear again, and not that the enemy was completely dealt with, was only because Nagato and Konan had been rescued by Obito at the end.
Kusuo's eyes narrowed. He already had a bad guess in his heart. Judging from the way the two groups were at odds with each other, Obito had no reason to save Nagato. Unless... he had some unknown backup plan.
And now, the biggest card Obito could hold was the technology of Hashirama's cells. Perhaps after Orochimaru joined, his research on cloning technology and the human soul had also reached a state of perfection. "Could he give Nagato a new pair of Byakugan or Sharingan, and cultivate an even higher level of dojutsu?"
"This kind of thing... I have to be on guard against it, but it wouldn't be surprising."
Kusuo still remembered that Obito hadn't shown any surprise or anger at all after seeing Nagato's lost Rinnegan. It seemed... the loss of the Rinnegan was already within his expectations.
Things seemed to be getting more and more interesting...
"Jiraiya, tell me properly, what exactly happened at that time? Also, on our way here, we saw the sunlight in the sky seem to briefly lose its brilliance. Was that also you guys?"
On the other side, the curious Tsunade couldn't wait to question Jiraiya, wanting to know the specific details.
"Stop shaking me, stop shaking me! I'll talk, I'll talk now." Jiraiya's heart was gray. Little Tsuna didn't care about his injuries at all. The first thing out of her mouth was Kusuo, the last thing was also Kusuo. That brat Kusuo is only fifteen or sixteen, what part of him is better than me? Even the girl by the sea had her soul hooked by him.
That's right. Where's that little fisher girl? Jiraiya began to look around again, searching for her figure.
Suddenly, a strong warning rose in his heart. Danger! He looked back. The source was Tsunade.
"Ahem, I'll tell you now. The situation at that time was like this. After Kusuo and I arrived at the other side's lair, we found that there weren't just four Pains, but six! Corresponding to the Deva Path..."
"Later, the other side's power was all concentrated on the Deva Path, and they unleashed a very powerful ninjutsu. At that time, half the Hidden Rain Village and the entire coast were destroyed. Fortunately, Kusuo reminded me to run for my life in advance, so I was able to come out unscathed."
"`ˇAs for the final moonlight and daylight in the sky, that was all Kusuo's contribution as well."
There were still some minor details. When Jiraiya had explained the general course of events, Tsunade was silent. The ANBU were dumbfounded. Their hearts, which had been tense and worried when Jiraiya first said he had run into a full six Pains, had now, after a period of numbness, returned to their normal beat.
As expected. Wherever that brat Kusuo is, the commotion of the battle won't be small, will it?
"I didn't expect the battle to be so fierce."
"It's hard to imagine what level of power a ninjutsu that could destroy half the Hidden Rain Village and the ocean has. For that child Kusuo to be able to stand in the center of the battlefield and withstand it... it's truly unbelievable."
"It's more than that!"
"Lord Jiraiya just said that the wheel of moonlight in the sky was also cut out by Kusuo. I'm afraid it was precisely that one slash that truly defeated Pain."
The ANBU members sighed with emotion, expressing the shock in their hearts.
Tsunade, on the other hand, continued to remain silent. She suddenly remembered that before, she had been worried about the stinking brat's safety and had forcefully ordered him not to act alone. Now, from Jiraiya's description, it seemed that those words were really a bit superfluous. A man as strong as Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, could only play a supporting role on the side, and couldn't even achieve the effect of providing support.
Kusuo, you stinking brat, just how strong are you?
"That's right." Jiraiya saw the shocked silence on Tsunade's and the ANBU captains' faces, and a different kind of pride suddenly rose in his heart. He decided to add some heavy medicine.
"It's high tide right now," Jiraiya's words came out.
Tsunade and the ANBU captains were a little confused. The tide is high? What does that have to do with what happened just now? It's the ebb tide period now. The sea should be calm. It should be low tide...
Wait a minute!
Tsunade's pretty eyes widened. She hurriedly grabbed Jiraiya's sleeve and asked, "Are you saying... the tide is high because of... Kusuo?"
"Mm." Jiraiya smiled smugly and nodded heavily.
Tsunade and the ANBU captains felt like they were about to break down. There was only one word continuously echoing in their hearts. And that was—
Holy shit!!!
-------
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