"Why… didn't I act?"
Jiraiya's life and death now rested in Ryosuke's hands. And yet, he couldn't summon the slightest thought of fighting back.
It wasn't because he couldn't win, or because he was afraid to fight.
It was the guilt in his heart that made him unable to lift a hand.
Jiraiya knew very clearly just how stupid of a thing he had done.
This was a trap set by Orochimaru targeting Ryosuke, a true dead end.
Ryosuke used his own strength to shatter that dead end and saved Jiraiya.
From the start of the battle, every move Ryosuke made had not a single flaw.
But Jiraiya?
What did he do, at the most critical moment of the fight, when Ryosuke, his teammate, had done 99% of the work, all Jiraiya had to do was take one step forward, just delay Orochimaru a little, and they could have won.
And yet, he did nothing.
That was betrayal of a comrade.
If he wasn't Jiraiya, if he were just some rookie ninja acting on emotion, Ryosuke wouldn't be angry.
In a panic, overwhelmed, hesitant to hurt an old friend, understandable.
But Jiraiya wasn't some naive person. Or rather, he, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and above them, the Third Hokage, Danzo...
That generation had all experienced the darkness of the ninja world.
When it was time to kill, they never showed mercy just because of emotions.
'So why didn't I act?' Jiraiya asked his own heart.
Until he saw Ryosuke and Sasuke, neither of them wore a forehead protector.
Then he understood.
The reason was because Orochimaru hadn't truly done anything that violated the "Will of Fire."
Orochimaru hadn't crossed Jiraiya's bottom line, so for years, he had only been tracking this old classmate, not trying to kill him.
Jiraiya wanted Orochimaru to turn back, not to die.
'Because Orochimaru didn't break my code… I hesitated, and that led to Sasuke, whom Ryosuke had protected all the way until now, getting hurt.'
That was the reason for Ryosuke's rage.
Letting Orochimaru go? That didn't matter.
Just a few hundred soul fragments, whatever. Jiraiya could bring wine and meat to make up for it, and the matter would pass.
Everyone has old feelings.
Ryosuke could understand that.
But Sasuke's condition was very bad.
He... might die.
And that made it a completely different matter.
Jiraiya wasn't the kind of person to make excuses. After interrogating his own conscience, his eyes lowered, "I... have nothing to say."
"Ryosuke, this time I've wronged you."
He looked at Sasuke.
Where Orochimaru had bitten his neck, black tomoe markings were constantly seeping out.
The Cursed Seal of Heaven.
Jiraiya said, "Ryosuke, if you really must kill me, I just hope you do it after saving Sasuke."
Ryosuke still had his back to him. Star Platinum vanished suddenly, and Jiraiya collapsed to the ground.
He stood up, walked to Sasuke's side, and grabbed his wrist.
Moments later, Jiraiya opened his eyes, face filled with worry.
'There are three conflicting energies inside him, chakra, natural energy, and Ripple.'
If it were just chakra and the natural energy brought by the curse mark, with his more than ten years of training in sage arts, he could still try to balance them.
But with Ripple added, the situation became complicated.
Ryosuke and Jiraiya both fell silent. The atmosphere grew heavier.
At that moment, a gloating voice broke the silence,
"He's dead for sure. Rather than waste him, why not let me eat him? I'll forgive your disrespect."
As expected of a snake sage, within just a short time, Kunitsukami had recovered most of her injuries. She now took on a half-human, half-serpent form, holding the Dragon-Snake Pearl in her hands.
Ryosuke slowly turned his head. "What did you just say?"
"I said, as long as you give me that child to eat..."
Before she could finish, Ryosuke kicked Kunitsukami, sending her several dozen meters flying. The giant serpent rolled, a farmhouse collapsed, and dust flew everywhere.
The Hidden Purple vines shot out again, yanking her back like a dead dog.
Ryosuke looked down on her. With a single motion, he summoned the still-scorching Ruin Greatsword, holding it just below the serpent demon's neck.
Feeling the edge of the blade against her throat, Kunitsukami's scalp went numb.
Ryosuke asked seriously, "Can you save him?"
"N-No, just like that ugly ghost said, aside from the curse mark, there's a third energy. I can't do it. Only by finding Orochimaru and having him remove the curse mark will it work."
"Can you find Orochimaru?"
"Yes!" Kunitsukami clung to this chance of survival, "As long as he comes to Ryuchi Cave, I can contact him, and then, "
"Too slow."
Sasuke couldn't wait that long.
Ryosuke asked again, "Right now, can you find him?"
"N-No."
Orochimaru's whereabouts were too unpredictable. He couldn't be summoned by reverse summoning unless he revealed his location. Otherwise, no one knew where he was hiding.
Ryosuke's gaze grew colder.
"This you can't do, that you can't do. Why do you think… you deserve to live?"
"You dare kill me?!"
Now Kunitsukami truly panicked. She struggled to rise, but Star Platinum appeared in a flash, slammed her head to the ground with a mighty blow, shocking her to the core.
Hundreds of years of cultivation hadn't made Kunitsukami see through death, on the contrary, in her pursuit of longevity, she had grown increasingly afraid of death.
"You can't kill me! I'm the Snake Princess of Ryuchi Cave, a personal elder chosen by the White Snake Sage!"
"If you kill me, Ryuchi Cave will never stop hunting you down, until you die!"
She turned to Jiraiya.
"I want to see the Great Toad Sage! Even if I'm guilty, I should not be judged by humans! For the sake of Ryuchi Cave and Mount Myoboku's long-standing ties, Jiraiya, you can't let him kill me!"
Jiraiya licked his dry lips.
Kunitsukami wasn't wrong. Low- and mid-level snakes or toads, if they died, they just died.
But someone like Kunitsukami, Fukasaku, or Shima, elders of that level, if they were killed out in the world, it would absolutely bring retaliation from their sacred grounds.
Just as Jiraiya was about to speak up to calm things down, a flash of blade light swept past him.
Kunitsukami's head dropped to the ground, rolling away and quickly turning into a massive green serpent head.
Dead.
Really dead.
The green snake head landed, still holding onto a sliver of life force. Its eyes filled with venomous hatred, it stared at Ryosuke and hissed, "Ryosuke… you will suffer the agony of ten thousand snakes eating your heart… you will die with no grave… Ryuchi Cave… will never forgive you..."
Before the words were finished, the Ruin Greatsword fell again, splitting the serpent head down the middle, brain matter spilling all over.
"You… you…"
Jiraiya's eyes filled with shock and dread. "That was Ryuchi Cave!"
Ryosuke flicked the blood and brain matter off his blade.
"So what? Just a bunch of beasts."
They really think they're "Sages"?
If they were so powerful, why did this world belong to humans, and not those so-called "Sages"?
Ryosuke looked again at the suffering Sasuke.
His body temperature was steadily rising. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before Sasuke burned himself alive from the inside out.
Jiraiya had no solution.
Kunitsukami had no solution.
Orochimaru, the one who started it all, had escaped…
There was only one way left to save Sasuke now, draw a new Stand.
And bet on the possibility that this Stand had healing powers, like Crazy Diamond, Gold Experience, or Pearl Jam.
Ryosuke opened his system interface, this was finally his chance to check the rewards.
[Killed Kimimaro: Gained 320 soul fragments.]
[Killed Jūgo: Gained 290 soul fragments.]
[Defeated Orochimaru: Gained 890 soul fragments.]
[Killed Kunitsukami: Gained 400 soul fragments.]
Plus the 900+ fragments he already had, and the scraps from defeating small fry (Root ninjas), his total soul fragments now stood at, 2990.
Ryosuke took a deep breath and opened the system interface.
'Draw!'
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/XenosX
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰