Fugaku and Renjiro stood on opposite sides of the clearing, the air thick with pressure.
Across from them, Jiraiya and Mito landed side by side.
Both sides exchanged a single glance.
Then everything exploded into motion.
Fugaku moved first.
His Mangekyō spun open, Oumagatsuhi blooming outward like a silent pulse.
The invisible curse spread through the clearing, eating at the air.
Jiraiya felt his muscles tighten, his breath shorten.
Mito felt her chakra flow hitch.
Renjiro dashed forward, lightning flickering through his legs.
His sword blurred with lightning, wind, and faint white natural energy streaks.
His Byakugan eye tracked every angle, looking to target Jiraiya first as they were both stronger in their respective duos currently.
His Ketsuryugan eye shimmered with a dangerous red hue, looking for eye contact to activate his new, powerful, and unique genjutsu.
However, from the front currently an extremely fast, invisible natural-energy punch collided with the blade-strike mid-air, the shockwave blowing both combatants backwards again.
Renjiro landed low, Hatake's footwork shifting into a predatory glide.
His Byakugan eye tracked Jiraiya's chakra points, surprised that anyone could counter his deadly sharp tanto at that speed.
But a breath later, he noticed it; every one of Jiraiya's movements was infused with natural energy at this point, 'Toad Sage Mode...'
Jiraiya didn't pause.
Two small toads were already on his shoulders on time, helping him constantly gather and balance natural energy, and enter the imperfect Toad Sage Mode, characteristic for him, on time, and quicker than ever as well.
"Let's go, Pa'," he muttered.
"Already ready, Jiraiya-boy," Fukasaku croaked.
Renjiro dashed for a second strike.
However, Jiraiya had already switched to one of the new, hidden techniques he'd recently learned at Mount Myōboku specifically for this battle, to 'save the world' today, and he activated it on time.
Sage Art: Frogburst Step.
Natural energy detonated under his feet, propelling him sideways in a blur.
Renjiro's slash carved a trench through the stone instead.
Renjiro also realized that with those elder toads fused to Jiraiya so perfectly, and even symbiotically, trying to trap him in a Ketsuryugan genjutsu would be pointless.
Meanwhile, Mito was constantly so far behind Jiraiya.
So, he shifted immediately again, one hand already bleeding by choice.
Creating a few droplets of blood was all he needed.
From there, the fragments of Ryusei still embedded inside him stirred, feeding the droplets with refined chakra and concentrated yang release, just as he had taught him before.
In seconds, the blood multiplied and thickened sharply.
Solidified spears of hardened blood formed along his arm in rapid succession, while his other hand drew his tanto and unleashed his signature largest and most destructive white flashes of wind-lightning chakra combined with natural energy.
Jiraiya realised the danger and answered in the same breath.
His hair surged outward, twisting into dozens of snarling tendrils, Wild Lion's Mane snapping through the air like living whips.
At the same time, his mouth and the toads' mouths opened in unison, spewing overlapping torrents of oil and flame.
The oil ignited the moment it touched his fire release, turning the entire blast into a roaring sheet of burning pressure.
Renjiro's blood-forged spear met the whipping mane.
White flashes from his tanto carved through the burning oil as both sides collided in a violent storm of heat and pressure.
The impact detonated between them, neither giving an inch.
Fugaku also charged forward next, Susanoo's ribs forming around him in a red shimmer.
Sage Art: Harmonic Chant.
However, a fast sonic blast of the two toads smashed into Fugaku directly, destabilizing his chakra flow and, by extension, his Susanoo's structure.
But it wasn't enough.
The ribs re-solidified.
Fugaku's Mangekyō spun again.
He was already too close to him from inside his Susanoo.
Kagaseo.
Jiraiya's world bent.
Sight severed.
Sound gone.
Weight disappeared.
His senses were cut apart in a clean slice.
"Jiraiya-boy!"
Fukasaku snapped him back with a burst of natural energy, but the half-second delay was all Fugaku needed.
Susanoo's arm swung down—Yin chakra blade cleaving through the air.
Mito intervened.
Four chains shot upward, interlocking into a blue barrier.
The blade struck it—sparks and chunks of chakra flew.
Fugaku forced more chakra in.
Mito forced more chains out.
The earth cracked under the pressure.
Renjiro reappeared behind Jiraiya, at some point again, blade raised.
But Jiraiya's Amphibian Skin Technique had already activated— his skin turned into a chakra-dispersing membrane.
Renjiro's lightning slash hit his shoulder—
Dispersed.
But Renjiro had expected that.
His knee drove forward into Jiraiya's ribs, his blood manipulation accelerating his own flow to double speed for the strike while also slowing Jiraiya's at such a close range.
The hit forced Jiraiya back, a cough of blood spraying from his mouth, exactly what Renjiro wanted, since his genjutsu became far more potent the moment their blood made contact.
It was an advanced Chinoike implementation of Ketsuryugan illusions, making them grow increasingly vivid and 'real' with every use.
Mito moved to cover next, chains reconfiguring around them like a living forest.
Renjiro sliced a shallow cut into his own arm again.
Blood spurted—turned into hardened red threads—
Then twisted into two massive Blood Dragons that roared across the battlefield.
Jiraiya slapped the ground.
Sage Art: Swamp of Living Mud.
The mud exploded upward, catching the Blood Dragons, dissolving them, reforming, chasing Renjiro like a sentient creature.
Renjiro flicked back.
Wind-infused slashes cut paths through the mud—
But the mud regenerated.
Mito's chains shot forward at Fugaku.
For a moment, Fugaku allowed it.
The chains wrapped around Susanoo's arm—
And then his Mangekyō rotated.
Oumagatsuhi intensified.
Mito's limbs trembled.
Her chakra flow thinned.
Her heart rate slowed.
Fugaku tugged, dragging her forward.
Renjiro flashed across the battlefield again—
Hatake footwork weaving through Jiraiya's guard—
Byakugan reading chakra joints—
Ketsuryugan locking onto blood flow.
He aimed a single, perfect stab at Jiraiya's heart.
However, a dome formed around Jiraiya—transparent, invisible, but saturating the air.
Sage Art: Natural Feedback Field
Renjiro's attack fed it instead of harming.
His lightning slash melted into the dome—the dome pulsed—and Jiraiya's next fire stream doubled in output.
Renjiro clicked his tongue.
He cut himself again—deeper.
Blood burst out, swirling into a crimson net.
Blood Net.
He threw it over the dome.
The net hardened, weaving over the natural energy.
Ketsuryugan activated fully.
The moment a single droplet of Renjiro's blood touched Jiraiya's skin from the earlier clash—
The genjutsu tightened.
Jiraiya staggered.
Sight flickered.
Heart rhythm slowed.
His nerves dulled.
Mito immediately acted.
Chains shot into Jiraiya's arm, sealing off the infected blood and forcing it out in a burst.
Renjiro smirked.
Smart.
Fugaku stepped forward.
Susanoo's full upper body formed around him.
But Jiraiya was ready again.
His chakra surged.
Sage Mode.
All three voices chanted:
"Harmonic Release: Resonant Dispel."
The soundwave exploded outward, shattering the incomplete Susanoo plating.
Fugaku was ready for that opening.
The instant his Susanoo's armor buckled, his Mangekyō surged to life for the third time.
Kagaseo expanded point-blank, swallowing Jiraiya's senses in total darkness again.
Renjiro's eyes flashed.
He moved the moment Jiraiya staggered, Ketsuryugan pulsing as he shaped a blood-forged blade and dashed forward to finish it—
Mito intercepted.
Blue sealing light burst from her in a single wave, and her Adamantine Chains erupted outward, weaving into a massive double-layered barrier that locked the entire space in place.
Renjiro's blade slammed into it.
The barrier cracked sharply… but held.
He flipped back, already forming another blood construct.
Fugaku pushed forward at the same time.
Susanoo ribs snapped into place again, its red blades ready to cut.
Jiraiya broke Kagaseo's influence with a disciplined surge of natural energy and clapped his hands together immediately.
Special Oil. Fire. Wind.
A furnace of combined jutsu roared out in all directions.
Mito's chains twisted into a curved dome to restrain Susanoo's movement.
Renjiro answered the flames with sweeping sword arcs of lightning, wind, and faint natural energy, carving a path forward.
Fugaku didn't slow.
He burst through Mito's sealing dome from within, shattering the chains into fragments of blue chakra.
Jiraiya summoned Gamabunta in a thunderous impact; the chief toad swung his blade down.
Fugaku's Susanoo cut the giant sword in half with a single strike.
Gamabunta responded with a blast of oil that ignited on contact, turning the whole clearing into a sea of fire.
Renjiro's blood dragons tore through the burning field to reach Jiraiya again.
Mito's chains speared upward, catching half the flames mid-air and sealing them into stillness.
Jiraiya slammed his hands together, the air buckling as multiple summoning contracts activated at once.
Smoke burst across the battlefield.
Every remaining giant toad he could still call—Gamaken, Gamahiro, Gamabunta's younger kin—landed in formation around him.
Their expressions were grim, already briefed by Gamamaru about the stakes of this fight. No jokes, no banter. Only war.
Fugaku saw the shift immediately.
His Mangekyō burned.
He forced his Susanoo upward, the crimson armor rising through skeletal, then muscular form, and finally surging into the full-body titan.
The pain stabbing through his eyes was sharp enough to make his vision ripple, but he didn't hesitate.
The red giant stood tall, blades humming with murderous intent.
Renjiro reacted in the same instant.
He dragged a line of blood across his forearm, then another across his palm. The droplets hit the air, multiplied, and hardened.
Blood forged itself into larger constructs than before: massive serrated spears, chained harpoons, a coiling blood serpent with a saw-like spine, and even a pair of wide blood nets meant to bind a full-sized toad.
His Ketsuryugan flared, fueling every construct, his Byakugan tracking weak points through the chaos.
Jiraiya countered immediately.
He vaulted into the air, sage markings deepening as natural energy surged into his arm.
Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan.
A sphere the size of a small house detonated into Fugaku's Susanoo, blasting the armor backward a full step.
Mito's reaction was instantaneous.
Her chains erupted in two directions at once.
One cluster wrapped around her, glowing cobalt-blue, conducting elemental chakra as she forced fire, water, wind, and earth through them all at once—turning every chain into a multi-nature whip.
The second cluster lashed outward, wrapping around the giant toads' limbs and torsos.
But instead of binding, they fused with the toads' chakra.
Translucent blue armor formed around each summon, giving Gamaken and Gamahiro layered sealing protection and explosive reactive force with every movement.
The battlefield changed again.
Renjiro's blood serpent lunged.
A toad's armored fist smashed it apart.
Fugaku's Susanoo cut through a storm of chains.
Mito resealed the blades mid-air.
Jiraiya landed with a knee slide, spitting oil into flame—only for Renjiro to slice through the inferno with natural-energy sword waves.
Then all four clashed again.
Susanoo blades tore through the toad armor.
Renjiro's blood harpoons pierced Jiraiya's shoulder twice, though the sage shrugged both off, toad network absorbing half the damage through his Sage Art: Reverse Chakra Exchange.
It was a jutsu that linked the user to a summoned toad's energy field; when one takes damage, the other absorbs part of it instead of both suffering. Effectively, a distributed vitality network.
Meanwhile, the battle still raged on, and a few times, Renjiro nearly finished it.
Eventually, Mito was also cut clean through at one point, but her Edo body reformed violently, chains reconstituting faster than Renjiro could follow up with sealing tags.
Once, his blood dragon wrapped around Jiraiya's leg.
Once he pierced Mito's torso deeply enough to expose the sealing core.
But each time, the kill window closed.
He lacked the instant sealing precision to tag Mito mid-regeneration, despite Ryusei's well-prepared and researched, by this point, anti-Edo tags burning in his pouch.
And Jiraiya's natural energy, shared and diffused across the toads, kept him alive through sheer resilience.
He was now also firmly on the 'Peak Kage' spectrum.
On the other side, Fugaku's Mangekyō kept bleeding.
Each activation strained the optic nerve.
His red Susanoo flickered more than once, the titan straining under the overuse.
He didn't have Hashirama's cells or the Eternal Mangekyo version after all.
It became impossible to tell who would reach the limit first: Jiraiya's toad network, Mito's Edo regeneration, Fugaku's eyes, or Renjiro's stamina as his blood constructs ate chakra like wildfire, even if he had Ryusei's fragments still inside of him.
They stood locked in a widening crater, all four refusing to yield. Perfect deadlock again.