Chapter 172: Jiraiya's Escape
In the forest, Jiraiya moved quickly. He didn't know that the kunoichi he had just taken down had called for help, but he knew that this was the Land of Lightning, the Cloud's home turf. He had to change his position as soon as possible.
Since the Cloud was able to equip a large number of their ninja with that snail shell, it meant that someone in their village had a contract with Shikkotsu Forest. And the Shikkotsu Forest contract scroll had always been in the possession of the Senju clan. Even Tsunade herself probably didn't carry it with her.
That meant that the Cloud had somehow stolen the scroll from Konoha, likely during the "Night of the Purple Moon."
The other possibility was that they had gotten it through Tsunade. Genjutsu? Assassination?
His mind was a mess.
Though he didn't have enough information, unless he knew for sure where Tsunade was, he was going to stay here. He would disguise himself as a merchant or a client and gather intelligence from the outside. If he could sneak into the Hidden Cloud, that would be even better.
As he was thinking, he heard a noise behind him. He spun around and saw four figures hurtling through the trees.
How can they be so fast?!
Their pursuit speed was far beyond what he had expected.
"You have some nerve," one of them said, "attacking a Cloud ninja in the Land of Lightning."
The four of them stood on a cliff, looking down at him.
Jiraiya's face was grim. He was not a speed-type ninja. He probably couldn't outrun them, especially here, in the Land of Lightning. Running blindly would only attract more of them.
One of them squinted. "I've seen his picture," he said. "It's the Yellow Ninja, Jiraiya. No wonder he's so bold."
"The famous Yellow Ninja," another sneered. "For a ninja to have such a title... what a disgrace."
They were talking trash, but they were also on high alert. The Yellow Ninja, Jiraiya, had had a decent record in the Second Great Ninja War, until he had run into Hanzo of the Salamander.
The taunts were just to mess with his head.
Jiraiya looked at their ninja hound, his face hardening. "It seems I can't get away from you," he said. "Then I'll just have to take you all down. I need more information anyway."
He saw that two of them were wearing the same snail shells on their wrists. So a lot of them have it.
Four of them, he thought. A little tricky.
He didn't hesitate. He took his stance. A battle was about to break out.
"To finish this quickly," he said, "I'll make an exception and show you a jutsu I've been training for almost a year."
The Cloud ninja tensed.
"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!" he roared.
His wild, white hair, as if it had a life of its own, wrapped around him, leaving no gaps, its sharp tips glinting in the light, ready to pierce any attacker.
And then, nothing.
The Cloud ninja: "..."
"Dammit! He's trying to escape!" one of them realized.
But it was too late. When they rushed over, Jiraiya was gone. The ball of spiky white hair was just a shell, and it collapsed to the ground.
They immediately had the ninja hound track him, but it said that the scent ended here.
Mihara woke up on the third day after the attack, in the Hidden Cloud hospital. It wasn't her physical injuries that had kept her in a coma, but the mental damage from the forced intelligence extraction.
She was still in a daze when the door opened. It was Ryosuke Kuroki, with a fruit basket.
"Mihara," he said, "you're awake?"
"Kuroki-senpai! How long was I out?"
"Today is the third day."
She was silent for a moment. Three whole days.
He notified the doctors and nurses, and they came to examine her.
A short while later, there was another knock on the door. A tall, slender young man walked in.
"Lord Dana."
Few in the Cloud did not recognize him.
"You don't have to get up," he said with a nod. "Just stay in bed. This is the first time a Communication Snail has been lost. I need to understand the situation."
Her face fell. "So... Yuyu is really gone."
He gave her a moment. When a Communication Snail was lost, it was gone for good. If she applied for a new one, it would not have the same memories. It would be a new slug. Katsuyu could not store the memories of all the little slugs. It would be too much useless information. In reality, the little slugs did not feel pain or fear when they died, just like a Shadow Clone. But the brief memories that had been shared between Yuyu and Mihara were gone forever.
"Jonin Mihara," he said, "please describe what happened."
She pulled herself together and, fighting a headache, recounted the events. "I was waiting for my students..."
Three days had passed. The news that the attacker had been Jiraiya had already reached the village. But her information was still valuable.
From her account, it was clear that Jiraiya had seen the little slug and had attacked her to find out what it was. And in the end, he had likely used a Reverse Summoning to escape to Mount Myoboku. Though Jiraiya was strong, it was unrealistic to think that he could have easily taken on four of the Cloud's Jonin, especially in the Land of Lightning. Escaping to Mount Myoboku was not an unexpected move.
But he believed that Jiraiya would be back. This was a bit of a headache. They were now in the most troublesome state of "a thousand days to guard against a thief."
It had been a mistake. When he had been pushing for the Communication Snails, he had even considered Konoha's reaction, but he had forgotten about the variable of Jiraiya. Even if Konoha chose to tolerate this, Jiraiya himself would not let it go.
After comforting her, he left the hospital. The matter of Jiraiya was a nuisance, but not a major one. The popularization of the Communication Snails was a major trend, and it was tied to many of the village's future plans. It could not be stopped.
Konoha, Hokage Tower
"Are you kidding me?!" Jiraiya roared. "Tsunade is likely being held by the Cloud, and the village has been doing nothing all this time, and now you're afraid to rescue her?!"
Sakumo Hatake sat behind the Hokage's desk, his face a mask of indifference. Beside him were the two elder advisors, Koharu and Homura.
But it seemed that only Jiraiya was agitated.