Chapter 114: Lingering Embers
With Aizen's abrupt disappearance, the immediate, chaotic confrontation reached an abrupt and unsettling conclusion. He had used his esoteric Kidō to restrain the mighty Jiraiya, forced back the two Akatsuki members with a single, dismissive swing of his sword, and departed with an air of finality, as if declaring the window for challenging his ascent had closed.
Trapped within the triple-layered Bakudō, even Jiraiya's Sage-enhanced strength would take precious time to break free. He could do nothing but watch, fuming, as the architect of Konoha's ruin vanished into the ether.
"Damn it! To let him escape like that... Konoha's greatest sinner!" Jiraiya's eyes burned with frustration and a deep-seated guilt. With the Third Hokage gone, he was the village's most powerful defender. As one of the Legendary Sannin, the responsibility to protect what remained of Konoha fell squarely on his shoulders.
As his anger over Aizen's escape simmered, Jiraiya's fierce gaze shifted to the two remaining threats: Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame.
"You two," he growled, his voice resonating with Sage-powered chakra. "You infiltrated Konoha for the boy? Or for the Nine-Tails inside him?"
While confronting them, he continuously channeled his immense Sage chakra, focusing it against the spiritual bonds constricting him. The dark reishi of the Kidō flickered under the strain.
"Hah, why ask questions you already know the answers to?" Kisame grinned, his shark-like features twisting into a horrible smile. Though wary of the Sage, he was not cowed. He hefted Samehada, its hungry presence a clear challenge. "It looks like you want a fight. But I'd suggest you look behind you. The seal on your precious Jinchuriki is almost gone."
"Do not act rashly, Kisame," Uchiha Itachi interjected, his voice a calm counterpoint to the rising tension. "He is one of the Legendary Sannin. Even if we fought him together, victory is not assured."
Itachi's dark eyes flickered toward Naruto, who was writhing on the ground, the malevolent red chakra of the Nine-Tails bubbling ever more violently from his body. A faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of something—regret, perhaps—crossed his gaze. Trying to capture the Jinchuriki by force from a fully-prepared Sage Jiraiya was a losing proposition. It did not align with their mission's success.
Their initial plan to wait in the shadows and seize an opportunity had been thoroughly disrupted by Aizen's unforeseen power and actions. And now, with Aizen gone, Jiraiya's full, undivided wrath was focused on them.
"Let's go," Itachi stated decisively. "The Sound-Sand invasion has failed. If we linger any longer, we may find ourselves unable to leave."
"But, with your power—" Kisame started to protest, confusion in his voice.
He was cut off as Jiraiya let out a mighty roar.
"Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon!"
With a surge of power, Jiraiya's long, white hair hardened and shot out around him like a storm of unbreakable needles, infused with indestructible Sage chakra. The combined force finally shattered the three binding Kidō techniques with a sound like shattering glass.
CRACK!
Jiraiya clenched his fists, his formidable physique radiating immense power. "If I let you escape so easily, it would be an insult to the legacy of every Hokage who came before me!"
His eyes glowed with a cold light. He slammed his palms together, then onto the ground.
"Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Bind!"
Instantly, the very earth bulged and transformed. The ground and rubble around the two Akatsuki members surged upward, forming a towering, unbreakable stone barrier that sealed them inside. As it closed, the interior shifted, the stone melting away into pulsating, fleshy walls slick with highly corrosive gastric acid.
"What... what is this?!" Kisame muttered, his face paling as he glanced at the grotesque, living prison now surrounding them.
"I have summoned the stomach wall of the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku," Jiraiya's voice echoed from outside, cold and final. "You are both wanted men with death on your hands. Consider it an honor to become sustenance for the great toad."
Killing intent radiated from him. Once trapped within the toad's esophagus, no one had ever escaped. It was a guaranteed end.
"Kisame, follow me!" Itachi commanded, not wasting a second. He sprinted towards the far end of the contracting flesh tunnel.
"Hateful!" Kisame snarled, but he followed immediately, Samehada held tight.
"So far, no one has ever escaped!" Jiraiya reinforced the technique, and the fleshy walls began to contract faster, the acidic slime sizzling as it dripped closer.
"Damn it, it's closing in too fast!" Kisame cursed, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead as he felt the corrosive heat of the approaching stomach acid.
A faint, confident smile touched Jiraiya's lips. Victory seemed assured. In mere moments, the two most wanted criminals would be dissolved into nothing.
But then, at the very end of the contracting tunnel, a darkness deeper than night erupted.
A scorching, silent wind swept through the enclosed space.
A massive hole was blown open in the toad's esophagus.
The figures of Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame vanished in an instant.
"This... what kind of flame is this?" Jiraiya stared, baffled, at the gaping hole in his technique.
There, at the edges of the rupture, black flames raged. They were unlike any fire he had ever seen—a darkness that consumed the light itself, burning with a silent, eternal hunger as if they had crawled straight from the pits of hell. They seemed to burn nothing and everything at once, promising to continue until their target was utterly reduced to ash.
Amaterasu!
Jiraiya, a man who had traveled to every major nation and seen countless forbidden jutsu, had never witnessed anything like it.
He flashed to the site of the black flames. After a moment of intense observation, he could discern no weakness or origin. Deciding it was too dangerous to leave unchecked, he formed a series of seals.
"Sealing Jutsu: Fire Sealing Method!"
The terrifying black flames were drawn from the flesh and stone, swirling into a sealed scroll he produced. With the flames contained, Jiraiya dismissed the Toad Mouth Bind technique, the grotesque flesh dissolving back into the earth.
His attention immediately snapped back to the most pressing matter. He looked at Naruto, his face hardening with grave concern.
The Four Symbols Seal on the boy's abdomen was now barely visible, a few faint lines away from complete dissolution. The Nine-Tails was on the verge of breaking free.
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