Chapter 115: The Weight of a Sage
After successfully sealing the enigmatic black flames, Jiraiya's focus snapped back to the most immediate crisis: Naruto.
Though Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame had escaped, there was no time for pursuit. The Four Symbols Seal on Naruto's abdomen was on the brink of total failure.
Tucking the scroll away, Jiraiya flashed to Naruto's side in an instant.
Seeing the boy writhing in agony, a sharp pang of guilt lanced through Jiraiya's heart. For so many years, he had been running away. He had used his intelligence-gathering and his search for a "destined child" as excuses to leave Konoha behind. Two decades of wandering the world had never truly filled the void or absolved him of his duty.
Returning to Konoha now, only to find it in the midst of such catastrophic ruin, was a heavy blow. The death of his mentor, the Third Hokage, weighed on him terribly. Seeing the once-bustling village reduced to such a state of devastation made his heart feel like stone.
The escape of the two Akatsuki members and Aizen's clean getaway were significant failures, but Jiraiya's restless spirit found no peace. Because in the very center of Konoha, the One-Tail, Shukaku, was still rampaging unchecked. Though the Toad Boss, Gamabunta, was putting up a valiant fight, he was being steadily pushed back.
And most critically, the seal holding the Nine-Tails was crumbling.
With most of the Four Symbols Seal already faded, the Nine-Tails' chakra was running wild within Naruto. A viscous, crimson aura cloaked the boy, causing the air around him to shimmer with intense heat. Naruto was in excruciating pain, the veins on his arms bulging, his face contorted into a grimace.
Jiraiya knew the cause. Aizen had left a fragment of his unique spiritual power within the seal, and it was this foreign energy that was systematically eroding it from the inside. To counter this spiritual force, ordinary chakra was useless. Only the potent, nature-infused energy of Sage chakra held any hope of pushing it back.
Studying the flickering, incomplete seal, Jiraiya fell silent for a moment. He realized, almost instantly, that this was Aizen's parting gambit—a deliberate distraction to occupy the village's most powerful defender. Perhaps, from the very beginning, Aizen's intent to "capture" Naruto had been nothing but a feint.
From the moment Aizen Sōsuke first appeared in Konoha, the deception had been woven, layer upon layer, implanted so deeply into the minds of every Konoha shinobi that they could no longer distinguish the performance from reality.
The thought made Jiraiya take a deep, steadying breath. He had to admit that Aizen's disguise was the most flawless he had ever witnessed. The most bitter irony was that he himself had once seen Aizen as nothing more than a promising genin, even offering him advice on chakra control. The sheer scale of the deception left him speechless.
"No matter what," Jiraiya vowed, his eyes hardening with resolve, "once Konoha is secure, I will hunt you down personally, Aizen Sōsuke."
His future path was clear: protect Naruto, and bring Aizen to justice.
Pushing all other thoughts aside, Jiraiya focused entirely on the boy before him. He placed his palm flat against Naruto's abdomen, and a massive surge of Sage chakra flowed from his hand.
Thump!
The moment his palm made contact, Naruto let out a tormented wail.
A violent conflict erupted within the seal. The savage chakra of the Nine-Tails, the invasive spiritual power of Aizen, and the purifying energy of Jiraiya's Sage chakra—three distinct and powerful forces—clashed violently. The resulting backlash of energy sent waves of agony through Naruto's small body.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, his face pale. If not for the innate, resilient life force of the Uzumaki clan, he would have lost consciousness from the pain.
"Hang in there, Naruto!" Jiraiya urged, his concentration absolute as he channeled more chakra into the seal.
Suddenly, he felt it—a strange, ethereal power that was neither chakra nor natural energy. It felt void and insubstantial, yet possessed a potent, otherworldly quality.
Reiatsu.
"So this is the power Aizen Sōsuke wields," Jiraiya muttered. Though he couldn't directly manipulate this spiritual power, he could feel his Sage chakra being actively resisted by it. Fortunately, the fragment Aizen had left behind was small.
Against the full might of Jiraiya at his peak, this lone strand of spiritual power was like a twig trying to hold back a river.
After a sustained push, Jiraiya's Sage chakra finally overwhelmed the lingering Reiatsu, suppressing it completely and stabilizing the rapidly deteriorating seal.
As if a plug had been pulled, the wild, leaking Nine-Tails chakra that had filled the air suddenly receded, swirling back into Naruto's body and being contained once more.
"Whew... Finally stabilized him," Jiraiya exhaled, the tension draining from his shoulders. As long as the Four Symbols Seal held, even the Nine-Tails could not break free.
The scorching heat dissipated, and Naruto's body temperature returned to normal. He cracked his eyes open, weak and exhausted. "P-Perfy Sage... Is... is Aizen...?"
"Aizen Sōsuke? That criminal has fled Konoha," Jiraiya said, his voice heavy with regret. "It is my failure that I could not stop him."
"Was it all... was it all true, what he said...?" Naruto whispered, his gaze drifting to the sky as if searching for an answer that wasn't there. After surviving such a harrowing ordeal, only to be left with this bitter truth, a deep sense of frustration settled over him. He recalled every word Aizen had spoken to him, then closed his eyes and let out a long, weary sigh.
"Now that you're stable, get yourself to the medical corps for proper treatment," Jiraiya instructed, his tone firm but caring. He then turned, his gaze shifting to the distant, chaotic battlefield. "I have to deal with the One-Tail."
His objective was simple. He would use the immense power of his Sage Mode to end this invasion once and for all and reseal the rampaging Tanuki.
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