The moment Sasuke realized who the person before him was, hope burst to life in his eyes.
This was one of the legendary Sannin.
The master of his closest friend, Uzumaki Naruto.
Beside him, Boruto's bright blue eyes were nearly about to pop out of their sockets.
"Dad's teacher… so it really is that person… But didn't Dad say his teacher swam out to sea?"
He murmured incoherently, the words spilling out in confusion.
"Oh? You two… know me?"
Hearing them, Jiraiya raised his brows slightly.
At the same time, his peripheral vision began carefully sweeping over Boruto's figure.
With just one glance, his heart shook violently.
This child's brows, eyes, and hairstyle…
Why did they look so much like Naruto when he was young?
And why did he feel an inexplicable sense of closeness when he looked at this kid?
As for the other one—
That gloomy yet strangely sunlit contradictory man…
Who was he?
Those eyes should not exist in the current shinobi world!
And just as Jiraiya's thoughts began racing, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki seemed to have discovered something amusing.
His mocking gaze swept across Jiraiya, then Boruto, then Sasuke. Finally, it returned to Jiraiya.
"Your dad… So you are Uzumaki Naruto's teacher?"
"Tsk, tsk. Who would have thought that the teacher of the number one shinobi in the world would be an old man with a head full of white hair?"
After saying that, he even covered his mouth and chuckled twice.
But when those words reached Jiraiya's ears, they meant something entirely different.
The number one shinobi in the world?!
Jiraiya froze when he heard that title.
"Uh… this number one shinobi in the world you're talking about… who is it?"
He asked almost instinctively.
After all, as things currently stood, his disciple Namikaze Minato was already dead.
Naruto was still young and currently studying at the Academy.
There was absolutely no way he could be the number one shinobi in the world.
But…
Combined with the reactions and words of this tall one and short one, Jiraiya somehow felt that this "number one shinobi in the world" should be—
Naruto.
"If it's Naruto, with Sage Mode and the Nine-Tails' chakra, maybe he really does have hope of reaching the top of the shinobi world…"
"But… with Kai pressing down from above, how could that kid Naruto possibly be first?"
"And… they don't seem to have mentioned that one from the Uchiha family…"
Thinking to this point, Jiraiya abruptly raised his head, his expression shaking violently.
He suddenly realized something.
The origins of these people in front of him were wrong.
"As expected of Lord Jiraiya. You noticed the problem so quickly…"
Sasuke's expression brightened in a nearly imperceptible way.
His heartbeat quietly sped up.
Lord Jiraiya was still alive.
Then… in this time and space—
Were his brother and Kai also still alive?
But very quickly, that light dimmed again.
Even if they were alive, so what?
They could not alter this timeline…
Clap, clap, clap.
Ōtsutsuki Urashiki clapped his hands and smiled.
"Alright. We've been chatting for quite a while. Perhaps it's time to discuss proper business."
"Discuss your mom!"
Boruto's face darkened. He immediately formed hand seals with both hands.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, two shadow clones appeared in front of him and began forming spinning spheres at the same time.
Rasengan!
A dazzling blue sphere!
Seeing this, Jiraiya's mind trembled even harder.
He almost couldn't believe his own eyes.
"Rasengan? That's… Minato's Rasengan?!"
"No. Wait. It seems a little different from Minato's…"
The more he watched, the more his thick brows furrowed.
Could these three truly be just as he suspected—
From the future?
That blond-haired boy was… Naruto's son?!
If that was really the case, then…
After thinking for a moment, he took a deep breath, clapped his hands together, and began muttering under his breath.
Buzz… buzz…
A faint stream of natural energy began gathering toward him.
Because of certain butterfly effects, Jiraiya had given up on his original plan of leaving after gathering information.
He was preparing to help these two—one adult, one child.
"Heh. Boring little brat. You think those little balls can hit me?"
A mocking curve appeared at the corner of Urashiki's mouth. He was too lazy to even glance at the shadow clones. He simply raised his hand and drew a casual line through the air.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several scarlet beams directly pierced through the charging Boruto figures.
Pfft! Pfft!
Almost without any pause, Boruto's shadow clones were pierced apart before they could even scream.
Meanwhile, two of the red lights did not slow at all, rushing straight toward Boruto's real body and Sasuke.
Fast.
Too fast.
The speed was so great that Boruto could not even clearly see the trajectory.
He only felt that scarlet light rapidly enlarging before his eyes.
"Ugh… move!"
Sasuke frowned, wanting to act.
But his entire body had long since been drained clean.
He could only force out the last of his strength and rush in front of Boruto, trying to block the attack for him.
At that critical moment, an angry shout suddenly came from behind them.
"Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon!"
In the next second, countless hardened needles poured down from the sky like a torrential rainstorm.
Puff, puff, puff!
At that moment, dense collision sounds rang out one after another.
Red light and white light clashed fiercely.
Although the attack was not completely neutralized, the red beams were successfully knocked slightly off course.
Boom!
The red light grazed past Boruto's shoulder and shot into the scorched earth.
Then it exploded directly into a massive crater.
"Hm? You?"
Seeing his attack blocked, Urashiki was somewhat surprised.
For the first time, he properly looked at the tall man standing nearby again.
"Toad Sage Jiraiya, making his entrance!"
At this moment, Jiraiya had both hands pressed together. Inside his body, senjutsu chakra surged violently, but his expression was extremely grave.
"What kind of skill is bullying children? If you have the guts, come at this old man!"
"You really are courting death."
The smile on Ōtsutsuki Urashiki's face vanished. His narrow eyes began turning cold and indifferent.
Like a god standing high above, looking down upon an insect.
Immediately afterward, a red fishing rod appeared in his hand and was cast straight out.
Whoosh—pfft!
"Careful!"
"Watch out for that red line!"
Sasuke and Boruto warned him one after another.
Relying on his rich combat instincts, Jiraiya reacted instantly.
His hands formed seals at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu!
His hair surged forward and blocked in front of him.
But…
Pfft!
The Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu, capable of defending against countless attacks, was pierced through with ease.
On the fishing rod, a cluster of faint golden aura appeared.
Senjutsu energy.
"So this is the same kind of sage chakra as Uzumaki Naruto's? It does seem rather decent."
Staring at the chakra in his hand, Urashiki smiled faintly, then placed it into his fish basket.
In the next second, his eyes lifted sharply.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
From his fish basket, toad oil, Wind Release, and Fire Release suddenly erupted!
The three types fused together, directly transforming into a scorching, sticky tidal wave of flame!
Like a waterfall of fire, it crashed down from above.
"It's over!"
"So this is Lord Jiraiya's senjutsu?"
Boruto and Sasuke's expressions changed slightly.
Jiraiya was completely dumbfounded.
What was going on?
Why was the ninjutsu on the other side so similar to his own?
Facing this powerful Fire Release capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, even Jiraiya could not withstand it.
But in such a rushed moment, there was no time to dodge.
Whoosh!
Between life and death, Sasuke squeezed out every last drop of blood, vitality, and chakra in his body. He threw Boruto backward with all his strength while glancing at Jiraiya.
Amenotejikara!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
He directly swapped Jiraiya's position with a piece of broken wood not far away.
"Lord Sasuke!"
Boruto shouted in panic, frantic beyond words.
"Not good!"
When Jiraiya realized what had happened, he wanted to use the Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu to pull Sasuke back, but his speed was ultimately still a fraction too slow.
As for Sasuke himself, he had no strength left at all.
With a soft thud, he collapsed to the ground.
He could only watch helplessly as the enormous flames above descended toward him.
A bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"So in the end… am I still going to die?"
Tap.
But just as he accepted his fate, a familiar teasing voice suddenly came from above his head.
"The sky cleared, the rain stopped, and you're getting beaten up again, huh, Little Sasuke?"
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