GSiN: Ch. 186

While Jiraiya and Hanzō faced off in their tense standoff, the other side of the battlefield had already descended into chaos.

Hanzō's breakthrough technique proved exactly as devastating as expected. The acidic rain hammered down on the water barrier formed by multiple ninjas, sending ripples across its surface.

Within seconds, the seemingly solid water wall was completely corrupted by the venom. Its chakra flow destabilized and the entire defense collapsed.

The moment the barrier broke, the ninjas who'd maintained it dropped to their knees in waves. Spiderweb patterns of blood vessels spread through their eyes. The situation had gone critical.

And naturally, Yahiko, being a Water Release user, had been one of those trying to block the poison with the barrier.

Right now he was twisting, dodging, and jumping desperately, pulling off every evasive maneuver he could think of to avoid the venom raining from above.

Konan knew his personality far too well. Even though this was a mission helping another village, he would never choose to hide behind the front lines.

Worried for him, she hadn't strayed far from the vanguard either. Now, seeing him in such danger, she formed hand seals without hesitation.

As chakra flowed from her body, countless sheets of paper split away, instantly forming into a thick shield between her and Yahiko.

"Thanks, Konan."

Yahiko wiped the sweat from his forehead. This large-scale poison technique was ruthlessly effective.

The corrosive venom dripping from above landed on the paper shield.

Though the shield's defense couldn't compare to Earth Release techniques, it was better than nothing. Certainly better than the frantic dodging the other Taki ninjas along the riverbank were forced into.

"We can't hold them! Fall back!"

With panicked shouts, the defensive line established by the Taki ninjas at the riverbank steadily gave ground.

At first glance, the scene might have looked almost pathetic, but against the harsh reality of a small village's limitations, this retreat was their only option. For ninjas of the great nations, combat was about choosing which counter-technique would secure victory.

But for small villages like Taki, things were far more complicated.

They lacked extensive jutsu resources, and they had no top-tier fighters to anchor their defenses.

If the enemy were only Ame's elite forces, they might still have stood a chance through sheer numbers, maybe even fought them to a standstill.

But with a powerhouse like Hanzō himself on the field, the truth became clear. They were outmatched.

Under the cover of his corrosive rain, Ame's forces advanced swiftly and established their foothold on the island.

In an instant, the primitive-style village was engulfed in flames of war.

---

Catching sight of Yahiko and Konan safe from the corner of his eye, Jiraiya felt relief.

He refocused on the enemy before him.

"I know your target is the Seven-Tails. But the war is over. What you're doing now will only bring new disaster to the Land of Rain. Stop this."

"Disaster?"

Hanzō let out a chuckle.

"If you want to play preacher, you'd be better off finding those two Ame traitors and giving them your lecture."

As for Jiraiya's earlier probe regarding the Seven-Tails, he didn't bother denying it. After all, once today was over, everything would be decided anyway.

The strong never complain about their circumstances.

He had never wallowed in self-pity over being born a ninja of a small nation. Even among the many small nations, the Land of Rain had long ranked at the very bottom economically. Shrouded in rainfall for most of the year, its production conditions lagged far behind. It was even mockingly called "the nation that weeps year-round." And yet, this weak nation sat in an awkward geographical position, at the border junction of the Lands of Wind, Fire, and Earth. In other words, it was the perfect natural buffer zone for wars.

He had once sought to change this fate, trying countless methods.

In the end, he truly had carved out a path for survival with nothing but his own reckless resolve, staking his life and charging forward.

He understood well. Only by showing the surrounding predators that Ame was a bone too tough to chew, could he secure a chance to survive.

During the Second Great Ninja War, he had done exactly that.

Others thought him insane to simultaneously declare war on all the neighboring nations. To them, it was nothing short of suicide.

But he alone knew the truth. Ame's location guaranteed invasion. Better to strike first than sit and wait for death.

And after demonstrating his overwhelming might to the surrounding nations one by one, he ultimately relied on his unmatched strength to make Ame the only small nation in the buffer zone that could remain neutral during the Third Great Ninja War.

He didn't need Ame to rise to the level of the great nations. As long as he alone stood strong, the ones to suffer would be the other buffer nations like Grass and River.

Better them than us. As fellow small nations, he believed they would understand.

Under his protection, the Land of Rain had in recent years expanded its iron-smelting industry and finally seen some improvement. At the very least, its citizens no longer had to worry about whether they could fill their stomachs each day.

But he knew better than anyone that this was nothing more than an illusion.

Without boasting, he admitted the truth. In Ame, besides himself, there was no one else capable of bearing the weight of leadership.

The moment he fell, the Land of Rain would instantly return to its half-dead, miserable state.

For that very reason, Taki's Seven-Tails was something he had to obtain. Even if it meant igniting a Fourth Great Ninja War, he would not hesitate. After all, he'd already done the same in the Second War.

What's more, the Third Great Ninja War had already seen Konoha's Yellow Flash weaken the other four villages. Now, aside from Konoha, the only other village still holding a tailed beast was the distant Kumo.

Such a great opportunity. If he didn't seize it, he wouldn't deserve to call himself a leader.

When enemies surrounded him on all sides, he would strike hardest against the Lands of Wind and Earth.

As for Konoha? At worst, he could simply surrender, apologize, and pay reparations. After all, Konoha had never once shown interest in seizing another village's tailed beast. As long as he could secure the Seven-Tails, that would count as a great victory.

Only...

His gaze sharpened on the white-haired ninja before him.

He is truly troublesome. Killing him is out of the question. Konoha would never forgive that. It seems I'll have to do as I did before... find a way to drive him back instead.

His fingers unconsciously caressed the chain-scythe in his hand.

Judging by the strange changes in Jiraiya's appearance, these past years he hadn't stagnated. He was surely even harder to deal with than before. To repel him without taking his life would not be easy.

Jiraiya pressed both palms flat against the ground. As senjutsu chakra flooded through his body, his white hair took on a metallic sheen, each strand standing rigid as steel needles.

Thousands of hardened hair strands shot forward.

Every single strand locked onto one of Hanzō's vital points. The senjutsu chakra concentrated at each tip formed miniature spiral vortexes that screamed through the air like incoming missiles.

The clones Hanzō had created shattered one after another.

His real body retreated fast, his chain-scythe spinning in front of him. Some of the hair-needles got deflected, embedding themselves deep into the rock walls and leaving the calcium carbonate layers riddled with honeycomb patterns.

"Not done yet!"

Jiraiya's hands blurred through seals. The hair strands that had missed suddenly curved, converging on Hanzō from every direction at once.

From his shoulder, Fukasaku shouted, "Below you!"

Ibuse erupted from the ground. Poison gas poured from its mouth, meeting the hair-needles and corroding them.

But Jiraiya had already sensed it coming through Sage Mode perception. He detonated the corroded hairs, releasing the senjutsu chakra stored inside them. At the same time, he applied Fire Release, burning away the poison gas and creating a pocket of breathable air.

The level of chakra control required made Hanzō's eye twitch behind his mask.

"Ibuse!"

At his command, Ibuse's massive body dissolved into white smoke and vanished. Jiraiya's fist punched through the dispersing cloud.

Even though he'd wasted the technique, forcing Hanzō to sacrifice his summon meant he had come out ahead. Maybe even dominated the exchange. After all, Hanzō wasn't exactly known for having massive chakra reserves. Summoning Ibuse demanded a huge amount of chakra. In a single battle, he could probably only afford to summon it once.

Jiraiya stepped lightly across the water's surface.

"Just a few years and you've changed this much. Is this the advantage of being from a great nation?"

Hanzō's voice echoed from the cavern ceiling as his chain-scythe sliced through hanging stone formations.

Jiraiya flipped onto an inverted stalactite. "Don't write it all off as privilege. This is the result of daily effort."

"Effort, huh?"

Hanzō's eyes lowered, his left hand hidden behind his back quietly forming a one-handed seal.

Fukasaku suddenly tensed. "Three o'clock direction! The underground water flow's acting weird!"

Two water dragons burst from the lake.

Jiraiya slapped his hands together. "Sage Art: Earth Release - Swamp of the Underworld!"

Liquefied earth surged upward, dissolving the toxic water dragons into clouds of purple steam.

Hanzō's body flickered through the haze, leaving only afterimages. From an impossible angle, a chain hooked around Jiraiya's left ankle and yanked down.

"Hm?"

He pulled hard on the chain, only to find it wouldn't budge. Scowling, he heaved again with more force.

This time it moved. But Jiraiya was the one pulling him.

Sage Mode enhanced ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu alike. Jiraiya's physical strength now was so overwhelming that not even Hanzō, throw Ibuse on top, could match him in raw power.

"Water Release: Water Severing Wave!"

Midair, Hanzō abruptly shifted tactics, spitting curved blades of water. They forced Jiraiya to adjust his stance while simultaneously slicing through the chain.

Both men landed back on the water's surface.

Judging by Jiraiya's ridiculous strength, his body's durability must have also skyrocketed. If he wasn't careful, his own weapon might shatter against him like glass.

With that thought, he quietly channeled chakra into his chain-scythe. The blade took on a violet-blue glow.

Jiraiya caught the motion and sighed internally. Damn.

He'd been planning to use his body's toughness to pull a fast one on Hanzō, but that guy had reacted too quickly.

Still, didn't matter. He had another card to play.

On his shoulders, Fukasaku and Shima had already gathered their strength. The chakra of all three reached perfect harmony in an instant.

Jiraiya's hands formed seals so fast the afterimages blurred together, while the two Sage Toads opened their mouths simultaneously. Oil, fire and wind chakra mixed together in the air.

"Sage Art: Goemon!"

A roaring tide of superheated oil surged through the cavern. The heat boiled the underground lake's surface into thick white steam.

Within that sea, Hanzō's figure looked tiny and fragile.

"This scale..."

His pupils contracted. He could feel the heat even from this distance.

He burned through Body Flicker after Body Flicker. But the waves of oil chased him, cutting off every escape route.

With no options left, he pulled a special signal flare from his robes and hurled it toward Jiraiya.

A burst of yellow smoke exploded.

Jiraiya's frown deepened the moment he saw it. He immediately poured more chakra into the technique.

At that instant, BOOM!

The entire cavern shook violently. A pitch-black sphere hurtled in from Taki's southwest corner.

Where the Tailed Beast Ball passed, the ground tore apart like tissue paper. The shockwave ripped a hole straight through the sea of superheated oil.

Hanzō seized the opportunity, Body Flickering out of the inferno's grasp.

Looking back, he watched the Tailed Beast Ball slam into the heart of Goemon's flames, completely shattering the jutsu's chakra structure.

"A Tailed Beast Ball? Was that a misfire?"

Only the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki could fire a Tailed Beast Ball within Taki. If that was really a stray shot, the jinchūriki seriously needed target practice.

"Jiraiya!" Fukasaku's urgent voice exploded in his ear. "Another one's coming, aimed right at us this time!"

Jiraiya whipped around. His pupils reflected a second pitch-black sphere.

The terrifying chakra orb tore through the air.

No time to wonder if the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki had lost their mind. Jiraiya bit into his thumb, blood welling at the fingertip.

Even with Sage Mode's boosts, he was still flesh and blood. Taking a Tailed Beast Ball head-on would leave nothing but ashes.

He slammed his palm onto the ground. With a puff of smoke, Gamaken's figure appeared.

"What's this..."

The toad barely materialized before feeling the crushing weight of incoming chakra.

No need for words. In a situation like this, words were useless anyway.

Tossing his trident aside, he tensed every muscle in his body, gripping a shield the size of a billboard with both hands and bracing it firmly in front of him.

The Tailed Beast Ball struck the shield.

For a moment, the entire world seemed frozen. Then, an ear-splitting explosion. Blinding white light swallowed everything.

"Urgh!"

He grunted, his frame shoved backward by the shockwave.

Jiraiya clung to the toad's head for dear life, but even he got dragged helplessly along.

They smashed through layers of solid rock, finally bursting out from Taki's waterfall.