Chapter 496

"Then your Water Gate team members will undergo the assessment together." Jiraiya said after some thought.

The description of the entire squad was subtle—it could be seen as an elite squad with Muyue as the captain, carrying out the Kusagakure mission.

The others were fine, but Muyue wouldn't be easy to deal with. After all, you couldn't use Sage Mode just to test juniors, could you?

And so, thanks to Obito's efforts, Kakashi and Rin Nohara succeeded in gaining the chance to face off against the legendary Sannin.

"Maybe I should post this photo on the busiest commercial street in Konoha."

Kakashi, who had been caught in the crossfire along with Obito, couldn't help but pull out Obito's photo.

Obito himself was asking to be beaten, yet he still dragged Kakashi into it—Kakashi really couldn't stand that.

With a huge explosion, the ground where Jiraiya had just been standing shattered.

Jiraiya strengthened his hair, switching from offense to defense, letting his lengthened and hardened hair completely envelop his body.

The moment Obito thought about the ugly photo Kakashi still had in his hands, his vision went dark.

Although a Shadow Clone was a solid clone, it was especially fragile; as soon as it was hit by his flames, it would surely disappear.

But as a ninja, even in a sparring match, Kakashi had to search for the only chance that could lead them to victory.

"You've given me quite a pleasant surprise." With Jiraiya's hearty laughter, the smoke cleared to reveal his figure.

Both in theory and in practice, they could not defeat Jiraiya at the moment.

If he wanted revenge, the right course was to suddenly burst out while Jiraiya was careless during the assessment, making Jiraiya suffer a little, then train hard to become stronger, and later crush Kakashi in an internal fight.

The three of them formed a formation, with Obito and Kakashi in front, and Rin Nohara slightly behind.

"An opening!" Seizing the moment Jiraiya was distracted, Obito burst his chakra and charged forward.

The Transparent World allowed him to observe Obito and Rin Nohara's battle while evading Jiraiya's attacks.

If it were a real fight, Jiraiya's first move would be to use the Summoning Technique to summon Gamabunta.

The monstrous strength displayed by Rin Nohara reminded him of some unpleasant memories—that time he had almost been beaten to death.

"Playing with Fire Release in front of me? You're still green." Jiraiya formed hand seals and used Fire Release as well.

Kakashi pushed Lightning Breathing to its limit and hurled two lightning-fast kunai at Jiraiya.

Although he thought Jiraiya was pretty asking for it, Jiraiya was, after all, Minato Namikaze's teacher—a light beating would be enough; injuring him was unnecessary.

As teammates who had worked together for years, a single look was enough for them to communicate, as long as the instructions weren't too complicated.

Rin Nohara used the Summoning Technique to summon the slug.

Rin Nohara and Kakashi made their moves.

Right now, he wished he could take on two at once and beat up both Jiraiya and that annoying white-haired Kakashi.

"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"

He was currently the strongest ninja in the Water Gate team, and his techniques were the strongest and fastest.

Just as Jiraiya was about to slam Obito to the ground, Kakashi made his move again.

Kakashi put away the photo and assumed a serious expression. Aside from Muyue, whose limits were unknown, Jiraiya was definitely the strongest ninja they had ever encountered.

"Exploding Fist!"

Bang!!

Obito closed his Sharingan and focused all his chakra on stimulating the Flame Breathing chakra mode. His attacks became aggressive, and he kept unleashing Fire Release as if chakra cost nothing, putting heavy fire suppression on Jiraiya's shadow clones.

"Be grateful—few people get guidance from a legendary Sannin and the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku." After the joke, Jiraiya got down to business.

The slug gathered a large amount of acid in its mouth and spat it at the Jiraiya shadow clone attacking Rin Nohara.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Seeing this, Jiraiya's main body leisurely followed.

"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"

"So she made a contract with Shikkotsu Forest." Seeing this slug he hadn't seen in a long time, Jiraiya was somewhat surprised.

Jiraiya patted the dust off his clothes. Kakashi and the others were stronger than he had anticipated, so he prepared to get a little more serious.

A loud rumbling sound erupted. The thick, tall earth wall was severely damaged but not completely destroyed.

Boom! Rumble!!

With Gamabunta's strength, dealing with Kakashi and the others was more than enough.

The Shadow Clone Jiraiya extended his hand and unleashed a massive torrent of water toward Obito. The blazing flames on Obito's body were instantly extinguished, and Obito was drenched like a drowned rat.

Having rich experience, he had already noticed a few things, but since this was guidance, Jiraiya had to play along.

Obito's reckless behavior was the trigger, but after all, Obito and the others were Minato's disciples. Jiraiya didn't mind helping them train.

Kakashi used Lightning Release chakra to activate his body and slashed at high speed toward Jiraiya's Shadow Clone near Obito, as if planning to team up with Obito to take down one Shadow Clone first.

Jiraiya calmly formed hand seals, strengthening his long white hair with chakra. The reinforced hair strands combined to seize Obito's body.

Silhouetted against the enormous flames of the Flame Emperor, Obito's body looked tiny. Such a massive fireball undoubtedly had an extremely wide attack range.

Of course, Obito still acted according to Kakashi's instructions.

The slug was best at medical treatment, but it wasn't without combat ability either.

This time, Obito's Great Fireball unusually failed. The high-temperature flames of the Flame Bullet gradually swallowed the Great Fireball and then continued spreading toward Obito.

Without any fear, Obito set his entire body ablaze and charged into the approaching Shadow Clone of Jiraiya.

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

The rescued Obito immediately spewed Fire Release at the close-range Jiraiya. In his Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, he could unleash any Fire Release technique without hand seals.

Instantly, flames shot into the sky. The fire within the fireball expanded under the force of the impact, like a blooming fire lotus radiating fiery red light. The surrounding temperature rose sharply, and the air was filled with scorching heat, as if even the air itself was burning.

Rin Nohara wanted to use herself as bait to create an opportunity for Obito and Kakashi. She gathered a large amount of chakra into her fist and rushed at high speed toward Jiraiya.

Obito's eyes widened. Jiraiya was not injured at all; he only had some black soot from the explosion on his clothes.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Obito's choice was still the Great Fireball, because at that moment, he was very close to Jiraiya, making it hard for Jiraiya to dodge.

As the battle began, Obito immediately focused his breathing to the utmost and used his opening move, the Great Fireball.

Just then, Obito suddenly burst forth. He activated all his chakra to condense Fire Release, forming a massive fireball over ten meters in diameter in his palm.

The Flame Breathing Chakra Mode was already a chakra-intensive technique, and with the Sharingan's drain, even though Obito had much more chakra than the average ninja, he could only last a few minutes.

Jiraiya first refined his chakra into oil, then spat out the oil while simultaneously performing a Fire Release nature transformation on the gathered chakra to ignite the oil, producing a large expanse of high-temperature flames.

In this state, he not only had powerful observation abilities, but his physical strength was greatly enhanced, and his Fire Release techniques were immensely strengthened—it was his greatest trump card in battle.

Kakashi gathered chakra, waiting for the next opportunity.

The moment the fireball was thrown, Jiraiya felt as if his skin had become a bit drier.

Sensing the lightning charging toward him, Jiraiya was slightly surprised. With his rich experience, he quickly reacted.

"Ptooey!"

Jiraiya had thought that the now-slacking Tsunade would have no interest in teaching disciples. He didn't expect Rin Nohara to have such a connection with Tsunade.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

"Dragging this out is just a waste of time. I need to get them to cooperate with my attacks," Kakashi decided in his heart.

"It's not like I only have one photo. I gave you one, but I still have my own," Kakashi said words that filled Obito with grief and despair.

Warning! Warning!

Obito felt that his body temperature was rising, and he could no longer control the urge to activate the Flame Breathing Chakra Mode.

In this way, the flaw of the Great Fireball being hard to hit people no longer existed, leaving only the advantages of low consumption and high power.

"Water Wave Hand!"

Faced with Kakashi's request, Obito was a bit indignant. He had brought Kakashi into this because he got beaten up for Kakashi, but now he still had to create an attack opportunity for him.

The flames engulfed Jiraiya. The scattered Fire Release chakra and explosive smoke made it impossible to see clearly what was happening inside.

Having a deep understanding of slugs, Jiraiya had already anticipated the slug's attack. After dodging with a sidestep, he waved his hands to form seals and slashed a wind blade at Rin Nohara.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

After the most dangerous explosive impact subsided, Kakashi immediately concentrated all his strength into lightning and charged out.

Obito kicked toward Jiraiya's head with a compressed flame of deep color wrapped around his right foot.

He realized that if he let Obito sign the contract for Mount Myoboku, and then Kakashi worked hard at Ryuchi Cave, Kakashi and the others would truly become the new Sannin.

After all, expecting more was unrealistic; you couldn't demand too much from a medic.

"After all, you're all somewhat famous prodigies. Don't disappoint me." Jiraiya said with a smile, his arms crossed.

The two fire styles collided.

"Fire Style: Flame Charge!"

Kakashi, who had been skirmishing with Jiraiya's main body, narrowed his eyes and showed a thoughtful expression.

"Nothing bad happened, right?" Obito muttered to himself.

Even the Raikage candidate, who had once put tremendous pressure on them, was just a junior in front of Jiraiya, who had made a name for himself in the Second Great Ninja War.

Kakashi could only use Mushin no Itto when he was at full power now.

Rin Nohara formed hand seals and spat out a massive water ball to extinguish the approaching flames.

Watching this, Jiraiya couldn't help but break out in cold sweat. He shouldn't pass on these abilities.

If he acted according to Kakashi's instructions and Kakashi failed, then he could severely criticize Kakashi and make Rin understand how vile that guy Kakashi was.

But the huge consumption also brought Obito tremendous improvement.

He simultaneously activated Transparent World and Lightning Breathing Chakra Mode, reaching peak physical condition. He slashed a lightning-fast strike at Jiraiya, missing Jiraiya but successfully cutting off part of his white hair and saving Obito.

"I even treated you to a meal. How can you not keep your promise?"

"Kakashi, you have no integrity!" Staring at the familiar photo, Obito panicked.

Rin Nohara also did everything she could to entangle Jiraiya's shadow clone.

Jiraiya still wore a relaxed smile on his face and dodged Kakashi's attack as if strolling in a park.

"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"

A massive amount of flames gathered together to form a fireball five times larger than Obito, hurtling toward Jiraiya with great momentum.

Although Mushin no Itto was stronger, he no longer had enough chakra to release it at this moment.

Boom!!

"Fire Style: Leaf Whirlwind!"

The opponent was one of the legendary Sannin. Kakashi wasn't arrogant enough to think such a small trick would trip him up.

"That Hatake brat is truly evil by nature! So detestable!" Obito raged internally, feeling that treating Kakashi to a meal was worse than treating Riolu.

"Let me see what kind of good photo it is." Jiraiya leaned in.

"But isn't the photo still in your hands?" Obito said defiantly.

Boom!!

Having said that, Obito reached out to grab the photo.

Jiraiya formed hand seals and split into two shadow clones. One clone rushed at Obito, while the other attacked Rin Nohara.

Unlike Obito, her task was simply to hold off one shadow clone.

Kakashi's plan was actually very simple: create the illusion of taking down a shadow clone, then use the characteristics of Obito's Flame Breathing Chakra Mode to produce a large-scale fire style, creating an opportunity for Kakashi.

Obito realized the huge gap between himself and a strong person like Jiraiya, so he no longer hesitated and immediately entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, opening his Sharingan.

"How am I being dishonest and not keeping my promise? Didn't I give you the photo that day?" Kakashi said flatly as he sidestepped to dodge.

Jiraiya's shadow clone used Earth Style: Mud Wall, while the main body created another water barrier.

"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"

Rin Nohara used Water Formation Wall to defend, but the water wall was cut by a wind blade and Rin nearly got injured.

Kakashi spat out a powerful lightning spear, forcing Jiraiya back, and shot a meaningful glance at Obito and Rin Nohara.

Kakashi realized that Jiraiya was an all-around ninja similar to Muyue, seemingly having mastered some of every type of jutsu with no obvious weaknesses.

Of course, Obito's remaining reason told him that doing so would only get him beaten even worse.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Flash: Divine Speed!" Kakashi, having opened the Transparent World, was closely watching the situation.

Seeing Obito's contorted face from being beaten, Jiraiya laughed loudly without restraint, "Haha, goggles kid, you really suck."

Although Kakashi and his two companions were still far from being renowned masters like Jiraiya, they were no longer nobodies. With their distinctive combat styles, Might Guy and the others had already acquired titles of certain recognition.

"Fire Style: Flame Emperor!"

In theory, the Earth Flow Wall was enough to block the attack; the water barrier's purpose was to keep him from getting covered in ash.

A red fleshy wall appeared out of thin air, enveloping Jiraiya before the lightning could reach him.

PS: I did some outlining today, and my eyes have mostly recovered, so I'll resume 8k updates tomorrow.