Chapter 532: Sage vs Jinchuriki, Entrusted in Crisis

The perception squad requested by Jiraiya solved the problem of the Iwa assassination.

However, it wasn't that the perception squad coordinated with Minato Namikaze to kill the assassins, but rather that the Iwa assassination squad vanished without a trace and stopped attacking.

Jiraiya thought this might be a small intelligence error, causing the assassination squad to learn the information in advance and thus abandon the assassination activities.

Although the process was not as imagined, it barely solved the problem, so Jiraiya didn't pay too much attention.

On the battlefield, the final outcome would still be determined by a major battle; small-scale harassment played no decisive role.

But then the development of events exceeded Jiraiya's expectations.

Iwa demonstrated extraordinary intelligence capabilities. Even with the help of the local Grass Village ninja, the Konoha ninja forces fell into a disadvantage in the intelligence war.

Unable to detect the movements of the enemy ninja forces, their own ninja forces repeatedly exposed themselves and failed in their actions.

This string of losses made Jiraiya suspect that there might be a high-ranking Iwa spy within the intelligence department.

But that seemed unlikely, because no one with a blemished record could reach that position.

It couldn't be that there was a spy in the ANBU, could it?

After continuous setbacks, Jiraiya chose to shift from offense to defense, reducing the area of Konoha ninja activity to minimize damage.

He had no other choice; the losses in the intelligence war had cost them the initiative. In this situation, stubbornly pressing on would only allow Iwa to expand their advantage.

However, what Jiraiya didn't expect was that just as he was about to enter a full defensive state, the location of the main camp somehow became known to Iwa.

Boom!

A huge explosion suddenly occurred at the Konoha ninja camp, startling Jiraiya and the others who were studying strategies over a map.

"Lord Jiraiya, it's bad! We've been discovered by Iwa forces!" a Konoha jōnin reported as he rushed into the tent.

"Has Iwa attacked?" Jiraiya frowned deeply. "What about the perception squad?"

The reason he chose to defend was to use the advantage of Konoha's excellent perception ninja to neutralize the disadvantage in the intelligence war.

Yet Iwa had already attacked, and the perception squad hadn't made a peep.

"I don't know. The perception squad didn't issue any warning," the Konoha jōnin shook his head.

Boom!!

Another explosion roared. Jiraiya knew this wasn't the time to ponder the perception squad's failure; he had to lead the Konoha ninja forces out of the crisis.

Jiraiya stepped past the Konoha jōnin, preparing to command the Konoha ninja forces to counterattack.

At that moment, a cold glint flashed in the Konoha jōnin's eyes, and he swiftly drew a kunai to stab at Jiraiya.

Bang!

With quick reflexes, Minato Namikaze burst out his chakra and kicked the Konoha jōnin flying.

Jiraiya froze, utterly shocked that the Konoha ninja from moments ago had attacked him.

That was a jōnin from the Sarutobi clan—how could he be a spy?

"Raging Lion's Mane Jutsu!"

After all, Jiraiya was a veteran and powerful ninja. Though puzzled by the Sarutobi jōnin's action, he quickly used a jutsu to attack the Sarutobi jōnin.

No matter what the Sarutobi jōnin's identity was, the fact that he attacked Jiraiya made him an enemy.

Attacking the commander on the battlefield—even if Jiraiya killed him on the spot, no one could say a word.

Whiz, whiz!

At that moment, several cone-shaped rocks came flying in.

Jiraiya recognized that as the Explosion Release of Ganku, the deputy captain of Iwa's Blasting Squad. He immediately changed his technique, his extended hair swiftly retracting to wrap around his body for defense.

Swoosh!

Minato Namikaze used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport.

Boom!!

A series of explosions rang out. The rocks flying toward Jiraiya and Minato suddenly exploded, and the violent white light of the blast engulfed Jiraiya.

Swoosh! Swoosh!!

Minato Namikaze knew such an attack couldn't kill Jiraiya, so immediately after teleporting, he flung several Flying Thunder God kunai toward Yanku.

"I'm not your opponent." Yanku spat out a stone that blasted the incoming Flying Thunder God kunai away, then retreated rapidly.

He was self-aware, understanding he wasn't suited to facing a ninja like Minato Namikaze, whose speed was maxed out.

Just as Minato Namikaze wanted to pursue, an abnormally powerful surge of chakra erupted.

"Minato Namikaze, have you decided how you want to die?" Roshi stepped out, blocking Minato Namikaze's path.

Minato Namikaze's expression grew serious; this was clearly a surprise attack aimed at wiping out the Leaf ninja in the Grass Country.

In his perception, not only were both captains of Iwa's Explosion Corps present, but both of Iwa's jinchuriki were also there.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

After blocking the incoming Explosion Release, Jiraiya immediately used the Summoning Technique to call the two sages of Mount Myoboku.

"So many powerful chakras. Little Jiraiya, another tough battle, eh?" Sage Fukasaku sensed the chakras of the jinchuriki and the Iwa elites as soon as he appeared.

"What terrible timing! I was just about to decide what to make for dinner, and now this summoning jutsu interrupts my thoughts." Sage Shima complained.

"Mother, this is hardly the time for that."

"Father, don't underestimate the troubles of a housewife."

"Stop arguing." Jiraiya noticed that the Sarutobi jonin who had been lying on the ground had vanished inexplicably, and he said with some exasperation.

"Hurry and get on my shoulders so I can enter Sage Mode—this time it's dangerous."

Jiraiya was under immense pressure now; he wasn't worried about punishment for defeat, but about the Iwa forces invading the Land of Fire if his unit lost.

The two sages also understood the gravity of the situation and without further ado, quickly jumped onto Jiraiya's shoulders and began absorbing natural energy.

"Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength!"

Just as Jiraiya was about to enter Sage Mode, accompanied by a sound like a train's whistle, a person in red armor came charging toward him.

Whoosh!

Boom!

Jiraiya leaped up abruptly to dodge, and a huge crater instantly appeared in the ground where he had been standing.

Han looked at Jiraiya calmly, not particularly surprised.

If one of the legendary Sannin were so easy to kill, Jiraiya would have died at his or Roshi's hands long ago.

"Sage Mode!"

After gathering the natural energy, Jiraiya merged his chakra with the natural energy into stronger senjutsu chakra. Markings appeared on his face, and his nose showed signs of turning into a toad's.

"The situation isn't as bad as I imagined." When he entered Sage Mode and sensed the state of the entire battlefield, Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief.

No information from the sensor unit and the mystery of the Sarutobi jonin's betrayal had made Jiraiya think his first perception would show half the ninja force dead.

But the actual result was much better than Jiraiya had anticipated.

At present, about seven hundred Leaf ninja were still fighting hard against Iwa.

What Jiraiya didn't know was that Iwa, who currently looked like they were in control and smoothly advancing, were also quite bewildered.

Lie Shi had indeed obtained intelligence from Iwa's information operatives about the Leaf ninja force's camp, but the intelligence did not definitively state that this was the Leaf main force.

Besides, Lie Shi wasn't like those reckless Cloud ninja who would charge in as soon as they got information.

What if it was a trap to lure the enemy deep?

And if it really was the Leaf main force, there would definitely be many sensor ninjas on alert, making a sneak attack almost impossible.

But having the intelligence and not trying felt like a waste.

In the end, Lie Shi came up with a plan: he split the two-thousand-ninja force into three smaller units.

The first small unit was led by him, only five hundred men but mostly elites, including the jinchuriki and the Explosion Corps.

The second and third small units were both regular forces, stationed on standby on the flanks behind the elite unit.

One was to prevent falling into a trap and being surrounded, and the other was to seal off the area as much as possible to prevent the Konoha ninja forces from escaping.

If Lièshí confirmed it wasn't a trap, he would immediately send a signal for the two regular units to encircle and attack together.

Lièshí never imagined that as he led his troops straight toward the Konoha camp, they were not detected by patrol ninjas until they were right near the camp – as if the Konoha sensory squad were all dead.

Before seeing so many Konoha ninjas, Lièshí had momentarily thought this was not the main Konoha ninja force.

Boom! Boom!

Lièshí unbridledly used Explosion Release to bomb; it didn't matter what problems the Konoha ninja forces were having – what mattered was that he was about to achieve great merit and become famous.

【87

The ninja unit led by Jiraiya of the Three Ninja was about to be defeated and annihilated by him.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Jiraiya slammed his hand against the ground, and two enormous toads appeared beneath his feet.

One of them was a red toad with a pipe in its mouth and a short sword tucked into its belt; the other was a purplish-red toad carrying a large pot lid on its back and holding a spiked trident.

"You two hold off the Five-Tails Jinchuriki. I'll deal with the commander over there," Jiraiya said quickly.

The principle of capturing the leader first to defeat the bandits also applied in the ninja world. If Jiraiya could take out Lie Shi, even if it didn't turn the tide of battle, it would at least drop the enemy ninja unit's morale by several levels.

"What, me fight a tailed beast?" Gamabunta's eyelids twitched hard.

Though he wasn't much smaller than a tailed beast in size, asking him to go head-to-head with one was a bit much for a toad.

"I'm clumsy, but I'll do my best to stop him," Gamaken replied in a low voice.

"Just hold him off for a short time. I'm counting on you!" With that, Jiraiya locked onto Lie Shi, burst his chakra, and Shunshined away in an instant.

Han turned to pursue, but Gamaken leaped up and swung his trident down at Han.

Han stopped in his tracks, the tailed beast chakra within him erupting, his strength skyrocketing under the boost of Boil Release.

"Boil Release: Unrivalled Monstrous Strength!"

With one hand, Han caught the trident that Gamaken swung at him.

Gamaken tried to force Han down, but under Han's terrifying strength, the trident didn't budge. Not only could he not press it down, he couldn't even pull it back.

"Bastard, go to hell!"

Gamabunta drew the short sword from his belt and slashed at Han.

Though it was called a "short sword," that was only in comparison to Gamabunta's enormous size; in reality, the blade's length was several times Han's height.

Han pushed Gamaken hard, sending him stumbling backward, then used Shunshin to dodge Gamabunta's slash.

Han knew that Jiraiya's two summons were no pushovers—he would have to show his real strength to deal with them. He quickly activated the tailed beast chakra within him.

An ominous dark-red chakra rapidly rose from Han's body, transforming him into a massive dark-red monster with five tails.

Jiraiya, charging toward Lie Shi, sensed Han's chakra growing stronger and felt a greater sense of urgency.

The only ninja on the scene qualified to face a Jinchuriki in direct combat was himself; Minato could, at most, provide a diversion. He had to eliminate Lie Shi as quickly as possible.

"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"

Jiraiya quickly refined sage chakra into oil inside his mouth, then, at the moment of expulsion, he applied fire-nature chakra nature transformation to ignite the oil.

Whoosh! Whoosh!!

A massive torrent of flames burst forth, incinerating the nearest Iwa-nin in an instant, then charged at Lie Shi without losing momentum.

Though the name sounded unassuming, the Great Flame Bullet Jiraiya used in Sage Mode was extremely fierce, surpassing most Fire Release techniques in the ninja world.

Lie Shi, despite his considerable mastery of the Hardening Technique, dared not confront it head-on and quickly retreated.

"Explosion Release: Bursting Flying Stones!"

Seeing his captain in danger, Iwaku quickly spat out Explosion Release flying stones to block Jiraiya's Sage Mode Fire Release.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Jiraiya performed the Summoning Jutsu again, calling forth a huge toad with bluish-green skin.

Jiraiya had Gamahiro deal with Iwaku and the surrounding Iwa-nin jonin, while he himself continued his pursuit of Lie Shi.

"Those who can retreat, retreat as much as possible—the enemy still has reinforcements!" Jiraiya commanded the Konoha ninja on the battlefield.

The powerful perception of Sage Mode allowed him to sense the chakra approaching from afar.

Of course, he didn't actually need perception to know, because Lie Shi had blatantly fired a signal flare.

"Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon!"

In Sage Mode, Jiraiya was already extremely powerful, and with the assistance of the two Sages, Lie Shi was no match at all. Jiraiya soon found an opening.

Under the effect of senjutsu chakra, Jiraiya's white hair became sharp and hard.

Even though Lie Shi had considerable training in the Hardening Technique, he could only block part of it. His body was soon drenched in blood under the storm of white hair senbon strikes.

"What a waste!"

"Lava Release: Scorching River Rock Technique!"

Roshi, who had been chasing Minato Namikaze, had no choice but to abandon Minato. He dashed toward Jiraiya and spat out a huge ball of molten lava.

"Rasengan!"

Minato Namikaze seized the opportunity, exploding the large amount of chakra gathered in his palm, rapidly forming a sphere and hurling it at Roshi.

But because Roshi was in Lava Release Chakra Mode and clad in a high-temperature lava armor, Minato's Rasengan not only failed to injure Roshi, but even burned his own hand.

"Such high defense." Minato Namikaze was somewhat helpless.

Once the enemy's defense surpassed the power of the Rasengan, Minato Namikaze could hardly threaten them.

Roshi continued charging toward Jiraiya without looking back.

Because he knew that if he turned back, he might not necessarily kill Minato Namikaze, but if he didn't turn back, Lie Shi would really die.

Although he didn't think much of Lie Shi, the man was still the battlefield commander and the captain of Iwa's Explosion Corps. If he died at Jiraiya's hands, it would have a very bad impact.

"Water Cutter!"

Shima Sage formed hand seals and spat out a high-pressure water jet that severed the incoming Lava Release fireball, then quickly said, "Little Jiraiya, fall back quickly."

It wasn't just the Four-Tails Jinchuriki approaching; the Five-Tails Jinchuriki had also repelled Gamabunta and Gamaken and was rushing over at high speed.

Whoosh!

Jiraiya had no choice but to cancel his technique and sidestep away.

"What a pity, just a little more." Looking at Lie Shi, whose body was covered in wounds, Jiraiya inwardly lamented the missed chance.

If the Jinchuriki had been two seconds later, Lie Shi would surely have died from his Sage technique.

"Minato, use a large-scale ninjutsu to attack." Jiraiya gathered chakra while reminding Minato Namikaze.

Jiraiya now had only one goal—to cover the retreat of as many Konoha ninja as possible.

With his own formidable strength and Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique, it would be very difficult for Iwa to keep them there.

The ordinary Konoha ninja didn't have such conditions; someone had to give them a hand.

As long as enough ninja withdrew, then this battle wouldn't be a total defeat for Konoha—just a setback.

Once Konoha's reinforcements arrived and they regrouped, they would once again be a powerful ninja force.

"Sage Art: Goemon!"

Jiraiya and the two great Sages on his shoulders performed their techniques simultaneously: Fukasaku Sage used Wind Release, Shima Sage used Fire Release, and Jiraiya spat out chakra oil.

All three techniques were Sage techniques empowered by senjutsu chakra. They complemented each other and ultimately transformed into the terrifyingly powerful Goemon.

One Iwa ninja failed to dodge and died instantly without even a scream.

"Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

Minato Namikaze leaped onto Gamabunta's head, formed hand seals, and gathered chakra for Fire Release nature transformation, while Gamabunta refined chakra to produce toad oil.

With their combined efforts, the terrifying flames instantly scorched everything within several dozen meters black.

Minato Namikaze had also signed a contract with Mount Myoboku and was an old acquaintance of Gamabunta.

However, due to his combat style, Minato Namikaze generally didn't use Summoning Jutsu to call the toads of Mount Myoboku.

"Then let's see whose ninjutsu is stronger!"

Seeing this, Rōshi pushed the power of the Tailed Beast within him to the limit, his body rapidly transforming into a giant monkey with a tail.

Rōshi opened his huge mouth, and a massive amount of chakra condensed, a black orb slowly appearing in the air.

"Don't..." Retsuseki tried to stop him.

Firing a Tailed Beast Bomb like that would split the battlefield. The Konoha shinobi would be more than happy to get far away, so it wouldn't affect them much.

But for the Iwa-nin who wanted to pursue, the impact would be severe—who would dare to chase someone while facing the explosion of a Tailed Beast Bomb?

Injured, Retsuseki's voice was somewhat faint. Rōshi might not have heard him, or perhaps he did hear him but chose to ignore it.

In any case, at that moment, the Tailed Beast Bomb representing destructive power flew out, hurtling toward the space between Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya.

Swoosh!

Minato Namikaze used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to Jiraiya's side.

For combat convenience, Jiraiya always kept one of Minato's Flying Thunder God Kunai on him during battle.

Next, Minato placed his hand on Jiraiya and activated the Flying Thunder God Technique again, teleporting them to a distant marked location. Meanwhile, Jiraiya canceled the Summoning Technique, sending the toads back to Mount Myōboku on their own.

"That was close. Good thing you were here, Minato." Jiraiya patted Minato on the shoulder.

Without Minato, he would have been in real danger this time.

Taking a slash from Jōnin Sarutobi and then having to fight the Jinchūriki and the Iwa elites would have been far too difficult.

"Jiraiya-sensei, the Iwa-nin's behavior in this war has been extremely strange." Minato Namikaze said with a grave expression.

Jiraiya nodded in deep agreement.

Before today, who would have thought that a Jōnin from the Sarutobi clan could be a spy?

The Sarutobi clan is not only a founding family of Konoha but also produced the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Logically, shinobi of the Sarutobi clan should be completely loyal, with no motive to betray.

"When Jōnin Hiroshi disappeared, the phenomenon was exactly the same as when the Iwa assassin team vanished before." Minato Namikaze said seriously.

After dodging with the Flying Thunder God, Minato had been keeping an eye on Sarutobi Hiroshi.

Sarutobi Hiroshi's disappearance looked like he had used Earth Release to burrow underground, but it was clearly different from ordinary Earth Release.

Because after Sarutobi Hiroshi merged into the ground, his aura disappeared completely, as if he no longer existed.

However, Minato knew that Sarutobi Hiroshi was still there—though he couldn't sense his aura, he could sense the Flying Thunder God mark he had left on him!

In the moment he made contact with Sarutobi Hiroshi, Minato had placed the Flying Thunder God technique formula on him.

However, because the battle situation was too dire, Minato couldn't break away, and Sarutobi Hiroshi was too fast, quickly leaving his sensory range, so Minato was unable to apprehend him.

"I see... This is getting more and more puzzling." Jiraiya rubbed his forehead.

He wasn't particularly sharp-minded to begin with, and all these anomalies in the war had already overloaded his brain.

"But since you've already placed your Flying Thunder God mark on him, that makes things easier. Next time we run into him, we can grab him and interrogate him thoroughly." Jiraiya let out a breath.

One characteristic of the Flying Thunder God mark is that as long as the user does not voluntarily cancel it, it can never be removed.

In other words, the next time they encounter Sarutobi Hiroshi, Minato could directly teleport over and arrest him.

Minato Namikaze nodded; that was his thought as well.

"Let's gather the troops and report the situation to the village." Jiraiya brushed the dust off his clothes, already planning his next moves.

Although they had lost, Jiraiya remained in good spirits; this wasn't the first time he had lost to Iwa.

During the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya had even lost to the Rain ninja.

…………

"That's how it is. The forces in the Land of Grass have been hit hard. Now Iwa's presence in the Land of Grass is rampant, and no one knows when they might strike the border."

After briefly explaining the current situation on the Grass Country battlefield, Hiruzen Sarutobi said solemnly to Muyue.

"Lord Third Hokage, is there anything I can do?" Muyue asked directly.

The persona he had set up was that of a ninjutsu genius, not a high-IQ strategist like those of the Nara clan. If Hiruzen Sarutobi had called him over to explain the war situation, there could only be one reason.

Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted Muyue to be a firefighting team member and go to the battlefield to assist Jiraiya.

"Muyue, I am very happy that you have this resolve. Now I order you to serve as commander of the support unit, leading five hundred ninjas to the Grass Country to support the Grass Country forces!" Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled, then commanded with a serious expression.

PS: This chapter is 6k. I feel dizzy writing today. If there are errors, you can leave comments in that section, and I will correct them when I see them.

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