Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
…
Yatagarasu's explosive eggs were extremely destructive, especially when people were densely gathered together.
Jiraiya saw it and sensed something wrong. He wanted to act.
But at that moment, Rasa's figure suddenly dove downward.
Large amounts of gold dust emerged.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Senbon Rain!"
Needles condensed from gold dust, sharp and extremely fast, fell like rain, covering the entire area around Jiraiya.
Jiraiya had no choice but to focus all his attention on dealing with them.
Rasa's figure stopped in midair.
"Retreat!"
Those words were directed at the giant bull and the chameleon.
The instant the two giant summoned beasts withdrew—
"Antlion!"
The ground beneath Gamabunta's feet suddenly collapsed, forming an enormous pit. At the same time, the surrounding sand began flowing, spreading toward Gamabunta's body.
Gamabunta struggled, but he could not break free at all.
And at that moment, Yatagarasu had already arrived directly above Gamabunta.
Seeing a pale explosive egg about to drop onto his head, Gamabunta's pupils shrank.
"Jiraiya, I'm leaving first."
He directly canceled the Summoning Jutsu and returned to Mount Myoboku.
For a while, even if Jiraiya used Summoning Jutsu again, Gamabunta might not respond. Instead, he would likely let another toad answer.
The previous battle had already left Gamabunta badly injured.
The other toads of Mount Myoboku could take his place.
That seemed, on the surface, to cost Jiraiya nothing. It was merely changing to another summoned beast.
But using Summoning Jutsu consumed chakra.
When the difference between two opponents was not especially great, and victory could not be decided in a short period of time, a battle between two ninja could very easily become a contest of chakra reserves.
At this moment, the Gold Dust Senbon Rain had only just ended.
But immediately after, Rasa's next ninjutsu attack arrived.
"Sand Soldier Manifestation!"
Six figures appeared, all possessing jonin-level strength.
The patterns across their bodies were exquisitely detailed.
Each held a shield in one hand and a spear in the other.
They charged toward Jiraiya from six different directions.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
The ground in front of Jiraiya became wet. Large amounts of moisture turned it into a muddy swamp. Jiraiya intended to use this to stop the sand soldiers from approaching.
But to Rasa, this was not difficult.
No matter how much moisture there was, one Surface Fissure could dry it all away.
However, for a swamp of this degree, using Surface Fissure would be overkill. Rasa merely had the nearby sand and earth surge over it, covering and resolving the swamp.
"Toad Oil Bullet!"
At that moment, Jiraiya's second ninjutsu arrived.
The Toad Oil Bullet transformed chakra into oil and sprayed it over the opponent's body. Not only could it reduce the opponent's mobility, it could also achieve excellent enhancement effects when combined with Fire Release.
Jiraiya rapidly retreated, turning his gaze toward Rasa in midair.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
An extremely enormous figure appeared.
This time, it was Gamahiro, a being of the same size as Gamabunta, skilled in swordsmanship and agile movement.
Rasa's Antlion from earlier had made Jiraiya somewhat wary.
That ninjutsu seemed to have a very strong restraining effect against large summoned beasts.
Jiraiya's figure landed on top of Gamahiro's head.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
A Fire Release technique combined with toad oil possessed tremendous power.
Rasa remembered that Jiraiya had once defeated a large summoned beast with a single use of this technique.
"It certainly is powerful. I could block it with gold dust, but there's no need."
"Quicksand Displacement!"
Rasa's figure instantly vanished. When he appeared again, he was already beside one of the sand soldiers.
Jiraiya did not hesitate and immediately pursued him.
But what greeted Jiraiya was a mass of gold dust.
"Gold Dust Thundercloud!"
Bolts of lightning swept toward Jiraiya at speeds invisible to the naked eye.
Even Jiraiya, at such close range, could not dodge all of them.
Several bolts struck his body, leaving scorched black marks.
Jiraiya's eyes flickered.
"This lightning doesn't come from the Lightning Blades. It appeared within the gold dust. Rasa never used this move before. Did he develop it after fighting Minato?"
"Lightning created through Magnet Release?"
Jiraiya dodged while forming hand seals.
The hair on his head lengthened at tremendous speed.
He found an opening to attack.
"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"
Countless strands of hair transformed into sharp senbon and shot out, somewhat similar to the Gold Dust Senbon Rasa had used earlier. The difference was that Jiraiya used his own hair.
But its destructive power was still extremely high.
A flesh-and-blood body could not withstand it.
However, while flesh and blood could not withstand it, metal could.
"Gold Dust Cube!"
A large amount of gold dust condensed into a cube-shaped metal body, blocking in front of Rasa.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Jiraiya's senbon struck the Gold Dust Cube, producing intense metallic impacts—sharp, piercing, and grating.
"Again!"
Jiraiya roared.
This time, even more senbon shot out.
And unlike the previous senbon, some of these curved in midair. Though there were not many of them, those curving senbon bypassed the obstruction of the Gold Dust Cube.
Rasa originally intended to use Samehada.
But after hesitating slightly, he took out another blade instead.
"Sand Substitute Technique: Anubis!"
The instant Anubis appeared in Rasa's hand, the sensation of wielding exquisitely profound swordsmanship arrived.
Rasa swung the blade in his hand.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Every senbon that reached him was struck down one after another.
"That swordsmanship?"
Jiraiya's pupils shrank.
The swordsmanship Rasa displayed shocked him.
There were not many senbon that had bypassed the Gold Dust Cube, but there were definitely not few either. Yet Rasa had forcibly relied on swordsmanship alone to cut all of them down without moving a single step.
So relaxed.
So effortless.
It made Jiraiya think of someone.
Konoha's White Fang—Sakumo Hatake.
In the world of ninja, the upper limit of swordsmanship was not especially high.
And those famous for swordsmanship were even fewer.
Konoha's White Fang was one of the rare few.
When Jiraiya was young, he had once taken Konoha's White Fang as a role model.
Jiraiya's evaluation of Rasa rose by another level.
"Magnet Release far surpassing the Third Kazekage's."
"And on top of that, top-tier swordsmanship."
"Along with a rapid-movement ability comparable to Minato's."
"There is no doubt. This Rasa is a genius."
"A top-class genius."
And whenever Jiraiya saw a genius, he could not help thinking—
Could this person be the Child of Prophecy spoken of by the Great Toad Sage?
If Rasa knew what Jiraiya was thinking, he would only sneer in disdain.
Child of Prophecy?
Nothing but nonsense used to fool people.