Konoha's Mission Master

"This is a bit difficult."

Jiraiya scratched his head, then carried Kakashi on his back and continued running wildly. The water burst open with each step, forming a row of water columns.

The enemy's sturdy puppets and all-pervasive poison were a great counter to Jiraiya at this moment. He lacked a burst-type ninjutsu that could deal with the enemy and destroy their tough defenses single-handedly.

"I need to send a signal to Yakumo..."

Yakumo understood that he couldn't shake off or defeat the enemy while carrying Kakashi on his back. All he could do now was hope that his allies of justice would arrive soon.

"bump."

Shima and Fukasaku appeared on Jiraiya's shoulder. Almost simultaneously, the ground beneath Jiraiya's feet cracked, and the accumulated water was temporarily pushed aside by the burst of power, flowing outwards like a stream of water, as if thunder had struck from the ground.

Jiraiya turned around to face the dozen or so puppets, forming hand seals. At the same time, the abdomens of the two toad sages on his shoulders began to swell, and Sage Chakra gathered in their mouths.

"Sage Art: Goemon!"

Fire, oil, wind, and many other forces combine into one.

The extremely thin spark ignited the fuel in an instant, and under the influence of the gale, it burned fiercely, spreading into a sea of ​​fire. Almost instantly, more than a dozen puppets were engulfed by the fire.

A wave of heat swept over him, like a giant sun falling to earth, wantonly unleashing its divine power. Jiraiya's dejected expression vanished, and his resolute face, illuminated by the firelight, shone with fierce fighting spirit.

He was furious after being on the defensive for so long!

Jiraiya, panting heavily, looked ahead warily.

The black cloaks were instantly burned away by the flames, revealing dark red wooden bodies. Just as Jiraiya had guessed, these cloaked figures were all puppets.

The scorching flames slowly climbed onto the surface of the wooden puppet and began to burn. Even the most fire-resistant wood could not withstand the immortal fire, which seemed to burn everything in its tangible form to ashes.

In the sea of ​​fire, several puppets made of steel were burning red-hot, but had not yet melted. Raindrops fell on the surface of the puppets, making a sizzling sound.

A huge amount of white steam evaporated into the sky.

The puppets walked through the flames, approaching Jiraiya step by step, and then opened their mouths to spew out burning fire dragons!

"Water Escape·Water Formation Wall!"

Jiraiya formed hand seals, and the surrounding rainwater gathered into a half-meter-thick barrier, blocking the burning fire dragon.

Jiraiya did not sense any fluctuations in chakra from these two fire dragons.

These two fire dragons are the product of a combination of kerosene and high-pressure jet guns, essentially two mobile flamethrowers.

The next second, the steel golem exploded due to the high temperature!

The explosion generated an extremely hot shockwave, and the surrounding water was rapidly evaporated into white steam that rose into the sky. Then, a deafening explosion spread wildly in all directions.

The shockwave temporarily divided the battlefield.

Jiraiya helped Kakashi up, then ran off!

Chapter 157 The Power of a Grandmaster's Swordsmanship, Scorpion's Defeat and Escape

A forest somewhere.

Yakumo witnessed a dazzling burst of light, like the sun's fire descending upon the world. Even if it lasted only a moment, it was enough to turn night into day. Yakumo immediately began to run like the wind, and the black and white cheetah quickened its pace at the same time.

Out of caution, he communicated with the milk ball.

They had already changed into night clothes to cover their faces.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A terrifying explosion swept in, and the shockwave, accompanied by a fierce wind, propelled Yakumo to accelerate his run, transforming him into a golden flash.

He understood that Jiraiya might already be in a tough fight.

The rain is still falling in the Land of Fire.

A dozen minutes later, in another area.

Jiraiya was entangled by more than a dozen puppets, and several broken puppets lay in the surrounding puddles. Jiraiya held an absolute advantage.

After all, he also had to focus on protecting Kakashi.

At this moment, Kakashi's face was an unnatural bluish-purple, and although he was breathing, his condition was extremely bad.

Jiraiya, using the Lion's Hair technique in conjunction with Fukasaku, successfully dismembered several wooden puppets.

But the enemy quickly retrieved new puppets from the scroll and joined the battle, seemingly endless.

Kakashi's condition could not be delayed any longer.

"Ugh, so annoying!"

Jiraiya roared in anger.

"Celestial Art: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

In an instant, raging flames engulfed the puppets surrounding Jiraiya, and more than a dozen puppets were destroyed by the flames.

Sasori calmly took out more than a dozen puppets from his storage scroll. Jiraiya then charged towards Sasori with both legs, while simultaneously forming hand seals.

"Immortal Technique: Wind Slash!"

The sharp, knife-like gale temporarily severed the connection between Sasori and the puppet. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jiraiya broke through the encirclement and charged towards Sasori, aiming to capture the leader first!

The scorpion immediately retreated and dodged, creating distance.

At the same time, the puppets in the gale swayed and stood up, throwing out steel cables and iron nets to cover Jiraiya, and some of the puppets spewed purple poison gas from the holes in their shoulders.

Jiraiya could only retreat passively.

With the blessing of Sage Mode, he has extremely strong poison resistance and can also choose to hold his breath and not inhale... poison gas.

But Kakashi was different... At only eight years old, Kakashi was as fragile as a delicate porcelain doll, unable to withstand another round of poisoning. He could withstand ninety percent of the attacks that Kakashi had received, but he couldn't stop the all-pervasive poison.

Jiraiya retreated, and the two armies returned to a stalemate. Sasori never intended to kill Jiraiya here; he only wanted to keep Jiraiya here and wait for Kakashi's poison to take effect and kill him!

In their initial attacks or encounters, Sasori's target was only Kakashi on Jiraiya's back.

Jiraiya, panting heavily, tried once again to flee towards Konoha, but the puppets suddenly changed to run on all fours like wild beasts, splashing water high into the air. The puppets, moving like wild beasts, were extremely fast, and after a dozen seconds, they forced Jiraiya to stop again.

Sage Chakra is nearly depleted.

Jiraiya released his third shadow clone and fled rapidly into the distance. Sasori did not stop him, as he was under immense pressure to fight Jiraiya alone.

Fortunately...

Kakashi will be dead in no more than half an hour!

Sasori continued to carefully manipulate the puppet, blocking Jiraiya's path forward, and the two looked at each other through the rain.

"Put him down... I won't interfere further."

Sasori changed his voice to that of a middle-aged man, a deep, resonant tone, and began to persuade Jiraiya.

“That’s impossible!” Jiraiya said without hesitation.

Sasori... couldn't understand why Jiraiya, who had no relation to Kakashi Hatake, would go to such lengths to stop him, even at the cost of his life.

The rain was neither heavy nor light, and the sky was overcast with dark clouds.

Ten minutes later, Sage Chakra was fully replenished.

Jiraiya is determined to give it his all once again!

"bump."

Jiraiya created shadow clones.

"Earth Escape·Yellow Spring Marsh."

The water between the two gradually mixed with the mud, turning into a deep pool similar to a swamp, and more than a dozen puppets began to slowly sink in.

Swish!Swish!Swish!

Sasori manipulated the puppet away from the swamp, and Jiraiya's main body seized the opportunity to immediately grab Kakashi and run away, while his shadow clone formed hand seals.

"Celestial Art: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

The flames formed a raging wall of fire.

Blocking the battlefield, Jiraiya's shadow clones vigilantly awaited the enemy's impending attack.

Sasori manipulated the puppets to bypass the wall of fire, while simultaneously creating two more puppets that approached Jiraiya's shadow clones. Just as the shadow clones were preparing to fight the two puppets, they exploded.

The shockwave from the explosion shattered the shadow clone.

Simple and straightforward, yet very useful.

Sasori once again manipulated the puppet to keep up with Jiraiya, and the distance between the two gradually decreased. With kunai rain blocking the way, Sasori once again forced Jiraiya to stop.

A dozen or so puppets surrounded Jiraiya, and a subtle blue toxin emanated from their surfaces, enveloping Jiraiya and Kakashi.

"Wind Release: Great Wind Breaker!"

The gale didn't attack; instead, it dispersed the poisonous smoke scattered by the puppet. Sasori's eyes revealed anger. He was just a hair's breadth away from making Hatake Sakumo... die without an heir!

Jiraiya distanced himself again. To prevent Kakashi from being harmed by the poison again, he deliberately activated Sage Mode's sensory mode to its limit, allowing him to detect the tiny poisonous fumes in the air.

At this moment, Jiraiya's eyes were somewhat dim, due to mental exhaustion. Although his chakra was still plentiful, he felt a deep sense of fatigue.

"I will never give up on Kakashi."

He talked to himself, as if encouraging himself.

"Puppet Technique: Ten Machine Manipulation!"

The manipulated puppets suddenly became more lifelike, moving swiftly like real people. Thousands of kunai and other magical weapons pierced the air, and Jiraiya could only passively dodge them.

Three sword-shaped puppets attacked Jiraiya, their sword shadows slicing through the rain. In the blink of an eye, they were already in front of Jiraiya. Jiraiya swept his white hair across the three puppets and sent them flying.

The scorpion took two steps forward, signaling a full-scale attack, and at the same time, more than a dozen puppets unleashed a variety of weapons.

These dozen or so were his trump cards, fundamentally different from those expendable puppets.

Suddenly, Jiraiya looked into the distance and smiled, leaping several times to dodge Sasori's attack.

Just as Scorpion was wondering what was going on, a golden light crashed into the battlefield!

"Is it reinforcements? Should we retreat?" Scorpion realized.

At this moment, he was only one step away from killing Kakashi.