Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

When Jiraiya saw Kirito admit his identity, he said with a stern face, clearly displeased.

He remembered that Kirito was only 10 years old, but he had just been beaten so badly by Kirito using such a beautiful female puppet, and he felt really bad.

If Kirito doesn't give him a satisfactory explanation today, he absolutely cannot let Kirito off easily.

At the very least, Kirito needs to let him use his puppetry skills on this female puppet.

Although his puppetry skills were mediocre, he was still capable of controlling the puppets.

"I am truly sorry. My sealing technique, Adamantine Sealing Technique, has just made a slight breakthrough. I happened to see you, Lord Jiraiya, and I got itchy to fight you. Tsunade once said that Lord Jiraiya is an excellent ninja, and today's battle has proven that to be true."

Kirito explained honestly, not forgetting to bring up Tsunade at the end.

When Kirito mentioned Tsunade, Jiraiya's attention immediately shifted, and he asked excitedly, "Did Tsunade really say that?"

Kirito, against his conscience, manipulated the Thunder God puppet to nod.

Jiraiya's face immediately lit up with a happy smile. His displeasure and desire to play with the female puppet vanished instantly. He coughed and said, "Alright, for Tsunade's sake, I'll let your recklessness go this time. If you want to spar next time, just tell me. Don't be as reckless as you were just now."

"Thank you for your forgiveness."

Kirito said gratefully.

"So, what is your real purpose in seeking me out?"

Jiraiya's expression suddenly turned serious as he asked.

He wasn't stupid. If it were just a contest, Kirito wouldn't have needed to set up such a large, shielding sealing barrier. Kirito must have something else to discuss with him.

"She really is a thoughtful person."

Kirito secretly praised Jiraiya when he heard him say that.

He came to see Jiraiya not just to test the effects of the Level 4 Adamantine Lock, but also to ask Jiraiya, a powerful figure whose strength was almost at the Kage level, to do a small favor for the White Fang team.

The next second, he recounted in detail what happened to the White Fang Squad after they left Konoha.

"So, you're being watched now. Is there anything I can help you with? Just tell me, and I'll do my best."

After hearing Kirito's words, Jiraiya's expression became even more serious, and he continued to ask questions.

Both attacks were aimed at Nawaki, who is Tsunade's younger brother. If Nawaki were to die, Tsunade would be devastated.

Now that he knows about the White Fang Squad, he can no longer sit idly by.

The reason he came here was that he recently received a message from the Toad Sage, relayed by the liaison frog from Mount Myōboku. He learned of the Toad Sage's prophecy and then unexpectedly discovered an abnormal accumulation of natural energy in the nearby town.

So he came to check out the situation, but before he even entered the town, he ran into the female puppet sent by Kirito, and then got into a fight without really knowing what was going on.

Kirito was overjoyed to see Jiraiya offer to help, saying, "That's a huge help! Thank you so much! I'd like to ask Jiraiya-sama to help us..."

Chapter 168: The Choice of Mount Myōboku

"I hope you can help us shake off the enemy's pursuit. The enemy that White Fang Squad is currently facing has a strong tracking ability and is very cautious. They keep a safe distance from us, with the sole purpose of tracking us and determining our location."

They won't do it themselves; instead, they'll use others to eliminate us. As long as these guys keep following us, the enemy will keep coming.

There was no other way; Nawaki posed too great a potential threat to the other ninja villages, and they all wanted to eliminate him.

Kirito stated his request, a helpless expression on his face.

His perception is indeed very strong, but he is not invincible. He can accurately detect the location of the enemies secretly tracking the White Fang Squad, but he may not be able to eliminate these enemies, because he does not know who the hidden enemies are.

He has only discovered two enemies so far, the two who eliminated the Rain Shadow Border Force he encountered at the border.

Therefore, he now needs someone with strong evasion skills to help the White Fang Squad evade enemy pursuit.

Jiraiya is undoubtedly a very good candidate.

In the original storyline, Jiraiya was a ninja with exceptional infiltration skills. While he appeared to be traveling and gathering information, he actually brought Konoha a lot of the latest intelligence from outside the ninja world.

Such a ninja must have an extremely strong ability to evade being tracked.

Kirito is currently interested in Jiraiya's Toad Concealment Technique, which involves him hiding inside a summoning toad and then having the toad infiltrate or evade enemy pursuit.

This is undoubtedly a very sophisticated ninjutsu for tracking and evading tracking.

In the Land of Rain, these toads, which are so common, can jump into the river without anyone noticing.

Jiraiya used this ninjutsu to sneak into the Land of Rain. He was discovered because he came out of a summoning toad. If he hadn't come out on his own, Nagato would never have noticed such a common toad.

How do you want me to help you?

Jiraiya said he would help if he promised, and without further ado, he got straight to the point.

“I heard from Tsunade that when you were on a mission in the Land of Rain, you used a ninjutsu called the Toad Concealment Technique to hide inside a toad’s belly to avoid being tracked. I hope you can ask the ninja toads of Mount Myōboku to help us temporarily evade being tracked.”

Upon hearing this, Kirito stated his request directly.

When Jiraiya heard Kirito mention the Toad Concealment Technique, a smile immediately appeared on his face. He nodded and said, "You've got good taste, kid. No problem. I'll secretly send a ninja toad over later to help you evade the enemy's pursuit."

The Toad Concealment Technique, a ninjutsu that can only be released using the toads of Mount Myōboku, is his signature technique for stealth and escape.

Back in the Land of Rain, Tsunade was often hunted down like Nawaki. Fortunately, he had this ninjutsu, which allowed the three Sannin to escape from enemy encirclements on several occasions without serious danger. Unexpectedly, this time it was Tsunade's younger brother Nawaki's turn to use this ninjutsu.

When he returns to Konoha and sees Tsunade, he will definitely use this opportunity to get her to agree to a date with him.

He knew very well that Tsunade loved his younger brother, and he would definitely give him face for that.

Just thinking about having the chance to have an intimate date with the hot and beautiful Tsunade in the future made Jiraiya's face show a blissful and perverted expression, and drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.

"Cough, Jiraiya-sama, are you alright?"

Seeing Jiraiya's current perverted expression, Kirito probably knew that Jiraiya was thinking about something inappropriate for children, so he coughed and reminded him.

Jiraiya, reminded by Kirito, reacted instantly. He wiped away his drool with lightning speed, reverting to his serious and reliable demeanor, and said, "Is there anything else you want besides this? We are all Konoha ninjas, comrades. Being in a foreign country, we should help each other. Besides, you and Nawaki are Tsunade's beloved younger brothers. Just say it."

In order to maintain a good relationship with Tsunade and prevent their relationship from becoming estranged when he returned to the village, he frequently corresponded with Tsunade during his time in the Land of Rain.

In the letter, Tsunade specifically emphasized that Nawaki and Kirito were her beloved younger brothers, and that if she encountered Nawaki and Kirito in the Land of Rain, she hoped that he could help them. In his reply, he solemnly promised to do so.

Therefore, his current thought is not only to help Kirito and the others evade the enemy's pursuit, but also to find the enemy who is pursuing them and then eliminate them.

The White Fang Squad undoubtedly carries an important mission. Even if he doesn't care about Tsunade's sake, he, a currently idle person in the Land of Rain with nothing to do, has a responsibility and obligation to lend a helping hand.

After all, he was a Konoha ninja who inherited the Will of Fire.

"Lord Jiraiya, I know what you want to say, but there's no need for that. If it's about eliminating enemies who are secretly following us, I can actually do it myself. But so far, we've only exposed two enemies, and there are many more that we don't know about. Since these people dare to provoke our White Fang Squad, they must be quite powerful. It would be too dangerous for you to go alone."

Kirito was touched when he heard Jiraiya say that, and then shook his head.

As he said, because of the existence of Konoha's White Fang, the White Fang Squad is a very powerful ninja squad, but even so, these enemies still dare to follow them from behind. Such enemies are either stupid or have a lot of confidence.

Based on the current situation, the second possibility is more likely.

In fact, Kirito had already guessed who was behind it all, most likely that old schemer still in Konoha prison.

The White Fang Squad's route was kept secret, but they were discovered and attacked as soon as they left Konoha. They were then followed all the way here, which shows that the enemy may have been watching the White Fang Squad from the beginning, and may have even laid out a dense assassination plan, just waiting for them to jump into the trap.

It wasn't that he looked down on Jiraiya's strength; if Danzo had cleverly united various external forces to destroy the White Fang Squad, Jiraiya would have been no different from being sent to his death if he had just gone in head-on.

If Jiraiya didn't activate Sage Mode and summon various powerful toads from Mount Myōboku to help him, his current strength would be roughly equivalent to a ninja slightly stronger than an average elite Jonin.

He has personally verified this using the Thor puppet.

Because the outer shell doesn't use any chakra metal, but only some relatively precious bionic materials, the Thunder God Puppet's physical strength is actually average. Even with the Thunder Strike Secret Technique for acceleration, it cannot break through to Kage-level speed. If Jiraiya can successfully get close and hit it once, it might be destroyed.

However, even with only the sealing techniques Vajra Lock and Thunderclap Secret Technique, Jiraiya was still unable to hit the Thunder God Puppet even once.

It is evident that without activating Sage Mode, Jiraiya's speed and strength were only at the level of a normal elite Jonin, and the power of his ninjutsu could not break through the chakra chains formed by the Adamantine Sealing Barrier.

Kirito concluded that the level 4 sealing technique, Adamantine Lockdown, was sufficient to deal with elite Jonin.

"Sigh, I know, then you guys be careful."

Jiraiya was a smart man; he understood the hidden meaning in Kirito's words and said with considerable annoyance.

He couldn't refute Kirito's words because the battle just now had proven that his strength was not enough.

A familiar sense of powerlessness resurfaced in his heart, making him feel uneasy.

He hated his own powerlessness. He thought he was strong enough, but it turned out he wasn't strong enough.

The enemy wasn't even afraid of Konoha's White Fang, so his half-baked Sage Mode was clearly no match for the dangers facing White Fang's team.

There was nothing he could do but back down and do what he could.

"I am already very grateful that you were able to help. You should go now, but don't let anyone else discover your whereabouts. There are many eyes outside right now, but they are temporarily blocked by my sealing barrier and cannot see or hear what is happening here."

Kirito said gratefully.

"Alright, then you just wait."

Jiraiya quickly composed himself and smiled slightly.

The next moment, he bit his right thumb, smeared the blood on his palm, and then quickly formed hand seals to unleash a spirit communication technique.

With a loud "bang".

A puff of white smoke appeared, and a very ordinary-looking green toad appeared in front of Jiraiya and Kirito.

"Yo, long time no see, Gamagoro. I'll have to ask you for help again this time."

Upon seeing the green toad, Jiraiya immediately grinned and said...

Gamagoro is a special toad from Mount Myōboku who possesses a small, separate dimension within his body. It is because of him that Jiraiya was able to use the Toad Concealment Technique.

"No problem, leave it to me. But who is this person? Do they want to come into the alternate dimension inside my stomach with me?"

Gamagoro and Jiraiya were old friends, and he knew very well why Jiraiya had summoned him. Without saying a word, he agreed to Jiraiya's request.

As he spoke, his eyes were fixed on the Thor puppet beside him.

His senses told him that the beautiful woman in front of him, who perfectly matched Jiraiya's aesthetic standards, did not seem to be a real human being.

"Hello, Mr. Gamagoro, my name is Kirito Tohsaka. The female warrior who appears before you is actually a puppet I control. I believe we will meet in person soon. Time is a bit tight right now, so Jiraiya-sama will tell you about it later. Now, please take Jiraiya-sama into your body."

Kirito, controlling the Thunder God puppet, explained to Gamagoro with a smile.

When Gamagoro heard the beautiful woman, Raigami, speak in a boy's voice, he was startled. But after hearing Kirito's explanation, he stared wide-eyed at Raigami in disbelief and said, "Really? Then why do I feel like this female puppet is alive? She even has a heartbeat inside her."

Forgive his poor eyesight, but he really couldn't tell that the beautiful woman in front of him was a puppet. She just didn't seem very human, but she was definitely alive.

The reason was that the female puppet's surface was filled with vibrant Yang-attribute chakra, and there was also the sound of a heart beating inside. He could even feel that the female puppet was warm, and it didn't look like a lifeless, cold puppet at all.

"Of course it's true, but I can't reveal the specifics."