## Jiraiya VS Pain ##
Fukasaku stared carefully at the men summoned by Pain, wondering if his old eyes were playing tricks on him.
"Three of them have the Rinnegan? How is that even possible?" he thought.
And indeed, aside from their combat uniforms, all these men shared one common trait—they each bore the unique eye markings of a legendary Kekkei Genkai.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. "There's definitely something off about this technique."
He smirked confidently. "Well then, I'll get serious too! Prepare to face the full power of Sage Mode!"
Still perched on his shoulders were the two frogs, as Jiraiya struck an exaggerated pose:
"Behold the power of my ultimate jutsu fused with divine Sage Arts! Gaze upon the brilliance of my celestial halo! Witness the might of the fearless Jiraiya—!"
Both Shima and Fukasaku smacked Jiraiya on the head in unison:
"Stop yelling in my ear!"
Jiraiya grumbled angrily,
"Why does everyone always spoil my moment?"
Sighing, he rushed forward and kicked one of the long-haired men straight into a wall.
"Nice move, sensei," said Pain. As Jiraiya sent that man flying into the wall, flying debris scratched Pain's face.
"I know," Jiraiya said, "I've always been this amazing!"
Jiraiya, Shima, and Fukasaku took a deep breath together, then exhaled in unison, launching their attack, [Sage Art: Oil Bullet Flame Technique]!
Jiraiya spewed out a large amount of oil, which Shima ignited using Fire Release. Fukasaku fanned the flames with Wind Release, forming a roaring torrent of flaming oil hurtling toward Pain and the other two.
The massive humanoid figure standing alongside Pain lunged forward, absorbing the attack completely, shielding both himself and Pain from the combined assault.
Jiraiya kicked off his wooden sandals, revealing webbed toes that matched the webbing on his hands:
"Well then, how about this…"
He charged at Pain and the man guarding him.
With one hand, Jiraiya formed a massive Rasengan, nearly twice the size of his body:
[Big Ball Rasengan!]
A barrier formed around the giant, chakra surging outward, blocking Jiraiya's Big Ball Rasengan. The Rasengan began to shrink.
Jiraiya gaped in disbelief:
"He can absorb even a Rasengan as if it were oil?"
The injured long-haired man attacked Jiraiya from behind, forcing him to disappear in a burst of smoke.
Reappearing behind the attacker, Jiraiya threw a punch. It was blocked.
"That's impossible! He didn't even see my movement—he still managed to—?"
Fukasaku threw a Smoke Bomb, filling the area with thick smoke, obscuring everyone's vision and disrupting the battle.
Jiraiya appeared behind Pain, kneeling on one knee:
[Sage Art: Thousand Hair Needle Barrage!]
Countless hair-like senbon erupted from his palm, aiming to turn Pain into a pincushion.
Pain leapt backward instantly, creating space, and swiftly summoned a giant panda to block Jiraiya's attack.
Jiraiya attacked from Pain's blind spot, yet still couldn't land a hit:
"How is this possible?"
They didn't even need to speak or exchange glances to form such a flawless defense. I had already used my fastest and longest-range attack, yet he managed to fully prepare before I even moved."
Fukasaku finally spoke up:
"Those guys aren't just regular clones, right?"
Shima continued,
"So that's what you meant when you said something seemed off earlier, right Jiraiya?"
"Did you notice that?" Fukasaku continued, as Jiraiya wore a confused expression. "Earlier, when we circled behind him, we were clearly out of his line of sight, yet the others still kept scanning the area carefully. They didn't make a sound or exchange so much as a glance—there wasn't even the slightest sign of communication between them. Haven't you figured it out yet, Jiraiya? It's their eyes! If all three are watching the same target..."
"I get it now," Jiraiya finally understood what the old frog meant. "Then all three of them can see the target from three different angles. If I can't get the drop on them with ninjutsu, there's no way I'd survive even using Sage Mode against their speed. They're just too strong, and they're ganging up on me three against one. I need to find Naruto."
"Jiraiya, we need to fall back now," whispered Fukasaku.
Jiraiya quietly agreed and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Pain contemplated for a moment,
"He's trying to flee through the underground tunnels."
Jiraiya swiftly moved through Amegakure's underground tunnels:
"Damn it! Even if one of them is Nagato himself, there's no way all three could possess the Rinnegan. How is that even possible? Which one is the real Pain? Who exactly is he?"
Fukasaku tried to reassure Jiraiya:
"I'm not quite sure myself yet. But give me a little more time and I'll uncover everything. These three share the same perspective—they can observe things from the exact same angle. That's one of their abilities."
"So what?" Shima asked. "How does that help them?"
"Well, simply put..." Fukasaku explained. "It's like sitting in a surveillance room watching three different cameras at once—you can view all three feeds simultaneously. So even if the target is outside one person's field of vision, as long as someone else sees the target, he can see it too. That's why they're always able to coordinate perfect attacks and defenses." The old frog shook his head. "It's like having three times the visual coverage a normal person has, and unlike the Byakugan, they don't need hand seals or use up chakra to cover blind spots. This really is an annoying ability."
Jiraiya shrugged,
"Then we'll have to split them up. One-on-one, I know I can take them. If I can find Naruto, maybe he can help me deal with the rest—assuming he beats Konan first and still has enough stamina left... But even with help, considering Pain's ocular powers, he must've already anticipated this strategy. After all, he leads Akatsuki. Unless he was 100% sure he could defeat the Nine-Tails—or more accurately, its jinchuriki—he wouldn't have taken such a big risk."
Jiraiya sighed and continued fleeing.
"In short, taijutsu won't work, and my ninjutsu will just get absorbed by that fat bastard," Jiraiya sighed.
"Then we're left with genjutsu," Fukasaku replied.
"Yeah," Jiraiya grumbled. "Just like Naruto, I hate genjutsu and never use it myself. But you two know what I mean..."
Fukasaku mused for a moment before saying,
"If he really is your student, then he must know that you never use genjutsu... That could be a huge advantage."
Suddenly Shima shouted,
"No way! At our age, there's no way I'm singing a duet with you—it's too embarrassing!"
"What?" Jiraiya frowned in confusion.
As Fukasaku and Shima began arguing, Jiraiya kept fleeing until he could no longer hold back his frustration.
"Why are you mad about this?"
"At our age, there's no way I'm singing a duet—it's too embarrassing!"
Wiping sweat from his brow, Jiraiya asked Fukasaku to explain clearly.
"Our most powerful genjutsu requires us to sing to activate it—it attacks the target's brain through sound. That's why I told you to find a hiding place, since the sound will instantly reveal our location. And only when our voices blend into a specific melody will the genjutsu take effect, which takes some time. We must finish him off before he finds us."
Jiraiya's expression turned serious.
"If things go bad, you two need to hop off my shoulders right away and retreat."
Fukasaku stared at him in disbelief.
"Nonsense!" Fukasaku snapped. "Young Jiraiya, the outcome of this fight determines the future of the entire ninja world!"
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