Hanzo's words made Jiraiya's expression turn grim. His original intention had been to clear up the misunderstanding peacefully—if a fight could be avoided, then it absolutely should be.
After all, Hanzo's reputation wasn't just talk.
Back then, even when he teamed up with Orochimaru and Tsunade, the three of them couldn't defeat Hanzo. Now that he was alone—even though he had grown stronger—he still didn't have the confidence to win.
Unfortunately, Hanzo had already summoned the giant salamander Ibuse. At this point, a battle was inevitable.
There was no way they would allow themselves to be captured. If they had to fight, then so be it.
Hanzo moved swiftly. The moment Ibuse appeared, it suddenly opened its massive mouth and released a wide-spreading poison mist.
This was an even more potent toxin than the poison Hanzo exhaled himself.
During the Second Great Ninja War, this very technique had once caused devastating damage to Konoha's forces.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
At the critical moment, Aoshi unleashed a violent gust of wind from his mouth. To ensure the poison mist was fully dispersed, he held nothing back—expending the last of his remaining chakra.
A fierce gale erupted instantly, blowing the toxic mist expelled by Ibuse completely back.
Ibuse itself was, of course, immune to its own poison.
As for Hanzo, he quickly reattached the mask he had just removed and remained unaffected by the returning mist.
"Nice job, Aoshi." Jiraiya praised him, then formed a hand seal to summon a beast.
Poof! With a puff of white smoke, a massive red toad, no smaller than Ibuse, appeared on the battlefield.
The toad held a giant pipe in its mouth, wore a bandage around its waist, and carried a short sword at its side. It was none other than Gamabunta of Mount Myoboku.
"Jiraiya, why are you fighting Hanzo the Salamander again?" The moment Gamabunta saw Hanzo and Ibuse, he was reminded of the battle they once had in the Land of Rain—a memory not easily forgotten.
"There's no time to explain, Bunta. Use that technique—now!"
As Jiraiya's summoning beast, Gamabunta immediately understood his intent. He opened his mouth and spewed oil, while Jiraiya followed up with flames.
Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!
The ultimate oil-fueled inferno—their combination technique—was far more powerful than the standard Great Flame Bullet. A massive wave of flaming oil roared toward Hanzo and Ibuse.
Hanzo responded with calm precision—forming hand seals and using: Water Release: Water Formation Wall!
With this, he effortlessly blocked the Toad Oil Flame Bomb.
While Jiraiya and Hanzo exchanged high-level jutsu, Aoshi took out a Soldier Pill and swallowed it.
This was a reward he had previously obtained from a blue orb—a staple food pill for shinobi during combat that could quickly replenish chakra.
Of course, with Aoshi's current chakra capacity, one pill wasn't enough to restore him fully. But it was sufficient to recover some of his combat power.
Still, the maximum dosage per day was three pills.
Any more than that, and it would lead to side effects, like overeating hard rations and being unable to digest them.
Feeling his chakra gradually returning, Aoshi handed Jiraiya a detox pill to prevent him from succumbing to poison in the ongoing battle.
Although Ibuse couldn't release another toxic mist for the next five minutes, Hanzo himself was still poisonous—and so was his scythe.
Jiraiya was now the main force holding Hanzo back, so any misstep could not be allowed.
Jiraiya accepted the pill without hesitation. From Aoshi, he also learned that Hanzo's weakness was located in his abdomen.
Just as Jiraiya finished swallowing the detox pill, Ibuse charged straight at them.
Gamabunta refused to back down and met Ibuse head-on. The two colossal beasts collided and began to fight fiercely.
Standing on Ibuse's head, Hanzo leapt high into the air and dashed toward Jiraiya.
Jiraiya didn't hesitate and jumped up to intercept him.
Their battle was intense—but it was clear that Hanzo held the advantage. He had always been stronger than Jiraiya, and now, taking the fight seriously, he was fighting at full strength.
Yes—when Hanzo fought Aoshi and Mikoto earlier, he had been holding back.
If he had gone all-out, the two would've been defeated in an instant.
Now, though, Jiraiya was still relatively young, and his strength and battle experience couldn't yet compare to his future self.
Although he knew Hanzo's weakness, Jiraiya made his intentions too obvious. Or at least, they were obvious from Hanzo's perspective.
Hanzo took advantage of this, deliberately exposing a flaw in his defenses. Soon, the outmatched Jiraiya fell for it. Hanzo's scythe slashed across his body.
Though the detox pill protected him from the poison, Hanzo's scythe was long and sharp—capable of piercing straight through a body.
Jiraiya managed to avoid a fatal hit, but the wound was serious. Now, already at a disadvantage, he found it even harder to defend against Hanzo's relentless assault.
He had no choice but to use the Body Flicker to retreat.
While retreating, he quickly formed hand seals and released a fireball at the pursuing Hanzo.
Hanzo didn't bother dodging. He rapidly formed seals and unleashed: Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!
A massive water dragon surged forward, instantly extinguishing the fireball and continuing straight for Jiraiya. Just as the water dragon was about to hit him, another water dragon suddenly emerged, colliding with it and neutralizing the attack.
This was Aoshi's support.
Thanks to his aid, Jiraiya was able to regain some distance and return to Aoshi's side.
There was no time to treat Jiraiya's wounds—and in this situation, healing wasn't even an option. Hanzo wasn't going to give them such a chance.
Sure enough, he charged at them again without pause.
Just as Aoshi prepared to meet Hanzo head-on, Jiraiya grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Jiraiya-sama?" Aoshi looked at him, confused—only to suddenly notice red markings appearing on Jiraiya's face.
This is... Sage Mode!
Back during the Second Great Ninja War, Jiraiya had yet to fully master Sage Mode. But after being defeated by Hanzo, he trained relentlessly for over a year—and finally succeeded in learning it.
However, his Sage Mode was still far from perfect. It required a long period of absorbing natural energy to activate.
Earlier, when he rushed over to help, there was no time to gather that energy—because it required him to remain completely still.
That was when inspiration struck him. He had used a shadow clone to absorb natural energy, and when the clone was released, he could immediately enter Sage Mode.
It had only been an experiment—but to his surprise, it actually worked.
Jiraiya was both stunned and relieved.
"Sorry, Aoshi. I was careless earlier. But now… I'll show you what I'm really capable of."
With Sage Mode activated, Jiraiya's strength surged. However, it couldn't last long. At this stage, he could only maintain it for one minute, so he didn't dare waste a second.
"Hm?" Hanzo also noticed the change in Jiraiya, but he had never seen Sage Mode before and didn't fully understand what had just happened.
As a result, when they clashed again, Hanzo was caught off guard.
Jiraiya easily dodged his attacks and landed a solid punch directly to Hanzo's chest—delivering an immense burst of power.
Hanzo's face changed dramatically at the pain in his chest, and his entire body was sent flying. When he crashed to the ground, blood was already trickling from the corner of his mouth.