Chapter 42: Let Me Tell You a Mythological Story
The crow's super-condensed Tailed Beast Bomb might belong to that category of lonely ultimate moves... all skills completely missed.
That's not entirely accurate either. The originally densely forested hills on the land disappeared, replaced by a huge artificial lake... Kitahara secretly praised itself; this move was truly good, very beneficial to the people.
Back in the day, a certain country was wealthy enough to use atomic weapons to build reservoirs. This move of its had a similar ingenuity, and without any radiation. The nearby residents would probably be very grateful to it, right?
However, the time to accumulate chakra was too long, and there was a certain deviation in accuracy. For now, it could only be used as a strategic nuclear weapon and still needed a lot of practice... practice...
"...Kitahara, it won't hurt Teacher Jiraiya, right..."
Uchiha Itachi acknowledged the strength of the legendary Sannin, but in the face of a natural disaster of this magnitude, capable of easily destroying a town... it was probably hard to say he would be completely unscathed.
"Caw?"
Kitahara recalled that when it released the Tailed Beast Bomb just now, it noticed a giant toad escaping. Presumably, they shouldn't have met with an accident, right?
The children gathered around Itachi, having overcome their panic, became active again, chattering about wanting to go home...
There were also some more peculiar children crying out that they were thirsty and wanted water...
Perhaps it was because they saw the groundwater rise and form a lake...
Jiraiya was relatively lucky. Because of Gamabunta's protection, he wasn't seriously injured, just had some minor internal injuries. At this moment, he was reflecting on himself.
"Silence is golden..."
The reasons he denigrated the crow daily were never the same... Just being caught in the crossfire nearly killed him; one could imagine what the center of the explosion looked like...
He had originally thought his newly accepted disciple was merely exceptionally talented, even if his learning ability was comparable to Nagato's, but no matter how he looked at it, his future achievements might still be limited.
He neither had the Sage's eyes, nor did he see any special status or talent... Sharingan? Don't be ridiculous, Jiraiya had never seen a truly powerful Uchiha!
However, that crow on his shoulder... Jiraiya had a slight suspicion. Was it really necessary to search for the so-called Child of Prophecy?
A single Tailed Beast Bomb could easily annihilate a hidden village of one of the Five Great Nations... Not listening to advice meant a natural disaster would befall...
When Jiraiya returned to the center of the battlefield, he saw Uchiha Itachi. The little boy was sitting by a campfire, telling stories to a group of little turnip heads.
Uchiha Itachi spoke earnestly. Although it was just a legendary mythological story, listening to him made it sound as if it had really happened...
"...To avenge his good friend, Houyi shot down nine suns in a row. The remaining little sun, after escaping, called himself Amaterasu-ōmikami and transformed into a crow to carefully manage the human world..."
"...Hearing that an eight-headed serpent, Yamata no Orochi, was wreaking havoc in the human world, Amaterasu ordered his subordinate Susanoo-no-Mikoto to kill Yamata no Orochi with the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi... and pulled the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi from its body..."
As Itachi spoke to this point, he pointed to the snakeskin on the ground, then tapped the Kusanagi sword in his hand... It made Jiraiya's brow twitch...
The children on the side all expressed their shock!
"Wow, this sword was just found in this snake's body!"
"Is it Yamata no Orochi?"
"It must be! Didn't we just see this sword being pulled out of its corpse!"
"..."
The story Uchiha Itachi was telling was rather strange...
Jiraiya was in no mood to correct the story's inaccuracies. He merely walked forward with bloodshot eyes and excitedly stroked the snakeskin, "Orochimaru... Hmm? So he didn't die after all..."
Was he hoping he died... or hoping he didn't?
Jiraiya clearly knew the principle behind Orochimaru's Great Snake Body Replacement Technique. By consuming a large amount of chakra, a new body was hatched, like a snake shedding its skin...
This remaining snakeskin was left by the Great Snake Body Replacement Technique. It seemed that fellow might have escaped... Facing an unknown danger, how could he possibly stay behind...
When Uchiha Itachi and the children were searching the battlefield, they found the long, shed snakeskin, and unexpectedly, they found a Kusanagi sword inside it. Thus, a knowledge lecture began...
He told a jumbled story, a mishmash of the mythological tale Uchiha Fugaku had recounted, which Kitahara had then told him.
Facts fully proved one thing: no matter what the actual truth was, any story coming out of Uchiha Itachi's mouth was nonsense...
Uchiha Itachi looked at him worriedly, "Teacher Jiraiya! Are you alright!"
"Hahaha... How could I not be alright..." A trace of crimson flowed from the corner of Jiraiya's mouth as he laughed heartily. He quickly wiped it away awkwardly and said with feigned composure, "How are you all?"
"Because Kitahara protected us, none of us were seriously injured, but..." Itachi's brow furrowed, and he said in a low voice, "Manda probably escaped by dispelling the summoning jutsu!"
Jiraiya: "..."
So, Orochimaru used the Great Snake Body Replacement Technique to recover from his injuries, and Manda dispelled the summoning jutsu and returned to Ryuchi Cave...
Which meant that the most miserable outcome of this Tailed Beast Bomb was actually him and Gamabunta?
Who had they offended? Especially Gamabunta; it arrived the latest but suffered the heaviest injuries...
And with its current injuries, having returned on its own, the toads of Mount Myoboku would have a psychological shadow over Jiraiya's summoning calls.
"That huge explosion just now, was it done by that crow master you brought? How is it now?" Jiraiya searched for the crow... Unsure if he wanted to argue or apologize...
"It's too late, Kitahara is really too sleepy..." Uchiha Itachi carefully pointed to the crow sleeping soundly beside him, "So I let it sleep..."
Kitahara, curled up asleep, seemed to be dreaming about something. It turned over, looking as if nothing had happened. Its sleep quality was very good.
"...Let it rest well... After all, it used such a powerful technique..." Jiraiya shook his head helplessly, "Itachi, it seems I don't need to help you find a summoned ninja beast anymore..."
Moreover, Jiraiya believed Mount Myoboku probably didn't welcome them now, and he didn't dare share a summoning contract with Uchiha Itachi anymore...
This move was too deadly!
He didn't want Mount Myoboku to be blown to smithereens by a somewhat jealous Kitahara over such a small matter...
Mount Myoboku.
Things here were indeed about to be turned upside down.
Fukasaku and Shima saw their son go to Jiraiya's place in a flurry and return in an even greater rush... But his condition was very poor.
Blood was everywhere... on the verge of life and death...
As long as he didn't die, with the vitality and recovery ability of Mount Myoboku toads, he would soon be up and about, catching insects again.
Shima even started to worry about their contractor, "Did little Jiraiya encounter a strong enemy? Old man, let's go take a look..."
"Don't go!" Gamabunta firmly stopped the two elderly toads, "That crow is too strong! The injuries on my body are just from being on the periphery of its attack... If I had accidentally gotten too close..."
Fukasaku looked at his old wife with suspicion, then questioned his son, "What exactly happened to you all? Periphery?
"You're not trying to tell me you started running away as soon as you got to little Jiraiya's place, are you?"
"..." Gamabunta was a bit troubled. Because his father was telling the truth, he didn't know how to describe that danger to his parents. Maybe he should ask Jiraiya to come over sometime?
It seemed... he could have brought Jiraiya back just now...
No, he should have brought Jiraiya back to Mount Myoboku the moment that Tailed Beast Bomb fell!
(End of this chapter)