Hiruzen The Professor!

On Jiraiya's side, they had already noticed that the Kumo ninjas were approaching. The four of them sped up. As one of the Sannin, he wasn't afraid of a direct confrontation. The problem was that he was carrying an important item, which meant he couldn't fight at full strength.

If a real fight broke out now, it would put them at a disadvantage. More importantly, there was Tsunade, she wasn't in good condition. Though she hadn't said anything, he could easily sense something was wrong.

Still, the fight was now unavoidable. Ahead of them was a trap. They had been caught up by Kumo ninjas.

"Naruto! Stop!" Jiraiya shouted, halting Naruto, who was at the front and lacked experience.

"What is it, Pervy Sage?" Naruto stopped as instructed and entered a state of alert.

Shizune silently set down the little pig, Tonton, and her right hand quietly reached for her ninja tool pouch behind her waist.

Tsunade crossed her arms, frowning deeply. "You were right. The Kumo ninjas really have gone insane."

Her voice carried obvious displeasure, not aimed at Jiraiya, but at the reckless actions of their enemy.

In front of them was a trap made of explosive tags and chakra threads. One wrong step would set off a chain reaction of explosions.

"Your perception is impressive." A dark-skinned man with dead-fish eyes and a giant sword appeared. His demeanor somewhat resembled Kakashi's. It was none other than Darui, the right-hand man of the Raikage.

He scratched his head lazily. "Man, this is a pain… but since the Raikage gave the order…"

He slowly raised his massive sword. "You'll have to hand over the Nine-Tails jinchūriki."

At the same time, dozens of Kumo ninjas appeared, flashing into view atop the surrounding trees. Each held different kinds of ninja tools, encircling Jiraiya's group.

Tsunade snorted coldly. "Just you lot?"

Numbers didn't mean much against the Sannin. The reason they held prestige far beyond other Kage-level ninjas wasn't just due to their strength, they had each made contracts with strong summoning beasts. Each of their summons had the power to influence the tide of large-scale battles.

"Of course it's not just us," Darui said, curling his lips into a meaningful smile. "After all, we're up against the Sannin..."

Before he even finished speaking, a thunderous roar echoed from the distance, followed by the crashing sound of trees falling. A massive figure was approaching at breakneck speed!

"That's... the Raikage?!" Shizune gasped.

Jiraiya's pupils shrank. Things were looking bad. At this rate, he might not be able to keep Naruto safe. They had to end this quickly.

Almost simultaneously, Darui and the Kumo jonin launched their attack.

"Tsunade! Buy me time! Naruto, take care of yourself!" Jiraiya shouted, starting to form hand seals.

"I know!"

"Don't worry, Pervy Sage! I'm really strong now!"

At the same moment, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Naruto began forming seals.

A puff of smoke erupted.

Jiraiya and Naruto stood proudly atop the massive head of Gamabunta.

Naruto held a staff in hand and said to it, "Enma-jiji, I'll be counting on you."

An eye popped out from the staff. "It's been a long time since I've seen a scene like this."

Tsunade stood atop the equally massive slug Katsuyu. After instructing Shizune to "take care of yourself," she leapt down and rushed toward the oncoming Raikage.

Boom!

The sound of their fists colliding echoed like thunder, followed by a shockwave so strong that entire trees fell in unison and layers of rock were torn up from the ground.

Gamabunta spat out his water gunshot while Katsuyu sprayed acid to keep the Kumo jonin at bay.

Darui narrowly dodged a splash of acid that would have melted anything it touched, and at the same time used Black Panther to block gunshots that was headed for several Kumo ninjas. Staring at the enormous toad and slug, he couldn't help but mutter, "So this is the power of the Sannin..."

To most conventional ninja, the Sannin's summoning beasts were no different from the tailed beasts in terms of threat level.

Naruto, standing atop Gamabunta's head, was itching to jump into the fight. Jiraiya, while channeling chakra and continuing to form hand seals, stopped him. "Don't act rashly. You're their target this time. Just protecting yourself is enough, this battlefield is still too much for you."

Enma also spoke up, "Listen to Jiraiya. If things go bad, use the Adamantine Prison Wall."

Jiraiya smiled, his expression turning proud. "Naruto, now I'll show you the ultimate secret technique of Jiraiya the Toad Sage! This is why the old man used to say I'm the strongest of the Sannin."

"The Sage Mode?!" Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at Jiraiya.

Just then, two elderly toads appeared on Jiraiya's shoulders. Jiraiya greeted them, "Ma, Pa, long time no see."

He had now fully entered Sage Mode, with distinct markings on his face and his nose transformed into that of a toad.

Naruto watched in awe as Jiraiya's chakra surged visibly and dramatically.

"Naruto, I'm going to assist Tsunade. Take care of Shizune."

That was Jiraiya's final instruction, clearly, in his eyes, Naruto was now far stronger than Shizune.

He leapt down into battle. He had to bring this to a quick end, he could tell that Tsunade's condition wasn't right.

"A Sannin? You're nothing compared to Minato!" The Raikage laughed wildly, taunting as his entire body burst with blinding lightning. His lightning armor crackled loudly, and in a flash he broke the sound barrier, ripping the air apart with a sonic boom.

"Then try not dodging!" Tsunade's hair flew behind her as more strength gathered in her right fist. The ground under her feet collapsed with a thunderous crack. A single punch could carve a crater several meters deep, like a meteor strike. In today's shinobi world, no one could take that punch head-on.

But the Raikage's speed was terrifying. He transformed into lightning and evaded, circling around to attack her blind spot. Yet, waiting for him was another powerful punch.

He flickered again, a streak of blue light appearing at Tsunade's side, his hand formed into a blade aiming for her neck. She ducked instinctively, almost as if she had predicted it, then twisted and slammed a powerful elbow into his ribs.

The Raikage was faster than her, but she wasn't someone who could be overwhelmed so easily.

Now that Minato was dead, the Raikage could be considered the fastest ninja alive. Unfortunately, that made him a poor matchup for Tsunade, a close-range fighter. To counter a speedster like him, you either needed to be faster, like Minato, or use area-control techniques to gain an advantage.

Put simply, all of Tsunade's effective attacks were dodged. She lacked the kind of field-dominating ninjutsu that could counteract speed.

So, on the flip side, she was a bad matchup for the Raikage too. His lightning armor might as well be paper against her punch. If she landed even a single hit, he'd be seriously injured. That meant the Raikage had no choice but to rely entirely on speed to dodge. And even when he landed hits, her regeneration could outpace the damage he dealt. To beat someone like Tsunade, high attack and high health, you either needed overwhelming burst damage or battlefield control to stack debuffs over time. And unfortunately, both of these brute-force fighters lacked that.

But for Tsunade, it was actually better if she didn't seriously injure the Raikage. If he started coughing up blood, it might trigger her psychological trauma. Her own bleeding wasn't a problem, she healed fast enough anyway.

What a pain in the ass, they both thought at the same time.

I'll have to rely on backup… Hasn't Jiraiya finished yet?

Where the hell is B? I need backup...

At that moment, two powerful attacks enough to split mountains collided violently.

"Mini Tailed Beast Ball!"

"Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!"

A shockwave rippled outward in all directions. Every tree within fifty meters was uprooted, and broken stones blasted out like cannonballs.

"Bro, I'm here!"

"Tsunade, switch out!"