When the dense cloud of smoke disappeared, the massive toad, Gamabunta, stood on the battlefield. "What's the big idea calling me here in this empty place, Jiraiya?!" Gamabunta then watched as Arthur flicked his weapon away. "I don't like the looks of things."
"As you can see," Jiraiya answered, standing atop its head, "I'm facing a pretty tough opponent, so I could use your assistance."
Arthur flexed his fingers, undeterred by the new arrival. "You should have summoned more…"
"Huh?!" Gamabunta uttered, feeling provoked. Then, in a giant leap, he soared into the sky before landing directly on top of Arthur, creating a crash that sent up a cloud of dust and dirt. "That'll teach this runt."
For a moment, it seemed like the tide was about to shift. But Arthur was no pushover.
'Chakra-enhanced strength…'
Suddenly, both Jiraiya and Gamabunta became equally shocked as the massive toad was gradually rising from the ground. Arthur was holding up Gamabunta with one hand!
"There's no way he's that strong!" Jiraiya exclaimed.
"You call this thing heavy?" Arthur menacingly said.
Before Gamabunta could react, Arthur's foot shot up.
Boom!
The force was enough to send the giant toad stumbling forward. Using its webbed feet, it managed to plant itself back safely on the ground. The look of confusion and anger crossed its face. The giant toad had no other choice but to take his enemy seriously now.
So it drew out its giant short sword and aimed a slash at Arthur.
'Summoning jutsu…'
Boom!
"¡Sorpresa!" Koko yelled, catching the massive blade.
While she struggled to hold it in place, Arthur's tone was calm: "Como lo ensayamos, ese sapo gigante usa aceite y agua para luchar."
"Rodger, papá!"
Jiraiya's eyes flared upon sensing an incoming orchestrated attack. "Quick, Gamabunta, fall back!" The toad, therefore, reeled in his weapon and leapt away. Feeling Jiraiya's chakra, it understood what he wanted to do.
"Fire style: toad flame bomb!"
Both of them released a massive combination of oil and flames that combined into larger roaring waves of fire that surged toward them.
Both Arthur and Koko synced their chakra together. "Water style: water waves."
A powerful geyser of water shot forth and… ka-splash! A thick curtain of steam obscured everything from the collision, making it nearly impossible to see.
'Tamashii…' Through the mist, Arthur launched Koko right toward where he saw Jiraiya. She was so close to hitting him until he side-stepped. 'So he can still sense her.'
launched herself toward Jiraiya, aiming to land a hit. Yet Jiraiya sensed her and dodged at the last second. Once he landed on Gamabunta's back, Arthur darted behind him and kicked him in Koko's direction.
"I got you this time!" Koko yelled. But Jiraiya twisted his body, once again avoiding another attack. "Ah, come on!"
"You're a monkey, I see," Jiraiya said, dodging more attacks. Koko's appearance vaguely reminded Jiraiya of Enma, but the Sannin wasn't too sure because of her energetic personality. Then he felt the mist move. "Ugh!"
"Too late," Arthur said from behind.
Bang!
Jiraiya was kicked off of Gamabunta's head.
"Deal with the toad," Arthur ordered.
"Rodger, papá!"
By the time Jiraiya recovered below, he saw an incoming Arthur from within the mist.
Bang!
The two clashed forearms. Jiraiya attempted to knock Arthur off his feet, but Arthur lifted his leg, blocking the attempt. Then Arthur grabbed Jiraiya's wrists and spun him several feet away.
'Ice style: wolf fang avalanche…'
Just as Jiraiya flipped mid-air, a pack of ice wolves was seen coming toward him. "Ninja art: needle jizō!" His white mane quickly hardened and twisted into jagged spikes that covered his whole body. Not a single one of the wolves could penetrate.
'So that's what he's doing?' Arthur thought, seeing through Jiraiya's hair.
On the other side of the battlefield, Koko and Gamabunta were going at each other.
"You're one idiot frog!" Koko teased as she dodged yet another one of Gamabunta's slashes.
"I'm a toad, you stupid hyena!"
Just as its sword came down, Arthur teleported in front of Koko and stopped it with his palm. The two struggled there for a second as his arms trembled. Then, with a burst of strength, Arthur pushed the sword slightly to the side.
'Ice style: white whale jutsu...'
A giant whale made of ice burst from the earth that towered over everything in sight. Gamabunta's eyes widened as it came crashing down.
Ka-boom!
The impact was so devastating that the giant toad poofed right back to Mt. Myōboku, leaving nothing but a pile of snow across the battlefield.
Koko coughed as things were cleared. "But I was having fun with the frog, daddy."
The problem, however, wasn't at all Gamabunta; it was still Jiraiya. Arthur chose to clear that summoning animal out quickly because Jiraiya had summoned two more toads while still inside the Needle Jizo.
"Be on your guard," Arthur said in Spanish. "Because your next opponents are more dangerous."
Koko looked up at him in confusion to ask why. Never had she seen him this serious before.
Finally lowering his Needle Jizo, Jiraiya stepped into view. Standing atop his shoulders were none other than Fukasaku and Shima, the two small elder toads who served in Mt. Myōboku. More importantly, they were the only two he just used to enter his Toad Sage Mode.
They were exactly as Arthur remembered: Shima had a green underside with purple markings around her mouth and back, and her head resembled a hair net with hair rollers underneath, giving her an old woman-like look.
Fukasaku was a green toad with white hair styled in a mohawk, thick eyebrows, and a small goatee; he also wore a cape.
Then there was Jiraiya's appearance; he had become more toad-like, with visible warts, elongated hands and feet, and frog-like legs. Imperfect or not, Arthur could already sense the immaculate change; Jiraiya truly looked like a force of nature ready to face whatever challenge came his way.
"Jiraiya-boy, that fella over there defeated Gamabunta a little too easily," Shima softly said.
"That just means we'll have to go all out," Fukasaku added.
"My thoughts exactly," Jiraiya said in a more serious tone.
Then he lunged, breaking the earth. His shin moved faster than the untrained eye could follow.
Swoosh!
Koko, quick as lightning, jumped right in front of Arthur to block. But the instant Jiraiya's shin made contact with her, Arthur could already see puff clouds around her; she was about to be sent back to the Cayman Jungles.
Ka-wish!
Jiraiya's kick missed Arthur by mere fractions. Koko herself had vanished in a single hit that hadn't even finished. And had that hit actually landed on Arthur, no doubt he would have suffered major damage.
Jiraiya's webbed feet touched the ground, letting Shima use her own technique: "Creature detection jutsu!"
Her tongue reshaped into a face with eyes and a mouth and then snaked toward Arthur.
Shing!
It caught him.
"Now, Jiraiya-boy!" The Sannin went in for another powerful shin kick. But when it connected, poof! Arthur's body had substitute with a mount of snow. Shima's eyes narrowed. "The enemy has some incredible reflexes."
"Whoever he is," Fukasaku added, "his body's not normal either."
"Obviously he's not normal!" Shima yelled. "Why else would Jiraiya-boy summon us?! Just look at his glowing eyes underneath that hood! It's bad enough we can't sense his chakra!"
"Don't go yellin' at me now, ma!"
The two elder toads then began to argue as their voices overlapped about what exactly Arthur was made of.
"Will you two stop fighting already?" Jiraiya stated, keeping his focus on the enemy.
Yet Arthur was by no means distraught. Unperturbed by their tomfoolery, he spoke, "To think you resorted to those two."
The elders suddenly stopped arguing. Their eyes snapped toward him as Fukasaku sharply said, "You're talking as if you know who we are!"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't…"
"One thing's for sure," Jiraiya said, "you're not with Orochimaru. In fact, I'm starting to believe those guys who attacked us earlier aren't either."
"What?!" Shima wondered. "You were attacked before this, Jiraiya-boy?"
"Yeah, and they were wearing the same coat as this guy."
"Good memory," Arthur said, slowly bending down to a knee. "But your Sage Mode won't be enough to handle this."
'Summoning jutsu…'
A large puff of cloud emerged. Neither of the toad sages could sense who Arthur had summoned. But in front of them, they could see five of the same silhouettes.
"We're impressed, Jiraiya," said a commanding voice from the smoke. "To think you'd have our lord summon us this early," another hissed. "It was to be expected," a calmer tone surmised. When the smoke finally cleared, four cloaked figures stood beside Arthur. "Then we'll just have to take him down the old-fashioned way…"
Jiraiya scratched his nose. He was honestly just wondering if Tayuya was among them. "Look alive, you two. The last time he summoned someone, they had the Sharingan."
"You're serious?!" Fukasaku questioned.
Now Arthur was beyond mysterious to them. And whoever these new arrivals were, they couldn't tell what to expect.
"Were you all watching?" Arthur asked them.
"We were," John obliged.
"And…?"
"They won't be too hard," Hoshikaze answered.
At that, Hoshikaze charged in with his leg out. But Jiraiya was still faster; he bent back just in time. Kaito and Ryugetsu moved in for close-range taijutsu, but when they closed the distance, Jiraiya began dodging each of their strikes. Ryugetsu jumped to distract the Sannin, but Shima forced him away with her extended tongue.
"Now, pa!" she screamed.
Fukasaku quickly released a slick oil from his mouth, which landed on Kaito. This gave Jiraiya a chance to breathe, so he kicked that clone back before leaping away to create some distance.
"How was it?" Hoshikaze asked Kaito after the latter recovered.
"I wouldn't want to be hit like that again…"
When Kaito stood straight up, he held his side to heal it. Arthur could see a small rupture within that clone's ribcage. He was wise to have summoned them here and stay prepared for this fight. That was because Jiraiya was much, much stronger than initially perceived.
Just like Itachi and Kisame, this Sannin had been pushed beyond his usual limits—his skills and his power were on a whole different level than written about. So much so that his imperfect Toad Sage Mode was physically stronger than Margaret's Slug Sage Mode and perhaps even beyond Arthur's own Simian Sage Mode.
"It seems like Jiraiya's been buffed," Hoshikaze stated.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Shima scolded, "but we're not bluffing anything in this fight."
"He said 'buff,'" Fukasaku corrected. "Not 'bluff,' ya old coot."
"Don't start now, pa!"
All the clones used this moment to regroup. 'Smoke style: smokescreen…' A giant puff of cloud shrouded them before filling the area. The sage toads couldn't distinguish it.
"Be on your guard, Jiraiya-boy!"
"I know. Don't have to tell me twice."
Suddenly, the smoke parted slightly and revealed Hoshikaze charging with a large broadsword. From the side, Ryugetsu was preparing a water-style technique. And from behind, John had an icy aura emanating from his body.
Jiraiya first dodged Hoshikaze's weapon. Then he turned and tanked Ryugetsu's Water Dragon. Fuksaku himself let out a toad shriek to blow away incoming ice shards.
"Have some more," John said, "Ice style: a thousand needles of death…"
From the snow, a large amount of thin, icicle needles hovered over the toad sages. Jiraiya quickly took off running. The attack began impaling the ground until he finally stopped and spun himself so fast that he began deflecting the ice.
Ching-ching-ching-ching-ching!
The instant he slowed down, Hoshikaze tried to cleave his torso. Yet Shima's tongue stopped the blade, allowing Jiraiya to punch the clone square in the gut.
Bang!
Hoshikaze was instantly forced back several paces before landing next to John. And on his belly was a wound so deep that it was caved in. Harming Kaito was one thing, but to have damaged Hoshikaze's body was impressive. Only the best of the best could have managed that.
"That's one down!" Fukasaku declared.
Then John knelt down and touched the hole created where Hoshikaze was hit. The clone's flesh was stitched together, and he got right back up as if never injured.
"Looks like you spoke too soon," Jiraiya commented.
"At least we know one thing," Shima added, "they can be injured."
The clones understood why they hadn't yet been able to overwhelm the Sannin: Jiraiya was fighting with two elder toads, keeping him stable. As for Arthur, who had sat back the entire time, he had collected what he needed: how much battle prowess he had against a Sannin.
From the beginning, he was never trying to kill Jiraiya; he was simply using this moment to test himself and how much his clones could accomplish together. And now that he had, it was time to end things.