"Are we really going to do this!?"
"Why can't you just drop us off halfway?"
High up in the sky, Yugito shouted against the roaring wind.
If she didn't, her voice simply wouldn't carry, even though the others were right next to her.
At this moment, Naruto and the others were all wearing parachutes provided by Jiraiya.
Although these parachutes, still in their packed state, were made of ink, their toughness was quite reliable.
Karin, flying below, faithfully carried out Naruto's instructions and even canceled the wind barrier that usually shielded everyone.
Hence, the scene at the beginning.
"Stop nagging! Jump!"
"Woo-hoo!"
Naruto and B, like overgrown children, ran up excitedly and jumped straight off the giant bird's back.
Sasuke and Jiraiya exchanged a helpless look but didn't spoil the fun, following suit and leaping downwards.
Four figures quickly disappeared into the sea of clouds.
"Hey… Yugito-nee, get ready!"
Even though her Tailed Beast was a 'cat', Yugito, who was afraid of heights, heard Karin's words from below and immediately became flustered.
"Karin! Not yet! Wait! Let me mentally prepare myself!"
To be honest, this was also the first time Karin had seen the usually gentle big sister Yugito look so discomposed.
At first, when she saw such a charming, curvaceous big sister approaching Naruto, she had felt somewhat resistant.
But Yugito, this big sister who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, had slowly won Karin's trust through their interactions.
She had even used an honorific like '-nee' for someone other than Naruto for the first time.
You know, even when facing Jiraiya, Karin didn't always address him as 'sensei'.
After all, it's Jiraiya… those who know, know.
When he's serious, he's trustworthy, but when he's not...
It was already giving him some respect that she didn't call him a 'perverted old man'.
Yugito took deep breaths, unsure if it was because the oxygen at this altitude was too thin, making her heart feel like it was pounding.
"Ready... Three, two, one!"
As the countdown ended, Karin quickly transformed back into her human form and plummeted downwards alongside the horrified Yugito.
"Woo… This is too much fun!"
B and Naruto kept falling, heading straight for the summit of a tall mountain.
The reason they opted for parachuting was twofold.
On one hand, the volcano that was their destination was indeed very high, and the temperature was scorching. Climbing all the way up from the foot of the mountain would be time-consuming, laborious, and would make them sweat profusely.
On the other hand, it was simply for fun.
As the saying goes-
When more than three men gather, an [Idea King] might automatically be born.
Unfortunately, both Naruto and B fit the bill.
Therefore, even though Karin could have flown them directly to the summit, these two guys proposed another plan.
Aerial insertion.
Coincidentally, the mountain peaks were somewhat far apart, so the six of them split into three pairs, each responsible for searching one volcano.
Perhaps because they were highly skilled and bold, or perhaps simply unafraid of falling to their deaths.
Naruto and B still showed no intention of opening their parachutes even when they were only about two hundred meters from the ground.
You should know, the general safe altitude for parachuting is around five hundred to eight hundred meters.
Of course, this is the Ninja World, and not many people know about parachuting knowledge.
Perhaps the late Soragakure's leader, Shinno, would have known.
There seemed to be an unspoken tacit agreement between the two… whoever opened their parachute first was the coward.
Watching the slowly smoking volcanic crater get closer and closer, it was finally B who couldn't hold back any longer and pulled the ripcord on his parachute pack.
Whoosh-
The parachute canopy opened rapidly. B's weight made the ink-drawn suspension lines creak, but they barely held without breaking.
From this, it's not hard to see that Jiraiya hadn't been slacking off in developing his Devil Fruit's abilities during this time.
The precision and durability of his creations had improved.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Naruto laughed heartily as he watched B quickly recede in his field of vision.
Thud!
The next moment, his entire body slammed heavily into the mountain rock.
After the dust settled, a hand pierced through the rock layer, reaching out from the mountainside.
Then, Naruto pulled himself 'out' of the mountain as if nothing had happened.
He flashed a big grin at B above.
'I won!'
It's worth noting that Naruto didn't cheat by using the Ultralight-Weight Rock Technique.
He took this impact head-on.
B, slowly descending, twitched his mouth.
At this moment, the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, also complains in his heart:
"B, you idiot, that kid isn't afraid of falling to his death. Why are you competing with him?"
"Such a miscalculation, Naruto's body is rock-hard, solid as a rock! Yo!"
B landed slowly, then took out his wallet from his pocket, pulled out a small stack of bills, and placed it in Naruto's hand.
He paid his bet fairly.
Sometimes, bets between men are just that inexplicable.
On the other side, Karin, Sasuke, and the others also landed on their respective volcanoes.
With entertainment over, it's time to get down to business.
Compared to Naruto, who had already scanned the entire mountain with his Observation Haki before even landing, the sensing abilities of Karin and Sasuke were somewhat lacking.
As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, Karin had inherited the innate sensory attribute.
But because her development time was short, or rather, because she focused more on combat training, her sensory range was limited to a certain area and couldn't cover the entire mountain.
As for Sasuke, his Observation Haki might be useful in combat, but it was practically useless for large-scale searches.
Fortunately, Naruto's arrangements were quite reasonable. Both Yugito and Jiraiya were well-equipped to handle this task.
"There's no Tailed Beast's aura here."
While slowly descending through the air, the frightened big sister Yugito finally managed to calm her emotions.
After landing, she communicated with the Two-Tails, Matatabi, inside her.
Tailed Beasts could sense each other, even when sealed inside a Jinchuriki.
Using this, Yugito could also sense the possible presence of other Jinchuriki nearby.
None here.
And none on Naruto's side either.
"Ninja Art: Canopy Method Formation."
Jiraiya formed hand seals and performed his secret barrier technique.
An invisible spherical barrier began to rapidly expand around him as the center.
Jiraiya could freely control the size of this barrier, and any object enveloped by it would enter his field of vision.
In a non-combat state, Jiraiya could expand the barrier to an exaggerated extent, and covering the entire mountain was only a matter of time.
"A strong Chakra reaction! Found it!"
Jiraiya opened his eyes and said in a low voice.
"Where?"
Sasuke immediately entered a combat stance.
In his view, since it was their first meeting, they would inevitably have to exchange blows before talking.
One could say that a certain someone's way of thinking was subtly influencing him.
"North-east direction, about a hundred and fifty meters down the mountainside, there's a cave."
Before Jiraiya even finished speaking, Sasuke had already transformed into Huodou and rushed off.