"Roar!!!"
A thunderous roar exploded through the corridor.
A towering figure burst forward, charging straight at the two shinobi.
Jiraiya and Senju Hashirama could clearly see the savage contortion on Shura's face—his eyes wild, unfocused, barely human.
Shura swung a colossal fist toward Jiraiya.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and countered with a punch of his own. He needed to gauge this man's strength—this thing that appeared to be an experimental subject, possibly of Uzumaki descent.
The pressure he felt from Shura was real, but not overwhelming.
That small discrepancy fed Jiraiya's confidence.
And gathering intel from battle had always been his specialty—learn the enemy's strength, weaknesses, progress of experimentation… maximize the gains from every exchange.
Their fists collided.
A shockwave rippled outward, invisible but brutal.
Jiraiya was blasted backward. He twisted mid-air, letting the force dissipate along his body before landing. His eyebrows knit tightly.
From just that brief clash…
This monster's raw physical power was terrifying—stronger than the Raikage from a few years back.
Given Shura's massive frame and explosive muscle density, it made sense. But even so…
On the other side, Senju Hashirama observed calmly, analyzing every detail. If he moved, this creature would not withstand even one strike—such was the confidence of the man once called the God of Shinobi.
Especially now—revived, strengthened, surpassing even his prime in combat power, though his life-level still hadn't touched Six Paths.
"Roar…!!!"
"You… come… fight…"
Shura forced out broken words, his language center clearly damaged or incomplete.
Then he lunged again.
Jiraiya shifted aside lightly. The wall behind him exploded as Shura's punch smashed straight through concrete.
Dust billowed.
The corridor was narrow, and using large-scale ninjutsu would endanger himself. Jiraiya clicked his tongue and switched fully to Taijutsu.
Thundering impacts echoed through the hallway, dust and debris falling with each blow. The corridor lights flickered and then shattered entirely, plunging the passage into dimness.
Jiraiya flexed his hand—each clash sent numbness up his arm.
His Taijutsu wasn't exceptional. Years of training had only pushed his physical strength to the Kage-level. That was no small feat—this level meant one could physically contend with a Kage-level shinobi without ninjutsu. Comparable to Might Guy opening three or four Gates.
"Let's take the fight elsewhere," Hashirama suggested lightly.
"There's a large training ground nearby."
Jiraiya blinked—right, that was in the intel he had skimmed earlier. Perfect timing.
He formed a quick string of hand signs. His hair shot outward.
"Ninja Art: Wild Lion's Mane—Hair Needle Barrage!"
His hardened hair turned to steel, lancing through Shura's skin. Thin streams of blood sprayed out.
Jiraiya immediately disengaged and sprinted down the corridor.
Shura roared hoarsely, but his wounds healed instantly—muscle stitching together at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He gave chase.
That was exactly what Jiraiya wanted.
Shura thundered down the hall. The farther they went, the narrower the corridor became.
Seven meters wide—barely enough space for Shura's five-meter body. Walls cracked and beams shattered as he ran, anything blocking his bulk destroyed instantly.
Finally, they burst into the massive training ground.
Open space.
Jiraiya turned, flashing through hand signs.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Blade Storm!"
Razor-sharp wind shredded across Shura's skin—doing absolutely nothing.
No blood.
Not even a mark.
"So tough!?" Jiraiya muttered.
"Then try this!"
"Fire Release: Toad Oil Bullet!"
Blazing flames mixed with super-combustible toad oil surged across Shura's torso. The explosion engulfed him, and Shura roared violently.
His skin flushed red, blistered from the heat. The injury wasn't severe—but the pain was immense.
And that pain only pushed him deeper into instinctive, beast-like madness.
His fingers twisted—nails extending into claws. His posture hunched. He seemed less like a man and more like a full-fledged monster.
"What the—!? What's going on!?" Jiraiya shouted.
Shura roared again, louder than before, eyes burning with feral rage—
And his killing intent spiked dramatically.
The real fight was about to begin.
Even Senju Hashirama showed a flicker of surprise.
Then his expression hardened.
This thing… this man… had already slipped past the boundaries of humanity. Now, he resembled a pure beast—mindless, instinct-driven.
To Hashirama, this was nothing short of an insult.
"Die!!!"
The voice rumbling from Shura's throat was deep, warped, and almost unrecognizable.
His speed surged again.
He slammed into the ground with monstrous force, and a crater erupted beneath his feet. The entire training ground trembled violently.
Jiraiya grimaced. That impact wasn't just noise—Shura was shaking the foundation of the entire underground base.
If this continued, the entire facility might collapse on top of them long before Shura managed to kill either one of them.
Bang!!!
Jiraiya was sent flying once more.
He crashed into a distant wall, dust exploding around him. The impact left him with minor injuries—but more importantly, it told him something crucial:
Shura's instinctual combat sense was terrifying… like a wild beast that learned and adapted with every movement.
And his regeneration—unnatural, relentless—let him ignore every wound without hesitation.
Even shinobi on the same level would be ground down eventually.
Jiraiya exhaled sharply.
Enough was enough.
He closed his eyes for a moment, pressing his hands together.
Natural energy surged.
Sage pigmentation formed around his eyes.
Sage Mode.
His entire presence shifted—stronger, steadier, sharper.
In an instant, the rhythm of the fight changed.
Earlier, Jiraiya had been forced to hold back. Large-scale ninjutsu would have brought the whole mountain crashing down on them. Even a single technique misfired in the narrow corridors could have killed him.
A collapsing mountain meant millions of tons of rock—no shinobi could come out unscathed.
That was why he had relied on Taijutsu. And in that limited space, Shura's wild, reckless fighting style had been overwhelmingly dangerous.
But now—
With Sage Mode amplifying every aspect of his body, Jiraiya intercepted Shura's charges easily.
The difference was night and day.
After several exchanges, even Shura's dim consciousness realized something frightening—
The man before him had surpassed him.
Shura let out another guttural, animalistic roar.
His eyes bled crimson.
A violent scarlet radiance erupted from his body.
His aura spiked monstrously.
He was forcefully pushing himself past his limits—
Burning his own life force.
Jiraiya formed hand signs instantly, his hair bristling and lengthening.
"Ninja Art: Wild Lion's Mane—Hair Needle Binding!"
But before the hardened strands could fully coil around Shura—
Crack!
With a single roar, Shura's aura flared so violently that the steel-like hair snapped apart, shredded instantly.
Jiraiya's breath caught.
This… this was no longer simple regeneration.
This was a suicidal power-up—one that crushed the user's body and mind in exchange for overwhelming, temporary strength.
His pupils shrank.
"He's… burning his life force!?"
Jiraiya's face turned grim.
The real danger had just begun.