Above the eastern front battlefield, the aftershocks of Chakra twisted the air.
The Jutsu unleashed by thousands of Ninja forming hand seals flowed like torrents of energy, wildly sweeping across the sky, yet they could never stop that black lightning's rampage.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
Amid Jiraiya's furious roar, a firestorm mixed with toad oil swept across the battlefield.
Yet the pitch-black monster merely tilted its body gracefully, evading the flames as if it had long known their trajectory.
"Damn it! There's clearly no fear in my heart, so why can't I hit it?" Jiraiya panted heavily. The Sage Mode patterns on his forehead were already beginning to fade.
"It seems you've understood my ability. But unfortunately, my ability doesn't only activate when you fear me." Satori said lightly.
"What do you mean?" Jiraiya frowned.
"As long as fear exists in your hearts, I am invincible." Satori looked at Orochimaru. "Like you. You fear death, fear loss. Death will make you lose all your Jutsu."
Orochimaru's expression didn't change, but deep within his pupils, there was a subtle shift. This indeed was his obsession.
"And you, you fear..." Satori shifted its gaze to Jiraiya. After peering into his heart, it let out a contemptuous sneer.
"Bastard, what are you laughing at?" Jiraiya's face darkened. He actually sensed disdain in this monster's laughter. This monster actually looked down on him.
"I just never imagined someone's fear could be this amusing." Satori chuckled. "You're actually afraid of confessing to a woman named Tsunade, scared of being rejected."
As soon as the words fell, the entire battlefield went quiet.
All the Ninja looked at Jiraiya with disbelief, never expecting this seemingly carefree sage was actually this cowardly.
The two Toad Sages on Jiraiya's shoulders, Fukasaku and Shima, helping him maintain Sage Mode, were also stunned. Being stared at by so many people, the two Toad Sages wished they could end their summoning and return to Mount Myoboku immediately.
"Bastard, what nonsense are you spouting?" Jiraiya's face flushed red. He glared and shouted, "That's completely untrue! I'm actually afraid of Tsunade confessing to me! That woman is too troublesome. I don't want to be pestered by her."
As soon as these words fell, the battlefield went quiet once again.
Jiraiya laughed heartily: "Haha, you're all impressed by the Toad Sage's majesty, right?"
However, Fukasaku patted his shoulder: "Good luck surviving this."
Then he and Shima decisively ended their summoning and returned.
A sudden ominous premonition gripped Jiraiya's heart. A familiar voice drifted eerily from behind him: "You said... you're afraid of me confessing to you?"
Jiraiya turned around with great difficulty. Sure enough, he found Tsunade had arrived with Minato and Setsuna.
"Hah, haha, I was just joking..." Before Jiraiya could finish, Tsunade's fist smashed into his face. He spun through the air, flying backwards. Minato hurried forward to catch his teacher.
Regarding this, Jiraiya wore a deeply resentful expression: "Minato, when did you plant a Flying Thunder God's mark on me?"
If Minato hadn't directly teleported Tsunade behind him, he couldn't have failed to notice.
Minato smiled slightly: "Didn't you tell me to leave the Flying Thunder God's mark, Sensei? You said in case you got caught peeping at the women's bathhouse, I could bail you out..."
"Stop! This isn't the time for that!" Jiraiya's old face flushed crimson. He felt the gazes of the Kunoichi on the battlefield grow increasingly strange, as if looking at scum. "Let's join the battle quickly. That monster is far more dangerous than we imagined."
However, Satori's reaction was even more intense than they expected.
"Chiaki Setsuna! It's you again!" It let out a near-piercing shriek, its massive wings flapping frantically. It actually turned and fled.
All the Ninja were collectively speechless. The monster they had fought bitterly for hours without inflicting a single scratch on fled in panic merely at the sight of Setsuna.
"I'll pursue the monster." Setsuna stepped into the air, his voice utterly calm. "You all hold the defensive line. Be wary of Kumogakure's sneak attack."
Satori's speed was astonishing, covering several miles in the blink of an eye.
But Setsuna's figure clung to it like a persistent parasite, always maintaining a distance of thirty yards.
Energy blasts were fired one after another. Satori had to exert its utmost to dodge each one, completely lacking the ease and grace it had shown before.
"Why? Why won't you let me go?" Satori was furious. It had tried its best to avoid him.
"You invaded Konoha, and you ask why I'm pursuing you?"
Satori vaguely sensed something and asked: "If I invaded Kumogakure instead, would you not pursue me?"
Setsuna said indifferently: "Provided you can leave alive."
Seeing Setsuna relentlessly pursue it, Satori finally grew enraged. It turned around, no longer fleeing: "Bastard! Don't think I'm truly afraid of you!"
Before its words finished, Setsuna's uppercut precisely connected with Satori's jaw.
The tremendous impact force sent the monster's head snapping backwards, its neck emitting the crisp sound of bone breaking.
'Too fast!' Satori panicked inwardly. It suspected even if it could predict the attack, its body simply couldn't react in time.
Setsuna clasped his hands together like a volleyball player and delivered a powerful spike onto Satori's head.
Satori's massive body crashed into the ground. The earth within a hundred-meter radius instantly collapsed, spiderweb-like cracks crazily spreading outward.
Struggling to climb out of the deep crater, the thought of retreat once again sprouted in Satori's heart. Its opponent was clearly more monstrous than itself.
Setsuna shook his head slightly. Another mechanic-type monster.
If its prediction ability could be restricted, many in the Ninja World could defeat this monster.
Although Setsuna intended to raise a 'monster' to enhance his own importance, he couldn't make it too obvious. He struck Satori's chest with another punch.
The moment his fist made contact, the flesh on Satori's back completely exploded. The shockwave pierced straight through its body.
"Awoo-"
Satori let out the most agonized scream of its life. Its proud regenerative ability couldn't keep up with the rate its body was being destroyed.
'Escape! Must escape!'
The instinct for survival overwhelmed all other thoughts. Satori suddenly opened all its mouths, spewing out vast amounts of black mist.
The mist congealed in the air into countless distorted human faces, emitting piercing wails.
"Taste the flavor of fear!"
This was its life-saving trump card, materializing the fear it had devoured.
Even Setsuna, facing this overwhelming tide of negative emotions, briefly lost focus.
But Satori had absolutely no thought of attacking Setsuna while he was vulnerable. It just wanted to get as far away from this monster as possible.
Satori cursed itself for not having more wings, flying desperately with all its might.
Only after Satori had fled a considerable distance did Setsuna calmly open his eyes. A speck of golden light gathered at his fingertip, terrifying energy fluctuations causing ripples in the air.
Whoosh!
A golden beam pierced through the sky. Satori didn't dodge. Its lower half was blown apart, but it used the impact force to frantically accelerate, transforming into a black streak of light and vanishing over the horizon.