The Great Toad Sage appeared.
It landed behind Jiraiya and placed a massive webbed hand over his wounded shoulder.
A faint emerald glow spread outward.
Jiraiya's injury healed at visible speed.
"Take this talisman," the Sage said, expelling a sealing tag from its mouth. "Revive Fukasaku and Shima."
Jiraiya nodded and vanished to retrieve them—
Then froze.
The talisman was gone.
He spun around.
"Drake!"
Drake calmly slipped the talisman into his robe.
"A thing like this," he said lightly, "is wasted on you."
Minato stepped closer to Drake, speaking low.
"Be careful. Your scrolls should still be inside the Sage."
"Oh right."
Drake tapped his forehead.
"The scrolls."
He smiled at the Sage.
"Return my property."
"When you're dead," the Sage replied evenly, exhaling smoke, "I'll return it."
A scroll slid from its mouth.
Minato's expression shifted.
"That's the Tree World Emergence scroll."
"Mm."
Drake watched quietly.
"If you're not going to act," he said mildly, "I will."
The Great Toad Sage unfurled the scroll.
"Let your own Wood Release defeat you."
The seal broke.
In an instant—
Massive chakra surged underground, spreading in every direction.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Forests erupted across Mount Myōboku.
Trees lashed wildly outward.
The Sage exhaled, confident.
Drake stood with arms folded.
Minato remained still.
Only Jiraiya sensed something was wrong.
He quietly formed hand seals—
Too late.
A tree shot up beneath him and bound his legs.
In seconds he was wrapped like a cocoon.
"…What?!"
The Sage's pipe fell from its mouth.
Across Mount Myōboku—
Hundreds of toads were lifted into the air, strangled by trees.
Even colossal ones were hoisted upside down.
"What is happening?"
"Why are the trees attacking us?!"
Drake sighed softly.
"Apparently you forgot."
The Sage's eyes widened.
"…Your ability."
Too late.
The Wood Release scroll did not obey it.
It obeyed Drake.
His control suppressed and overrode it instantly.
"You only remembered after your kin were nearly extinct?" Drake raised a brow.
Minato almost laughed.
The Sage inhaled deeply.
"One mistake."
Its voice turned cold.
"You will not survive the second."
Another scroll appeared.
This one bore a black sphere insignia.
Minato's face changed.
"Drake—"
Drake's eyes narrowed slightly.
The Sage smirked.
"Afraid?"
"At this distance, how will you withstand a Tailed Beast Bomb?"
Minato suddenly vanished.
"Drake. I'll get clear. Dodge it."
He was already far away.
He recognized the scroll.
It wasn't a Tailed Beast Bomb.
It was Drake's Chibaku Tensei.
Drake looked at the Sage calmly.
"I bet… you don't dare open it."
"Begging for your life?" the Sage mocked.
It tore the seal open.
A small black sphere floated into the air.
The Sage frowned.
"…Why is it so small?"
It felt—
Familiar.
Drake vanished.
"Good luck."
The black sphere rose higher—
And then—
Gravity exploded outward.
The Sage's eyes widened in horror.
"…Chibaku Tensei!"
A thousand years ago it had watched Hagoromo seal Kaguya with this very technique.
Now—
It had unleashed it itself.
Mount Myōboku's landmass began ripping apart.
Chunks of earth flew upward.
The Sage struggled violently.
"I still have a chance!"
Another scroll burst from its mouth—
The Thousand-Armed Buddha seal.
It tore it open.
Chakra surged.
A colossal statue formed in midair.
"Quick—send me down!"
The Buddha grabbed the Sage—
And hurled it directly into the black core.
"…You damned fool!"
Drake shook his head.
"Strategic intelligence: zero."
He stepped underground briefly—
And dragged Jiraiya out by the collar.
"You found me?" Jiraiya gasped.
"Is that your final sentence?" Drake asked calmly.
"Wait—Minato is your teacher—"
Drake leaned close and whispered.
"I heard you like Tsunade. Don't worry. I'll take over after you're gone."
Jiraiya's face twisted.
Drake continued softly.
"You have three other students, right? Yahiko. Konan. Nagato."
Jiraiya's pupils shrank.
"…What do you plan to do?"
"What do you think?"
Drake smiled faintly.
Then he tossed Jiraiya upward.
"You're so loyal to Mount Myōboku."
"It would be disrespectful not to let you accompany it."
Jiraiya's scream vanished into the sky—
Pulled straight into the growing gravitational core.
Above—
Mount Myōboku collapsed inward.
The land, the caves, the forest—
All consumed.
Drake watched quietly.
A new satellite formed in the sky.
And Mount Myōboku ceased to exist.
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