Path Of War-Chapter 343: Go All Out

The giant toad's enormous form loomed over the battlefield. The stakes had risen, and every move mattered now.

"What's the big idea calling me here in this empty place, Jiraiya?!"

Suddenly, Gamabunta watched as Arthur flicked his weapon away. Whatever that sword was, it had clearly rubbed Gamabunta's senses the wrong way.

"As you can see," Jiraiya answered, "I'm facing a pretty tough opponent, so I could use your assistance."

Arthur merely flexed his fingers, saying, "You should have summoned more..."

Feeling provoked, Gamabunta took a giant leap forward after his massive legs pounded into the earth. The impact was deafening as he landed right on Arthur, creating a crash that sent up a cloud of dust and dirt.

For a moment, it seemed like the tide was about to shift.

But Arthur was no pushover; he reached out and lifted the enormous toad with one hand, as if he were holding a toy. Gamabunta's eyes widened in shock—surprise, annoyance, and perhaps a tinge of respect all across the amphibian's face.

"You call this thing heavy?" Arthur menacingly said.

Before Gamabunta could react, Arthur's foot shot up and delivered a kick right into the toad's bottom. The force was enough to send the giant amphibian stumbling forward, but he managed to regain his footing by planting his webbed feet firmly into the ground.

Arthur therefore placed his hands in his pockets, as if he'd just finished a casual stroll. To think a shinobi of this caliber existed.

The giant toad had no other choice but to take his enemy seriously now. As such, Gamabunta drew his gargantuan short sword and aimed a slash at Arthur.

'Summoning jutsu...'

Another figure appeared in front of the attack and caught the blade with her bare hands.

"¡Sorpresa!" Koko yelled.

While she held the giant sword in place with her tongue to the side, 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 reeled in his weapon as he leapt away. Feeling Jiraiya's chakra, Gamabunta 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 flames that surged toward Arthur and Koko.

Together, the two performed their own combination technique: "Water style: water waves."

A powerful geyser of water collided with the flames before creating a thick curtain of steam that obscured everything. The steam billowed and swirled, filling the air with a dense fog that made it nearly impossible to see.

Through the mist, Koko launched himself 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.

Jiraiya twisted his body, once again avoiding another attack from Koko.

"I got you this time!" Koko yelled.

Jiraiya managed to avoid the attacks by ducking and weaving through their swift teamwork. But it wasn't enough, and that managed to force him off the giant toad.

Gamabunta leapt into the air once more, causing the two to descend. The toad's massive body flipped before aiming to end things quickly.

Yet neither Koko nor Arthur seemed worried—they were too quick, too agile as they dodged the descending amphibian. Then, they launched simultaneous kicks at him that caused the giant toad to stagger.

Jiraiya recovered to see the intense exchange. Before he could form a new strategy, Arthur was seen running toward him. The two clashed forearms, yet Arthur quickly grabbed Jiraiya's wrists and spun him several feet away.

'Ice style: wolf fang avalanche...'

A pack of icy wolves formed by the water in the air came into existence and rushed toward Jiraiya's falling form. The Sannin flipped upright and focused his chakra into his hair.

"Ninja art: needle jizō!"

His white mane hardened and twisted into jagged spikes that covered him in metallic spikes. Encased in this armour of razor-sharp strands, the icy wolves were met with deadly spikes that impaled them whole.

'So he's going with that?' Arthur thought.

"You're one idiot frog!" Koko teased as she dodged yet another one of Gamabunta's strikes.

"I'm a toad, you stupid hyena!"

Just as Gamabunta was about to strike again, Arthur materialized right in front of it and stopped the giant blade with his bare hands. His expression was calm but intense as his muscles shook to keep the sword at bay.

Gamabunta's eyes widened in shock. "What the—?"

'Ice style: white whale jutsu...'

In that moment, the ground beneath them erupted with a new threat: a giant whale made of ice burst from the earth that towered over everything in sight. Then it crashed down onto Gamabunta with incredible force.

Boom!

The impact was devastating; the giant ice whale's size and weight crushed the toad beneath it, shattering the ground and leaving a fissure in the earth. Gamabunta was easily sent back to Mt. Myōboku.

The dust was settling slowly. When Arthur looked to see what became of Jiraiya, he saw that the pack of wolves had failed. And he understood why.

"Be on your guard," he said to Koko in Spanish.

Koko looked up at him in confusion to ask why. Never had he seen him this serious before.

At that, Jiraiya, having finally lowered his defenses, stepped into view. Standing atop his shoulders were none other than Fukasaku and Shima, the small elder toads who served in Mt. Myōboku. More importantly, 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.

"So we'll have to go all out," Fukasaku added.

"My thoughts exactly," Jiraiya said in a more serious tone.

Without hesitation, he lunged forward with his shin moving faster than the untrained eye could follow. Koko, quick as lightning, managed to block the attack just in time. Slowly, Arthur saw she was about to be overwhelmed and crushed beneath Jiraiya's attack.

Reeling back slightly, he avoided the full force of the kick by mere fractions and escaped what could have been a devastating blow.

The instant Jiraiya's webbed feet touched the ground; he lunged again, and the scene erupted into a dazzling display of combat. Arthur moved with grace while dodging and plaiting around Jiraiya's strikes.

"Creature detection jutsu!"

Shima's tongue, now reshaped into a face with eyes and a mouth, snaked toward Arthur. Arthur wasn't fast enough and managed to get ensnared. Just as Jiraiya's kick landed, Arthur's body had substituted with a mound of snow.

"The enemy has some incredible reflexes," Shima commented.

"That's not a normal body," Fukasaku added after witnessing Arthur's so closely.

"Obviously he's not normal!" Shima yelled. "Why else would Jiraiya-boy summon us?!"

"Don't go yellin' at me now, ma!" Fukasaku shot back.

The two elder toads began to argue, and their voices overlapped as they speculated about what exactly Arthur was made of—his strange agility, his unusual body, and his uncanny act of dodging Jiraiya in Sage Mode.

Their rapid-fire theories bounced back and forth, each trying to understand this mysterious opponent.

"Will you two stop fighting already?" Jiraiya stated while keeping his focus on the enemy.

"To think you resorted to those two," Arthur calmly said, unperturbed by their tomfoolery.

The elders suddenly stopped arguing. Their eyes snapped toward him as Fukasaku sharply said, "You're talking as if you know who we are!"

"I could care less who you two are," Arthur said coldly before smacking his palm on the ground. 'Summoning jutsu...'

"We're impressed, Jiraiya," said a commanding voice from the swirling smoke. "To think you'd have him summon us this early," another hissed. When the smoke cleared, four more figures appeared beside Arthur—all of whom were cloaked identically in white. "So we'll just have to take you down the old-fashioned way..."

Jiraiya's curiosity was piqued. He looked at the newcomers and wondered if that kunoichi from before—Tayuya, who had attacked him—was among them. Neither acknowledged his perverted curiosity.

No, to defeat a Sannin like Jiraiya, Arthur knew he needed all four of his clones. And he by no means was going to go easy.

The first clone, Hoshikaze, charged in with a . But Jiraiya was still faster; he bent back just in time and almost kicked Hoshikaze's head off. Kaito and Ryugetsu moved in for close-range taijutsu attacks, but Jiraiya dodged each of their strikes. Ryugetsu leaped high, trying to attack from above, but Shima forced him away with her extended tongue.

Meanwhile, Fukasaku released a slick oil from his mouth—aiming to slow down Kaito and give Jiraiya a chance to breathe. This allowed Jiraiya to kick that clone back and create some distance.

"How was it?" Hoshikaze asked Kaito after recovering.

"It's as we assumed... He's been buffed."

Arthur was wise to have prepared for this fight; he knew full well that 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.

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.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Shima announced, "but we're not bluffing anything in this fight."

"He said 'buff,'" Fukasaku corrected. "Not 'bluff,' ya old coot."

"Don't start now, pa!"

Suddenly, the battlefield was filled with a massive cloud of smoke. None of the three could tell whether this was natural smoke or chakra-infused.

From within the fog, shouts and movement indicated they were trying to ambush them.

"Stay alert," Fukasaku said as their eyes scanned through the smoke.

"They've done well so far hiding their chakra," Shima said while trying to detect them with her tongue.

The smoke parted slightly and revealed someone charging with a large broadsword. From the side, another was preparing a water style technique. And from behind, a third had an icy aura emanating from his body.

Jiraiya dodged with a powerful leap just as Hoshikaze's weapon missed. The Sannin then landed and blocked the incoming rushing water with his arms crossed. As the wave began to freeze, Shima broke the attack apart with her tongue.

'Ice style: a thousand needles of death...'

From the shattered particles, sharp spears of ice hovered over the trio before coming down. But Jiraiya was quick. With his enhanced agility, he extended his leg while spinning his body so fast that he deflected all of the spears.

The instant he stopped, Hoshikaze tried to cleave Jiraiya in two from the 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 gut was a wound so deep that it was caved in. To have damaged Hoshikaze's body was impressive—only an elite fighter could manage such a feat.

And despite their teamwork, the clones understood why they hadn't yet been able to overwhelm the Sannin. That was because Jiraiya wasn't fighting alone; his toads kept him on his feet.

"That's one down!" Fukasaku declared.

John knelt down and touched the hole created where Hoshikaze was hit. The clone's flesh stitched together, and he got right back up.

"Looks like you spoke too soon," Jiraiya commented.

"At least we know one thing," Shima added, "they can be injured."

Arthur, having observed what he needed, understood that he still had a lot of techniques still needing to be used. Because right now, he wasn't trying to kill Jiraiya.

No, he needed to first test just how much battle prowess he truly had!