Naruto : Blazing Legend

Chapter 30: The Fall of a Legend

The Konoha high-ranking officials exchanged uneasy glances as they watched the examination arena below. Three genin against one of the legendary Sannin? The arrogance of this Uchiha Rei bordered on suicidal. Yet something in the boy's cold, calculating eyes suggested this wasn't mere bravado—it was confidence.

Rei's hands moved through familiar seals, birthing two shadow clones from his chakra. Beside him, Hanazuki wove the Mist Hidden Technique, and thick fog began to creep across the examination floor like the breath of some ancient beast. Visibility plummeted to mere meters, transforming the arena into a nightmare landscape where death could strike from any shadow.

The mist crept toward the distant battlefield where Orochimaru toyed with his prey. The pale Sannin's lips curved into that familiar, predatory smile—the expression of a snake that had just spotted a particularly interesting mouse. His hands blurred through seals.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

The technique tore through the fog like a scythe through wheat, sending several hapless ninja tumbling through the air like broken dolls. For a brief moment, the arena was clear again, but those ten seconds of blindness had been enough.

Two shuriken materialized from the dissipating mist, followed by three figures moving with lethal synchronization. Rei and his clones had closed the distance in that heartbeat of confusion, their Instant Transmission jutsu carrying them within striking range faster than the thrown weapons they'd used as cover.

The first clone's blade whistled through the air where Jiraiya's head had been a microsecond before. The second clone's hand crackled with the distinctive chirping of a Chidori, lightning dancing between his fingers like caged death. The real Rei hung back, hands weaving the complex seals of the Water Dragon Bullet Technique with absolute precision.

Jiraiya moved like the veteran he was, his weathered hands catching the Chidori-wielding clone's wrist even as he twisted away from the blade. But his eyes widened as he registered the third attack forming—that water dragon would tear him apart at this range.

Without hesitation, Jiraiya kicked both clones away and slammed his palm to the ground. "Summoning Technique!"

The massive stomach of the Rock Toad Iwagama materialized around him just as Rei's water dragon and the thrown shuriken struck. The attacks splashed harmlessly against the creature's incredibly durable stomach lining—a defense that had withstood everything short of Amaterasu's black flames.

But as the summoning dispersed and the shuriken fell, they suddenly erupted into smoke, revealing themselves as more shadow clones. The trap within a trap struck like lightning, two more Chidori-charged hands thrusting toward Jiraiya's vital points.

"Ninjustu : Wild Lion's Mane!"

Jiraiya's hair exploded outward in a cascade of white strands, each one hard as steel wire. The technique shredded both clones instantly, leaving only wisps of dissipating chakra.

"If that's all you've got, then this ends now," Jiraiya declared, his confidence unshaken. Another summoning brought forth a medium-sized toad, its throat already bulging with oil.

The toad's mouth opened, and a torrent of flammable oil rushed toward Rei like a liquid avalanche. The young Uchiha retreated with another Body Flicker, but Jiraiya was already forming the fire technique that would turn the oil into an inferno.

That's when the rock pillars erupted from the water.

Stone spears burst upward in a perfect cage, trapping both Jiraiya and his summoned toad in a prison of earth and stone. The fire technique died in his throat as he realized the tactical nightmare he now faced—one wrong move and he'd incinerate himself along with his target.

'Rock Pillar Prison? When did he—' Jiraiya's eyes found Wada Yu emerging from beneath the water's surface, having used the mist and flooding as perfect cover for his earth techniques.

The Sannin dismissed his toad summon and prepared for the assault he knew was coming. Sure enough, Wada Yu burst from the water in a flying kick that would have caved in a normal man's ribcage.

"Ninjustu : Needle Jizo!"

Jiraiya's hair hardened into a forest of spears, each strand becoming a senbon-sharp needle that could pierce steel. Wada Yu's foot struck the defensive technique and immediately filled with puncture wounds, the iron-hard hair shredding flesh and drawing sprays of blood. The boy's scream was cut short as Jiraiya's counterattack sent him flying, his body hitting the water with a sickening splash.

"Damn it... I failed you..." Wada Yu's whispered apology was lost as unconsciousness claimed him, his blood slowly spreading across the water's surface like spilled ink.

But Rei wasn't finished. Six shadow clones materialized around Jiraiya in a perfect circle, the real body indistinguishable among them. Seven pairs of eyes fixed on the legendary ninja with predatory focus.

"You're at the end of your rope, kid!" Jiraiya laughed, shaking his wild mane with characteristic arrogance. "How much chakra can each of those clones possibly have left?" His voice carried the absolute confidence of a man who had survived countless battles. "A genin lasting this long against me—Jiraiya the Toad Sage, one of the Three Legendary Sannin—should consider it an honor!"

"Perhaps," Rei's voice carried an odd note of amusement. "But I wonder... does the great Master Jiraiya have any weaknesses?"

The seven figures moved in perfect unison, each performing the Transformation Technique simultaneously. Smoke erupted around Jiraiya in billowing clouds, and he immediately dropped into a defensive stance, ready for whatever attack was coming.

But when the smoke cleared, no attack came.

Instead, Jiraiya's world exploded into a fountain of blood as his nose erupted like a crimson geyser. His eyes went wide—not with battle-fury, but with something far more primal and embarrassing. Seven beautiful, nude figures danced around him, their movements hypnotic, their forms perfect, their gazes designed to drive men to madness.

"Transformation technique : Sexy Jutsu"

Even as his rational mind screamed warnings, even as he felt the Water Prison Technique forming around him, Jiraiya couldn't look away. Couldn't close his eyes. Couldn't do anything but stare as his body betrayed him in the most spectacular fashion possible.

'Such a technique... how is this even possible... it's so... beautiful!' Even trapped, even knowing he was defeated, inspiration struck like lightning. The next volume of his research would be legendary.

In the observation area, the reactions were telling. The Uchiha clan head buried his face in his hands, his voice a mortified whisper: "Why... why must my clan be shamed by such... such..."

The Third Hokage's pipe clattered to the ground unnoticed, his aged face flushed but thankfully free of Jiraiya's more dramatic symptoms. Though his wide eyes suggested he was fighting the same battle as his student.

Only Danzo seemed genuinely impressed, his scarred face showing something approaching approval. "Brilliant. He identified the weakness and exploited it without hesitation. A true shinobi understands that victory matters more than honor."

"Success!" Hanazuki's voice was breathless with exhaustion and exhilaration. She had been ready with the Water Prison Technique, hidden in the mist exactly as Rei had planned. The moment Jiraiya's concentration shattered, she had struck, trapping one of the most powerful ninja in the village with a simple prison of water and chakra.

Even Orochimaru paused in his methodical elimination of the remaining candidates, his pale features twisted in something between amusement and disgust. "That fool... defeated by genin through his own perverted nature. How perfectly... pathetic."

The remaining candidates—less than twenty now—watched in stunned silence as reality sank in. They had actually done it. Three academy graduates had taken down a Sannin.

But Orochimaru's cold laughter reminded them that their victory was incomplete.

"Interesting," the Snake Sannin hissed, his voice carrying across the water like poison. "If I shared Jiraiya's... particular weaknesses, you might have actually won this examination." His smile was a slash of white in his corpse-pale face. "Unfortunately for you, I find such displays merely... amusing."

His hands flashed through seals with inhuman speed. "Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage!"

The center of the examination floor collapsed inward, forming a perfect cylinder that drained the artificial lake in a violent whirlpool. The vortex lasted only seconds, but it shattered the remaining candidates' formation and left them scrambling for solid footing on the now-muddy arena floor.

"Jiraiya is eliminated," announced an ANBU operative, his mask hiding whatever expression he might have worn. The signal was clear—Hanazuki released her technique, allowing the defeated Sannin to surface, blood still trickling from his nose.

Despite his casual demeanor, Jiraiya's mind was racing. 'I can't let this weakness define me. If word spreads that I can be defeated by beautiful women... every enemy I face will try the same tactic.' He looked at Rei with new respect. 'This boy just taught me something that might save my life someday.'

The arena fell silent except for the dripping of water and the labored breathing of exhausted genin. One Sannin down.

One to go.

And somehow, that felt like the easy part was over.

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