Before Jiraiya could even finish speaking, the two sages on his shoulders looked at each other, their movements synchronized. Their hands flew through a series of hand seals, moving so fast that they were nothing but a blur.

"Sage Art: Thousand Needle Senbon!"

The long, silver-white hair on Jiraiya's back, infused with sage chakra, suddenly burst forth with a brilliant golden light. The tough strands of hair stretched straight, like a billion tempered golden needles. They didn't need to grow; each hair detached on its own, turning into a golden rain that blotted out the sky. The number of projectiles far exceeded that of any ordinary ninja tool by thousands of times.

Each golden needle contained the sharpness and penetrating power of sage chakra, tearing through the air and making a sharp, thrilling buzzing sound. They seemed to ignore the normal laws of physics, locking onto all the space around Itachi Uchiha as if they were alive, shooting toward him at a speed beyond what the eye could follow. The coverage was so wide and the density so high that even the falling raindrops were instantly evaporated.

Faced with this unavoidable sage art, Itachi's scarlet Mangekyo Sharingan suddenly constricted, his pupil power surging. The three magatama in his blood-red pupils instantly twisted and deformed, transforming into a strange, profound shuriken-like pattern.

"Tsukuyomi!"

He aimed directly for Jiraiya's eyes, intending to drag the source of this attack into the eternal hell of his illusion. However, just as Tsukuyomi's ocular power crossed the space and was about to invade Jiraiya's spiritual world, a sound cut through the air.

"Hmph!"

Sage Fukasaku let out an old but incomparably clear snort, while Sage Shima clasped her hands together in front of her chest.

Buzz!

An extremely weak yet incredibly tough, invisible barrier instantly opened up on the surface of Jiraiya's mind. This barrier was not the result of chakra resistance, but a "wall of the heart," constructed by the natural spiritual will and sage chakra that had been tempered over centuries by the two great sages.

Tsukuyomi's terrifying ocular power, capable of warping time and space and corroding the very soul, collided with this barrier like the sharpest spear piercing the deepest, broadest ocean. The power was instantly dispersed, dissolved, and absorbed. Fukasaku and Shima's consciousness was like a magic needle that calmed the sea, firmly protecting Jiraiya's core spirit.

For the first time, an extremely subtle fluctuation appeared on Itachi's icy face, which had remained unchanged for what seemed like a thousand years. A barely perceptible flicker of surprise passed through his eyes.

Tsukuyomi… was actually blocked? By those two toads? This was the first time that had ever happened.

On the brink of death, Itachi's reaction was incredibly fast. At the exact moment the thousand needles were about to penetrate his body, he dodged to the side like a weightless phantom. At the same time, his hands became a blurry afterimage. Discover more novels at novel⁂fire.net

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Dozens of pitch-black shuriken shot out from his fingers and cuffs. The moment they left his hand, each shuriken, as if by cell division, transformed into dozens, then hundreds of completely identical physical clones in the air. In an instant, a black shield wall, composed of countless rotating, sharp blades, seemed to unfold in front of Itachi.

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

The dense, indistinguishable sound of metal clashing filled the rainy night as countless golden needles and pitch-black shuriken collided and annihilated each other wildly in the air. Sparks flew like a rainstorm, only to be extinguished by the cold rain. Broken iron and shattered golden needles flew everywhere, riddling the surrounding ground and stone pillars with holes.

Itachi's figure moved and dodged at high speed behind the wall of shuriken, his Sharingan observing the trajectory of each deadly golden needle. Even so, several tricky golden needles still managed to penetrate the shuriken's defense etwork.

"Sage art is indeed terrifying!"