"So humiliating…"
Jiraiya covered his face, completely unable to look at anyone.
Sure, he had been affected by Tsunade's drug, but summoning a tiny toad was still beyond embarrassing.
Orochimaru clearly understood what had happened.
"You're as foolish as ever, Jiraiya. Even if you lack talent, you shouldn't be this pathetic. It seems Tsunade tampered with you."
He knew his former teammates all too well.
Before long, Uzumaki Naruto managed to embarrass himself too, summoning another tiny toad.
Even Kabuto couldn't resist mocking him. "That's because he never had the talent to be a ninja in the first place."
"That idiot…"
Outside the scene, Uchiha Sasuke pressed a hand to his forehead. But hearing Kabuto repeatedly belittle Naruto's talent stirred an instinctive irritation in him.
If Naruto was nothing, then what did that make him?
In the scene, Kabuto and Orochimaru directed their giant snakes to attack. Though they only had two people on their side, they forced Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the others into constant retreat, leaving them battered and disheveled.
Jiraiya was out of condition. Orochimaru's arms were crippled. Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, had been rendered useless by hemophobia.
Watching Tsunade get toyed with by Kabuto, everyone finally understood what Kaede Kitahara meant in his diary.
He might often sound like he was joking, but he never spoke without reason.
Seeing herself humiliated in the footage, Tsunade's teeth ground together.
"This is disgraceful, Tsunade."
Then, suddenly, she froze.
"Wait… I'm not afraid of blood?"
The realization struck her out of nowhere.
If her hemophobia were still active, even seeing blood on a screen should have triggered it. Yet from the moment the video started until now, she hadn't felt a single wave of panic.
Did that mean her hemophobia was cured?
"No. That doesn't prove anything."
She shook her head quickly.
Maybe her focus had just been elsewhere.
Back in the scene, just as Kabuto prepared to punch Tsunade away, Naruto threw himself forward and blocked the blow with his forehead protector. He formed a Rasengan in his palm and charged.
No miracle occurred.
Kabuto sliced through the muscles in Naruto's leg.
Kabuto looked down at him, words cutting deeper than any blade.
"Naruto-kun, during the first Chunin Exams, didn't you say something like that? 'Don't underestimate me. I won't run. Even if I'm a Genin forever, I'll become Hokage through sheer will.'"
He tilted his head slightly.
"Can you still say that now?"
"You're not a child anymore. Stop bragging. If things look bad, give up. If you need to run, then run. Look at you… what's with that glare? You'll die. And if you die, there's nothing left."
After saying that, he began beating Naruto mercilessly, like kicking aside a stray dog on the road.
"Damn it!"
Outside the scene, Sasuke was furious.
"Dead last, get up! Knock him down!"
He had never wanted to jump through a screen and punch someone as badly as he did at that moment.
But no matter how Kabuto humiliated and beat him, Naruto refused to give up. Again and again, he forced himself back to his feet, standing in front of Tsunade.
At last, he seized an opening.
He grabbed Kabuto and unleashed the Rasengan, blasting him away.
"He did it."
Jiraiya couldn't stop the smile that crept onto his face.
"That silver-haired brat's wrong about one thing. Naruto isn't untalented."
He murmured to himself.
On the surface, Naruto was reckless, loud, and impulsive. From any angle, he didn't look like a genius. Especially compared to someone like Sasuke, the top student of their class, the difference seemed obvious.
So Orochimaru looked down on him. Kabuto called him a fool.
It reminded Jiraiya of his own days at the academy.
Back then, Orochimaru had been the undeniable genius. Even Tsunade, born into a prestigious lineage, couldn't quite match his talent. Orochimaru was the teacher's favorite, the Third Hokage's most perfect disciple.
And Jiraiya?
He had been labeled the dead last, someone without much ninja talent.
Yet step by step, he had risen to stand alongside them as one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin.
He hadn't fallen behind.
Naruto was the same.
The Rasengan had taken the Fourth Hokage years to develop. Jiraiya himself learned it in half a year, which was already considered fast.
Naruto mastered it in one week.
One week.
From barely forming it to successfully executing it.
That kind of talent surpassed his own.
But in Jiraiya's eyes, the most important ninja talent wasn't how many jutsu someone could learn.
That mattered, but it wasn't everything.
What truly mattered was never giving up. The will to stand even when facing certain defeat.
When your body gives out, only your will can carve a path forward.
A ninja is someone who endures everything, not someone who knows every jutsu.
From that perspective, Naruto wasn't lacking talent.
If anything, he had too much of it.
Orochimaru was simply too blind to see.
And with what Kaede Kitahara had written in his diary about Naruto becoming one of the two mountains the entire ninja world would one day look up to, the future savior, Jiraiya felt even more certain.
Back in the scene, Tsunade stared in shock at Naruto, who had mastered the Rasengan in just one week.
Before she could even feel proud, Naruto's vision went dark and he collapsed.
At the critical moment, Kabuto had sliced the muscles near his heart.
In an instant, Tsunade was dragged back to the helplessness she had felt when she watched two of the people she loved most die.
"Don't die. Don't die. Don't die…"
She whispered it like a prayer as she treated him.
Under everyone's stunned gaze, Naruto survived.
Orochimaru's expression shifted.
The Akatsuki wanted the Nine-Tails inside Naruto. If they obtained it, the balance would shatter. They already couldn't contend with the Akatsuki as things stood. If the Nine-Tails fell into their hands, it would be hopeless.
Without hesitation, he lunged at Naruto.
The Kusanagi Sword shot from his mouth, nearly impaling the boy.
At the last second, Tsunade stepped in front of him and blocked the fatal strike.
"Tsunade, you're the only one I don't want to kill. Letting that child live will cause trouble later. Can you step aside?" Orochimaru asked coolly.
Her body trembled.
"Only this child… I will protect him."
"You're shaking. Why would one of the Legendary Sannin risk her life for a mere Genin brat?"
Orochimaru truly didn't understand.
Tsunade coughed up blood, breathing ragged.
"To protect Konoha. To protect the village. If you want a reason… it's because that brat will become Hokage one day."
Orochimaru burst out laughing.
"What nonsense. Hokage is garbage. Only fools would want that position."
Those were words Tsunade herself had once said.
In that moment, she thought of the Hokage of every generation. She remembered her own past words. Naruto's stubborn declaration. Dan and Nawaki's dream.
Something inside her changed.
"From this moment on, I'll stake my life on it."
Her gaze hardened.
Orochimaru's face twisted with anger. Perhaps he, too, once held that same dream. He slashed repeatedly, nearly killing her on the spot.
"Why do you fight for Konoha?"
He could not understand.
The next second, Tsunade's kick sent him flying.
Her trembling stopped.
"Because I am Konoha's Fifth Hokage."
Her voice was icy and resolute. The seal on her forehead emerged.
"Even if you've overcome hemophobia, what can you do in your condition?" Orochimaru sneered.
"Ninja Art, Yin Seal, release… Creation Rebirth."
As she released the Yin Seal, her severe wounds reversed at a visible speed. Flesh knit together. Blood stopped flowing. Organs regenerated before their eyes.
"What jutsu is that? It seems I'm not the only one who's developed something new," Orochimaru said with a cold smile.
"It's simple. I've stored chakra in my forehead for years. Using that massive reserve, I stimulate proteins and accelerate cell division. Cells reconstruct themselves. Organs and tissues regenerate. This isn't healing… it's rebirth. In battle, I cannot die."
Her voice was steady with confidence.
"But the number of times a person's cells can divide in a lifetime is limited."
Shizune spoke up, revealing the truth.
Speeding up division meant shortening lifespan.
The faster she healed, the more life she burned away.
That regenerative power came at a price.
It was her life, set ablaze.