001 Naruto: Starting with Infinite Chakra

Rain poured down, washing over the solemn faces carved into the Hokage Rock. Jiraiya stood atop the forehead of one of the great stone figures, his gaze piercing through the downpour. Water traced the scar across his left eye, a painful reminder of the memories from Amegakure twenty years ago—the very same towers that had been obliterated by Shinra Tensei now clawed their way out of the earth, reconstructed from clay.

"Three kilometers southeast. Chakra signatures: seven hundred and twenty." Tsunade's voice came through a fragment of Katsuyu, carrying the signature warmth of medical chakra. She stood atop the roof of Konoha Hospital, the Strength of a Hundred Seal glowing like blue fire against the rain. A web of green chakra spread over the evacuation site, reinforcing the barrier protecting the civilians.

Jiraiya bit into his thumb, crimson spiraling through the rain as he weaved his seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

The moment the summoning smoke erupted, iron caltrops shot toward him as if piercing through space itself. Gamabunta barely had time to react, tilting his massive body sideways and using his sake gourd to intercept the attack. The surface of the gourd rippled with a vortex of distorted space.

"That's a space-time jutsu!" Gamabunta exhaled a puff of smoke from his pipe, embers sparking against the rain.

"Just like the Fourth Hokage..." Before he could finish, a colossal clay fist charged with Lightning Release came crashing down.

Jiraiya pressed his palms together, entering Sage Mode. The transformation was barely underway when Tsunade's chakra scalpel struck the pressure point at the back of his neck.

"Tripling the activation speed of your Sage Chakra," she murmured, her voice steady even as the rain battered against them. Her medical chakra cut through the natural energy pathways with surgical precision. Jiraiya's white hair bristled, and within an instant, the markings of Sage Mode spread across his face. Gamabunta's blade extended twenty meters, igniting with the flames of toad oil.

The clay army moved in unison, forming hundreds of hand seals. Beams of Dust Release shot into the sky, splitting through the storm. Tsunade leaped onto Gamabunta's head, unsealing a torrent of chakra that manifested into emerald armor.

Fragments of Katsuyu swarmed over the Dust Release beams, absorbing their disintegration energy and transmuting it into healing chakra that poured back into the barrier.

"Now!" Jiraiya's Rasengan, amplified by Sage Mode, swelled to the size of a meteor. Gamabunta released a stream of oil-infused flames, while Tsunade channeled her monstrous strength into a devastating kick. The moment the fiery Rasengan and her Heaven Kick struck the clay core, space twisted unnaturally.

At last, their true enemy emerged.

Suspended midair, the puppet master hovered with rings of Truth-Seeking Orbs orbiting him like planetary rings. The Rinnegan pattern on his mask pulsed, absorbing the natural energy around them. Jiraiya's pupils shrank—this was a modified version of the Pain they had faced years ago.

"Careful! He can absorb—" Tsunade's warning was swallowed by the deafening explosion of a Super Shinra Tensei. The entire forest was uprooted. Gamabunta vanished in a puff of white smoke, unable to withstand the shockwave. Jiraiya plummeted, catching sight of Tsunade in midair. The chakra from her Strength of a Hundred Seal spread into wings of pure energy, ribbons of medical chakra extending to catch him and pull him into her embrace.

"For the name of the Legendary Sannin." Her lips, stained with her own blood, pressed against Jiraiya's forehead, tracing a Flying Thunder God seal onto his Sage markings. The moment the puppet master unleashed a Chibaku Tensei, a reverse summoning array unfurled beneath them. The corrosive mist of the Shikkotsu Forest merged with the stone pillars of Mount Myoboku, forging a sanctuary even Kekkei Mora could not penetrate.

Katsuyu Sage raised its head from the acid pools. Fukasaku and Shima, the Great Toad Sages, joined their voices in an earth-shaking chant. Tsunade stood atop Katsuyu, pouring the full power of the Strength of a Hundred into Jiraiya's back.

A torrent of fire, fueled by natural energy, monstrous strength, and medical chakra, erupted into a seven-colored dragon, bolstered by Gamabunta's oil.

The Truth-Seeking Orb barrier cracked.

A mechanical howl escaped from beneath the puppet master's mask.

"The glory of the Otsutsuki..." Before he could finish, a serpentine blade of chakra lanced through his chest.

Orochimaru's Kusanagi emerged from the void, its hilt wrapped with the tattered remains of Uchiha Hikari's headband.

"Your way of teaching children is... fascinating," Orochimaru mused, golden slit pupils gleaming through the storm. The clay constructs at his feet dissolved into living cells—tissue infused with the DNA of the First Hokage.

Jiraiya and Tsunade's combined strike landed, but their fists only shattered an empty husk. The real Orochimaru had already shed his skin.

As the storm waned, Tsunade focused on mending Jiraiya's fractured arm with Creation Rebirth. Gamabunta's pipe smoldered in the wreckage, while the fragments of Katsuyu gathered the remains of their enemy.

"That last thing he said..." Jiraiya suddenly gripped his wife's trembling hand. "Did he mean Kaguya?"

From the distance, children's voices called out. Uchiha Hikari came running, carrying an unconscious boy on her back. The boy's fingers clenched tightly around a fragment of clay, marked with an unmistakable Karma seal.

As Tsunade turned, the inked lines of the Strength of a Hundred Seal crept up her neck—a price paid for pushing her body beyond its limits. Jiraiya's white hair coiled around her pinky, just as it had that fateful night in the gambling den two decades ago.