That brown bear didn't seem particularly intelligent. Hoshiyomi had tossed a chunk of meat its way to buy Jiraiya some time, but to his surprise, the creature seemed to think it was part of a game.
Its beady bear eyes were locked onto Hoshiyomi. Then it tilted its head back and opened its mouth wide, clearly asking for more.
Hoshiyomi threw another piece of meat. Sure enough, the bear eagerly raised its head to snap it out of the air, then clumsily patted its enormous paws together like a child who'd just received a treat.
Tsunade spoke up at this point. "The bear's focused on Hoshiyomi. If someone climbs onto it quietly, it probably won't notice. If we can untie the rope around its neck and take the scroll, we might just pull this off without alerting it."
Jiraiya glanced around at the others, then suddenly said, "In that case, I'll go."
Even Orochimaru and the others gave him a rare look of approval.
"Be careful. If it goes south, jump down immediately—we'll catch you," someone added.
Jiraiya nodded and quietly moved around to the bear's rear. Using chakra to cling to surfaces, he began to climb up with practiced silence.
The bear, totally absorbed in Hoshiyomi's meat-tossing antics, didn't notice Jiraiya at all.
Jiraiya crept carefully up to its shoulder and finally saw the knotted rope on its back.
Seeing the bear so engrossed, Jiraiya steeled himself and began to gently untie the rope.
Damn it—it was a dead knot!
Cursing under his breath, Jiraiya reached for a kunai and sliced through the rope. Fortunately, it wasn't especially tough, and the blade cut through cleanly.
He instinctively tugged the severed end, pulling the scroll along with the rope into his grasp.
But the moment the scroll was removed, Tsunade and Orochimaru's expressions turned pale.
Behind where the scroll had been was a slip of paper etched with intricate sealing symbols. In its center was a single ominous character:
"Explode."
A chakra-infused explosive tag.
It had been specially treated to remain inert while covered by the scroll, but now that it was exposed, the seal began to burn rapidly.
With a thunderous boom, flames burst beneath the bear's chin. The massive creature howled in pain, instinctively rearing back—right where Jiraiya was perched.
Still standing on the bear's shoulder, Jiraiya was caught completely off guard by the explosion. His chakra grip failed in the shock, and he plummeted from a height of over ten meters.
Despite being a seasoned shinobi, he wasn't on par with Kage-level durability. A fall from this height could've easily killed him.
Fortunately, Orochimaru reacted in time. Snapping out of his daze, he extended his Hidden Shadow Snake Hands technique, steel wires shooting out and wrapping around Jiraiya, yanking him out of freefall.
Jiraiya still hit the ground hard, grimacing in pain, but it wasn't life-threatening.
Seeing that Jiraiya was okay, Hoshiyomi shouted, "Don't just stand there! Run! That thing's about to lose it!"
The others didn't hesitate. All five turned and fled with Hoshiyomi into the forest.
They hadn't gone far when an ear-splitting roar echoed behind them. The brown bear had recovered and was enraged. In its dim-witted fury, it assumed the explosion had been Hoshiyomi's doing.
With another roar, the bear gave chase.
Despite its size, the bear was shockingly fast. Fueled by rage, it didn't bother weaving through the trees—it simply barreled through them, snapping trunks like twigs.
The darkening forest, which had been growing quiet, was suddenly alive with chaos. Wherever the bear charged, animals fled in a panic—those unlucky enough to be in its path were trampled without mercy.
Though massive, the bear's speed was no joke. Hoshiyomi and the others weren't yet skilled enough to use the Body Flicker Technique, and the gap between them and the beast was rapidly closing.
"We can't keep running like this. It'll catch us!" Hoshiyomi yelled.
"Then what do we do?!"
"We split up. It's making so much noise that all the animals have already cleared out. Its main target is probably me. I'll keep running forward. The rest of you circle back separately."
"When you get to where the wild boar carcass was, set a wire trap to trip it. The moment it goes down, hit it with your strongest jutsu from below. I'll strike from above and finish it off."
Tsunade frowned. "Are you sure about this?"
"Trust me. I've got this," Hoshiyomi said firmly.
"Then be careful."
The group split up, vanishing into the dense forest. The bear hesitated momentarily, but when it saw Hoshiyomi—its perceived enemy—still running ahead, it let out another roar and charged after him alone.
Hoshiyomi kept running, glancing back now and then. When the distance narrowed to a dangerous degree, he figured the others must be almost in position.
He tossed a smoke bomb behind him, then created a shadow clone in the haze. The clone kept running straight, while the real Hoshiyomi suddenly reversed course, activating Crescent Moon Slash.
His real body became a streak of light that darted beneath the bear unnoticed, while the beast, its vision clouded by the smoke, focused on the shadowy figure ahead.
With a furious roar, it leapt—like a mountain crashing down—onto the clone.
Just to be sure, it even wriggled its massive body atop the clone's remains, trying to crush it further. But after two rolls, it sensed something was off—there was no resistance beneath its body.
Looking down between its legs, it saw nothing. Through the thinning smoke, it spotted Hoshiyomi's true form shrinking into the distance.
With another enraged howl, the bear rolled to its feet and reversed course.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru and the others had returned to the boar's carcass. They quickly tied a steel wire between two large trees—strong enough to trip the bear.
There wasn't time to prepare more traps. They hid in the undergrowth, forming hand seals, listening intently to the beast's approach, hoping Hoshiyomi would appear soon.
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