[The Sage of Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya-sama—that's me!]
With the Ultimate Scene revealed, the duel came to an end.
In the final wave, Jiraiya used the Swamp of the Underworld to trap Orochimaru, then followed up with his ultimate—Hero Jiraiya's Rasengan—instantly draining most of Orochimaru's remaining HP bar.
Although the damage was impressive, that wasn't what people were paying attention to.
"Just now… did the super armor disappear?"
"Y-yeah… it did, Guy-sensei."
At a training ground in Konoha, Guy and Lee looked at each other after watching the entire information conference. Their hearts were filled with sorrow.
Why did they have to persecute super armor like this? That was the foundation of their existence! The core logic of Ninja Mobile Game itself!
Aside from the teacher and student pair, most others couldn't figure it out.
What exactly did Jiraiya do? Didn't he just summon a toad?
"Can toads… eat super armor?"
Shikamaru pulled out his phone and tested it at the training ground.
He discovered that in the current version, all ninjas could activate super armor and then bathe in their summon's effects—though some summons lasted too long for them to withstand completely.
In other words, the issue wasn't with the summon itself, but with the ninja.
After glancing at the glowing screen, Shikamaru understood.
"What's going on, Jiraiya?" Orochimaru put down his phone and stared at him.
"Are you asking me for an answer, Orochimaru?" Jiraiya chuckled. "Well, this is the first time in over fifty years we've talked like this, huh!"
Orochimaru's eyes filled with an emotion called speechlessness. He regretted asking already.
Jiraiya knew the entire Ninja World was waiting for his answer, so he didn't drag it out.
"I… [Jiraiya], when using the Sage of Mount Myōboku, can dispel the opponent's super armor effect!"
The moment those words left his mouth, everyone was shocked—even those who had already guessed it.
So there was actually such a thing as an exclusive summoning effect?!
Super armor had always been one of the most used Secret Scrolls in the Duel Arena. Accordingly, the status of Dispel scrolls had also risen.
These two scrolls were like rock and cloth—rock could crush anything, yet could only be helplessly wrapped by cloth.
"You can do that?!"
Naruto scratched his head, feeling it was unfair.
Sasuke, as if reading his thoughts, said, "What's unfair about it? Part of Jiraiya-sama's fame as one of the Legendary Sannin comes from his summons."
"That's right," Kakashi said as he lifted the curtain at Ichiraku Ramen and stepped inside. "Jiraiya-sama's a Sage of Mount Myōboku. If his toads can break super armor, what's wrong with that?"
"Eh? Then doesn't that mean your dogs have exclusive abilities too, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi froze, clearly not wanting to talk about it.
But just because Kakashi didn't want to talk didn't mean others didn't. Some ninjas who had their own summons immediately grew interested.
"If I summon the Monkey King Enma, would there be a special bonus too?" The Third Hokage pondered silently.
What would it be? It probably wouldn't repeat Jiraiya's Dispel effect, right? That would make no sense.
Still, it was worth looking forward to.
But not everyone was satisfied.
"Damn it! My ninja and my summon are both in the game, but there's still no exclusive summoning effect for me!"
Guy clenched his fists in protest. Seriously, did the previous High-Class Recruitment have less presence than the new one?
"Yeah! That's not fair!" Lee realized too, fuming. "Isn't Guy-sensei's bond with his ninja turtle strong enough already?!"
Hearing that, Guy started to sweat nervously.
Crap. Could that actually be it? Come to think of it, he really hadn't used his summon much lately!
...
Meanwhile, in Amegakure, Nagato found all of this very interesting.
Among the Six Paths, the Animal Path lacked nothing more than summons. The giant summons that other ninjas treated as trump cards were practically disposable for him—he could summon them in bulk.
If all of them could gain effects like this...
Crack crack crack—
In a dark room, the Deva Path stepped into a machine and lay down. A moment later, another body sat up from it.
The Deva Path had switched to the Animal Path.
It seemed Nagato fully understood the importance of following the meta. Since everyone was talking about summons, he'd just become the ultimate summoner himself.
While the rest of the Ninja World was heatedly debating summon beasts, the information conference continued.
"I see," Orochimaru murmured, eyes glinting with a strange light.
Among his summons were blue snakes. If his own ninja were ever released, would they also have an exclusive summoning effect?
Ordinary snakes… and his most powerful summon, Manda… would all grow stronger under his control?
Thinking that, Orochimaru could accept losing to Jiraiya.
Everyone had their time to show off. Just wait and see!
"Though my summon can break super armor, the side effect is that compared to normal toads, my Sage Toad's area of effect is slightly smaller," Jiraiya admitted, shrugging.
Everyone nodded in realization. Thinking back, the Sage Toad's range did seem a bit smaller earlier.
Still, even with that drawback, [Jiraiya]'s exclusive summoning effect undoubtedly made him far stronger than before—just like [Might Guy] had been a few days ago.
People could already picture it: once [Jiraiya] was released, the Duel Arena would be ruled by him.
"Next," said Kuroda, bringing everyone's attention back, "let's talk about the details of the new version."
"[Jiraiya]'s High-Class Recruitment rebate will go live, and [Might Guy]'s will be removed. If you haven't drawn for him yet, don't miss your chance."
"Wait a second, host," Jiraiya interrupted, suddenly curious. "Does that mean [Might Guy] himself will be removed too?"
That question made many players tense up.
There were still plenty of people willing to spend Gold Coins to recruit ninjas. If a ninja was removed, they'd have no choice but to keep spending until they got him—or give up entirely.
What? You say you can just not draw? Ha! Then you can forget about competing in the Duel Arena!
Fortunately, Kuroda's next words put everyone at ease.
"Don't worry. As we said before, High-Class A and High-Class S rotations alternate. They don't conflict with each other."
"In other words, [Might Guy] won't be removed until the next High-Class A ninja releases. And he'll still be obtainable through other means later."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief—though curiosity about those "other means" still lingered.
Of course, Kuroda didn't reveal that. He simply continued, "Aside from the new C-rank and B-rank ninjas, there will also be new Duel Arena modes coming online."
As he spoke, his screen image shrank to the lower-left corner, while a large new image filled the rest of the display.
When people saw what it was, they were all stunned—and instinctively turned to look at Orochimaru, sitting within the screen.
Even Orochimaru himself blinked in surprise.
On the screen was an image of Orochimaru holding a long sword, his tongue extended, and a twisted grin on his face. Above it, a few bold words glowed brightly—
[Orochimaru's Trial]
"Oh? Is this related to me?" Orochimaru licked his lips.
"That's right," Kuroda nodded.
Jiraiya fell into thought. Was this improvised—or prepared long in advance?
He had a feeling this new mode was somehow linked to him dragging Orochimaru into the duel demonstration earlier.
Since Orochimaru showed up, Kuroda probably decided to take the opportunity to announce this so-called [Orochimaru's Trial].
Kuroda knew people would suspect him of opportunism, but he didn't care—his expression remained calm.
"[Orochimaru's Trial] will be located under the Duel Arena's additional modes. You'll understand the details once it's live."
"In addition, another mode will also be added to the 'More Modes' section—though it'll only be available for a limited time."
At that, Kuroda smiled.
"Unlimited Class Tournament!"
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