He was enveloped in smoke, when it cleared, two figures stood on his shoulders.
"Jiraya." Fukasaku greeted calmly, studying Osamu closely. "Another fight?"
"You really should summon us more for other things, Jiraya." Shima complained loudly. "We miss you."
Jiraya laughed awkwardly at that, ignoring the judging look from his partners.
"Hey hey, now's not the time, this guy is annoying." He reminded them.
"Oh! The Great Toad Sages!" Osamu exclaimed with excitement, entirely ignoring how much danger he was in. "Awesome!"
He bit his thumb.
"I can do that too, ya know?" Osamu informed them cheerfully. "Let me show you!"
Osamu slammed his palm into the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A massive plume of smoke exploded outwards, engulfing Osamu, quickly filling up the entire battlefield.
When it cleared, Osamu stood on the head of a massive crow, white feathered and sharp-eyed.
Shima and Fukasaku tensed, if it was just a normal summon then there wouldn't be much to worry about, but they clearly recognized this one.
The crow looked around, slight confusion in his eyes as he examined the three figures on the hillside, Osamu tapped him on the side of the head.
"Ah, Great One, do you require my assistance?" The crow asked politely.
Osamu frowned, and the two toads tensed even more.
"It's just Osamu, don't call me Great One, it's awkward." He ordered bluntly.
"Oh, my apologies." The crow apologized immediately. "I sometimes forget."
Osamu sighed, muttering something under his breath.
Jiraya was feeling quite worried at this point, for more than one reason, but mostly because he had a very bad feeling about the Summon that Osamu brought out.
He was not expecting Summons, which he now realized was something he really should have considered, since The Order very openly worked with crows.
He whispered quietly to Shima and Fukasaku.
"You know this summon, Ma, Pa?" He asked hopefully.
Fukasaku slowly nodded.
"We should run."
That was not good.
"Run?"
"Yes, run."
Not good at all.
The crow noticed their conversation and spoke up again.
"Please, toad brats, enlighten your summoner, it has been quite some time since I last interacted with the outside world, I am not surprised that my name has faded into myth."
Shima and Fukasaku shared a look, clearly communicating silently between each other, finally they came to a decision, Jiraya could see in their eyes that neither of them were happy about it.
"The Crow Clan is extinct, or it was supposed to be." Shima started. "They were crazy, battle maniacs who fought like no other, they lived only to fight."
Fukasaku continued on from there.
"The constant fighting meant that they were always a second rate Clan, their arrogance and bloodlust meant they wasted every opportunity by fighting more, and that meant all were their enemies, they fought with the Toads, with the Snakes, even with Lady Katsuyu, any clan that even slightly bothered them became their target."
"They were a nuisance, until one day, one crow mastered the Sage Arts." Shima picked up again. "He was unstoppable, killing anything that challenged him and surviving everything that tried to kill him."
"We only saw him once, when we were young, visiting the Valley of Cranes, white feathers dyed red with blood."
Fukasaku's eyes dimmed as he remembered.
"It was terrifying, we were lucky that we were only there as observers, the Crane Clan was humbled that day."
"Mukuro, The Great Murder." Shima hissed.
The crow chuckled quietly at the description.
"Good times." He said nostalgically. "Ah, how young and foolish I was then."
"You were supposed to be dead." Fukasaku stated bluntly. "You and your daughter disappeared alongside most of your tadpoles, leaving the rest of your clan to fight their endless battles until they died out."
Mukuro's gaze was calm, unbothered by the accusation that he abandoned his Clan.
"I simply grew tired of it, it was all pointless, so I took my daughter and the hatchlings not yet tainted by such nonsense, and left, what happened afterwards isn't my concern."
Jiraya listened to this all with a growing sense of unease, if these two were scared, then he should be as well.
A Sage was already a hard fight, but normally Sages only fought in the most extreme of circumstances, one did not become a Sage without an appreciation for balance and restraint.
The crow looked unburdened by age, and if Shima and Fukasaku were speaking true, then this crow was experienced in battle.
But, even if the odds weren't good, he was not one for running or backing down, at least without giving it a good try first.
"Ma, Pa." Jiraya whispered quietly. "Let's go, Sage Mode."
The pair nodded, reluctant but unsurprised, Jiraya breathed deeply, feeling the Chakra from both Nature and his partners fill him, opening his eyes, they were yellow with black vertical pupils.
Osamu leaned down and whispered in Mukuro's ear.
"Do you actually want to fight? I just summoned you because it would be funny."
Mukuro ignored Osamu's baffling reasoning to summon him, truly, God could not be understood.
"I do not mind, it has been centuries since I have fought, let me test these old bones one more time." The crow responded. "Although if you wish for me to not fight, I will, of course, obey your command."
Osamu smiled widely at that, patting the crow on the head.
"Nah, it's fine." He waved off Mukuro's concern. "We can have some fun."
Jiraya leapt forward, spinning in the air, slamming his leg into Mukuro's side, his enhanced strength sent the massive bird flying backwards, but he recovered quickly, flapping his wings to regain balance.
Osamu anchored himself with Chakra, making sure that he didn't fall off, that would be embarrassing.
His hands flew through seals.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall!"
A massive wave of water was sent flying towards Jiraya, but he simply ran through his own series of hand seals.
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar Prison!"
Massive pillars of stone shot out of the ground, half of them shooting upwards into the makeshift waterfall's path and the other half forming a makeshift cage around Mukuro.
But Jiraya knew it wouldn't hold him for long, he stepped back and started running through hand seals again.
"Sage Art: Goemon!"
Jiraya spewed a small tidal wave of oil from his mouth, Fukasaku matched it with a blast of wind, and Shima lit it up with a stream of fire.
But before it crashed into Mukuro, he simply opened his beak.
"Mimicry: Wind Release." He muttered quietly, and a hurricane of wind exploded outwards.
It ripped apart the flames and oil, throwing Jiraya backwards in the air, unharmed but extremely irritated.
"Mimicry: Lightning Release." Another mutter from Mukuro, this time a spear of lightning came shooting towards Jiraya, who barely managed to twist out of its path, feeling the hairs on his arms stand up as it passed by him.
"Ma! Pa, what the hell is that?" Jiraya asked slightly incredulously.
"Mimicry, the reason Mukuro was so feared," Fukasaku answered. "He has taken the natural talent for imitation of the Crow Clan and combined it with his mastery of sensing Chakra, and turned into a monstrous power."
"Every time Chakra gets used in his presence, he memorizes how it's shaped and manipulated, and then recreates the best parts, he isn't using Jutsus, he is using the pure form of each element." Shima explained further.
This Crow was bullshit, that's basically a better version of the Sharingan.
Jiraya ran through more hand seals, spinning quickly before jumping at Mukuro once again.
"Sage Art: Hair Needle Senbon!"
Thousands of needles flew out from his hair, propelled by Chakra, sharp enough to pierce rock, strong enough to punch through steel.
"Mimicry: Earth Release."
They would've shredded Mukuro if he didn't simply use his wings as a shield, his feathers seemingly becoming iron-like, knocking away each needle with ease.
Another series of seals from Jiraya.
"Fire Release: Big Flame Bullet!"
Mukuro responded immediately.
"Mimicry: Water Release."
A geyser of water came spewing out from the bird's mouth, drowning Jiraya's flames in an instant.
Jiraya got flung back again, he couldn't get close to this guy, anything he threw at Mukuro was easily countered by Mimicry.
Osamu spoke up from his perch on Mukuro's head.
"Very impressive." He sounded genuinely impressed. "I didn't know you were so powerful, Mukuro."
The crow chuckled in answer, preening slightly under the praise.
Jiraya frowned, this was... really bad actually, how did he fight something that just countered everything he tried?