However, if Kurama went too far, he wouldn't mind having a little friendly chat with him to exchange pleasantries.
Jiraiya didn't seem surprised at all by Boruto's guess. He simply nodded silently and replied:
"That's right. Just as you imagined, it is precisely because of Kurama's existence that this matter has become so tricky."
Immediately following that, Jiraiya furrowed his brow slightly and explained with a solemn expression:
"You must understand that Kurama is an extremely dangerous and uncontrollable power."
"Should Kurama's chakra accidentally leak out while you are guiding Naruto through his training, it certainly won't be a good thing for either yourself or Naruto."
"Once something like that happens, the consequences will be simply unimaginable."
With that, Jiraiya looked intently at Boruto and said:
"Therefore, I do not wish for such a thing to happen."
"Furthermore, given your special status, the village cannot possibly allow you to keep interacting with Naruto."
Upon hearing these words from Jiraiya, Boruto nodded in agreement, indicating that he fully understood what Jiraiya was trying to convey and the huge potential risks involved.
However, right at that moment, Boruto suddenly raised his head, fixed his gaze firmly on Jiraiya's eyes, and said in an exceptionally serious tone:
"Please rest assured, however, that I will do everything in my power to protect him!"
"No matter what difficulties and dangers we may encounter, I will never let Naruto suffer any harm!"
Hearing this, Jiraiya looked straight at Boruto with a piercing gaze, as if trying to look past his youthful face and see the thoughts deep within his heart.
"Where on earth does your confidence come from?" Jiraiya's voice was low and powerful, tinged with a hint of doubt and scrutiny.
Boruto's expression didn't change at all as he calmly replied:
"Strength."
Those two simple words struck Jiraiya's heart like a heavy hammer.
Those two words completely threw Jiraiya off.
Jiraiya couldn't help being slightly startled as he pondered to himself.
Even though this young man before him had indeed mastered advanced Ninjutsu such as the Rasengan and the Flying Raijin, isn't spouting such wild talk and showing such disregard even for the mighty Kurama a bit too arrogant?
Could it be that the youth of today are all this full of themselves?
Thinking of this, Jiraiya decided to turn up the heat on this ignorant and audacious kid so he could understand that true strength isn't just something you talk about with your mouth.
With that, he took a few steps forward, approached Boruto, and spoke:
"In that case, let me personally test just how good your strength really is."
"And see whether this so-called strength of yours lives up to its name, or if it's just all bluff and hot air."
Upon hearing this, Boruto lowered his head slightly, a shy flush appearing on his face, and mumbled somewhat awkwardly:
"Doing that... probably isn't a good idea."
On the other side, Jiraiya wore a casual expression, the corners of his mouth curving upward in an imperceptible smile as he softly replied:
"Don't worry, kid. I'm not going to throw my weight around or bully someone younger than me."
"I'll only use half of my power to spar with you." Having said that, Jiraiya even patted his chest with full confidence to show that it would be completely fair and just.
However, when Boruto heard these words, he couldn't help letting out a soft chuckle, shaking his head slowly as he said:
"Mr. Jiraiya, what I meant was, if someone from the younger generation like me were to defeat a venerable senior expert like you, wouldn't you lose a lot of face?"
As soon as those words fell, Jiraiya was taken aback for a moment, clearly not expecting Boruto to say something like that.
Immediately afterward, his expression instantly twisted, and he roared at the top of his lungs:
"You brat, saying such infuriating things! I'm going to teach you a good lesson today whether you like it or not!"
Accompanied by this roar, Jiraiya's figure flashed, lunging fiercely toward Boruto like a bolt of lightning.
In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of him, launching a fierce kick straight at Boruto.
This kick was extremely fast, kicking up a fierce whistle of wind. If it were to land, the consequences would definitely be unimaginable.
Facing Jiraiya's sudden attack, Boruto's expression didn't flicker and his heart didn't skip a beat, his eyes locked firmly onto the other's every move.
Right at the split second when Jiraiya's sole was about to touch him, Boruto made his move. His right hand darted out like lightning, with pinpoint accuracy, and grabbed Jiraiya's ankle.
At the same time, Boruto's left foot exerted sudden force, using the momentum to viciously kick toward Jiraiya's waist.
This entire sequence of movements flowed in one go, without the slightest bit of sluggishness.
Seeing that the situation was turning against him, Jiraiya shouted inwardly in alarm, hurriedly twisting his body in an attempt to dodge Boruto's strike.
Yet Boruto's reaction speed was simply too fast, leaving him no time to completely evade it.
With a muffled "thud," although Jiraiya successfully avoided the vital parts, he was still grazed on the side of his waist by the tip of Boruto's foot, making him wince in pain.
Still, Jiraiya was a veteran who had been through countless battles after all. The pain didn't throw him off balance.
Taking advantage of the moment before Boruto could retract his stance, he quickly raised his other leg and kicked viciously toward Boruto's head. This kick possessed terrifying power, practically threatening to blow Boruto's head apart directly.
Seeing this, Boruto's figure retreated rapidly backward.
While retreating, Boruto skillfully twisted his torso to the side, dodging Jiraiya's heavy blow by the narrowest of margins.
Following that, Boruto took advantage of the momentum to spin around, tightly gripping Jiraiya's ankle with both hands and giving him a powerful heave, actually tossing the heavily-built Jiraiya far away like a sandbag.
Jiraiya was no ordinary person either. He discharged his momentum mid-air and landed steadily on a tree.
Standing on a tree branch, Jiraiya's gaze held a few more traces of praise: "Boruto, your strength far exceeds my imagination."
"To possess such strength at such a young age is truly mind-boggling."
"When Kakashi said your strength might be above his, I was somewhat skeptical, but now it seems that is indeed the case."
As he spoke, Jiraiya twisted his body and said:
"Kid, watch out. I'm going to get serious now."
Boruto calmly replied: "Warm-up is over."
"I'm going to make the first move."