Inside Mount Myōboku's great hall, the Great Toad Sage sat slumped in his enormous chair, suffering from severe senility.
Jiraiya's Sage Mode, which he had spent years preparing, had been defeated, leaving him sprawled across the floor tiles.
Fukasaku Sage lowered his head and studied an oversized scroll of shinobi history.
The scroll was extraordinarily long. More than ten meters had already been unfurled across the floor, and the unopened rolled section was still over a meter in diameter.
Fukasaku muttered, "Why do people like Hashirama Senju and Fox appear—people strong enough to break the balance of the shinobi world...?"
He searched through the entire history of the shinobi world and still could not find a reasonable explanation.
Shima Sage grew annoyed just looking at them and turned to leave the hall.
After a long while, the Great Toad Sage lifted his heavy, drooping eyelids.
"I had a bad dream... It seems something has changed in the shinobi world..."
Seeing the Great Toad Sage wake, Fukasaku hurriedly said, "Great Toad Sage, this is bad!
Another person whose strength approaches Hashirama Senju's has appeared in the shinobi world! He may bring a new order to the world, just as Hashirama once founded Konoha and forced the shinobi world into the one-country, one-village system."
"Hm?" the Great Toad Sage said in confusion. "Have Asura and Indra reincarnated again?
Didn't Uchiha Madara only die a few years ago? Asura's reincarnation would need time to grow. How could he grow so quickly?
Could a four- or five-year-old child possibly reach Hashirama Senju's level?"
Fukasaku said, "Great Toad Sage, it is not Asura or Indra's reincarnation. It is Konoha's ANBU commander, Fox!"
The Great Toad Sage began a long period of thought.
More than ten minutes later, he finally spoke.
"Oh! I remember now. Fukasaku, didn't you say Uchiha Madara was killed by Fox?"
"Yes. That is him."
"Hashirama Senju died early. Logically, Uchiha Madara should have died long ago as well, allowing Asura and Indra's souls to reincarnate," the Great Toad Sage said in puzzlement. "Madara must have used something to forcibly extend his life, causing a slight problem with those two reincarnations.
Konoha's Fox... at his age, he should not be Asura's reincarnation..."
The Great Toad Sage fell into thought again, but found no answer.
He had once guided the Sage of Six Paths. He could be called a living fossil of the shinobi world.
His own life was a history of the shinobi world.
Jiraiya climbed up from the floor, intending to discuss the strength of Asura's reincarnation with the Great Toad Sage, but the Great Toad Sage had already fallen deeply asleep again.
Several hours later, the Great Toad Sage suddenly woke.
Before Fukasaku, the shinobi history scroll had been unfurled another dozen meters, reaching records from over four hundred years ago, yet he still had not figured out why powerful shinobi like Hashirama Senju and Fox had appeared.
After a dazed look crossed the Great Toad Sage's eyes, he said, "I just had a brand-new dream. A completely new dream. Where is little Jiraiya? Where is little Jiraiya?"
Jiraiya, who was lying flat on the floor, sat up.
"Here. I'm here. Great Toad Sage, did you dream about me?"
The Great Toad Sage lowered his head and looked at Jiraiya.
"You are Jiraiya? Why don't I recognize you?"
Fukasaku Sage said from the side, "Great Toad Sage, do not trust or doubt that terrible memory of yours. This is Jiraiya. Little Jiraiya."
The Great Toad Sage said, "Very well, little Jiraiya.
You will wander the shinobi world and encounter a boy with orange-red hair.
That boy possesses rare talent in the shinobi world. He will become the key to changing the shinobi world, changing its chaos and disorder, and returning it to the proper path."
"The proper path?" Fukasaku Sage frowned in thought. "What kind of order counts as the proper path?"
The Great Toad Sage said, "The shinobi world will soon enter a war that lasts for decades.
During that war, the shinobi world will become unrecognizable.
The boy little Jiraiya encounters will end the war and guide the shinobi world back to its original form.
That boy will be the Child of Prophecy."
Jiraiya murmured, "Unrecognizable... proper path... original form?"
Jiraiya wanted to ask more, but the Great Toad Sage had already fallen deeply asleep.
Before long, the hall returned to silence.
Jiraiya left, walking out of his defeat and returning to Konoha.
Fukasaku Sage was called away by Shima Sage to eat sauced worms.
In the darkness, the Great Toad Sage slightly lifted his drooping eyelids.
"Long time no see, Ōtsutsuki... Hagoromo."
There was nothing in front of the Great Toad Sage, yet he seemed to be speaking with someone, muttering to himself the entire time.
"Oh? You say that person was originally a civilian with no bloodline power, but later used some unknown method to deceive his way into obtaining your bloodline?"
"He tricked his way into obtaining several of your bloodlines, and you still cannot control him?"
"Yes, he is becoming more and more dangerous. Fukasaku, Shima, and little Jiraiya worked together with senjutsu, yet they were still no match for him."
"If he wants to do something, no one can stop him."
"Oh, I see. His child was born with your bloodline, so you can use that bloodline to influence his child."
"A person with children has a weakness."
"You can guide his child and bring the shinobi world back to the proper path."
"Mm. I agree with your idea. The shinobi world cannot always produce geniuses. By allowing Asura and Indra to reincarnate continuously, we can ensure that two powerful individuals capable of sealing Kaguya Ōtsutsuki will always appear."
"Asura and Indra continuously reincarnating, both growing stronger through life-and-death conflict... that is the ultimate answer."
"Good. Then let Jiraiya guide that orange-red-haired boy."
"As for Indra, his growth does not require guidance. It only requires stimulation. Once he experiences separation, death, and overwhelming hatred, he will naturally grow."
After Jiraiya returned to Konoha, he looked toward the Hokage Tower for a long time.
Tsunade was on the second floor of the Hokage Tower.
A few seconds later, Jiraiya's eyes changed from gloomy to carefree.
He was the wandering Toad Sage.
It was just one failed romance.
Nothing more.
He turned away and no longer looked at Tsunade, heading instead toward Konoha's bathhouse.
"One bathhouse actually built an infinity bath on the roof. Just thinking about it sounds exciting..."
After only a few steps, Jiraiya happened to run into a group of children coming back from school.
A flash of orange-red passed through them, making Jiraiya's heart stir slightly.
The Great Toad Sage had said he would meet an orange-red-haired genius while wandering the shinobi world.
But this...
Why had he already run into an orange-red-haired child in Konoha?
The child looked around six or maybe seven years old. He wore noble robes, and his bearing was clearly different from the children of Konoha.
Jiraiya thought for a moment and decided to investigate the child tomorrow.
For now, he would go to the bathhouse first.
The wounds caused by one woman had to be soothed by other women.
On the other side of Konoha, inside Tsurugetsu Tavern, Yoru returned to the tavern's back courtyard with a frustrated look on his face.
His mother, Kyoi, asked, "What's wrong, son?"
"Today was really strange."
"Did you get into another fight with that noble, Kojii Naito?"
"No. I was just really unlucky today. Nothing went smoothly. I burned my hand while getting hot water, and in the hallway I even bumped into someone. It was weird."