Chapter 32 — "My" Will
The inauguration ceremony of Senju Morin, the Third Hokage, and the speech he delivered that day sent shockwaves through the entirety of Konoha.
The First Hokage had indeed passed down the Will of Fire, but what he left behind was little more than a broad, abstract idea—the resolve to protect everything at any cost.
From Konoha's founding to the present day, twenty full years had passed. Yet this was the first time anyone had articulated the Will of Fire in such a complete, structured, and explicit manner—clearly explaining to the people what it truly meant.
...
Morin himself, however, paid little attention to the stir he had caused.
Beyond continuing his study of the Second Hokage's Water Release techniques, he had begun devoting his spare time to contemplating another matter—
Taking disciples.
For many shinobi, accepting disciples was an event no less significant than marriage or having children. Unlike the standard relationship between a jōnin-sensei and their assigned genin team, taking on disciples was a far more formal and meaningful commitment.
In a sense, Morin's ascension to the Hokage seat had prematurely put an end to the embryonic system that had begun to take shape in Konoha—the so-called Hokage master–disciple succession.
Even so, regardless of whether it directly translated into "eligibility to become the next Hokage," the position of Hokage's disciple still carried immense weight and profound political significance.
The first and most obvious candidate was young Tsunade.
With Senju Hashirama deceased, Senju Tobirama fallen in battle without leaving behind any children, and Tsunade's parents having left Konoha to reside in the Fire Capital, Tsunade had become the sole remaining Senju of direct lineage still living in the village.
In many ways, she was little more than a symbolic figure—a living emblem of the Senju legacy.
Taking her as a disciple would bring Morin nothing but benefits.
Beyond that, with the ninja academy founded by Tobirama flourishing year by year, it was only a matter of time before Konoha produced a significant number of jōnin from civilian backgrounds.
Every jōnin was a force to be reckoned with—let alone an entire group of them.
This meant that a new interest bloc would inevitably emerge within Konoha's political structure, one that would naturally claim a portion of influence and voice previously monopolized by the old clans.
To demonstrate his recognition and support of civilian-born shinobi, Morin needed a disciple who came from a non-clan background.
At this point in time, there were very few civilian children of the right age who could even be described as "promising," and even fewer who met Morin's standards.
In the end, only two names entered his consideration—
Orochimaru and Jiraiya.
After only a brief deliberation, Morin made his choice.
While the future Legendary Sannin Jiraiya would undoubtedly grow into a formidable shinobi, he simply could not compare to Orochimaru in this stage of life.
Unlike Jiraiya, Orochimaru had been hailed as a genius since childhood, displaying an intense passion for learning, experimentation, and the study of ninjutsu.
Jiraiya's true turning point in life would come later—on the day he first set foot on Mount Myōboku.
After all, even Jiraiya himself would one day proudly call himself—
"The Toad Sage."
It could be said that more than half of Jiraiya's strength ultimately came from his training on Mount Myōboku, as well as from the generous gifts of the toads who lived there.
Jiraiya's life resembled that of the protagonists in countless tales of wandering heroes.
Born a civilian shinobi, he showed little talent in his youth. Whether at the ninja academy or later within his assigned team, he was always the clumsy, slow-witted dead last—the quintessential underachiever.
If one had to name the greatest highlight of that early stretch of his life, it would be this: through sheer coincidence, he ended up apprenticed to an excellent teacher.
Under Hiruzen Sarutobi's careful guidance, and by way of a chance accident, Jiraiya recklessly attempted a summoning technique without having signed any summoning contract at all.
Such an act carried enormous risk. Under normal circumstances, it should have sent him hurtling into some unknown corner of the ninja world—or worse.
Instead, he was transported to Mount Myōboku, one of the Three Great Sage Regions.
And just as Jiraiya stood there, lost and bewildered, the Great Toad Sage—highest authority of Mount Myōboku—awoke from his long slumber and personally granted an audience to this "unremarkable" ninja.
Before Jiraiya himself, the Great Toad Sage foretold that he was a man burdened with a special mission, destined to live a grand and turbulent life, and to one day teach a child who would change the fate of the entire world…
Whether this had all been carefully arranged or was merely a string of absurd coincidences, a succession of unbelievable encounters thus fell upon Jiraiya.
And the one who had always ranked last within his team, through just a few years of training on Mount Myōboku, managed not only to catch up to—but in certain respects even surpass—his two genius teammates, Tsunade and Orochimaru.
From that point onward, Jiraiya placed absolute faith in the toads' prophecies.
Yet none of this came without cost.
The price Jiraiya paid was steep. For the rest of his life, he would act according to the guidance of the toads, endlessly wandering the world in search of the so-called Child of Prophecy.
"Guidance" might sound unpleasant—calling it prophecy made it easier to accept.
In Morin's view, however, Mount Myōboku was never truly searching for any "Child of Destiny."
What they were really seeking were the reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
The purpose was obvious: to ensure Mount Myōboku's continued survival, and—just as in ancient times—to place their bets correctly and reap the greatest possible rewards.
Of course, Jiraiya himself could never have known this.
But the mere fact that he was, in a sense, bound to Mount Myōboku significantly diminished his value.
Morin could, in theory, interfere with Jiraiya's future.
But setting aside whether a land capable of prophecy possessed other unseen contingencies, there was an even simpler concern: without Mount Myōboku's support, could Jiraiya truly reach the same heights?
Rather than gamble on that uncertainty, it was better to let events follow their original course—to allow Mount Myōboku to cultivate a powerful shinobi who, at the very least, would still return to Konoha at critical moments and fight for the village.
Even if Jiraiya's greatest lifelong pursuit would ultimately be—
searching, on behalf of the toads of Mount Myōboku, for the legendary Child of Prophecy.
By comparison, Orochimaru's ambitions were far clearer.
His ultimate goal was simple and terrifying in its purity—
to master every ninjutsu in existence, and to comprehend all truths of the world.
As he himself once put it:
"The first person to mix blue and yellow named the new color green.
I am merely doing the same thing."
Only by understanding everything could he become a perfect being.
And the secondary desire that arose from this ambition was the need for enough time to achieve it all—
that is, immortality.
This, in fact, posed no conflict with Morin's own aspirations.
On the contrary, Morin was more than willing to support Orochimaru in fully unleashing his talent, and even happier to back his various lines of research.
At this thought, a faint smile surfaced on Morin's face—because he, too, was reminded of his own pursuit.
The pursuit that had driven him to everything he had accomplished thus far.
He wished to eternally dominate all things in existence, and to have the world operate forever according to his own will.
In that process, both power and authority were nothing more than particularly convenient tools.
And for that reason, he would have to live forever as well.
Because an ideology carried out by others—even if done flawlessly, even if executed in his name—was ultimately meaningless.
The moment he left this world, it would inevitably transform into something else entirely.