Jiraiya kept stressing the urgency of the situation, leaving Shima with no choice but to drag him into the great hall of Mount Myōboku.
She hopped up beside the Great Toad Sage's ear and shouted him awake from his nap.
"Great Toad Sage, Naruto is about to be seriously injured and on the verge of death! Hurry up and give me—"
Jiraiya barely started his sentence before the Great Toad Sage, who had only just opened his eyes, started snoring again.
Shima had no choice but to wake him up a second time.
"Great Toad Sage, Naruto is—"
"Zzzzz—"
"..."
"Shima, how about you try this?" Jiraiya pulled a sharp senbon from behind his back.
"How dare you, Jiraiya-chan! Are you trying to hurt the Great Toad Sage? You're the one rambling nonsense instead of getting straight to the point, and now you're blaming him for not staying awake long enough?"
Shima bristled with anger the moment she saw the needle.
Before this, no one knew why the Great Toad Sage loved sleeping so much.
But ever since the shinobi world's hidden "history" surfaced, Shima understood the truth.
The Great Toad Sage had made a grand prophecy and suffered severe backlash for it.
That was why he constantly fell into deep sleep.
This was a noble sacrifice!
Even if the other toads of Mount Myōboku had to wait on him hand and foot for hundreds or thousands of years, it was well worth the effort.
"Fine. Then please help me wake the Great Toad Sage one last time."
Jiraiya had no choice but to settle for the next best option.
Since he could not extend the old toad's waking time, he could only do as Shima suggested and shorten his own pitch.
"Naruto's dying! Give me the charm!" The instant the Great Toad Sage cracked his eyes open, Jiraiya shouted at the top of his lungs.
After shouting, Jiraiya stared at the massive toad in a nervous sweat, terrified the old frog would yawn and pass out again.
This time, however, the Great Toad Sage seemed disturbed by the sheer volume of Jiraiya's voice and managed to stay awake.
Instead, he shifted his massive gaze toward the human below.
Just as Jiraiya thought he had succeeded, the Great Toad Sage spoke in a slow, groggy drawl.
"What did you just say?"
Thud!
Jiraiya collapsed face-first onto the floor in utter despair.
"The charm, the charm! Jiraiya-chan heard from who knows where that you have some kind of charm capable of bringing a person back from the brink of death. He wants one to save Naruto—wait, what exactly happened to Naruto?" Shima stepped in to translate for the old sage.
"Oh, Naruto... the Child of Prophecy... the boy who will laugh wildly while howling the names of the nine Tailed Beasts..." The Great Toad Sage's eyes rolled back slightly as he muttered the vague nonsense.
"Huh?"
Shima dug at her ear, wondering if her hearing was finally failing her.
Why did that sound completely different from the prophecy he gave before?
"Great Toad Sage, the charm! The charm!" Hearing the Great Toad Sage actually respond, Jiraiya sprang back to his feet like a startled carp.
"Charm..."
"Yes!"
"What is that?"
"...A piece of paper! A paper infused with senjutsu chakra!"
"Oh, that."
The Great Toad Sage acted as if he actually understood the assignment this time.
He reached behind his massive back, pulled out a piece of paper, and tossed it down toward Jiraiya.
"Perfect! The Great Toad Sage hasn't gone completely senile yet!" Jiraiya jumped up, caught the charm in midair, and tucked it safely inside his robes.
By the time Jiraiya landed and looked up, the Great Toad Sage was already snoring.
'He really sleeps this much?' Jiraiya muttered to himself. 'Now that I think about it, Orochimaru and Tsunade mentioned the White Snake Sage and Katsuyu don't sleep nearly this often. Could that crazy novel be right?'
According to the novel, the Great Toad Sage and the Sage of Six Paths once shared an unspeakable, intimate relationship.
Later, the Sage of Six Paths abandoned the Great Toad Sage and grew obsessed with the Tailed Beasts instead.
To take revenge on the Sage of Six Paths for tossing him aside after playing with his heart, the Great Toad Sage prophesied that the reincarnation of the Sage's own son would steal away his beloved Tailed Beasts.
Originally, Jiraiya refused to believe it.
As a loyal contractor of Mount Myōboku, he might run his mouth, but deep down, he respected the Great Toad Sage.
But looking at the situation now, why did it feel more and more believable?
Not only because of the Great Toad Sage's erratic changes, but also because of the bizarre shifts happening across the shinobi world.
"Forget it. No point overthinking this. I need to get back and save Naruto first."
Jiraiya shook his head and used the Reverse Summoning Jutsu to return to Konoha.
The moment his feet touched the village rooftops, a familiar, earth-shattering roar pierced the air.
"UZUMAKI NARUTO, ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE?!"
A primal chill shot down Jiraiya's spine, and he nearly wet himself.
Only after his heart rate settled did he realize Tsunade was not screaming at him.
Jiraiya pulled the charm from his robes with trembling fingers.
Originally, he planned to swoop in and play the hero, but judging by the sheer murderous intent in that roar, stepping into that office was a death sentence.
Whether Naruto survived was up in the air, but Jiraiya himself would absolutely be reduced to paste!
Tsunade would assume he instigated the whole thing.
To be fair, he had.
But he never told the idiot kid to buy those extra tools!
Time was running out.
What was the plan here? Jiraiya swept his gaze across the streets and spotted Team Eight meeting up nearby.
His eyes lit up.
"Hey."
Jiraiya descended from the sky and landed right in the middle of the genin squad, startling all three of them.
"Lord Jiraiya?" Shino recognized him through his dark glasses.
"That's right, it is I. I have an emergency S-rank mission for you. No matter what you're doing right now, drop it. This concerns Naruto's life and death. Take this." Jiraiya shoved the charm forward.
"Naruto is about to suffer a catastrophic blow. This paper can save his life. I'm leaving it to you."
The three genin exchanged confused glances.
In the end, the most outgoing of the trio, Inuzuka Kiba, stepped up and took the paper.
"Lord Jiraiya, why don't you save Naruto yourself? Also, what happened to him? Why is he suddenly about to die?" Kiba asked, completely lost.
His question mirrored the confusion on Shino and Hinata's faces.
"I have to go save shinobi from other villages. I cannot show favoritism to Naruto just because he is my disciple." Jiraiya raised his chin, adopting an expression of noble sacrifice and righteous dedication.
Then, without sticking around to bask in the admiring gazes of the younger generation, he turned and bolted without looking back.
This time, Jiraiya was running for his life.
He knew Team Eight possessed the skills to reach Naruto in time.
But Tsunade would inevitably demand to know where the charm came from.
The moment she asked, the kids would rat him out, and Tsunade would trace the mess back to him.
If he didn't run, Tsunade could deploy Hinata's Byakugan, Shino's insects, and Akamaru's nose to track his scent.
If he stayed nearby to watch the drama unfold, he would be exposed and murdered.
To protect his own skin, Jiraiya had no choice but to flee Konoha entirely.
As for spreading the sacred teachings of Sage Mode, he had to leave the heavy lifting to Naruto.
Hopefully, after enduring this first round of lethal damage, the boy could rise from the ashes.