Science has proven… no, in this case, superstition has proven that beings with a fraud-prophet air about them, like the Great Toad Sage, all share one very common trait:
They never simply say what they mean.
Everything has to be wrapped in circles before it leaves their mouths, and every sentence is vague. Out of ten lines, eight are hazy and ambiguous. The things they say usually leave the listener with a feeling that they seem to have understood something, yet also seem to have understood absolutely nothing.
So, conversations of this self-absorbed, cryptic nature might test a person's temperament and comprehension, but before that, they certainly test a person's patience.
When such long-winded speeches came, the listener had to memorize every single word.
The Great Toad Sage was no exception. At a glance, it clearly was not the combat-oriented type. In fact, its most miraculous ability was not some special method of fighting, but its ability to foresee the future.
Although the things the Sage saw were always extremely broad and shrouded in dense fog, there was no denying that it could indeed see something. At the very least, the general course of the future could not escape its eyes. Objectively speaking, the Great Toad Sage intended to use this prophetic ability to enlighten the present with the future. But as for what actual effect its prophecies could have, only the heavens knew.
"Young shinobi, a few days ago, I dreamed a prophecy that Mount Myōboku would have a new visitor, so you… hm? Who is the person beside you?"
The Great Toad Sage was clearly speaking to Yagoromo, but halfway through, it suddenly took a detour.
Jiraiya instantly broke out in black lines across his forehead. At that moment, he could not help but maliciously suspect that the Great Toad Sage had truly gone completely senile. It seemed to forget who he was all the time.
However, just as Jiraiya was about to introduce himself once again—after all, he had repeated this so many times that he was long since used to it—the Great Toad Sage continued speaking to Yagoromo before he could get a word out.
The Sage had indeed forgotten Jiraiya. But immediately afterward, it also forgot the fact that it had forgotten Jiraiya. So the current situation was…
It simply ignored Jiraiya altogether.
Jiraiya failed to get even one sentence out, nearly suffocating himself from holding it in.
Was this what being abandoned felt like? There was no greater suffering in the world.
"The future within the fog seems to have undergone some change. The direction of the winds blowing from either side has not changed, yet they seem to have grown more violent. And the person stirring all of this… what I saw was a white-haired shinobi who uses Lightning Release…"
"You will bring tremendous change to the world. But whether that change will be good or bad, I cannot see clearly."
Although the Great Toad Sage's body was enormous, it seemed very frail due to its advanced age. Its voice was so low that one had to prick up their ears and listen carefully to hear it.
The matter it was speaking of now seemed important enough, yet its tone still carried no rise or fall.
After all, whether the world was destroyed or reborn, an existence as ancient as the Great Toad Sage had already experienced such things several times. To it, what was about to happen in the future was merely another repetition of past experiences.
Even if the details differed, it could imagine the general outline of events even without prophecy.
"You, who should not exist, will cause corresponding changes with every action you take. And the continuing influence of certain things you have done, or are about to do, may even alter the course of the entire world."
"In my dream, the purpose of your actions was neither to destroy the world nor to save it. But depending on the process of your actions, they may very well produce either salvation or destruction… You are a reformer in another sense, though your body bears no sign of the Child of Prophecy."
Yagoromo listened to the Great Toad Sage's narration without saying a word. To be honest, he did not care about the contents of what the other party was saying. He had already made arrangements for what he intended to do. The Sage's prophecy, or even the reality of the future itself, could not shake his current decision or the actions he was about to take.
But after saying so much, the Great Toad Sage still had not explained the one thing Yagoromo actually wanted to know.
No one knew when the records in Shikkotsu Forest had first been left there, nor who had left them behind. Most of their contents were now meaningless in the present day. However, correspondingly, some of them still possessed considerable value.
That value did not lie in the recording of some overwhelmingly powerful ninjutsu, but in the fact that those records documented many hidden secrets about the entire shinobi world—information that should originally have been unknowable.
The Sage of Six Paths, who founded Ninshū and spread the use of chakra throughout the entire shinobi world, had left behind a shrine in a hidden space while he was alive. That place seemed to be where he had divided the tailed beasts, and it also seemed to contain all "beginnings."
However, finding this shrine was no simple matter. If one simply wandered around aimlessly, they would never find its location.
But a method to find the shrine did exist.
Its coordinates and method of entry had been divided into three parts and placed respectively in Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest. Only by experiencing all three places and receiving each one's acknowledgment could one piece together the complete coordinates and gain the possibility of entering the shrine.
This method was similar to gathering all seven Dragon Balls to summon Shenron and have any wish granted.
Fortunately, there were only three coordinates. Mount Myōboku was already the last one, so Yagoromo did not need to keep running all over the place.
As for his wish, in the end, he could only rely on himself to fulfill it.
Jiraiya listened carefully to every word the Great Toad Sage said, missing nothing, because he felt that this was extremely important. Yagoromo, on the other hand, had already drifted somewhat out of focus…
He thought the Sage was just rambling nonsense.
But in reality, the Great Toad Sage rarely said so much in one sitting. And after it finished this long speech, it finally got to the main point.
"Jiraiya…"
At this moment, the Sage remembered Jiraiya again. In truth, Jiraiya was indeed that important person in its life. The Sage merely suffered from intermittent forgetfulness; it was impossible for it to truly forget him.
"Yes, Great Sage," Jiraiya answered.
"Go to the third level of the fourth bookshelf and bring me the eighth book from the left…"
The things that had to be remembered—the Great Toad Sage would not forget a single one of them.
Jiraiya nodded, then went to look for the book according to the Sage's instructions.
A certain matter might happen, or it might not. And after it happened, the consequences it caused might be positive, or they might be entirely negative. The odds were half and half. Because there was a fifty-percent chance of a terrible outcome, many people would rather such a thing never occur at all.
But the Great Toad Sage did not seem to think that way. Judging from its current actions, it was promoting the event's occurrence.
Because no matter what, it knew that Yagoromo's actions would bring a brand-new possibility—something no one had ever accomplished before, something no one had even attempted.
A moment later, Jiraiya returned with the book.
To be more precise, Jiraiya "carried" the book back.
That "book" was more than half a person's height, and its thickness exceeded forty centimeters.
After bringing the book to the Sage's feet, Jiraiya gently laid it flat on the ground.
"Open it…"
The Great Toad Sage spoke again.
Jiraiya crouched down, then used both hands to open the book. As a result, he happened to turn directly to the place where a very special sheet of paper was tucked inside.
Yagoromo fixed his gaze on it. The rather large sheet of paper was almost entirely blank. Only in the very center was there a single line of writing and several numbers.
But just that much was enough to satisfy Yagoromo.
The final part of the coordinates had now entered his sight. And after adding this last piece of the puzzle, the scene depicted by the puzzle board finally had a chance to reveal itself.
A certain radiance flashed through Yagoromo's eyes for an instant, then immediately sank back into silence. He did not seem especially excited, but what he truly felt at this moment was something only he himself knew.
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