...Flashbacks of memories crashed into Jiraiya's mind without warning.
One sunny afternoon, a few days before the Third Stage of the Chunin Exams began... Jiraiya was lying in the grass by a clear river, his telescope aimed at several young women laughing and playing in the water on the distant riverbank, his drool nearly dripping.
"Ooh! This angle! These lines! Marvelous—!"
Looking at the youthful young women, Jiraiya, while supervising Naruto's training, was immersed in the supreme enjoyment of "artistic research"... On the riverbank, the women seemed to have played enough. One short-haired woman in a blue striped swimsuit suddenly looked down at herself, tugged at the edge of her swimsuit, and showed a slightly dissatisfied expression.
She said something to her companions, then turned and walked toward the rocks where clothes and towels were placed.
'Is... is she going to change her swimsuit...'
This thought made Jiraiya tremble all over; his pupils suddenly constricted, and his whole body tensed up like a frog before striking its prey.
He adjusted the focus of the telescope, his hand holding it as steady as if cast in iron. All his playfulness and laziness evaporated in an instant, leaving only the burning heat of intense concentration.
'It's coming! The critical moment of artistic sublimation!'
Jiraiya thought to himself, his fingers on his other hand even unconsciously digging into the soil beneath the grass roots, his heart beating like a drum.
In the scene, the girl's hand was about to touch the spare swimsuit folded on the rock,
In an instant—
Poof!
A puff of white smoke exploded, accompanied by a sense of spatial pulling.
The blue waves, the riverbank, and the graceful figures in front of him instantly twisted and disappeared.
Replacing them was rough rocky ground, damp air, and... two bumpy toad faces thrust right in front of his eyes.
"Little Jiraiya~"
"Little Jiraiya~"
Fukasaku and Shima were on his left and right, almost pressed against his nose.
"Uh-huh, what!?"
Jiraiya, startled by the two toads, stepped back in surprise, his face flushing with embarrassment.
"Lord Fukasaku! Lady Shima! How did you... no, this is... Mount Myōboku?!"
Jiraiya first looked around blankly, then the familiar giant mushroom rocks and toad buildings confirmed the location... "So, this is the Reverse Summoning Technique..."
Finally coming to his senses, Jiraiya understood everything, but the more he understood, the darker his face became, until finally, a violent scream rang out:
"Gah...!!!"
"Why... why did it have to be at the most critical moment..."
"My research! I was just at the critical part! At least let me...!"
Jiraiya beat his chest and stamped his feet, even kneeling on the ground in despair, his hands clutching his head, fingers buried messily in his white hair, looking as if his bones had been removed.
"That new swimsuit! It must have been light-colored, with lace... My inspiration! The opening scene of my next masterpiece!! Just a little bit more... a little bit more—!!!"
Smack!
"Quiet down, Little Jiraiya."
Seeing Jiraiya flailing and shouting, Fukasaku couldn't help but tap him on the head with his pipe, his expression then turning serious.
"The Great Lord wants to see you."
"The Great Lord?"
'The Great Toad Sage!'
Jiraiya was stunned; he never expected it would be a summons from the Great Toad Sage...!
All his complaints were instantly swallowed back, and he quieted down.
"The Great Lord has woken up again and has brought a new version of the prophecy..."
Seeing Jiraiya quiet down, Shima stepped forward to explain, though her expression was equally tense. "This time... I'm afraid something major has happened."
Jiraiya's heart sank suddenly, feeling the gravity of the situation without fully understanding it!
'A new version of the prophecy...!?'
Shima paused, seemingly trying to figure out how to phrase it:
"The Great Lord... saw a new fork in the road."
"A... completely different fork."
"Even..." She looked at Jiraiya, the emotions in her toad eyes complex and hard to decipher. "It's affecting the original 'Child of Prophecy'."
"In short... the trajectory of the prophecy has been... changed."
'...!!'
The color drained from Jiraiya's face, and his heart skipped a beat.
'The Child of Prophecy...!!!'
This was the obsession carved into his bones after leaving the village and traveling the Ninja World for so many years.
To find, observe, and guide, entrusting the hope and burden of changing the Ninja World—bringing transformation or destruction—to the figure pointed out by that vague prophecy.
This was his lifelong pursuit, the "future" he had decided he must pave the way for!
Placing his hopes on him... to bring peace to the Ninja World!
But now—Shima was telling him that a new fork had appeared in the prophecy!?
'Even... affecting the Child of Prophecy!?'
'Even the Child of Prophecy... is going to be changed!?'
'Wouldn't that mean all his hard work over the years had become a joke!?'
This was unacceptable to Jiraiya.
"...Changed?" Jiraiya's voice was dry. He suddenly looked up, staring intently at the two Sages. "What do you mean? How has it changed? Who changed it?"
"The Great Lord didn't give the details," Fukasaku shook his head. "He just woke up, clearer than ever before, and then said he wanted to see you and tell us this. He wants to see... the 'person who changed the prophecy'."
"And you, you can bring him to Mount Myōboku!"
"Let's go."
Hearing this, Jiraiya didn't hesitate for a second. He even forgot the Mount Myōboku mud on his knees and the heartbreak he felt just moments ago over the lost "art."
If all this was true, if the "future" he had spent so many years searching for and preparing for really had an unexpected variable... then he had to find out immediately, right now!
"Take me to see the Great Lord!"
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