Arisu still sat cross-legged on the cushion, fingertips lightly pressed against his brow, just now silently thinking over the trivial matters of the birthday banquet.
A hurried shout from Gamamaru suddenly rang out by his ear.
"Teacher! Teacher!", The voice carried urgency and panic. It was clearly Gamamaru.
Accompanied by heavy footsteps, the hall door was gently pushed open, and Gamamaru walked in with a slightly unsteady gait.
"So it's you, Gamamaru..."
Arisu slowly lowered the hand pressed to his brow and raised his eyes to look at the quickly approaching Gamamaru.
"What's wrong? What's got you so flustered?", Arisu's tone was calm as he asked softly.
In his memory, Gamamaru had always been meticulous and composed when facing matters. Seeing him like this, so out of sorts, hadn't happened in a long time.
"Teacher, I dreamed! I dreamed..."
Gamamaru hurried to Arisu, stopped in front of him, still breathing heavily.
Arisu raised his brows slightly, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes, and patiently asked, "What did you dream about? Take it slow, there's no need to rush."
As he spoke, Arisu carefully examined Gamamaru before him, a thought quietly surfacing in his mind.
The Gamamaru in front of him was no longer the agile and lively figure from his younger days. Time had left deep marks on him.
His body looked large, but in truth he was already old and frail. Even his movements carried a bit of sluggishness, and his spirit was far less vigorous than before.
'This Gamamaru… he won't actually end up with senile dementia in the future, right...', Arisu calculated silently in his heart.
He had to come up with a way to help Gamamaru stabilize his condition, slow down his aging, and maintain a youthful physique.
Arisu remembered that in the original trajectory, by the time of Jiraiya's era, Gamamaru had already become extremely aged. Even his memory had grown fuzzy, often leaving him in a muddled state.
Suppressing the thoughts in his heart, Arisu refocused his attention on Gamamaru.
He saw Gamamaru take a deep breath, trying to steady his hurried breathing. He lifted his eyes to look at Arisu, his expression suddenly becoming extremely serious, "Teacher, something big! This is something huge!"
"I dreamed of a massive change concerning the entire ninja world!"
As soon as those words came out, Arisu's originally calm expression instantly tightened, his brows slightly furrowing as a ripple stirred in his heart.
'A massive change concerning the ninja world?'
The first thing that came to his mind was the legend of the Child of Prophecy. According to the original storyline, that person should have been Naruto.
But the current situation was already completely different. The ninja world had enjoyed a thousand years of stability. He himself was personally overseeing everything here.
Naruto was merely a part of the thousand-year agreement, with no chance, nor any need, to initiate any so-called transformation of the ninja world.
'Then could it be Boruto?'
'The so-called child of humanity?'
But on second thought, that didn't make sense either. Isshiki Otsutsuki was already dead.
Even if other Otsutsuki clan members dared to invade, he would handle it personally. It wouldn't spread across the entire ninja world to cause such a massive upheaval.
Though many guesses surfaced in his mind, Arisu's expression remained steady. He looked at Gamamaru with concern and said in a deep voice, "Don't rush. Tell me the details. Everything you saw and heard in your dream, tell me word for word."
Gamamaru frowned tightly, trying hard to recall the scenes from his dream. His eyes were filled with shock as he slowly began to speak.
"Teacher, in my dream, there was a person whose face I couldn't see clearly. It was like he was wrapped in a layer of mist. I couldn't make out his identity or his origin at all."
"But that person held a sword, a black sword. With that long sword in hand, he ran all over the human world. Everywhere he went was filled with slaughter."
"The entire mortal world went through a brutal cleansing. Blood flowed everywhere, devastation as far as the eye could see. It looked extremely tragic."
"But what's strange is that after this catastrophe, the overall condition of the human world actually became better and better…"
As his words fell, the Sage Hall instantly sank into complete silence.
Arisu's previously calm expression turned heavy in an instant, his brows slightly knitted.
He didn't rush to ask more. He simply slowly lifted his gaze, his eyes subtly shifting upward…
Landing on the Six Paths Sword hanging in the center of the Sage Hall's ceiling.
The sword hung there in stillness. Its blade emitted a faint glow of sage power. Its body was ancient and heavy, and even after a thousand years, its sharpness remained restrained.
At this moment, under the drifting incense smoke in the hall, it inexplicably carried an extra hint of killing intent.
"One person holding a black sword, going around the human world cutting everything down…"
Arisu slowly raised his hand, lightly rubbing his chin with his fingertips. His gaze remained fixed on the Six Paths Sword as his mind began to race.
This mysterious person had no clear appearance. With only the traits of a black sword and acting alone in slaughter, it was far too vague. For a moment, it was impossible to pinpoint anyone.
He carefully searched through everyone in the ninja world who might match such characteristics. After several rounds of elimination, only Uchiha Sasuke and Boruto seemed the closest fit.
But after thinking again, Arisu shook his head.
Neither of them had even been born yet. The ninja world was currently in a state of "stability." There was no opportunity for them to appear. That lead was instantly cut off.
'So who could it be? It's really hard to guess...'
Arisu withdrew his gaze from the Six Paths Sword.
He looked back at Gamamaru, whose expression was still tense, and slowly asked, "Gamamaru, when do you think this dream will happen? Did you sense any approximate time?"
Gamamaru's prophecies had always been accurate. For a massive change that concerned the life and death of the ninja world, the timeline was an extremely crucial clue. He had to figure it out.
"Teacher, I don't know. There was no clear indication of time. It could be in the distant future, or it might happen right now."
Gamamaru gently shook his head, his voice low yet firm.
"I see..."
Arisu nodded slightly and said no more. He simply turned around and began to pace slowly back and forth within the Sage Hall.
As he paced, he repeatedly simulated all the possibilities of the prophecy in his mind, trying to pull out any clues from Gamamaru's vague description.
To be honest, Arisu had already figured out who that person was.
That person had the strength to sweep across the ninja world, and also had the motive to do so.
"Let's set this matter aside for now. We'll talk about it later.", Arisu said to Gamamaru.
Hearing this, a trace of confusion flashed across Gamamaru's face, but he immediately nodded.
"Gamamaru, your dreams are becoming more and more powerful."
Before leaving, Arisu said something meaningful to him.
Gamamaru paused slightly. Haven't his dreams always been like this?
At that moment, the tailed beasts started "calling" Arisu again.
Arisu frowned slightly and silently rejected it.
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