Prophecy

A plate of multicolored bugs was set on the table and pushed in front of Jiraiya.

"Great Sage hasn't woken up yet. Wait a little longer, little Jiraiya."

Staring at the writhing, twisted mass of colorful worms on the plate, Jiraiya's eye twitched.

"Um... Sage Shima, why don't you eat them? I'm not hungry yet."

"What's that supposed to mean? Do you think this old lady's cooking is disgusting?"

"No, of course not. I really like the food you make. I'm just not hungry."

The toad Shima puffed out her cheeks. "Eat them."

She pushed the plate a little closer to Jiraiya.

"Finish it, and I'll take you to see Great Sage. No trying to wriggle out of it."

Jiraiya was about to cry. What kind of decent person ate bugs?

But he had no choice. Sage Shima had strange tastes and loved watching people eat her worm dishes.

"Little Jiraiya, not everyone gets to taste Shima's cooking. Hurry up and eat."

At the crucial moment, the bearded old toad Fukasaku twisted the knife.

Jiraiya had no choice. He fought down the churning in his stomach and shut his eyes.

The plate of worms slid down his esophagus into his stomach. He could even feel them thrashing in the gastric juices, struggling desperately.

"Urk—"

He quickly covered his mouth with his hand, under the scrutinizing gazes of the two bizarre old toads.

Then he swallowed down the contents rising in his throat a second time.

He was holding back tears.

Before long, his stomach seemed to catch fire, and a wave of heat coursed through his body.

He could clearly sense the Natural Energy that usually played hide-and-seek with him.

Unfortunately, as the heat faded, the Natural Energy vanished again.

"Well? Did you sense it?"

Jiraiya nodded, then shook his head.

The two toads sighed and didn't press him further.

"Come on. I'll take you to see Great Sage."

A man and two toads made their way to the deepest part of Myoboku Mountain.

A mountain had been hollowed out and furnished as a vast chamber.

A giant toad nearly a hundred meters tall lay sprawled across a stone chair, snoring like thunder.

"Great Sage, little Jiraiya is here!"

The snoring continued. The toad showed no sign of waking.

Shima and Fukasaku chanted together. "Great Sage, wake up!"

The mountain chamber rumbled, their voices echoing repeatedly through the space.

"Hmm!"

Great Toad Sage lifted his eyelids a crack, his gaze falling on the man and two toads through the narrow opening.

"Oh, it's Jiraiya. You haven't left yet?"

Jiraiya's forehead seemed to sprout several vertical lines. "Great Sage, it's been a full year since I left."

Great Toad Sage seemed to come around, his gaze gradually focusing.

"Oh, time flies. I remember..."

He'd forgotten. His memories of the past were growing hazy again.

"Never mind the past. What brings you here this time?"

Taking advantage of Great Toad Sage's rare moment of lucidity, Jiraiya hurried to ask about the question that had troubled him for so long.

"Since I left last time, I've traveled across almost the entire Ninja World, but I still haven't found the savior and destroyer the sage spoke of.

"I came to ask you, Great Sage: have you dreamed of anything clearer? Could you give me some more specific clues?"

Great Sage seemed lost in memory. Half an hour passed.

"Jiraiya!"

"I'm here."

"The future in my dream is hazy. The savior and the destroyer appear in Konoha at the same time. They are born in response to fate, representing the two sides of the future. You understand what that means, don't you?"

Jiraiya nodded. Great Sage's dream was easy to understand... The two futures represented two possible paths for the world.

As for which one he would choose, that went without saying.

His lifelong wish had been for peace in the Ninja World, so people would never again suffer the pain war brought.

That was why he was so determined to find the person in the prophecy.

The real question was, how could he find them?

The two appearing in Konoha at the same time was only a vague image. It didn't mean that the people in the prophecy were Konoha Ninja.

With that in mind, Jiraiya pressed on, unwilling to give up.

"Great Sage, do you have any more details?"

Great Toad Sage had fallen asleep again. Jiraiya waited patiently, knowing that each prophecy drained a great deal of his strength.

The wait wasn't long. Just ten minutes later, Great Toad Sage opened his eyes again.

Before Jiraiya could ask, he volunteered a chilling vision.

"The moon shatters, the earth wails, and the Ninja fight one another..."

The giant toad paused for breath. "Then the Ninja World is laid to waste. I see... a catastrophic flood reaching up to the heavens. The destroyer rides a Five-Colored Divine Dragon. I... I can't make out what he looks like."

After saying this, Great Toad Sage immediately fell asleep. No matter how they tried, they couldn't wake him.

This time, Great Sage had revealed a great deal.

Jiraiya quickly picked out several key words: moon, great battle, flood, Five-Colored Divine Dragon.

There was still no specific description of the two, but this information was enough.

Konoha was still fighting on two fronts. He couldn't stay away too long.

After saying goodbye to Sage Shima and Sage Fukasaku, he ended the reverse summoning.

As soon as Jiraiya vanished from the cave, Great Toad Sage woke up.

"Shima, Fukasaku!"

"Great Sage, what are you..."

The two veteran toads froze, but wisely kept their mouths shut.

"The dream foretold that in the near future, the destroyer will trample the Three Great Sage Lands and banish Chakra forever."

"Ah!" Shima cried out.

Great Sage's prophecy was terrifying.

Myoboku Mountain had existed for over a thousand years. It had endured countless hardships and still stood firm.

The toads' strength was far greater than it seemed.

But Great Sage's prophecies had never been wrong. That was why Shima was so shaken.

Great Toad Sage was no longer drowsy. He stared at them with a stern expression.

"Find the destroyer. Make him disappear forever."

Shima finally recovered from her shock. "Great Sage, why not let Jiraiya..."

She didn't finish. Sage Fukasaku cut her off.

He took his wife's hand and assured Great Sage, "I understand. Please rest assured, Great Sage. I'll find that demon."

Great Toad Sage waved them away with satisfaction. After they left, the chamber fell quiet again.

After a while,

"I hope we still have time. This is fine as it is. Elemental training is too dangerous."

After the muttered words, snores echoed through the cave.

It was safe to say that the three of them had enjoyed their most satisfying meal in months.

The trio devoured the exotic dishes in no time, leaving the table a mess.

Mo Jingxian patted his bulging stomach and exclaimed, "That hit the spot!"

Neither of the others laughed. They'd been about as enthusiastic as he had.

Before becoming Ninja, they'd envied them. Once they actually became Ninja, they learned how miserable it could be.

The danger went without saying. Sometimes, even a hot meal was a luxury.

After eating and drinking their fill, Mo Jingxian ran into trouble when he went to pay.

The shopkeeper refused his paper money and tossed him a handful of crystals, telling him, "This is what money looks like."

There was no exchange rate. The bills in his hand had become worthless paper.

It was bizarre. Everyone knew that the currencies of the Ninja World's countries were accepted everywhere. Even a three-year-old knew that.

Yet he'd hit a wall today.

In the end, the incident even drew the attention of a local patrol soldier.

When Mo Jingxian saw a soldier enter the restaurant with two Puppets following behind him, his eyes lit up.

The two humanoid Puppets were nowhere near as intricate as the ones used by the Sand Ninja, but they were sturdily made.

They had ironwood frames and metal-reinforced limbs, and needed only a little Chakra to control.

"Sir, these outsiders ate and tried to get away without paying."

The shopkeeper seemed to have found his savior. As soon as the soldier came in, he reported the trio.

After hearing their explanation, the soldier didn't give them a hard time, but they still had to pay.

Mo Jingxian took out the Pincer Bug Puppet, which he usually treated as a toy.

The three of them got away without trouble. Mo Jingxian held a bag of crystals in his hand, with more than twenty inside.

He hadn't expected the spoils to be worth so much. They covered the bill, and the shopkeeper even gave him the difference.

The aroma of wheat cakes, the fiery dances—exotic charm was everywhere.

The three of them strolled around Moon Lake.

Gradually, Mo Jingxian relaxed, finally breaking free of the constant tension of living on borrowed time.

A gentle breeze carried the clear sound of wind chimes.

A shackle in Mo Jingxian's mind came undone, and his Wind Element Mastery advanced to intermediate level.

A long-held hope had come true just like that, with no effort at all.

In high spirits, he found everything pleasing and kept exploring with the others until nightfall.

At the inn, the team shared a room and took turns resting.

Even in a safe place, they didn't forget their instincts as Ninja.

Once his strength had fully recovered, Mo Jingxian stood up.

"I'm going out for a while."

"Do you want us to come with you?"

"No. I'll probably be back soon."

He didn't say what he was going to do, and they didn't ask. It all felt natural.

Mo Jingxian moved through the shadows beyond the moonlight, deftly avoiding two patrols.

That afternoon, when he approached Moon Lake, a strange feeling had suddenly stirred in his heart, as if something were calling to him.

The call came and went. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.

Just now, the call had risen from deep within him again, clear as could be.

Driven by curiosity, he decided to investigate.

Mo Jingxian crossed the streets and reached the area around Moon Lake.

The crowds that had filled the place during the day were gone. Gentle moonlight shimmered on the lake.

A tent glowed with lamplight on the grassy slope by the shore.

That was the place. The call grew stronger and stronger, and Mo Jingxian even found himself taking a step forward without meaning to.

He took a deep breath.

Controlling the instinctive urge, Mo Jingxian hid at a distance and watched for a while.

There was no danger. The tent seemed as if it belonged there, quiet and harmonious.

He'd come all this way. He couldn't just stand outside trembling and then go back.

Mo Jingxian steeled himself and stopped hiding, striding toward the tent.

The tent flap was already raised, and the light from the fire inside spilled out, illuminating a small patch of grass by the entrance.

The person inside seemed to know a guest was coming and had prepared in advance.

Mo Jingxian slipped into the tent and found only one person inside.

The next moment, the mysterious figure in a black veil spoke without warning.

"Welcome, Rebel chosen by fate!"