Child of Prophecy

"Yahiko, you three keep practicing. I'll be back in a moment."

Jiraiya vanished with a Body Flicker, reappearing behind the trees to the side.

He and the squad led by Seigetsu Senju watched as the three children refined their chakra.

Jiraiya said smugly, "How about that? Didn't I find three geniuses?"

Seigetsu Senju replied, "Lord Jiraiya, is this really wise? If you were looking for three children from the Land of Fire, no one would say a word, but these three are from the Land of Rain."

"Seigetsu, you haven't spent enough time with Tsunade to understand me," Jiraiya said.

"The ninja world is on the verge of a great transformation; war and death will eventually be brought to an end.

And all of this requires a Child of Prophecy who appears in accordance with fate. The Great Toad Sage said that I am the guide for this Child of Prophecy.

The Great Toad Sage's original words were for me to travel the ninja world, and I had already anticipated this.

The Child of Prophecy isn't necessarily waiting for me at the Konoha Ninja Academy; he could appear anywhere in the ninja world.

He is the one who will change the world. Compared to the ninja world, Konoha is simply too small.

I believe they are the Children of Prophecy, and I am going to train them here for three years! Three years from now, the ninja world will undergo a fundamental change because of my guidance!"

Seigetsu Senju thought only of the village, her clan, her squad, and the patients in the medical ward every day. Topics like the transformation of the ninja world and the Child of Prophecy were far too grand and distant for her.

She looked toward Kawadera Uchiha, hoping he would say something to change Jiraiya's absurd, sky-high notions.

She didn't know when it started, but Seigetsu Senju had begun to rely on Kawadera Uchiha; she always felt he would have a better solution.

Kawadera Uchiha said, "Lord Jiraiya, you are a vital combat asset to the village.

Having just finished the battle against Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure, the survivors all say that you, Lady Tsunade, and Lord Orochimaru are the Sannin of Konoha.

If you stay in the Land of Rain for three years, it will be a massive loss for the village.

I believe that neither the Hokage, nor Lord Orochimaru, nor Lady Tsunade would want to see the village's combat strength suffer such a decline during this critical time of war because of three children from the Land of Rain."

Kawadera Uchiha wanted to call Jiraiya selfish, but his status was too low, so he could only use Konoha's military strength as an entry point for the conversation.

Jiraiya said, "Sage Fukasaku of Mount Myoboku had already considered this. He said that if I encountered a Child of Prophecy outside of Konoha, I should go and speak with Teacher Hiruzen.

The legacy of Mount Myoboku can remain in Konoha to help the village, but I must guide the Child of Prophecy."

Kawadera Uchiha nodded. The Great Toad Sage was senile, and Jiraiya had been blinded by fate and prophecy, but Sage Fukasaku was a smart man.

For Konoha, Jiraiya completing the prophecy of Mount Myoboku to obtain its legacy was a guaranteed win in the long run.

The various giant toads of Mount Myoboku were massive weapons of war, second only to the Tailed Beasts.

Konoha would likely agree to this trade.

Kawadera Uchiha said, "In that case... please write a scroll, Lord Jiraiya. We will deliver it to Lady Tsunade and the village; otherwise, I fear Lady Tsunade will come back here, break your legs, and drag you back to Konoha."

Jiraiya's eyes twitched. The kid had a sharp tongue, but he was very close to the truth.

If he didn't explain himself clearly, Tsunade really might beat him to death.

After Jiraiya finished the scroll, Seigetsu Senju's squad departed with it in hand.

In his sea of consciousness, Tobirama Senju asked, "Are you really going to let those three children who will destroy Konoha grow up?"

"Unless Madara Uchiha is dead, or your brother is resurrected, who would dare touch those three children, and who could even touch them?"

"How can you prove Madara Uchiha is still alive?"

"The Rinnegan is the proof. The Rinnegan is the strongest ocular jutsu, surpassing even the Sharingan. You don't think an orphan from the Land of Rain would accidentally awaken and unlock the Rinnegan, do you?

Those eyes were created by Madara Uchiha.

He toyed with the First Hokage, and he toyed with you. He never died; he has been hiding in the shadows of the ninja world, plotting an even more terrifying tide of death.

Konoha will be shattered in the tide brought by Madara Uchiha!"

Tobirama Senju fell silent.

He had spent his life researching forbidden jutsu, creating many of them, and had collected dozens of three-tomoe Sharingan, but this was his first time seeing the legendary Rinnegan.

Something like the Rinnegan could only be created by Madara Uchiha, who was even stronger than he was.

Coupled with little Jiraiya's mystical ramblings about the Child of Prophecy, Tobirama Senju couldn't discern the truth.

"Even if you fear Madara Uchiha, can't you find a way to recall Jiraiya?" Tobirama Senju said.

"Destroying the scroll Jiraiya wrote and reporting to the village with added embellishments that Jiraiya deserted his post—isn't that what you are best at?

If Jiraiya goes to teach the one with the Rinnegan created by Madara Uchiha, the future danger to the village will be too great."

"Lord Second, don't joke around," Kawadera Uchiha said.

"Jiraiya is the type of person who never turns back. If I stir up trouble in the middle, it will only make me look like a clown.

Hiruzen Sarutobi won't punish Jiraiya because Jiraiya won't turn back at a time like this.

Why should I interfere in the business between master and student?"

"But those three children will destroy Konoha in the future!"

"Rest assured, Second Hokage, I know exactly when they will destroy Konoha. When that time comes, I'll be hiding far, far away."

"If I don't die, you won't die either, so what is there to fear?"

"I can see through the future; do you really think I could be killed by three people whose plans to destroy Konoha I already know?"

Tobirama Senju thought to himself, Who would care about the life or death of a wicked Uchiha like you?

Since Kawadera Uchiha remained unmoved by his rewards, Tobirama Senju was left with no other options.

"I have a mission for you: inform the village that Madara Uchiha is still alive."

"I refuse. I won't say a single word about Madara Uchiha. He has a hundred ways to kill me—a hundred!"

"Then I suppose you won't accept the mission to kill Madara Uchiha either?"

"It's not that I won't accept it; it's that I'll accept it slowly, gradually, with quality and a proper plan."

After delivering Jiraiya's scroll to Tsunade, she read it and didn't stop cursing Jiraiya for being an idiot.

Orochimaru also shook his head after reading the scroll.

Teacher Hiruzen once said he feared Orochimaru would go down the wrong path, but now, Jiraiya had gone down the wrong path before him.

Jiraiya had actually abandoned the frontline troops without authorization; if this had been any other ninja, they would have been branded a missing-nin and eliminated long ago.

During wartime, military discipline was even stricter.

However, Jiraiya had come up with an excuse: in order for the village to obtain the heritage of the holy land of Mount Myoboku, he had to fulfill the prophecy of Mount Myoboku right there.

That was a reason that could just barely pass.

The Great Toad of Mount Myoboku was Jiraiya's personal summoning creature, not Konoha's.

The snakes of Ryūchi Cave were Orochimaru's personal summoning creatures, and they had nothing to do with Konoha.

Tsunade said, "Forget it, don't worry about that idiot. We still have to give face to Mount Myoboku."

Orochimaru didn't dwell on it either. He knew that Jiraiya was an extremely stubborn person who appeared carefree on the surface but was actually deeply pessimistic inside—a pessimist who believed in fate.

Unlike him, Orochimaru believed that he could achieve any goal, even if it meant modifying his own body to do so.

Upon returning to the base camp in the Land of Grass, Kawadera Uchiha discovered that there were many more ninjas in the camp.

After Seigetsu Senju went to scout, he returned and said, "The Third Hokage has arrived at the front lines!"

"After Amegakure joined the war, the village decided the situation had deteriorated, so the Third Hokage personally brought reinforcements to the Land of Grass!"