Mount Myōboku, before Toad Waterfall.
The staff Sage Fukasaku had used for centuries fell onto the slick moss with a clatter.
Yet he did not notice at all.
His old, wrinkled toad eyes were fixed on the perfect Sage facial markings appearing at the corners of the blond brat's eyes within the crystal ball.
As though he had witnessed some horrifying sight that shattered everything he knew.
"N... No, something's wrong..."
Sage Fukasaku shuddered and abruptly came back to his senses.
"This brat's path in senjutsu is far too wild! It's completely beyond anything we understand!"
"Old woman! Hurry! Something terrible has happened!"
He no longer possessed even a trace of an elder's composure, tumbling off the lotus leaf in a panic.
His two tiny toad legs pumped furiously, and he nearly slipped on the wet ground.
"Slow down, old man!"
Sage Shima was also startled by the sudden turn of events and hurried after him.
"What happened? Isn't that child the Child of Prophecy? Having exceptional talent is a good thing, isn't it?"
"Good thing, my ass!"
Sage Fukasaku was so anxious he was nearly in tears, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Have you ever seen a Child of Prophecy raised by an Uchiha?!"
He pointed at the black-clad young man in the crystal ball, standing behind Naruto with his hands in his pockets and an utterly calm expression.
"That Uchiha brat is guiding him! This has completely gone off script!"
The more Sage Fukasaku thought about it, the more his scalp tingled.
"No! We have to report this to the Great Toad Sage immediately!"
"The prophecy... the prophecy may have gone wrong!"
The two old toads scrambled and tumbled all the way toward the deepest part of Mount Myōboku.
Toward that great toad hall, shrouded in