Prophecy

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Footsteps sounded outside the room.

"Toad Sage..."

A white-haired boy entered and knelt before the seated Toad Sage.

"It's little Jiraiya!"

The Toad Sage paused, then spoke.

"Who are you?"

Jiraiya was a little speechless. The sage clearly already knew who he was.

"Toad Sage, I'm Jiraiya. You called me here."

"You said you had a prophecy about me."

"Oh, oh..." As though something had come back to him, the Toad Sage slowly said, "So it's Jiraiya."

"There are indeed two prophecies about you!"

Jiraiya was puzzled. Two? What could they be?

After a moment of silence, the Toad Sage's voice finally reached Jiraiya's ears.

"Jiraiya, even a lecher like you will accomplish something in the future."

"You will meet a woman with white skin and two horns. She will have a pair of glowing blue eyes."

"She will bring a tremendous change to your destiny."

"In five years, you will come here again to receive a new prophecy."

Jiraiya was completely baffled. A woman with white skin and two horns?

He had never heard of anyone like that. Besides, did such a person really exist?

"Jiraiya, I'm going back to sleep. Hurry along now!"

The Toad Sage's urging snapped Jiraiya out of his thoughts.

"Goodbye, Toad Sage."

Even after leaving the room, Jiraiya was still thinking.

Another prophecy in five years?

Well, since it's a prophecy, it'll happen at some point in the future.

I'll leave it alone for now.

"Lord Fukasaku, I'm heading back."

Jiraiya spoke to the little green toad at his feet.

Fukasaku nodded.

"Little Jiraiya, you're leaving so soon?"

"Won't you stay for a meal of bugs?"

"Shima's a wonderful cook!"

A meal of bugs?

Just thinking about it made Jiraiya shudder.

"I still have something to do back in Konoha," Jiraiya said sheepishly. "Sorry for the trouble, but I'll pass."

"All right. Since you have something urgent to do, head back first!"

"I've already notified the toad in Konoha," Fukasaku said. "He'll summon you back in a moment."

"Right, right..." Jiraiya nodded.

A few moments later.

With a pop, Jiraiya dissolved into clouds of white smoke and vanished.

Looking at the spot where Jiraiya had disappeared, Fukasaku finally came out of his thoughts.

"Heh, if you're not eating, I will."

"A delicious feast of bugs..."

At Konoha Training Ground No. 7.

Yui's Shadow Clone was practicing her newly acquired ninjutsu.

"Rat, ox, tiger, dog, snake."

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"

Yui spat streams of water from her mouth, forming a wall in front of her.

"Phew-"

She took a deep breath.

"I can finally use this jutsu."

"There are a few too many hand seals, though. It'd be nice if I could simplify them."

Yui sighed. Thankfully, she had plenty of chakra, or this Shadow Clone would have disappeared already.

Unfortunately, she couldn't practice the next jutsu, or her Shadow Clone really would disappear.

The day hadn't been fruitless. Although she hadn't learned anything about the Summoning Technique, she had bought two fairly practical jutsu.

After resting for a while, it was time for Yui to head back.

She didn't even know whether Little White Mouse had woken up yet. She had been asleep for days, with no sign of waking.

Just as Yui was about to leave, a little orange-red toad suddenly appeared in the small pool at the training ground.

Yui looked at the toad curiously.

She had only just created that little pool while practicing Water Release Ninjutsu.

Where did the toad come from?

That shouldn't be possible!

As she watched the toad, his next move left her utterly stunned.

"The toad actually made hand seals..." Yui said in disbelief.

After finishing the seals, the toad slapped his hand against the ground.

At once, rings of symbols spread across the ground around his palm.

"Summoning Technique..."

Under Yui's puzzled gaze, the toad named the very jutsu she desperately wanted right now.

Pop-

After a cloud of white smoke, a figure appeared before Yui.

Looking at that familiar figure, Yui said uncertainly, "This guy... Jiraiya?"

Yui finally understood. That toad must have come from Mount Myōboku.

Since Jiraiya had appeared here, the jutsu the toad had just used really was the Summoning Technique.

Recalling the sequence of his hand seals, Yui silently committed it to memory.

Just what I was hoping for!

Once she calmed herself down, Yui turned her attention to Jiraiya.

"You... who are you?"

The first thing Jiraiya saw upon returning to Konoha was the woman before him.

But after looking her over carefully, he made a surprising discovery.

This woman actually resembled the person in the Toad Sage's prophecy.

"You don't recognize me?"

Yui was puzzled. They had only met at the Ninja Academy, but surely he hadn't forgotten her completely!

"We've met before!"

Hearing that, Jiraiya propped up his chin and searched his memory.

Eventually, the image of a girl in his memories gradually overlapped with the woman before him. Both had the same white skin and white eyes.

Their heights were very different, though. The woman before him was even taller than he was.

Then again, after so many years, it would have been strange if she hadn't changed.

"It's... it's you. What was your name again? Hyuga..."

Jiraiya wanted to say her name, but he simply couldn't remember it. They had known each other for less than a year at the Ninja Academy.

Yui pressed a hand to her forehead helplessly.

"My name is Yui Hyuga..."

"Oh, right, right! Yui Hyuga." Hearing the name, Jiraiya finally remembered.

He studied the woman closely, but certain things didn't match the Toad Sage's prophecy.

For instance, she had neither two horns nor glowing blue eyes.

It seemed she wasn't the one.

Still, this woman had certainly filled out over the years.

She was every bit as well-developed as Tsunade!

At that thought, Jiraiya's gaze gradually took on a different look.

His stare made Yui's skin crawl, as though something were seeing straight through her body.

Following Jiraiya's gaze, Yui looked down and finally understood why she felt so uncomfortable.

Remembering what Jiraiya was like in the original story, she hastily covered her body with both hands.

"Jiraiya..."

Yui was getting angry.

She felt as though he had already undressed her with his eyes.