It has been raining for three days.
In front of Memorial Stone, a tall figure stood in the rain curtain, like a silent stone statue.
Her long white hair was wet from the rain and stuck tightly to her forehead and cheeks. Her red vest looked particularly dazzling under the gloomy sky.
The legendary Konoha Sannin hurried back from a certain corner of Shinobi World, covered in dust, but after all, he was still a step too late. In the end, he failed to see his most proud disciple for the last time.
His eyes lost focus and he just stared blankly at the brand new name on the stone tablet - Minato Namikaze.
The blond young man who always wore a sunny smile and shouted "Teacher Jiraiya", the man he had placed all his hopes on, and who he once thought was "Child of Prophecy", had just turned into a cold carving on the tombstone.
How could this happen?
Jiraiya's fists were clenched and unclenched over and over again under the wide sleeves of the robe.
Mount Myōboku Great Toad Sage's prophecy echoed repeatedly in his mind - "Your disciples will bring unprecedented changes to Shinobi World..."
He always thought that person was Minato.
A perfect disciple with peerless talent, a bright heart, and loved by everyone, and he became Hokage at a young age. He should have led Konoha, and led the entire Shinobi World towards true peace.
But now, his most proud disciple has died like this?
Did the prophecy... go wrong?
Or is it that the price of change is death?
Or maybe, there is another person Child of Prophecy, but he has always been too wishful thinking?
Looking at Minato Namikaze's tombstone in front of him, Jiraiya's heart felt like it was being grabbed hard by a big invisible hand, feeling stuffy and painful.
Jiraiya After mourning Minato Namikaze, my heart felt as if it had been soaked in cold rain, heavy and cold.
When the bad news came, he was collecting information in a tavern in a small country. He crushed the wine glass on the spot and rushed back desperately.
But it was too late after all.
The apprentice he loved the most and who he once believed to be "Child of Prophecy", actually disappeared like this???
He now desperately wanted to know what happened that night.
Jiraiya couldn't figure it out. Now he had to find someone who had experienced it and ask all the details clearly.
And Senju Chen is undoubtedly the best candidate.
When Jiraiya pushed open the door of Senju Chen's house, he saw a picture that made his eyelids jump.
The young man was reclining on a reclining chair, with a soft blanket under him and a thin quilt covering him, leisurely flipping through a book. The rain in the yard seemed to be separated by an invisible barrier, not falling on him at all, and even the ground around him was dry.
This leisurely feeling is incompatible with the sadness and depression that pervades the village.
Jiraiya was soaked to the skin, rain dripping down his long white hair, and he was in a miserable state.
Compare the two and make a judgment.
What made Jiraiya even more nervous was that the moment he stepped into the courtyard, a vague pressure enveloped him.
The young man on the recliner clearly didn't make any movements, or even raised his eyelids, but Jiraiya's beastly instincts, which he had honed on numerous battlefields of life and death and outside women's bathhouses, were frantically shouting about danger!
This is not an illusion.
It's his unique sixth sense, which has helped him avoid risks countless times.
"Lord Jiraiya, you are back."
Senju Chen (star) noticed the person coming and looked up. When he saw that the person coming was actually Jiraiya, he was suddenly surprised.
But then he roughly guessed the reason why Jiraiya came to him. He stretched out his hand and said, "Come in and have a cup of hot tea. You are already soaked."
The moment Senju Chen opened his mouth, Jiraiya felt that the pressure suddenly disappeared, as if it was his illusion before.
Jiraiya squinted and looked carefully at Senju Chen in front of him. When he heard Senju Chen's words, he did not make a sound. It was not until Senju Chen turned around and walked into the house that Jiraiya relaxed. After a moment of silence, he followed Senju Chen in and sat down in the living room.
Senju Chen boiled water and made tea skillfully, and the movements were smooth and smooth, without any smoke or smoke.
The mist of hot tea was rising, but Jiraiya's weather-beaten eyes were staring at the young man in front of him.
I haven't seen him for a few years. He has grown taller and the contours of his face have become more distinct. The youthfulness of his youth has faded away, and there is now a depth that is hard to see through. This is coupled with the pressure that he felt at that moment.
Moreover, he also heard that Senju Chen also took over the "Root" left by the traitorous ninja Shimura Danzō, and renamed it to establish something like "Public Security Department". The child in front of him, who was accidentally picked up from the wild by himself and Tsunade, has now grown into the powerful Konoha High Command.
Thinking of this, Jiraiya's heart suddenly beat wildly and uncontrollably.
A ridiculous idea emerged from the deepest part of my heart again.
Could it be... that the real "Child of Prophecy" is him?
But Great Toad Sage said clearly that Child of Prophecy is "my disciple"... not the disciple of that bastard Orochimaru!
Although I tried to take this kid as my disciple back then, in the end, that guy Orochimaru got the first step in my career for no apparent reason. You must be very angry.
Could it be that... just because I didn't persist a little longer, I just missed the Kazuma right Child of Prophecy?
If this is really the case, then Minato's death...
Jiraiya shook his head violently, not daring to think about it any more.
I came here this time to ask about Minato. Jiraiya suppressed his thoughts and took the initiative to speak.
"Little Chen, Minato him..."
"Brother Minato is the hero of Konoha." Senju Chen said directly, setting the tone for the following topic.
"A hero..." Jiraiya chewed on the word, with a bitter curve at the corner of his mouth.
"Little Chen, can you tell me what happened that night?" Jiraiya asked in a heavy voice as he recovered his thoughts.
Senju Chen nodded and succinctly described what happened that night in an objective and non-emotional tone.
These things were all experienced by Senju Chen, and he knew the situation best at the time. Apart from the preservation of the bodies of Minato and his wife, and the subsequent pursuit of Obito and the killing of Madara Uchiha, Senju Chen told Jiraiya almost everything in detail.
From Kushina's delivery, Masked Man's raid, to Nine-Tails's rampage, from Uchiha's rescue, to Minato Namikaze and Sister Kushina sacrificed their lives for the village, and then Shimura Danzō took advantage of the chaos to attack and kill Konoha High Command and his family members. After being discovered, they finally fled after being defeated.
Although Jiraiya had roughly understood the entire incident before, but now after listening to Senju Chen's more detailed description, Jiraiya was still frightened and his face changed again and again.
When he heard that Minato and his wife both died in order to seal Nine-Tails, this hero who traveled far and wide and was used to seeing life and death could not help but shed two lines of hot tears mixed with rain from the corners of his eyes.
"That child..." Jiraiya's voice was trembling, "Minato and Kushina's child... where is he now?"
"I sent Brother Minato's son to the Uchiha Clan for foster care." Senju Chen replied calmly.
"What?!"
Jiraiya turned around suddenly, his face full of shock and confusion, even with a hint of anger, "You actually handed him over to the Uchiha Clan? Little Chen, do you know what you are doing?!"
He was not biased against Uchiha, but as the direct descendant of Hokage Faction, he was always wary of that unruly and self-respecting family.
Giving Fourth Hokage's orphan, Nine-Tails's Jinchūriki, to such a family to raise? This is simply putting Konoha's future on the fire!