White Snake Sage was left speechless by Slug Sage's words.
That was as good as saying nothing at all. How big an island is can vary a lot—there's no clear answer.
To be honest, all three great sacred lands have some kind of foundation or legacy.
But among them, the most unusual is the Shikkotsu Forest. For a place that's supposed to be a major sacred land, it only has one sage—Slug Sage.
At least the other sacred lands live up to the name "sacred land." Shikkotsu Forest, though? It's basically just Slug Sage's personal home.
Looking at it that way, Slug Sage's easygoing attitude might really come from her overwhelming strength—she can afford to stay calm.
When White Snake Sage compared herself to that, she couldn't help but feel a little bitter. She's also a sage of a sacred land, but Orochimaru actually drove her out. As for the old toad from Mount Myōboku, he doesn't seem to have any problems, but honestly, he looks like he's already halfway senile.
Out of the three of them, only Slug Sage seems completely fine.
Well, being "fine" in a time like this might not actually be a good thing. It means she hasn't been affected by the changes of the new era at all.
"But why are you sending so many clones into the ninja world?"
White Snake Sage suddenly asked.
Normally, Slug Sage wouldn't make so many clones. Most of the time, she just keeps them in the forest to play around. She's kind of like a shut-in.
"Isn't it because we're opening the three great sacred lands to let people in for training?"
Slug Sage answered. She usually keeps quiet, but when it comes to big decisions, she does take part—and she follows through.
After all, from the very beginning, the old toad had already seen it coming—the world was about to change.
Slug Sage may be a shut-in, but as the head of her sacred land, she still has her responsibilities.
So she had already started training her successor a long time ago.
"…"
"You started that early? Don't tell me you already picked someone."
"No. That's what the clones are for—they're still searching. Nothing's been decided yet."
Slug Sage shook her head slowly. Yeah, there's no result yet—there are just too many people.
You could say the new era has really brought the ninja world back to life, all because of the pirates showing up.
Most of Slug Sage's clones are near the pirates.
For example, there's even a slug following Karin around.
Of course, Slug Sage doesn't show herself unless it's necessary. She won't let people see her so easily.
Hearing that, White Snake Sage let out a sigh of relief.
Good—this one didn't sneak off on her own. She was seriously worried that someone so quiet might suddenly disappear without saying a word.
At that moment, the Great Toad Sage started talking again.
"Looks like the sages have paid a heavy price too. But their methods weren't that smart.
Even though the world's will is paying more attention to the World Government now,
it still isn't focused on them."
After saying that, the Great Toad Sage paused and seemed to space out again.
White Snake Sage and Slug Sage weren't surprised at all.
Back when the old toad was young, he was a wild genius. He was already able to connect with the will of the world on his own. He was easily the most talented sage among the three sacred lands.
But then, before he even became an adult, he used that power to go looking for the Sage of Six Paths.
Sure, he did end up training the Sage of Six Paths for real. But being reckless as a kid came with a price.
Look at what happened to Orochimaru after he got hit by the World Will once — someone that smart is now having issues.
As for the Great Toad Sage, there's even less to say.
That guy has used his foresight powers more than once. This kind of foresight is basically the same as Observation Haki.
The only difference is, the old toad sometimes directly connects with the World Will to check where the world is heading.
But after doing this for thousands of years, he's basically become senile. Sometimes he's in the middle of a sentence and just falls asleep.
You really can't blame the Great Toad Sage for this. It's the power of the World Will — he can't fight it.
If Rikudou Sennin were still around, maybe he could help. But his top student isn't here anymore, so the Great Toad Sage is stuck in this senile state.
Before long, the Great Toad Sage woke up again.
"This means there will be a lot of powerful people inside the World Government too, but the sages might not get what they want.
Some of them will be tightly bound by the World Will, becoming pillars that hold up the World Government."
"Don't those guys know what kind of consequences this could bring?"
Even the White Snake Sage felt those sages were way too bold.
But actually, what the current sages are doing — the Three Great Holy Lands already started doing long ago.
They opened up the Holy Lands to deal with the influence brought by Shanks. That influence is positive, but it's also extremely dangerous.
Whenever you're dealing with the power of the world itself, danger is just part of the deal.
"Even though it's dangerous, it's not hopeless.
The sages who act as bridges between the World Will and the World Government will grow stronger, and their power will keep increasing."
"Hmm…"
The Great Toad Sage's voice slowed down again.
"But in today's ninja world, the only one who has truly broken free from the World Will is Shanks."
No one knows how he did it, but it's true — everyone still has that chance.
The Slug Sage finished what the Great Toad Sage was trying to say.
The creation of the World Government is basically a counter to the New World. At the same time, it gets direct attention from the World Will. During this stage where the whole world is evolving, it gains more and more power.
That power gets shared with everyone in the World Government, just like how pirates became ridiculously stronger once the new era began.
The difference is, the sages used special methods, while Shanks just used his own power to forcefully reshape the World Will into his own form.
But the sages aren't strong enough, so those special methods come with a cost.
That cost is that some sages have to become the pillars.
You could basically call them the World Will's Jinchuriki.
And it's a dangerous role — the more their power grows, the riskier it gets. If they can't break free before that power stabilizes, then they'll never break free again.
In the lighter cases, they'll be permanently bound to the World Government or locked to one specific country.
The worse outcome is that their own will gets completely erased, a new one is created, and they turn into tools for protecting the World Government.
And from the very beginning, the nature of the World Government was clear — it exists to protect the interests of the world's nobles.
So in the end, those sages are basically becoming the private bodyguards of the world nobles.
Of course, it's not at that stage yet, and not all sages have become "bridges," so they're still seen as the most respected nobles in the world.
But honestly, everything the World Government is doing now? The Three Great Holy Lands already did it all before.
You really think Orochimaru became that powerful just by working hard?
Don't kid yourself.
Ryuuchi Cave has its own deep foundation.
Orochimaru basically drained everything Ryuuchi Cave had to offer. That's the only reason he managed to survive such a deadly situation and use the dragon vein to create a devil fruit.
Even though Ryuuchi Cave never developed a complete Dragon Sage Mode, it had an incomplete version — and that was already more than enough for Orochimaru to use.
And the moment Shanks appeared, the way the three great sanctuaries reacted already caught the attention of the world's will.
The power of the three great sanctuaries has been growing steadily all this time.
To put it simply, it's kind of like "national luck."
And since Orochimaru was part of Ryuuchi Cave, of course he got some of that boost too. You're saying Orochimaru isn't talented?
He only seems "not talented" when you compare him to other monsters in the ninja world.
But compare him to those sages in Ryuuchi Cave, and Orochimaru's talent blows even the White Snake Sage out of the water.
The White Snake Sage only had a better starting point. She was born stronger than Orochimaru and had a more solid foundation.
But now, Orochimaru has surpassed her.
And it's the same case in Mount Myōboku.
Take Jiraiya — his growth was even smoother than Orochimaru's, and he never had to go through life-threatening danger.
That brings us to the crazy part about Jiraiya. Not only did he perfectly inherit the teachings of Mount Myōboku, but he also had an insanely good connection with Shanks.
When Jiraiya "had his awakening," the three sages thought it was just because Mount Myōboku's power helped him break through. But the truth was more complicated.
Under normal circumstances, with the power of Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya should've been able to summon the spiritual force of the Sage of Six Paths, forming a clone of him.
We're talking about the world's strongest sage here. If Jiraiya was going to face someone like that during his awakening, it meant he was already qualified to step into the top level of sages.
And yes, Jiraiya really did manage to summon the Sage of Six Paths' spirit.
But what happened?
The guy had no idea what was going on.
He thought he was the judge instead of the challenger. So he went ahead and summoned another spirit — this time, he brought in Shanks.
The moment Shanks' spirit arrived, he smashed the Sage of Six Paths' clone to pieces on the spot.
Only then did Jiraiya, the so-called "judge," realize he was actually the challenger — and his opponent was now Shanks.
After getting absolutely wrecked by Shanks, Jiraiya, thanks to his insane luck, finally managed to outlast that monster of an opponent.
"Shanks could definitely build a sanctuary of his own. But seriously, who could even inherit his legacy?
The Reverse Sage's teachings are no joke."
"Well, Orochimaru already failed."
The White Snake Sage thought of Orochimaru — instead of following Ryuuchi Cave's path like he should've, he went off to become a Reverse Sage. Was that something Orochimaru could really handle?
"It's exactly because it's so hard that Shanks started a new era in the first place."
His idea of passing things on might be different from what we thought. Shanks seems to treat all pirates as the ones carrying on his legacy."
Slug Sage still spoke with a blank look on her face, but what she said wasn't wrong.
Shanks' actions really gave everyone a lot to think about.
He never tried to stop other pirates from getting stronger. In fact, he always encouraged them to grow—hoping that one day someone would be strong enough to take his place.
In that way, his approach wasn't so different from how the three Great Sacred Lands train their successors.
The main difference is in how they do it.
Shanks just lets things happen naturally, while the three Sacred Lands train people more directly and with a plan.
"Shanks really is dangerous. Guys like him, who just do things their own way, are always the most unpredictable."
"I wonder how strong Jiraiya is now? He must've absorbed quite a bit of the Sage of Six Paths' power too, right?"
The White Snake Sage glanced at the Great Toad Sage.
Even though Jiraiya found his own path through enlightenment, he must have gained some of the Sage of Six Paths' knowledge and power along the way.
That's what passing down a legacy really is—a way to help the next generation become even stronger.
And the Sage of Six Paths?
He was the real deal—strong in every area, no weaknesses.
The White Snake Sage couldn't help but feel a little emotional thinking about Mount Myoboku.
What made Mount Myoboku truly special wasn't just its strength—it was the kind of power that came from being a sacred place.
Each of the three Sacred Lands has something that makes it unique.
Mount Myoboku's biggest strength is that it produces great teachers.
Whether it was the Sage of Six Paths back then, or Jiraiya now, both fully inherited Mount Myoboku's teachings.
The Sage of Six Paths wanted to guide the entire ninja world.
Jiraiya doesn't have that kind of grand vision, but he's still an amazing teacher.
That's what Mount Myoboku is really about. That's the special kind of power its legacy holds.
As for Ryuchi Cave, its true legacy also isn't just about raw power.
It's about the search for "unusual power."
To put it simply, Ryuchi Cave teaches you how to explore other kinds of power, so things there are kind of all over the place.
Shikkotsu Forest is harder to explain, but its power definitely has something to do with life force and lifespan. It's simpler, but still very powerful.
"Jiraiya, huh?"
"Even though we don't know exactly what's going on with him, he doesn't really show the traits of the Sage of Six Paths."
The Slug Sage finally spoke.
She also had a clone by Jiraiya's side to help pass on information.
In her opinion, Jiraiya had indeed taken the final step—but it seemed like he might've taken it in the wrong direction.
She didn't feel the presence of the Sage of Six Paths from him at all.
"Is that so?"
"Well, two of the Sacred Lands already have their true successors. Slug Sage, it's probably your turn soon."
"Mhm, sure\~"
The Slug Sage responded in her usual dazed tone. She said yes, but it didn't seem like she was going to do anything about it.
Actually, Shikkotsu Forest's special trait isn't really tied to life force. It's something else—something more unusual: the power to just... let go.
You can see it clearly from the Slug Sage herself, but no one really thought about it that way.
They just figured it was her personality.
Well, even though it's partly a personality thing, the style of inheritance from the Shikkotsu Forest is just like that.
You don't have to do anything, and everything still ends up going well.
So now, when the Slug Sage saw Tsunade lying back during the World Government meeting, the more she looked, the more satisfied she felt.
No wonder she's my heir. Little Tsunade really is a perfect fit for Shikkotsu Forest!
Thinking this, the Slug Sage happily rolled over and kept watching the World Government meeting.
At this moment, the meeting started getting noisy again.
The topic was about forming a Marine force, increasing military spending, and raising taxes to cover it. As soon as people heard about higher taxes, almost everyone exploded.
This wasn't about asking for money—it was like asking for their lives!
"I object!!"
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