Jiraiya gazed thoughtfully at Mizuki and sighed. "Fate is something that, no matter how you approach it—disdain, reverence, or indifference—in the end, always arrives to remind you of life's unpredictability and mystery. In the end, we're all firmly under its grip."
It seemed that every great ninja eventually had to face this question. Although Mizuki hadn't yet deeply felt the power of "fate," he realized it was indeed time to start considering it.
As for Jiraiya, entangled with "fate" and "prophecy" for decades, his understanding far surpassed anything Mizuki could imagine.
Seeing Jiraiya lost in contemplation, Mizuki asked, "Being sentimental doesn't seem like your style, Lord Jiraiya."
"This..." Jiraiya seemed to recall some memories. "Some of these views come from Orochimaru. He originally wanted to delve deeper into this path, but war and death clouded his judgment, causing him to lose sight of our original purpose."
"Orochimaru?" Mizuki nodded inwardly. It wasn't surprising for someone so exceptional to hold such insight—intelligent people wouldn't ignore this completely.
"Then exactly what does this 'fate' refer to?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "Its nature remains unknown. We still don't know what force shapes the path of this world. But after Orochimaru reviewed records left behind by the Second Hokage, he reached a conclusion—that the overall strength of the ninja world has been continuously declining."
"The overall strength has declined?" This was something Mizuki hadn't noticed.
"Although accumulated knowledge and techniques seem to have enhanced the overall fighting power of ninja rather than weakened it, this is only an illusion."
Jiraiya explained, "From the time of the Sage of Six Paths, through the era of the First Hokage Hashirama Senju, until now, you can clearly see that top-tier warriors haven't improved—they've actually been growing weaker over time."
"Can individual cases really prove the trend of the entire ninja population?"
Jiraiya exhaled again. "There's something you might not know. Compared to before, Konoha's jonin numbers have significantly decreased, and their quality has seriously deteriorated. If it weren't for respected ninja like Kakashi, Guy, and Asuma holding things together, Konoha would already have crumbled from within despite its outward strength. Of course, recently your emergence is certainly good news..."
"That serious?" Mizuki had subtly tried to inquire about such matters before, but Tsunade refused comment citing confidentiality. Still, he hadn't expected the situation to be this dire.
"Exactly so." Jiraiya said, pained. "Konoha is weakening but still struggling to persevere. Other ninja villages haven't taken advantage of Konoha's vulnerability since the Third Ninja War—not just due to the Third Hokage's skillful leadership—but mainly because those villages themselves have also suffered serious decline."
"I see," Mizuki murmured thoughtfully.
Konoha's former strength can be seen in the tragic suicide of Hatake Sakumo. He was a single man whose might approached that of half of Sunagakure, and his reputation was so great that even the "SANNIN" couldn't match him. Others like the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato, and younger prodigies such as Shisui Uchiha, the "Flash" of the Uchiha clan, represented Konoha's glory—but all this is now a distant memory.
Despite such a "collapse-style" decline, and with the SANNIN either abandoning the village or leaving, remarkably no major wars broke out. The balance somehow endured. It seemed the other villages weren't doing much better either.
"So what's the reason?" If it's true that ninja strength across the world is declining, there must be an underlying cause.
"We believe the issue may lie with chakra itself," Jiraiya offered an answer both unexpected and yet logical.
"Only something as pervasive as chakra could exert such a wide-reaching influence."
Mizuki also felt relieved. The fact that these seniors had noticed this meant his concerns weren't baseless after all.
The ninja rose through chakra, and its overall decline likely also stemmed from it.
"But proving this is difficult," Jiraiya said, showing frustration. "There are many theories about chakra's origins, but regardless of which one is true, they all eventually trace back to the Sage of Six Paths. Unfortunately, existing records aren't enough to confirm our suspicions."
It wasn't just that historical records were incomplete—Mizuki himself, despite knowing more, still couldn't uncover the truth. Was it Kaguya Otsutsuki's seal that went wrong? Or did something the Sage of Six Paths did cause this? All remained shrouded in mystery.
If previous declines in the ninja world's power had been gradual, then over the past decade, the drop had become strikingly apparent. Before the destined child and their companions matured, truly outstanding experts were rare indeed.
『A decade or so… if anything significant happened during that time, could it have been him?』
For Mizuki, the most impactful recent event he knew was Madara Uchiha activating the Rinnegan and summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path—the hollow shell of the God Tree—that eventually became the root source of chaos in the ninja world.
『If Madara accelerated this process, the timing fits. But was it really just coincidence?』
"Hey, you're spacing out. Did you figure something out?" Jiraiya interrupted Mizuki's thoughts.
"Not really," Mizuki apologized with a smile before asking, "Hypothetically speaking, if some entity existed that could absorb large quantities of chakra, would that reduce the overall power in the ninja world?"
"Well, isn't that obvious? Of course it would!" Jiraiya replied. "Whether regular human chakra, Sage Chakra, tailed beast chakra, or even natural energy, at their core, they're essentially the same thing—a combination of spirit, will, and life force. Different types simply reflect different forms of life."
"Then what does natural energy represent?" This question had been lingering in Mizuki's mind for a long time.
"Everything has a spirit. If we see all existences in the world as flesh and blood, then what's so strange about the emergence of Chakra—this kind of natural energy that represents the will of the world?"
"If that's the case, then what about the Chakra cultivated by us humans, or even by intelligent high-level summoned beasts? Aren't we all part of nature too?"
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