"That Shima's cooking, we really don't need it. We ate before coming..."
Minato's voice shook as he answered.
Bugs were something he truly could not stomach.
Just then, the door swung open.
Shima hurried in, face tight with urgency. "It's not about food! The Great Toad Sage has awakened. It seems the future has changed again!"
No one knew when the Great Toad Sage would drift back into slumber.
It could be a day from now, or the very next second.
So the moment Shima received the message, she rushed over.
"What, the Great Toad Sage is awake?"
Jiraiya was stunned.
He had met the Great Toad Sage before.
Only once or twice, yet those meetings had carved a deep impression.
The most recent was before the Second Great War, when he was training on Mount Myoboku and was summoned by the Great Toad Sage.
Back then, the Sage had foretold that he would be the key figure guiding the Child of Prophecy, and that his choices would decide the fate of the shinobi world.
But the Sage had not told him who the Child of Prophecy was, nor what exactly he should do.
Jiraiya had been left to feel his way forward alone.
So when he later took in Nagato and the others in the Land of Rain, he had recalled that prophecy.
Could Nagato and his friends be the Child of Prophecy?
And now the prophecy had changed again.
"Please let it be a good change."
Jiraiya let out a sigh in his heart.
Soon, Shima and Fukasaku led Jiraiya and Minato into the main hall.
They could already see the Great Toad Sage's massive, ancient form.
He was thousands of years old, a toad from the era of the Sage of Six Paths.
At this moment he had awakened from his sleep.
His gaze was calm as it settled on Jiraiya and Minato.
"Who are you?"
After staring for a long while, the Great Toad Sage dropped a bomb.
Clearly, he did not recognize Jiraiya at first glance.
"Grand Elder, this is Jiraiya, Jiraiya!"
Fukasaku hurried to explain at his side.
"Oh, right, right. You've grown up..."
The Great Toad Sage finally remembered who Jiraiya was.
Shima clicked her tongue. "Honestly, you were the one who insisted on calling him here! You senile old man!"
"Dear, how can you call the Grand Elder a senile old man? A senile old man is..."
Hearing the couple bicker, the Great Toad Sage stepped in to make peace. "All right, all right, no fighting! Husbands and wives should get along."
He paused.
"By the way, the one over there. Who are you?"
Jiraiya turned to stone on the spot.
Only after a long moment did the Great Toad Sage begin to proclaim his prophecy.
"Little Jiraiya, you who used to be good for nothing but lechery have grown into an outstanding shinobi."
"Just now, I saw the future... and it has changed again."
"In my dream..."
The Great Toad Sage's voice dropped low.
"Please enlighten us, Great Toad Sage."
Jiraiya bowed slightly.
He waited left and right, yet no answer came.
Puzzled, he straightened and looked across the hall.
The Great Toad Sage had closed his eyes again, seemingly asleep.
"Hey, you can't sleep now!"
"You still haven't told us what changed in the future! Hey, hey, hey... you old fossil..."
Straightforward as ever, Shima sprang to the Grand Elder's ear and began to make a ruckus.
"Dear, that is gross disrespect! Get down! Please get down now!"
Fukasaku broke into a cold sweat at her antics.
This was their ancestral patriarch.
"Oh. The future... the future has indeed changed."
Perhaps Shima's noise had an effect, for the Great Toad Sage half lifted his lids, glanced down, and went on.
"In the dream, a new Child of Prophecy is born. He may plunge the ninja world into utter ruin, or he may bring it lasting peace."
A new Child of Prophecy?
Jiraiya's brows knit.
He had not even confirmed the old Child of Prophecy, and now a new one appeared.
"What should I do?"
Jiraiya felt lost.
At that moment, the Great Toad Sage fell asleep once more.
No matter how loudly Shima clamored, he would not wake again.
"Jiraiya-sensei, have you found the Child of Prophecy?"
Minato asked, worry etched on his face.
"I don't know."
Jiraiya gave a bitter smile.
This prophecy was even more ambiguous than the last.
He did not know if he could bear such a heavy responsibility.
Full of tangled thoughts, Jiraiya and Minato left the hall one after another.
"Minato, look into everyone who has been in contact with Tsunade. If you find anything, send word through the toads."
After thinking it over, Jiraiya decided to travel the ninja world.
That had been part of the Great Toad Sage's prophecy as well.
"Understood, sensei."
"I'll assign people to investigate."
Once Jiraiya departed, Minato returned to the border via toad.
He prepared to continue the mission.