Inside the space lined with fleshy walls, Jiraiya was leaning against the rock wall, panting heavily. He had been hit by a missile from Asura Path during the retreat, leaving a large gash on his back.
Beside him, Fukasaku was carefully cutting away his clothes to avoid fabric fragments clotting and sticking inside the wound.
Swoosh!
The glow of Chakra faded, and Sakura's figure emerged from the void, crashing to the ground.
Blood flowed from the pierced wound on her chest, quickly soaking the stomach wall of the great fire-breathing toad.
"Cough cough."
Sakura dipped a hand in the blood from her chest and slapped it onto the toad's stomach wall.
[Summoning Technique!]
With a bang, smoke billowed out, and a slug as tall as a person was summoned.
"Sakura-sama, you...Aaaaaaah!"
The slug's soft body thrashed wildly, its screams unceasing.
"Why, why am I inside a toad's stomach?!!"
"Katsuyu, treatment, treatment!"
Trembling, Sakura raised a hand, trying to appeal to this trollish Sage's tiny shred of conscience.
"Ara, sorry, I didn't see~"
Tilting its head, its small antennae swaying, the slug finally crawled over and covered Sakura's body.
Senjutsu Chakra, full of natural energy, combined with Sakura's Mystical Palm Technique, quickly repaired the wound pierced by the black rod.
Next to them, seeing this Great Sage messing around, Shima and Fukasaku both sighed simultaneously.
"Ai, this great sage of the Shikkotsu Forest still has the same nasty sense of humor as always."
"You two, I can hear you~"
A sinister voice drifted into the couple's ears, making the two Toad Sages shiver in unison.
"Ahem, Great Katsuyu Sage, the Great Toad Sage wishes to see your contractor. We hope to have your permission."
The two embarrassed toads quickly spoke up, changing the subject to avoid being held a grudge.
Katsuyu, which was treating Sakura, raised its head, its two small antennae touching in front of its mouth.
"Then you should go ask Sakura-sama, shouldn't you? Shouldn't this matter require her agreement? Why ask me?"
Fukasaku and Shima opened their mouths simultaneously, then hesitated.
'Who doesn't know you, the Slug Sage, are timid but never forget a grudge overnight!'
'If we tell you, you might not care, but if we don't tell you, you old-timer will absolutely remember it!'
'Why is the sacred Shikkotsu Forest only left with you, a single slug? Don't you have any idea yourself?'
"What do you think, Sakura-sama? If you don't like that old toad, you can refuse, you know~"
Katsuyu's two eyes stood up, swaying like pendulums.
Although the tone was inquiring, Sakura could hear a strong sense of 'hurry up and refuse for me, woman' in it.
"Katsuyu, the other party has prophetic abilities. Suddenly asking to see me probably means they saw something! I don't want to miss out on information like that."
Sakura, her body repaired, sat up, patted Katsuyu's body, and looked at her seriously.
"Hmph, so what if it's a prophecy? I have special abilities too. I can outlive them, I can outlive both of them!"
Katsuyu's two antennae twisted together like arms, hugging in front of its chest as it turned its body away.
A pair of eyes quietly opened, slanting to look back at Sakura, as if waiting for someone to come comfort her.
"Alright, alright, I'm already your contractor. Are you worried I'll be stolen away by Mount Myoboku?"
Sakura sat cross-legged next to Katsuyu, stroking its soft body rhythmically.
It took quite a while to finally calm Katsuyu down. After its repeated and earnest instructions, Sakura released the summoning and sent her back.
Sakura stood up and walked over to Jiraiya. She took a roll of bandages from her tool pouch and skillfully began wrapping his wounds.
After finishing, she used the Mystical Palm Technique through the bandages to stimulate cell growth around Jiraiya's wound. The whole process made Jiraiya unbearably itchy, causing him to simply writhe on the ground.
Sakura had to hold Jiraiya down to prevent him from scratching the wound, taking the opportunity to ask the two Toad Sages beside them.
"So, when do we set off?"
"We're already here~"
Shima hopped forward a step and patted the stomach wall of the great fire-breathing toad.
Then, its esophagus slowly changed form under the influence of a Transformation Technique, becoming a staircase leading outside.
Passing through the toad's large mouth, the outside sunlight, refracted by the mist, offered little warmth.
Giant leaves cast shadows upon the earth. Enormous rocks stood up like insect stingers, with groundwater continuously gushing out from their tips.
Fresh air, carried on the cold mountain wind, brushed against Sakura's cheeks, making the girl shiver and boosting her spirits considerably. Only then did Sakura realize she had arrived at the legendary Holy Land… Mount Myoboku.
"Wifey, take Jiraiya-chan down to rest. Prepare some food for both of them while you're at it. I'll take Sakura to see the Great Toad Sage."
Fukasaku waved his hand, instructing Shima to carry Jiraiya away, while he himself hopped in front of Sakura to guide her.
"Follow me."
Fukasaku gestured and led Sakura towards a subterranean palace within Mount Myoboku.
Passing through staircases and slippery stone paths, the two arrived at a vast, hollow hall.
At the far end of the hall sat an ancient toad crouched on a stone chair, behind which were many giant scrolls covered in writing.
"Great Toad Sage!"
Fukasaku jumped to its side and called out to it in a very loud voice.
Seeing its aged and weary posture, and its complete lack of reaction to such a loud volume, Sakura would have almost thought the toad before her was dead if not for the faint rise and fall of its abdomen.
"Hmm, ah!"
After a long while, the Great Toad Sage, roused from its slumber, twitched its head.
The string of beads around its neck creaked with the movement.
Slowly straightening up from the backrest, the giant toad, which is easily five times Sakura's height, finally opened its eyes.
"It's Fukasaku-kun, what's going on?"
"I've brought the person you wanted to see."
Unlike Shima, Fukasaku had a more peaceful temperament, which was why he could manage a calm conversation with the often confused Great Toad Sage.
"Oh, I called you here this time for a matter. That..."
The Great Toad Sage lowered its head, looking at Sakura.
Abruptly, its muddy eyes stiffened, staring blankly for a long time.
"That, that... Who are you again?"
Fukasaku beside it awkwardly covered its face, internally complaining, 'This thousand-year-old fossil always had to pull this routine.'
But it still moved, stepping forward to introduce her to the Great Toad Sage.
"Great Toad Sage, this is the one you instructed us to see before, the contractor from the Shikkotsu Forest! Her name is Haruno Sakura!!!"
The reminded Great Toad Sage patted its own head, making a sound of sudden realization.
"Hahahaha, so that's it! The inheritor from the Shikkotsu Forest!"
Then, the Great Toad Sage coughed slightly and said in a deep voice:
"Inheritor of the Shikkotsu Forest, I have a prophecy concerning you."
Sakura nodded, adopting a posture of listening attentively.
"What prophecy? Please tell me."
The shadow cast by the doctoral hat obscured the Great Toad's face, but a different light shone from its horizontal slit pupils.
"O inheritor of the Shikkotsu Forest, wrapped in the energies of multiple space-times, I see the sea swallowing everything!"
"Your figure appears within flames burning upon the water! Those flames stir up giant waves, and then everything, everything is swallowed by the seawater!"
"!!!"
Sakura and Fukasaku, standing guard nearby, were both stunned. Then Fukasaku spoke up incredulously.
"Ah? How is that possible, Great Toad Sage? Are you joking again?"
"Sakura is a good kid! How could she possibly destroy the world?"
However, the Great Toad Sage did not show its usual joking expression or apologize. Instead, it answered Fukasaku very seriously.
"I don't know. I only saw this in my dream."
"Furthermore, the more distant future has become unclear to me. Everything I see looking forward is only seawater."
After speaking, the Great Toad Sage fixed its eyes on Sakura, awaiting her reaction.
"I see. I understand. Thank you for the prophecy."
Sakura's emerald-green eyes met the gaze of the Great Toad Sage above without fear.
"Aren't you curious? Every prophecy I have made so far has come true."
Sakura's reaction was beyond the Great Toad Sage's expectations. It had imagined various reactions Sakura might have to such a prophecy.
But it had never imagined Sakura would be so... indifferent!
It was as if this prophecy had nothing to do with her, even like dust kicked up by the roadside, casually trodden underfoot without a second thought.
"You said it yourself, it's the future, right? Why should I be affected by something that hasn't happened yet?"
"Besides, I don't acknowledge prophecies or fate! I will create my own future!"
"Destroying the world, saving the world… the only reason I would ever do anything is because I want to. That's all."
Sakura crossed her arms over her chest.
"If people become my obstacle, I'll make an enemy of people. If fate becomes my obstacle, I'll make an enemy of fate!"
"I will gladly accept everything about myself, and then fight against it all, continuing until complete victory is achieved!"
Her matter-of-fact demeanor even left the Great Toad Sage and Fukasaku speechless with astonishment. A certain immense, unconstrained spirit echoed through the, empty hall.
This was a will from beyond the sea, free and unbound, something the denizens of the Ninja World, suppressed and ruled for over a thousand years since the arrival of the God Tree and the establishment of the Daimyo System, had never witnessed before!
"What if you fail?"
The Great Toad Sage couldn't help but murmur softly, though quietly, it was still caught by Sakura's Observation Haki.
Sakura put her hands behind her back, turning gracefully. Her emerald-green eyes, backlit by the light from the exit, appeared incredibly brilliant.
"Then at the very least, I tried. I gave it my all! No regrets!"
After speaking, Sakura stepped onto the passage leading outside.
The two toads left behind in the dim underground palace were unable to speak for a long, long time.