"Prepare yourself, Kabuto. We're leaving immediately," Orochimaru ordered decisively. "We're heading to the region shown on the Heavenly Screen—where 'Wangcai' was sealed. Hopefully… we're not too late."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."
Kabuto Yakushi responded at once.
Yet behind his lenses, a flicker of excitement glinted.
Soon, the two figures vanished silently from the hidden base.
Mount Myōboku
The mist of senjutsu energy still shrouded Mount Myoboku as always.
But Jiraiya's state of mind was nothing like before.
Summoned by Reverse Summoning Technique, he stood upon the familiar stone platform. For the first time, returning to this Sacred Land did not bring him comfort.
Instead, his heart felt heavy—like a cold, damp stone pressing against his chest.
"Jiraiya, you don't look well. Is it because of the Heavenly Screen?"
The perceptive Fukasaku leapt onto his shoulder, voice gentle yet tired.
Jiraiya forced a faint smile.
"Yeah… Fukasaku-sama. The things revealed on the Heavenly Screen—the truth about chakra, invasions from beyond, those chaotic forces… My head's a mess."
He did not dare repeat Tsunade's sharp warning—to be wary of sages, for sages are not human.
Suspicion toward those who had raised and taught him senjutsu felt like a thorn lodged in his throat.
Fukasaku sighed deeply. His small body seemed to hunch further.
"Not just you, child. I've lived a long time. I believed I understood this world—natural energy, the flow of chakra. But the Heavenly Screen…"
He paused.
"I now wonder how much of what I've seen and understood was truth… and how much was merely what we were allowed to see."
His voice carried rare confusion.
"The Three Great Sacred Lands were once seen as detached from worldly affairs."
"Perhaps we were not detached… merely unnoticed."
"Perhaps we too are only… slightly more conspicuous fish in a larger pond."
Hearing such words from Fukasaku struck heavily.
Even he felt doubt.
Jiraiya's unease deepened.
"…How is the Great Toad Sage's condition?" Jiraiya asked quickly, shifting the subject.
Last time, he had rushed here upon hearing that the Great Toad Sage had attempted to divine the mastermind behind the Heavenly Screen—
—and suffered a remote backlash.
A mysterious "fishing rod" had struck from afar, forcibly "hooking away" the prophetic eyes that gazed upon destiny.
The injury had been catastrophic.
Fukasaku's expression darkened.
"The Great Lord's wounds… are slowly recovering. But full restoration is far off."
"What?!" Jiraiya's voice rose. "It's been nearly two months—and he's only beginning to recover?"
He could scarcely believe it.
The Great Toad Sage had lived for over a millennium.
His vitality should have been unfathomable.
Yet such grievous injury still lingered?
A chill crept up Jiraiya's spine.
If it had been an ordinary shinobi… if it had been himself—
Would there have been any chance to resist?
The realization struck hard.
The mastermind behind the Heavenly Screen was not merely broadcasting futures.
Its existence alone possessed power sufficient to grievously wound—or erase—the shinobi world's greatest beings.
Jiraiya followed Fukasaku toward the ancient stone hall where the Great Toad Sage slumbered.
"…Let's see him," Jiraiya said quietly.
Fukasaku nodded and led the way.
"Go, child. Though he slumbers, he will be glad to sense your presence."
The words pricked Jiraiya's conscience.
Glad?
He had not come merely to visit.
He carried Konoha's doubts. Tsunade's warning. And his own shaken faith.
The Great Toad Sage's massive body rested atop the central stone dais.
Once filled with immense vitality and wisdom, it now appeared gaunt—skin clinging to bone like a colossal skeleton.
Faint ripples of painful senjutsu energy seeped from him.
The sight shook Jiraiya far more than any report.
This ancient being—whom he had once thought nearly omniscient—had been reduced to this.
Then—
As if sensing a familiar presence, the enormous head shifted slightly.
A frail voice, flickering like a dying candle, echoed through the hall.
"I seem to sense… little Jiraiya…"
"It's me! Great Toad Sage! It's Jiraiya—I came to see you!" Jiraiya stepped forward urgently.
The Great Toad Sage nodded faintly.
"Jiraiya… I know… why you have come…"
Every word cost him effort.
"About the Heavenly Screen… and the things it revealed…"
A pause.
"I… do not know."
Jiraiya's heart sank.
"But—you can prophesy!" he insisted. "You foresaw the Child of Prophecy. You glimpsed fragments of the future!"
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