"And you've lived for over a thousand years," Jiraiya pressed on, unable to suppress the edge in his voice. "You witnessed the rise and fall of the shinobi world. Haven't you ever found even the slightest trace of the 'outside'? Of other power systems? Of those so-called 'invaders'?"
"Even the faintest anomaly."
There was doubt in his tone—almost accusation.
Tsunade's suspicion had, without him realizing it, spoken through his mouth.
The Great Toad Sage fell silent for a long time. The only sound in the stone hall was his slow, labored breathing.
At last, he sighed—a long, weary exhale.
"…No. There is none."
"Perhaps… those existences were never within our scope of observation. Their dimension, their mode of existence, the rules of their power… may lie beyond an unbridgeable gulf from all that we know."
"It is not that we failed to discover them… but that we never possessed the capacity to perceive them."
The words fell like cold water over Jiraiya's final flicker of hope.
If even the Great Toad Sage said this—
This was not concealment.
It was absolute disparity at the level of cognition itself.
Jiraiya stood frozen. All his doubts and suspicions seemed pale before such overwhelming ignorance.
Emotion told him the Great Toad Sage had no reason to lie—especially in this weakened state.
But reason, stirred by the Heavenly Screen and Tsunade's warning, still left a lingering seed of caution.
Jiraiya inhaled slowly, forcing down that sharp suspicion.
If the truth about the Heavenly Screen lay beyond even the Sage's knowledge, perhaps older secrets within the shinobi world might yield answers.
"The Sage of Six Paths," Jiraiya asked carefully. "The Heavenly Screen claims he spread the chakra system—perhaps even to control souls after death. How much do you know about him?"
At the mention of that name, the Great Toad Sage's faint aura stirred with distant memory.
"I have seen him… long ago. So long that I was but a small toad who had just awakened intelligence, leaping beside Mount Myōboku's streams."
He paused, as though retrieving fragments from a sealed past.
"He possessed great wisdom… and great compassion. At least, that is what I observed."
"He ended war. He spread chakra. He taught humanity to use it for communication, creation, understanding."
"In those days, the world first gained order and hope through him."
There was reverence in his voice.
"But…"
His tone grew heavy.
"I was small. What I saw may have been only a fragment—perhaps merely the surface."
"Regarding the Heavenly Screen's accusations—that he spread chakra with ulterior motives, that he manipulates souls after death—I cannot confirm. Nor can I refute."
"It may concern plans unknown to me… or truths distorted by time."
"I am sorry, little Jiraiya. I cannot give you certainty."
The answer left vast uncertainty—but it confirmed something critical.
The Sage of Six Paths had truly existed.
And the Great Toad Sage held his public legacy in esteem.
Jiraiya nodded slowly.
Then he asked the name that had flashed briefly upon the Heavenly Screen—far more mysterious.
"The woman who 'remade this world.' Do you know anything about her?"
This time, the Great Toad Sage did not say "I do not know."
After a long pause, he spoke.
"…Her name was Kaguya."
The name struck Jiraiya like a stone dropped into a deep well.
"She came from beyond the sky ," the Sage continued solemnly. "She was the mother of the Sage of Six Paths—and of his younger brother, Hamura Otsutsuki."
Jiraiya's breath caught.
Kaguya.
Mother of the Sage of Six Paths.
From beyond the sky .
Pieces began connecting in his mind.
"The Ōtsutsuki…" he murmured.
"Yes," the Great Toad Sage said weakly. "She was known in legend as the Rabbit Goddess—Kaguya Otsutsuki."
"She descended upon this world and brought… change. The widespread presence of chakra began with her and her descendants."
The hall seemed colder.
If Kaguya came from beyond this world—
Did that mean chakra itself was not native to it?
Did this lend credence to the Heavenly Screen's claim of a 'chakra invasion'?
"Great Toad Sage… the woman who altered the world—the one from beyond—was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki?" Jiraiya's voice was dry.
The Great Toad Sage nodded faintly.
"Yes… she was sealed by her two sons—the Sage of Six Paths and his brother."
"Some say she came from the distant stars… from a realm beyond our comprehension."
"Perhaps… that is what the girl on the Heavenly Screen meant by 'other worlds.'"
The ancient hall fell silent.
And in that silence, Jiraiya felt as though he had grasped only the tip of an immense, frozen truth—
—one whose depths stretched far beyond the shinobi world.
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