"What are you going to do?"
Fukasaku felt a chill settle in his heart.
At the same time, he looked into Naruto's eyes.
Beyond the anger and resentment, there was something else — a flicker of fear, cold and inexplicable.
Naruto flicked his wrist, and Shima was flung away, crashing heavily to the ground.
"You made your choice. You should've considered the consequences of failure."
"Isn't that right... Fukasaku-sensei?"
Fukasaku clenched his teeth. Words failed him. He could only glare at Naruto in frustration.
"I wonder... Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku — what else did he whisper into your ear?"
Naruto looked directly into Fukasaku's eyes, then shook his head and said nothing more.
He lifted his hand, and Fukasaku's body slowly rose into the air, suspended by an invisible force.
In that moment, despair consumed Fukasaku's heart.
This power… it was beyond anything he had ever seen.
"Is this… the power of a demon? Heh… Uzumaki Naruto, don't get too full of yourself. In the afterlife… I'll be waiting for you in Yomi!"
Naruto's brow furrowed. "Then I'll make sure you don't die."
Thump—
At that moment, Jiraiya dropped to his knees.
But it didn't hold much weight.
He'd done it so many times before back in Konoha.
"Naruto, please… spare Mount Myoboku. This is my fault. If someone must be held responsible, let it be me."
Boom—
He slammed his head to the ground in a heavy kowtow.
But Naruto remained unmoved. He casually tossed Fukasaku aside, letting him land near Shima.
Jiraiya trembled, tears sliding down his cheeks.
"Why… why did it come to this?"
"Naruto, you've lost yourself to this power!"
Naruto leaned back slowly, and a wooden chair formed behind him as he sat.
"So, after watching Konoha and the shinobi world crumble for all these years, you suddenly put your faith in one sentence from an old toad?"
Jiraiya looked up, his eyes bloodshot and raw.
"The Great Toad Sage's prophecy... it's never been wrong. Naruto, if you keep going down this path, you'll bring calamity upon the entire ninja world!"
He paused, then continued in a strained voice.
"Mount Myoboku's surface has already been obliterated by a rain of meteorites…"
Naruto silently activated the power of ghosts and gods, sensing the chakra flow.
He located Mount Myoboku's current position — floating, suspended far above the sea.
An island in the sky? No — not quite.
If the remnants of the lunar meteorite hadn't been there, even he would've needed time to find it.
"Na–Naruto…"
Snap—
Before Jiraiya could finish, a golden flash streaked through the air.
"I'm late… Sorry, Jiraiya-sensei. I moved too fast and accidentally slapped your face."
Jiraiya blinked, confused.
Then, upon seeing Minato, a flicker of hope reignited within him.
"Minato! Stop Naruto! You know what the Great Toad Sage said!"
"If Naruto keeps interfering with the shinobi world, everything will fall apart!"
"If you don't believe me, bring the Great Toad Sage out—Naruto, let him speak!"
Snap—
"I'm sorry, sensei. I didn't get out of the way in time. Hold on a sec."
Minato vanished again.
Jiraiya's other cheek puffed up.
Another golden flash.
Snap—
"Oops. Got impatient again."
Jiraiya's vision spun with stars.
From the side, Kushina snorted.
"You want to free that old toad?"
Jiraiya, dazed, nodded automatically.
Snap—
Minato reappeared, looking apologetic.
"I'm sorry, sensei…"
Snap—
Minato reappeared again — this time with Hiruzen Sarutobi in tow.
"Wait—"
Smack! Smack!
Sarutobi didn't hesitate. He slapped Jiraiya twice across the face.
"You… you idiot!"
"I gave everything to keep the peace... and now this!"
"Tomorrow they'll say I was involved with your rebellious student! Dammit!"
Smack!
Another chakra-fueled slap. This time, Jiraiya blacked out completely.
Sarutobi winced, his own body reacting in pain — his old chakra pathways igniting with fire from the exertion.
He sat down on the ground, crying and wailing like a child.
"I don't want to live anymore!"
"Why… why did you, that damned bastard, crush my hope just when I had finally found some?!"
Kushina frowned. "What a mood killer. Minato, take me back."
She turned to Naruto and added, "Even though Jiraiya is disgusting, you should at least let him live."
But her gaze toward Jiraiya was no different from how she once looked at Danzō.
Her words, though seemingly merciful, were sharper than a blade—worse than declaring she'd kill him herself.
Snap—
"Oops… Sensei Jiraiya, did you pass out again?" Minato said with a calm smile. Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed Kushina and vanished.
Sarutobi Hiruzen finally reacted. He dropped to his knees before Naruto.
"Naruto… help me. I don't want to be dragged into this mess with him."
Naruto shook his head gently, then looked up at the sky.
"Grandpa, look."
Hiruzen followed his gaze.
The night sky was filled with stars—but he didn't understand what Naruto was getting at.
"Each one of those stars," Naruto said quietly, "is bigger than our whole world."
"And those two stars that look like they're side by side? They're actually unimaginably far apart."
Hiruzen's face was blank. He clearly didn't follow.
Naruto rose slowly and spoke softly:
"They move fast—those stars. So that maybe, in one year, ten years, a hundred… or even a thousand years, they might meet again."
"I… Naruto, are you telling me not to give up hope?"
Naruto nodded.
"Don't worry. No one knows what happened here. If you go back now—or if you help out from the shadows—maybe no one will even notice."
The dullness in Hiruzen's eyes began to fade. Slowly, light returned to them.
He looked up at Naruto's soft, warm smile through his cloudy old eyes.
"I see…"
"It takes time to earn back everyone's trust."
With that, Hiruzen bowed deeply. "Thank you, Naruto."
Then he hurried off, his back a little straighter than before.
Naruto turned his eyes back to Jiraiya.
With a flick of his hand, vines burst from the ground and hoisted Jiraiya into the air.
"You've ruined the lives of countless innocent women."
"You can forget about redemption."
"Unwilling? Following prophecy?"
"If you like prophecy so much… then follow it to the end."
His eyes changed—the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan spun into focus.
"Tsukuyomi."
Buzz—
In the next instant, Jiraiya's consciousness was pulled into the world of Tsukuyomi.
There, he saw the so-called future.
The Great Toad Sage's predictions weren't wrong—but the way they had been delivered… that was a different matter.
The real target wasn't some abstract danger—it was Naruto. And it was Konoha.
Regret flooded Jiraiya.
Because Myoboku almost succeeded.
That night, long ago, he had accidentally overheard a conversation between the Great Toad Sage, Fukasaku, and Shima.
The child of prophecy… was Naruto.
But the real prophecy had been twisted.
If Myoboku Mountain wasn't destroyed… the entire ninja world would be.
He remembered the words clearly now:
"In the future I foresaw, if Myoboku still stood, the ninja world would be annihilated. It was then that the meteorite fell."
"Little Jiraiya doesn't know… but in that future, all the toads of Myoboku die."
"Only by killing the child of prophecy—Uzumaki Naruto—can the toads of Myoboku survive."
"But even then… in the years to come, we'll still have to offer a few toads in sacrifice… to appease the gods."
"..."
Boom—
After experiencing the Tsukuyomi world dozens of times, the illusion finally ended.
Jiraiya snapped back to reality.
"No—!!!"
"Naruto!"
He clutched his head, sobbing.
Naruto merely shook his head. When it came to prophecies and the Great Toad Sage, Jiraiya always chose to believe—no matter the cost.
So, he followed up with another technique:
"Kotoamatsukami."
Boom—
Jiraiya's pupils contracted sharply. His body stiffened under the weight of the second illusion.
Fifteen minutes passed.
Then—trembling—Jiraiya slowly rose to his feet.
He staggered forward, approaching Fukasaku and Shima with unsteady steps.
From behind his back, he pulled out strands of his long white hair.
He wove them together—into a whip.
"Jiraiya-boy… what's gotten into you?" Shima asked, her voice hoarse.
Suddenly, she collapsed.
All her chakra—gone.
Not just her. Every single toad in Mount Myōboku, from the smallest tadpole to the Great Toad Sage himself, had lost their power.
Jiraiya's hair-whip glowed faintly, infused with something dark—something unnatural, a gift from Naruto.
Snap—
The whip cracked across Fukasaku's back.
The old toad stared in disbelief.
"Jiraiya-boy… what are you doing…?"
...
TN:
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