Chapter 211: Great Toad Sage And Katsuyu
Mei Terumī fell into deep hesitation.
Reason told her that she absolutely could not easily trust a powerful outsider who had just killed her village’s Kage.
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s “Absolute Justice” ideology sounded noble, but who could guarantee it wasn’t a glamorous facade covering ambitions of invasion?
What if he was just using this rhetoric to lower Hidden Mist’s vigilance.
While actually harboring ill intentions to invade Hidden Mist Village?
But this doubt had just flashed through her mind when she forcibly dismissed it.
The slight hesitation in her heart also dissipated accordingly.
The reason was simple.
—If Uchiha Ikeizumi truly harbored malice, he could have simply let Juzo Biwa, who was more familiar with Hidden Mist Village’s terrain, lead the way directly.
But he didn’t; instead, he gave her and Ao this “choice.”
This in itself was a signal.
Cooperating might secure a slim chance of survival; resisting would likely lead to immediately following in the footsteps of the Fourth Mizukage.
Although this was largely her own speculation and interpretation, she couldn’t confirm if it was correct.
But she didn’t dare take the risk.
‘I can’t die here yet…’
Mei Terumī silently recited in her heart.
Hidden Mist Village’s future… still needed someone to change it. If she died worthless here at this man’s hands now, all her hopes and efforts would turn to bubbles.
Under Ao’s astonished gaze beside her, even carrying a hint of disapproval, Mei Terumī nodded solemnly, as if having made some resolve.
She met Uchiha Ikeizumi’s calm gaze and spoke: “…Fine. I will take you to Hidden Mist Village.”
She paused, then added a statement that sounded unbelievable even to herself: “However… Uchiha Ikeizumi, if your behavior doesn’t match your words, if you truly intend harm to Hidden Mist Village… I will stop you, even at the cost of my life!”
After saying this, even she was surprised at where this courage came from.
Perhaps, it was because deep in her heart…
There was something higher than personal life and death.
“You can rest assured.”
At this moment, Senior Izumi, standing behind Uchiha Ikeizumi, spoke up, her tone serious: “Senior Ikeizumi has no ambitions of invasion toward your Hidden Mist Village. He is also not the type to proactively ignite war between two nations. His goal has always been solely to purge the Ninja World’s sins.”
Ao looked left and right, his lips moving as if he still wanted to say words of dissuasion or questioning.
But he was glared back by Mei Terumī with an imperceptible yet extremely stern look.
Ao could only swallow his words back down hard.
But the worry on his face did not diminish in the slightest.
……
“Cough… cough cough…”
Meanwhile, in a ravaged forest several kilometers from the battlefield.
Momochi Zabuza exerted all his strength, using his still intact arm to shove away the massive log pinning him down.
The tearing pain throughout his body made every breath feel like a knife cut.
He arduously turned his head to look beside him.
He saw a fellow Kirigakure Anbu Ninja with half his body crushed under a boulder, blood gushing from the edges of the stone, staining the scorched ground.
That man had long ceased breathing.
Momochi Zabuza slowly exhaled a turbid breath laced with the scent of blood.
Relying on his tenacious willpower, he struggled and shakily climbed to his feet.
Every movement tugged at countless fractures and internal injuries.
He raised his head, gazing at the desolate scorched scene ahead, as if cleansed by divine wrath.
Two massive craters formed by the Tailed Beast Bomb explosions scarred the ground like wounds on the earth.
Farther away stood a massive mountain that had collapsed to both sides.
Faintly visible was dark red lava slowly flowing in certain gullies.
A pungent sulfur smell wafted on the wind.
Stimulating his already dizzy brain.
“Who won?… Who lost?”
These two most crucial questions uncontrollably surfaced in his exhausted mind.
Blood from a head wound blurred one side of his vision, but he still furrowed his brows tightly.
Compared to the “minor matter” of luckily surviving that world-destroying explosion, he cared more about whether the Fourth Mizukage—that nightmare-like existence for Hidden Mist Village and the Land of Water—had been killed by the enemy.
Momochi Zabuza gritted his teeth, enduring the pain of his body falling apart, dragging a leg that barely obeyed him, staggering step by step toward the center of the destruction zone.
At his turtle-crawl speed, by the time he arrived, exhausted to near collapse, at that core scorched earth…
Night had fully fallen.
Under the night sky, only the dark red glow from lava gullies barely illuminated this deathly silent land.
Momochi Zabuza was full of fatigue, his face pale as paper, gasping for breath.
As if he would collapse the next second.
He scanned his surroundings—no sign of Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi, nor of that Konoha Village Lava Release monster.
Only the shocking traces left by the battle.
A deathly silence enveloped Momochi Zabuza. This situation had already given him the clearest answer.
—Mizukage had been killed!
Because by logic, if Mizukage had won, he would surely remain on site to rally surviving subordinates and regroup.
“Hoo…”
A tightly strung nerve in his heart seemed to suddenly snap.
Momochi Zabuza’s entire body felt drained of all strength, collapsing heavily backward onto the still-warm scorched earth.
His gaze fixed on the starless, moonless night sky shrouded in dust.
“Today…”
“Was truly absurd…”
“Like a dream.”
He murmured weakly.
……
Konoha Village, a corner of an unassuming small tavern.
Jiraiya sat sullenly in his chair, downing cup after cup of sake.
The alcohol’s fumes and mild intoxication spread, making him seem utterly dejected.
Completely devoid of the passion and vitality he had when pursuing the “Child of Prophecy” in the past.
“Tsunade’s side… absolutely won’t let me near Naruto.”
He slurred drunkenly to the two Toad Sages on the table, his voice hazy with alcohol: “The old man seems not to fully understand Mount Myōboku Great Toad Sage’s prophecy either.”
Jiraiya sighed heavily and continued: “Plus, with Slug Sage backing Tsunade and explicitly opposing us taking Naruto… the resistance is too great.”
He rubbed his throbbing temples.
“Moreover, after that previous conflict, Konoha Military Police Force people are watching me like a thief!”
A bitter smile crossed Jiraiya’s face: “If I deliberately approach Uzumaki Naruto, those Uchiha Ninjas will definitely step in immediately to block me. If I insist on taking Naruto… in their eyes, I’d be an enemy of justice, and by then, I’d be forced to fight them.”
He tossed back another cup, his tone full of helplessness: “Hoo… But I’m absolutely impossible to have a force conflict with village companions… I’m out of ways.”
Sage Fukasaku and Sage Shima exchanged glances, both seeing deep helplessness in each other’s frog eyes.
They hadn’t expected searching for and bringing the Child of Prophecy back to Mount Myōboku for training to be this difficult!
Far more difficult than finding the Child of Prophecy itself!
The entire Konoha Village, from top to bottom, seemed to invisibly oppose Mount Myōboku’s plan.
“Already contacted Great Toad Sage, right?” Jiraiya set down his cup, asking with a sliver of final hope: “Has Great Toad Sage… given any new instructions or response?”
Sage Fukasaku shook his head, voice low: “Not yet. However… Great Lord seems… to have left Mount Myōboku.”
“What?” Jiraiya was stunned, his drunkenness sobering somewhat.
In his memory, that thousand-year-old Great Toad Sage had almost never left Mount Myōboku’s sacred grounds.
Sage Shima interjected, tone uncertain: “We don’t know where Great Lord specifically went; he didn’t inform us. But I guess Great Lord probably went to find Slug Sage.”
Jiraiya suddenly understood: “He wants to… personally negotiate with Slug Sage?”
Sage Shima nodded: “Probably… yes.”
As the words fell, the man and two toads fell into silence again.
Three pairs of eyes looked at each other, unsure what to do next.
……
Meanwhile, in one of the three great sacred grounds on par with Mount Myōboku—Shikkotsu Forest.
Just as Sage Shima had guessed, Great Toad Sage’s massive figure was now present on this vibrant yet ancient land.
Opposite him was a massive Slug Sage Clone roughly the same size as Great Toad Sage.
Great Toad Sage sat down boldly right there.
He pulled out from somewhere two sake bowls larger than a person and a bottle of fragrant special brew.
He skillfully filled two bowls.
The sake rippled.
Great Toad Sage lifted his heavy eyelids, staring at the mild-mannered Slug Sage Clone, grabbing a bowl first and chugging half in one go.
Then he spoke, voice aged and heavy: “Slug Sage, you should know my prophecy isn’t idle talk. That near-cataclysm from a thousand years ago that almost toppled the Ninja World—we both experienced it firsthand. The world we live in has always been coveted by certain beings.”
His tone carried a weight of history: “Everything Mount Myōboku does is to let the Ninja World avoid that fated apocalyptic future. The Child of Prophecy, Uzumaki Naruto… he is the sole hope to change and liberate the Ninja World at some key future moment.”
“Without his proper guidance, even I cannot foresee what dark abyss the Ninja World will ultimately slide into.”
Great Toad Sage’s gaze turned deadly serious: “Perhaps… the entire Ninja World perishing isn’t impossible.”
The Slug Sage Clone glanced down at the bowl of sake before it, which seemed somewhat out of place, and slowly shook its head, voice as warm and calm as ever: “I don’t drink alcohol.”
Then it responded to Great Toad Sage: “If Uzumaki Naruto truly is the prophecy’s ‘Savior,’ then his path of growth may not necessarily be only through Mount Myōboku.”
“I believe the ideology and power of ‘Absolute Justice’ also have the potential to cultivate him into a qualified guardian of the Ninja World.”
“Since even your Great Toad Sage prophecy can’t clearly foresee what specific changes ‘Absolute Justice’ will bring to the Ninja World, why not choose to quietly observe for a bit?”
Slug Sage continued slowly: “Perhaps you can see in ‘Absolute Justice’s’ practice a path to a better future, utterly different from your past prophecies—who knows.”
Great Toad Sage was silent for a moment, his huge frog face expressionless: “Because ‘Absolute Justice’s’ uncertainty is too great. Mount Myōboku… even the entire Ninja World, can’t afford that risk.”
He emphasized: “In the past, Mount Myōboku brought the Ninja World a thousand years of relative stability through the Child of Prophecy. This proves the path I chose is effective.”
He paused, then said: “Whereas ‘Absolute Justice’… is an unprecedented new road, shrouded in fog ahead, leaving me unable to see the future at all.”
“Slug Sage, in my impression, you’re not one to easily take risks. Can you tell me the real reason you’re so insistent?”
Slug Sage seemed unsurprised by the question and answered frankly: “You glimpse future fragments from your dreams. While I… from my observations, have seen another possibility.”
Great Toad Sage was slightly taken aback: “Observations…”
Slug Sage nodded and continued: “Mount Myōboku has no need for such strong prejudice against ‘Absolute Justice.’ You haven’t even tried to understand it deeply, so how can you conclude it can’t bring the Ninja World an even better future than your prophecy?”
“So, I suggest you sit back and watch. For beings like us, time isn’t scarce. Perhaps just sleeping a bit will witness the Ninja World’s changes.”
Hearing this, Great Toad Sage took a deep breath.
He slowly rose from his bold seated posture, gave the Slug Sage Clone a deep look, and finally said: “The risk… is still huge.”
“However, since you, Slug Sage, are so insistent… then I can set aside my impatience and patiently observe for now.”
The Slug Sage Clone gave a mild response: “Thank you for understanding.”
Watching Great Toad Sage’s massive figure vanish into Shikkotsu Forest’s misty depths.
The clone seemed to deflate instantly, its entire body wilting.
In a voice only it could hear, it feebly complained: “I’m just a small clone… Having to negotiate at this level with Mount Myōboku’s sages, can’t they not give me such an important task… I almost thought the atmosphere was off and it’d get swallowed by that toad…”
The moment its complaint fell, the ground beneath it trembled lightly.
A vague, mild fluctuation of intent transmitted.
As if responding to something.
Immediately after…
The clone’s body began merging into the “ground” below like a water drop into the sea.
The next moment—
Rumblerumblerumble…
The entire Shikkotsu Forest’s ground began shaking violently!
A colossal Slug head too vast for words slowly lifted from the earth’s depths!
Its body size was impossible to gauge.
As if it was Shikkotsu Forest itself!
Slug Sage’s true body quietly gazed into the distance.
Silently.
……
……
