boom!
The sky... brightened!
It's strange, why did it lighten up? No, it's not like that... it's like that every day!
The extremely unstable, wildly spinning Bomb of the Tailed Beast has lost Naruto's power supply. Having managed to stabilize herself for a moment, she exploded at the very moment when Jiraiya threw the young man aside.
Monstrous energy surged in all directions. Jiraiya, who was standing almost directly under the bomb, took on the full force of the impact and was instantly absorbed by the explosion.
— Kwa! Jiraiya!
The toad sage on his shoulder let out a furious cry, desperately releasing all the power that was in his body.
— Ah, ah! Naruto! Jiraiya roared, feverishly concentrating his chakra and channeling it throughout his body to strengthen his defenses. At the last moment, he tried to escape, but it was already too late.
An unimaginable force pierced through his body, and the whole world was plunged into darkness.
— Kwa! I have to survive, damn it!
On his shoulder, Sage Shima was screaming furiously, as if she had gone mad, extracting the last crumbs of strength from herself. Her body shrank, turning from a well-fed toad into a dehydrated lump.
In fact, Naruto's strike was not completed, and his might would not have been enough to destroy all of Konoha. The problem was compounded by the fact that they had just spent their strength sealing the Nine-Tails' rampage. And since Jiraiya wasn't a master of sealing techniques, they had to put a lot more effort into it than usual.
They were in the most vulnerable state: the old forces had dried up, and the new ones had not yet been replenished, so…
A cloud of dust slowly rose towards the sky, raging air currents rushing in all directions. Tsunade raised her hand to shield herself from the fierce wind, and then, lowering it, immediately rushed to the epicenter.
—Ha ha ha!
In the distance, Naruto, who was thrown to the ground by Jiraiya, was laughing madly. Even if he was going to die, he wanted to snatch a piece of meat from these creatures.
"Grab him!"
In the next instant, several ninjas ran up to him, grabbed his arms, and pinned him to the ground with their knees.
When the dust and smoke cleared, Tsunade saw Jiraiya. He was near death: the lower part of his body had completely disappeared, his left arm was missing, half of his face had turned into a bloody mess, through which deathly white bones could be seen. The skin all over his body was practically burnt to ashes.
An ordinary person would have died on the spot from such wounds.
But Jiraiya was alive. The remnants of the senjutsu chakra barely glowed in him, keeping him alive.
Tsunade immediately began to provide emergency care to him, but she was well aware that even if Jiraiya survived, he would be permanently confined to a wheelchair.
***
**Mount Myoboku**
The Great Toad Sage lay motionless in the temple. He waited. I was waiting for the arrival of hope, waiting for the appearance of the child from the prophecy.
It's been a while since the knowledge of senjutsu has been spread. All the great Shinobi villages and even small villages received this information and, at their request, shared it with their residents. However, so far he has not seen a future in which Uchiha Yue is defeated and dies.
There's less and less time left!
Four months. Only four months!
The concentration of natural energy on this planet will drop so much that he will no longer be able to prolong his life. And then it will come to an end.
And now it was the second month since Uchiha Yue had awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan. Another ten days and the third one will start.
"Perhaps my time has finally come," the Great Toad Sage thought, and a strong feeling of bitterness rose in his throat.
All living things strive to survive. If there was even the slightest chance, no creature would want to die, especially one as powerful as him, standing at the very top. Even though he looked like he didn't have long to live, old to the point of senility, in fact he could live for many more years.
Shimura Danzo has ruined everything!
"This world wasn't supposed to become like this. A monster like Uchiha Yue shouldn't have appeared at all..."
Every time the Great Toad Sage recalled how it all started, his chest felt tight. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, the more irritated he became. He felt like he was about to get sick from anger. After all, before everything went on as usual, quietly and peacefully.
Yes, there was a prophecy that seemed ominous, but there was also a glimmer of hope. All you had to do was find the child from the prophecy... guide him correctly, and by all accounts, nothing terrible would have happened. Everyone would be happy.
And then, bam! — Shimura Danzo appears and declares: "Look, I risked my life and changed my fate! Well, am I cool? Holy shit, what a good guy!"
Shimura Danzo, who defied the heavens and changed fate!
And what now? The old quiet life has turned into a hurricane, meteorites are falling from the sky, and now we all die together! Holy shit! Hsss… This toad is going to burst with anger!
Well, what the fuck are you doing bullying the Uchiha clan for?
Ever since the Great Toad Sage helped the Sage of the Six Paths save the world, he had almost never interfered in people's affairs for many years, one might say there were no records of his actions at all. But now…
If he had a time machine, he would definitely go back to the past, when that bastard Shimura Danzo was still a child, and strangle him with his own paws!
And also this Konoha… Last time, that idiot Jiraiya almost killed Fukasaka and Shima. He clearly said: just look, don't come any closer, just look! But everything went into one ear and out the other — he didn't take his words seriously at all.
For so many years, he had sent Jiraiya in search of the child from the prophecy.…
And what is the result?
He ate, drank, and partied. Under the pretext of searching, Shinobi wandered around the world and spied on women in baths every day. The hero of the Shinobi world ... but in fact — an ordinary pervert and bully. He vaguely recalled that in the days before the arrival of the Sage of the Six Paths, people like Jiraiya, if they were caught, would burn a brand on their body so that everyone would know about their misdeeds. And in particularly severe cases, they could be flogged to death.
Previously, the Great Toad Sage had not paid attention to this—after all, it was none of his business. Besides, the prophecy said that Jiraiya's disciple would become the child of the prophecy, didn't it? That's why he let him do whatever he wanted, because it didn't affect him or Mount Myoboku in any way. However, when someone fails or becomes unpleasant, all their past flaws are blown up to incredible proportions and flaunted.
That's exactly what was happening now.
"It seems Fukasaka and Shima have just been called up again..."
The Great Toad Sage lowered his head.