From Naruto onwards, I've become a dreamer.

Chapter 489 The End of the Era, The Chosen One

Jiraiya, who was peeping at girls taking a bath on the roof of the women's bathhouse, was caught red-handed by Shizune!

So, in the following time, Jiraiya faced a barrage of flying objects—bathtubs, soap, shoes, and stools—his left eye blackened from the impact, and he fled in a sorry state.

"Little Shizune, what are you doing?!"

Jiraiya covered his bruised eyes and stared at Shizune with a resentful expression.

"Who told Jiraiya-sama to spy on us?" Shizune said angrily, hugging Ton-ton. "He's one of the Legendary Sannin, how could he do something like that?"

"You don't understand, I'm gathering material! Gathering material!" Jiraiya retorted. "I'm a writer, a bestselling novelist. Isn't it normal to gather material and find inspiration?"

"I'm not going to tell you anymore."

Knowing she couldn't win the argument, Shizune said seriously, "Lord Jiraiya, the Hokage has urgent business to discuss with you."

"Tsunade?" Jiraiya frowned, seemingly reluctant. "Is it something troublesome? I need to make it clear beforehand, I have something very important to do!"

"You mean, peeping into the women's bathhouse?" Shizune bluntly exposed him.

"Of course not."

Jiraiya glared at Shizune with annoyance and said, "It's about Mount Myōboku; you wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"Lord Jiraiya, this matter is very important."

Shizune was startled. She had certainly heard of Mount Myōboku, one of the three holy lands. Anything involving Mount Myōboku was probably no small matter.

Seemingly sensing the seriousness in Shizune's eyes, Jiraiya stopped joking, realizing he might not be joking, and frowned, saying, "Alright, I'll go see Tsunade now."

Mute breathed a sigh of relief.

Although most of the time, Jiraiya is quite unreliable.

But in critical moments, Jiraiya is definitely the only person Tsunade can rely on right now!

Soon, Jiraiya followed Shizune directly to the Hokage's office.

As before, Tsunade handed the hot mission briefing to Jiraiya: "Don't say anything, read it first, and then tell me your thoughts."

"hiss--!"

Jiraiya gasped, his expression immediately turning as if he'd swallowed dozens of flies.

"Are you sure this intelligence is real?!" Even though he prided himself on having seen it all, he was still quite shocked by the contents of this intelligence, his mind a complete mess: "The First and Second Hokage are being controlled by the Aurora Society, and Iwagakure, led by Onoki, is going to declare war on the ninja world? Has that old man gone mad?"

"I don't know if Onoki has gone mad."

Tsunade sighed softly, rubbing her furrowed brows, and said with a bitter expression, "But according to Sasuke Uchiha's information, Onoki is serious."

"What do you plan to do?" Jiraiya looked at Tsunade, asking for her opinion.

"I'd like to ask for your opinion." Tsunade pushed the ball back, smiling slightly. "I want to know if you think the same way I do."

Jiraiya frowned and pondered for a long time.

After a moment, he seemed to have thought of something and slowly said, "With the current strength of the Aurora Society, and with the First Hokage and the Second Hokage, it is difficult for a single ninja village to resist. Therefore, we need to gather more strength to resist Onoki's Iwagakure and the Aurora Society."

Tsunade's eyes lit up, and she smiled, "Go on, continue."

It's clear that Jiraiya's proposal perfectly aligned with her thoughts.

"Convene the Five Shadows Conference!"

Jiraiya lowered his voice, his tone grave and serious, and said, "The Kazekage, Raikage, Mizukage, Amekage, and you—only by combining all our strength can we possibly contend with the Aurora Society!"

Shizune, standing nearby, was shocked upon hearing the proposal: "Summon the Five Kage? Is that really feasible?"

Leaving aside the newly established Amegakure in the last two years, which of the remaining Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure doesn't have a huge blood feud with Konoha?

Just thinking about how a single sentence could summon the Five Kage and gather their forces to deal with the Aurora Society is incredibly difficult!

Even if we could actually summon the Five Kage and gather the power of the Five Great Ninja Villages, who would lead them?

And so on and so forth—the list goes on and on!

No wonder Lady Tsunade didn't want the two advisors to be notified for the time being; that must have been the reason.

Given the stubbornness of Mitokado Enoki and Utatane Koharu, the possibility of them agreeing to this proposal is extremely slim.

Not to mention how to persuade the other family leaders in the village.

Especially the Hidden Cloud Village, which invaded Konoha more than a decade ago, indirectly causing the death of the Fourth Hokage and the casualties of thousands of civilians. It is an irreconcilable hatred!

"I think the same way, but..."

Clearly, Tsunade had also considered this point, and sighed, "The hatred between the five great ninja villages runs too deep to be resolved. Even if we propose an alliance, no one will believe us."

"So that's why you asked me to come alone, right?"

Jiraiya, having been Tsunade's teammate for decades, knew exactly what she was thinking: "You want me to act as the middleman, contacting the other ninja villages, right?"

"I have no one else I can trust, except you."

Tsunade, unusually showing signs of fatigue, leaned back in her chair and said bitterly, "Sitting in this position, I have too many things to worry about. Now, only you can help me, Jiraiya."

"Lady Tsunade."

Shizune, standing beside her, bit her lip and looked at her with concern.

Since becoming the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade has had to be constantly wary of her two advisors and also carefully deal with the scheming clans in the village.

Moreover, the timing of his succession coincided with the death of the Third Hokage and the collapse of morale among the people of Konoha.

In the past two years, Tsunade has done her best to barely maintain Konoha and had just recovered when this happened.

Looking at Tsunade's haggard face, Jiraiya suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

"Jiraiya, I'm really tired."

Tsunade's eyes were sunken, making her look much older: "Help me, you're the only one I can trust now."

"Okay, I'll do it for you."

Jiraiya sighed. The usually proud Tsunade was actually willing to lower her head and ask for a favor. How could he possibly refuse?

"Thank you, Jiraiya."

A hint of joy flashed in Tsunade's eyes; in fact, she really had no one else she could use.

Ever since the incident where the Third Hokage was impersonated by White Zetsu, she has become suspicious of everyone in the village and dares not easily trust anyone.

Even the most personal silent device is frequently checked to make sure the person next to it hasn't been suddenly 'replaced'!

With Jiraiya's help now, she can finally lighten her burden a bit.

"Oh, right, there's something I need to tell you."

Jiraiya stopped halfway through his sentence and turned to look at Shizune with some concern.

"Lady Tsunade, Lady Jiraiya, I'm going out now." Shizune understood immediately and was about to leave with Ton-Ton in her arms.

But after taking only two steps, Tsunade stopped him: "No need, just stay here."

She looked at Jiraiya and said, "I trust Shizune. She's been by my side since she was little. She's very calm and composed. Don't worry. Just say what you want to say."

Seeing this, Jiraiya didn't say much. He looked at the girl and hesitated for a long time before saying, "I still have a mission from Mount Myōboku. You must have heard about it from the Slug Sage in Shikkotsu Forest, right? A huge change is about to happen in the ninja world. We must find the chosen one to save the ninja world."

"The Slug Sage did indeed mention this."

Tsunade frowned, a hint of confusion in her expression: "But there's one thing I don't quite understand. What exactly is this massive upheaval in the ninja world?"

"You haven't been out for a long time, have you?"

Jiraiya sighed and looked outside: "I've been traveling a lot, so I've seen a lot, and I can clearly feel that the entire ninja world is changing!"

"You mean... those mutated monsters?"

Tsunade had seen some related information in the reports submitted by the Anbu.

It seems that terrifying monsters have appeared all over the ninja world. Their shapes are twisted and varied, and ordinary people are very likely to go mad once they see them.

The Dark Division always has to pay a heavy price to deal with those monsters!

"More than that, to be precise, it's the reason those monsters were born." Jiraiya took out a pendant from his pocket and said in a deep voice, "This pendant has a similar ability to that guy. It can easily hypnotize genin. I accidentally hunted a monster, and for some reason, its power attached itself to this."

"The Anbu's report mentioned these monsters, saying they possess all sorts of abilities," Tsunade said, her brow furrowing slightly.

"Indeed, those monsters seem to release some kind of 'power' after they die."

Jiraiya nodded firmly, carefully putting the pendant into his robes before slowly saying, "Furthermore, monsters like this have been appearing more and more frequently in recent years. Do you know what that means?"

"The huge changes that the Slug Sage mentioned!" Tsunade said in a deep voice.

"Yes, it's a huge change!"

Jiraiya frowned deeply and said, "In the past two years, during my training with Sasuke, we've encountered this kind of monster several times. The most dangerous time was when we only glanced at it and were almost dragged into a delirious hallucination. If Sasuke hadn't snapped out of it in time and taken me away, I'd probably be dead!"

"Even you?" Tsunade's pupils contracted slightly. You know, Jiraiya has Sage Mode. Just how terrifying is this monster that even he would die if he looked at him?

"Furthermore, according to my investigation, the Aurora Society has a mysterious connection with those monsters."

Jiraiya sighed deeply and stated the results of his investigation: "The Aurora Society's doctrine claims that their 'Master' will awaken from the dead and recreate the entire world. I suspect that the origin of those monsters, and the changes in the ninja world, are all the work of the Aurora Society!"

"Speaking of the aurora viewing event, something suddenly came to mind!"

Tsunade suddenly gasped and hurriedly said, "An ANBU infiltrated the Aurora Society, and in their last message, they mentioned the term 'Hanged Man.' Do you know what that means?"

"way!"

Jiraiya said in a deep voice, "Unlike the chakra system created by the Sage of Six Paths, this is a different kind of power!"

"Another kind of power?!"

Tsunade's pupils twitched slightly, as if she were somewhat shocked.

"It seems to be related to those monsters." Jiraiya frowned and said, "I don't know much about this power, but I'm certain that the White Zetsu, the Aurora Society, and even Onoki of Iwagakure are all connected to this power!"

What exactly is the future predicted by the Great Toad Sage?

"Tsunade asked."

The Slug Sage didn't reveal much to her, only mentioning the Chosen One and the huge changes in the ninja world.

"The Future Predicted by the Great Toad Sage"

Jiraiya lowered his eyes and said in a heavy tone, "The entire ninja world will face the 'end of an era' unless the chosen one is found."

Tsunade, who was already feeling heavy-hearted, became even more so after hearing Jiraiya's words.

It felt like a massive boulder was weighing heavily on my heart.

"The End of the Era: The Chosen One"

Tsunade slumped weakly into her chair, her eyes dimming: "How can we save the ninja world? Is there really no other way?"

"How could this happen?!"

Upon hearing this, Shizune finally couldn't hold back any longer and spoke up, her face filled with terror: "We...no, the ninja world...are we going to be destroyed?!"

It would be the same no matter who came. Originally, I thought that Onoki starting the Ninja World War was already the worst news.

To my surprise, compared to what Jiraiya said, it was nothing!

Ninja World War?

Although it was shocking, hasn't this happened three times in history?

Even if many people die, it will only be a return to the Warring States period. But Jiraiya's news is different.

The ninja world, or rather, all of humanity, will be utterly destroyed!

"That's what I asked the Great Toad Sage too."

Jiraiya sighed deeply and shook his head, saying, "But the Great Toad Sage's answer was that there was no other way, and even our efforts were nothing but laughable and futile struggles. Whether the chosen one exists or is willing to save the ninja world is entirely up to him."

"If that's the case, then..."

Silent, listening nearby, was almost in despair: "Does that mean everything we've done has been meaningless?"

Jiraiya fell silent. Faced with Shizune's questioning, he felt powerless and unsure how to refute it.

In fact, he had asked the Great Toad Sage the same question, but the answer was silence!

The being who had guided the Sage of Six Paths since ancient times responded to his question with silence.

At that moment, Jiraiya understood.

Their choices are irrelevant.

Even the ability to find their "destined one" has nothing to do with their efforts.

That's absolutely ridiculous, isn't it?

Whether they try or not, they cannot decide the fate of their own world!

"It shouldn't be like this, it shouldn't be like this."

Silent and dejected, like a walking corpse: "If that's the case, then why should we even try?"

Yes, if the ending is already predetermined, then why bother trying?

It makes absolutely no sense!

"You're wrong, mute."

Jiraiya sighed and said softly, "Regardless of whether our efforts are worthwhile, we must do them. At least we must prove to fate that we tried. That way, even if we fail in the future, we will be willing to accept it. This is my ninja way!"

(End of this chapter)