Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

"What? The golden sage has arrived? Is he coming to Mount Myōboku?"

The immortal was immediately surprised and quickly asked.

He was almost certain that the golden sage was Kirito Tohsaka from Konoha.

What could be the purpose of this powerful human sage's sudden visit to their Mount Myōboku? Is this a blessing or a curse for Mount Myōboku?

"Hmm~, I also saw the moon."

The Great Toad Sage tried to recall for a moment, and then recounted some of the things he had seen in his dream.

His dreams do indeed possess prophetic abilities, but prophecy is not such an easy thing. After experiencing his dreams, he can recall very little of the content, or even nothing at all. Even if he does remember, it is only some fragmented information.

"The moon? What kind of clue is that?"

When the Great Toad Sage mentioned the moon, Fukasaku was momentarily stunned.

Did the golden fairy come for the moon?

But what does the moon represent? It's really puzzling.

"Moon, old man, I seem to remember that there are humans on the moon too."

At this moment, Shima suddenly interrupted.

Upon hearing this, the sage Fukasaku suddenly had a flash of inspiration, recalling many legends about the moon, such as the goddess of the moon, Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths, and Hamura Otsutsuki, among others.

"There are indeed people on the moon; there is a branch of Hamura's descendants there."

As Shima-sensei spoke, the Great Toad Master's face began to show a nostalgic expression, affirming what Shima-sensei had just said.

"So, Kirito Tohsaka came here for the descendants of Hamura of Ōtsutsuki, but we don't have any descendants of Hamura here at Mount Myōboku. What's the connection between these two places?"

"Imperial Master Fukasaku said with a frown."

Kirito Tohsaka's purpose in coming to Mount Myōboku remains unknown.

This is really a headache.

Then, he raised his head and asked the Great Toad Sage a very crucial question: "Great Toad Sage, how should Mount Myōboku treat this golden sage?"

The true leader of Mount Myōboku is still the Great Toad Sage, and his attitude reflects the attitude of Mount Myōboku.

When the Great Toad Sage heard Fukasaku ask this question, he remained silent for a long time. He then closed his eyes again, seemingly lost in thought.

Upon seeing this, the two immortals, Fukasaku and Shima, exchanged a glance and both saw the worry in each other's eyes.

They were all familiar with the Great Toad Sage's toad. The fact that the Great Toad Sage didn't state his position from the beginning actually implied a rejection.

Clearly, the Great Toad Sage did not like this golden sage.

Neither of them were surprised by this, because the appearance of this golden immortal clearly had a significant impact on the prophecy made by the Great Toad Immortal.

In short, the trajectory of fate that the Great Toad Sage once foresaw has changed drastically.

For example, the blue-eyed boy who was supposed to be playing with the nine-headed beast, as predicted by the Great Toad Sage, is still nowhere to be seen, and the current situation in the ninja world has clearly entered a period of great change.

If this chosen one doesn't appear soon, he might not even have the chance to participate in this great upheaval.

"He's here. You guys figure it out. I'm a little sleepy."

About half an hour later, the Great Toad Sage suddenly opened his eyes, looked at the roof, then slowly closed his eyes and said.

"Yes, Great Toad Sage."

Fukasaku and Shima said in unison.

They also sensed a powerful Sage Chakra appearing above Mount Myōboku, which undoubtedly indicated that the golden sage had arrived.

"This is Mount Myōboku. Like Shikkotsu Forest, it's shrouded in mist. However, the mist in Shikkotsu Forest is a miniature clone of the Slug Sage, while the mist here is caused by a sealing array. These ninja toads are indeed very knowledgeable about ninjutsu."

After nearly an hour of full-speed flight, he traversed most of the western part of the continent and finally arrived at Mount Myōboku.

The sealing array of Mount Myōboku is quite ingenious, combining illusion, defense, and isolation abilities, almost completely isolating the entire Mount Myōboku from the outside world. However, it is slightly inadequate in shielding soul auras, rendering it useless against Kirito's soul perception.

He could clearly sense that there were many powerful souls below. One of the souls was somewhat weak, and its soul fire was dim, but its soul strength was extraordinary. Even the slug immortal, who could create thousands of clones, was inferior to it.

"Now that I'm so brazenly exposing the fluctuations of Sage Chakra within my body, those toads below should have noticed me by now, but why haven't any toads come out yet?"

Kirito stayed above Mount Myōboku for more than a minute before he began to feel uneasy.

As a guest who arrived unexpectedly, he naturally could not enter without the host's permission. Moreover, since Mount Myōboku had not yet sent a toad to ask him for permission, it was clear that they did not welcome this uninvited guest.

If Mount Myōboku doesn't allow him to enter, then there will be a big problem.

In the ninja world, the place most likely to have a clear path to the moon is Mount Myōboku.

After all, the Great Toad Sage Gamamaru here has a close relationship with the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura. He was likely present when Hagoromo left the ninja world for the moon.

The toads of Mount Myōboku, due to the prophecy of the Great Toad Sage, have always paid close attention to changes in the outside world and must be very knowledgeable about the geographical changes in the ninja world.

Considering all these factors, he will most likely get the answer he wants here.

However, if Mount Myōboku shuts him out, the difficulty of obtaining the answer will be enough to give him a headache.

A few more minutes passed, and Mount Myōboku still hadn't sent out any toads. Kirito finally understood Mount Myōboku's attitude towards him and sighed, "This kid is difficult to deal with. Are we going to have come all this way for nothing?"

Meanwhile, in Mount Myōboku, the hermit Fukasaku was engaged in a fierce internal struggle, his face contorted with conflicting emotions.

Then, seeing his wife leisurely starting to cook, he said somewhat irritably, "Old woman, why don't you give your opinion? Is this the time for you to leisurely cook?"

"Hmph, what else can you do if you don't cook? Isn't the Great Toad Sage's attitude already very clear? Do you want to defy that old man? If that's your choice, then I'll support you, but do you dare?"

Master Shima turned his head and said coldly.

When his wife retorted like that, Fukasaku wanted to say that of course he dared, but he swallowed the words back.

He ultimately didn't have the guts.

There's no way around it; when you lack strength, you naturally lack confidence in what you say.

His strength was considered among the top in Mount Myōboku, but compared to the Great Toad Sage, he was nothing.

Although the Great Toad Sage looks old and senile, his ever-improving sage skills are undeniable, and he remains the strongest on Mount Myōboku.

"I knew you wouldn't dare. Since that's the case, what's there to hesitate about? Anyway, with that old man around, that human kid on top of you will definitely back down. Just stay put and we'll be eating soon."

Seeing that Fukasaku didn't dare to utter a sound, Shima the Immortal mocked him, then continued to concentrate on catching various meat worms to cook.

Fukasaku was in no mood to eat. As the de facto head of Mount Myōboku, he had done in-depth research on Kirito and knew that this Konoha genius was a very proud person. Mount Myōboku's disrespect for him would definitely anger him.

Given Kirito's demonstrated strength and potential, Mount Myōboku may not fear him now, but that may not be the case in the future.

It has to be said that the Great Toad Sage's actions this time were somewhat foolish.

Such an outstanding human ninja, the Myoboku Mountain is trying to win him over, why would they actively push him away?

"It seems this giant toad sage is truly unwelcoming. Could it be that he has foreseen what I'm about to do, and that's why he doesn't want to see me?"

Kirito brazenly lingered for a few more minutes, but still couldn't see a single toad emerge. Finally, he decided to give up. As he was leaving, he suddenly remembered the Great Toad Sage's prophetic abilities and said to himself, "Thinking about this all day."

If this Great Toad Sage truly foresaw what he was about to do, then given his friendship with Hamura Otsutsuki, it makes sense that he refused to reveal the spacetime passage to the moon to him.

"If we can't get an answer here at Mount Myōboku, then the only remaining option is Ryūchi Cave. But does that White Snake Sage know anything about this?"

Kirito turned and left, saying with concern.

Of the three holy lands, the one he least wanted to contact was Dragon Land Cave, because Dragon Land Cave was the most difficult to talk to among the three holy lands for communicating with spirit beasts.

In his mind, the White Snake Sage was probably the most terrifying being in the ninja world at present.

Chapter 308: The Trial of Ryuchi Cave

"Stop looking. They've been gone for so long. If you don't eat now, the food will get cold."

"At Mount Myōboku," said Shima, the hermit, to his wife who was still gazing out the window at the sky.

Fukasaku showed no reaction, continuing to gaze at the sky outside the window as if something beautiful was about to happen and a miracle was about to be born.

Unfortunately, nothing beautiful or miraculous happened; the sky remained unchanged, a green sky and white clouds.

"Sigh, he's really gone. Now that he's gone, will he ever come back?"

As Shima was preparing to clear the dishes, Fukasaku finally turned his gaze away from the sky, quickly picked up his rice bowl from the table, and began to eat with a regretful expression, saying with a gloomy face.

In his view, Mount Myōboku's loss of Kirito Tohsaka, the Golden Sage, was an absolute disaster, and they would definitely suffer for it in the future.

Because this golden sage has considerable influence in Konoha and even the entire ninja world, if he shows even the slightest unfriendly attitude towards Mount Myōboku, then Mount Myōboku will probably not be able to move freely in the ninja world as before, and everyone will no longer give it some face.

"I really don't know what that old man is thinking. He used to be so shrewd, how did he suddenly become so confused? Offending such a powerful human is not a good thing for Mount Myōboku. Moreover, Mount Myōboku is not without competitors in the world of summoning beasts. Those despicable snakes will definitely welcome that human, because they are a bunch of cowards who bully the weak and fear the strong."

Shima used Fire Release to slightly heat up the food, then couldn't help but disrespect the Great Toad Sage once again.

She genuinely respected the Great Toad Sage, but the old man had become a hands-off manager, leaving the entire burden of maintaining Mount Myōboku to her husband, who was constantly busy and had little time to spend with her.

She couldn't bear it without saying a few disrespectful things.

However, this time she truly felt that the Great Toad Sage made the wrong choice; he shouldn't have irrationally turned away Kirito Tohsaka.

As a woman, she was more perceptive than her husband and clearly realized that the Great Toad Sage simply disliked Kirito Tohsaka, a human sage, and therefore rejected him without making a reasonable choice.

"This is also what I'm worried about. Although I don't know what Kirito Tohsaka is looking for here in search of the so-called moon, pushing him away from Mount Myōboku will only make him get closer to the two great sacred sites of summoning beasts, Ryūchi Cave and Shikkotsu Forest. As for the slug sage of Shikkotsu Forest, I don't care much about her. She's just a fun slug with a kind personality and won't be a threat to Mount Myōboku."

But the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave is different. She's incredibly vengeful. After she lost to the Great Toad Sage, the relationship between Ryuchi Cave and Mount Myōboku deteriorated rapidly, causing a sharp drop in Mount Myōboku's population. I simply don't believe she wasn't behind that.”

The immortal Shenzuo said with concern.

Wherever there are people, there is a world of its own, and the same is true in the world of spirit beasts.

The three holy lands have stood in the ninja world for so many years. Apart from Shikkotsu Forest, which has always chosen to live a life of complacency and avoid conflict, Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave have actually been fighting each other openly and secretly for more territory and the throne of the strongest summoning beast clan.

Because of the Great Toad Sage, the strongest Summoning Beast Sage, Mount Myōboku has always occupied the best and largest territory in the Summoning Beast world and the throne of the strongest Summoning Beast clan. This has long aroused the dissatisfaction of the perennial second place and other Summoning Beast clans.

If anything unexpected happens to the Great Toad Sage, Mount Myōboku will be in grave danger.

In the ninja world, there are very few creatures that can cause serious harm to the Great Toad Sage, but they are not nonexistent. The White Snake Sage is one, Madara Uchiha who was resurrected is another, and now, we should probably also include that Golden Sage.

Fukasaku is now afraid that Kirito will make contact with the White Snake Sage and then join forces to harm Mount Myōboku.

Instead of worrying about this and that, we should strive to become stronger. Only self-reliance is the true path to success.

Master Shima immediately offered the best solution.

However, her method only earned her a disdainful look from the sage, Fukasaku.

If it were so easy to improve his strength, he wouldn't be so worried. He was so anxious because he discovered that the strength of Mount Myōboku had reached a critical point and there was almost no room for further improvement.