Chapter 260

But in the prophecy, the wielder of the Rinnegan had taken a stance opposite to Ishihara!

Even more alarming was that the Rinnegan's awakening user would ally with others!

"The boy with green eyes, accompanied by a furry pet—is he a summoning beast or a jinchūriki?"

Jiraiya hurriedly asked: "Old Master, do you know who this green-eyed boy is?"

The Toad Sage lazily glanced at him, then spoke as if nothing were amiss:

"He must be the boy from my last dream."

Jiraiya froze in surprise—the Child of Prophecy?

He furrowed his brow; he had been searching for the so-called Child of Prophecy, yet never found him.

And now there was a second prophecy—did the first one still hold true?

Was the Child of Prophecy still the Child of Prophecy?

Jiraiya voiced his doubts aloud.

Shinzo the Toad Sage answered for him: "Both prophecies are correct; the reason a second prophecy emerged is likely because events occurred between the two."

Hearing this, Jiraiya immediately understood.

The second prophecy was more accurate, because the future foreseen in the first had been altered.

But the Child of Prophecy from the first prophecy remains vital—continue searching!

The Toad Sage continued: "The second fragment..."

He paused, then spoke with heavy gravity: "The ninja world shattered into countless fragments; in the sky, two figures battled, and on the shattered lands, countless others fought—this was a war engulfing the entire ninja world!"

Sssss!

The world shattered?!

Jiraiya gasped in shock and hurriedly asked:

"What do you mean by 'the ninja world shattered'? And who were the combatants?"

The Toad Sage said: "Shattered means I saw countless fragments—the earth broke apart. As for the combatants, I couldn't clearly see them, but one resembled the boy from the first fragment."

Jiraiya frowned deeply.

He felt something was wrong—if the land had truly broken, what level of power would that require? The current ninja world certainly lacked it.

"Did you see their weapons or any other distinguishing features?"

"One side carried long swords."

"What about their headbands?"

Snore... snore...

The Toad Sage had fallen asleep!

Jiraiya sighed helplessly and left the hall, still filled with countless questions.

What exactly had happened in the future?

Meanwhile, inside the hall.

The Toad Sage, who had just been asleep, was now fully awake.

What he had not told Jiraiya was that he had seen more than he revealed.

In the second fragment, he saw Ishihara tearing open the sky himself—creating a crack in the heavens.

Then, a host of beings appeared, whose appearances and power systems were utterly unlike those of ninja!

"Will aliens return again after a thousand years? Can this ninja world survive it this time?"

The Toad Sage felt uneasy.

After returning to Konoha, Jiraiya said nothing to anyone about the two prophecies.

After hastily attending to affairs in the Hokage Tower, he followed the ANBU to a secret chamber.

Inside the chamber lay a bed, on which Naruto slept with his eyes closed.

The ANBU member explained as they walked: "The Third Hokage used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to force the Nine-Tails back into Naruto's body. Though sealed, it was temporary—and thus carries risk."

Jiraiya nodded.

Many of Minato's sealing techniques had been passed down by Kushina; Jiraiya had learned many of them himself.

Especially when Minato handed him the key to Naruto's seal, he had urgently studied the Four Symbols Seal and the Eight Trigrams Seal.

Now, he had fully mastered both techniques.

That was why he had come—to reseal the Nine-Tails and restore Naruto's freedom.

With the help of the Seal Team, the sealing was quickly completed, but Naruto remained unconscious.

In Ishihara's courtyard.

Not long after returning from the Nine-Tails battlefield, he began receiving secret technique scrolls from various ninja clans.

The Inuzuka clan's beast techniques, the Aburame clan's insect techniques, the Gekko clan's sword techniques, the Tsukuyomi clan's sword techniques, and so on...

For the simpler ones, he mastered them after a single read.

And there was no need for deep development—not yet.

His goal this time was not quality, but quantity—to strengthen his foundation!

He did this because Ishihara felt ordinary secret techniques and forbidden jutsu had become too easy for him.

Late at night, Ishihara had read through every secret technique and recorded them all.

Then, beneath the moonlight, he stroked his chin in thought.

"Tomorrow, I'll visit the Hyūga clan—this is the last scroll."

"Aside from this, I've learned nearly all of Konoha's secret techniques and forbidden jutsu—next, I'll begin studying the Ten-Tails!"