Chapter 404: Meeting the Great Toad Sage
Naruto leaned in, his blue eyes wide with innocent curiosity. "What kind of delicious food? I love ramen the most! Do you guys have ramen here?"
The eager grin on his face shattered the moment his gaze landed on the massive platter. He froze, his body turning as rigid as stone. Resting atop a gigantic, dew-kissed lotus leaf was a towering mound of vibrant, squirming insects. Plump green caterpillars writhed over one another, their segmented bodies pulsing rhythmically. Beside them, dark purple beetles aggressively snapped their jagged pincers at the air.
Naruto slapped both hands over his mouth, his face turning a sickly shade of green as his stomach violently heaved. "Wha... what is this?" he gagged, his voice muffled through his fingers. "You call this food?!"
Elder Toad Shima puffed out her chest, looking thoroughly offended yet immensely proud of her culinary masterpiece. "This is packed with high-quality protein! This plate right here is the 'Exploding Green Caterpillar.'You just take one bite, and the rich juices burst right over your tongue—it is incredibly delicious! And this one is the'Crispy Purple Beetle.' The shell gives it a wonderfully crunchy texture!"
To demonstrate, she snatched up a particularly fat caterpillar. Thick, translucent green mucus dripped from its writhing tail as she offered it directly to Uchiha Akira. "Hokage-sama, as our honored guest, please take the first bite! This is the absolute zenith of insect delicacies!"
Akira stared down at the frantic, oozing creature squirming between the toad's webbed fingers. A rare, almost imperceptible twitch pulled at the corner of his eye. He feared absolutely nothing in this world, but putting that monstrosity into his mouth? Absolutely impossible.
"Well..." he began, his voice smooth, betraying none of his internal revulsion. He rose from his seat, his expression a mask of perfect, aristocratic calm. "It suddenly occurred to me. There is an urgent matter I must attend to within the Tianyu Space."
Before anyone could even blink, the fabric of reality behind him warped and tore open, revealing the swirling void of his personal dimension. Akira stepped backward into the rift with practiced elegance.
"Take your time eating. Do not mind me."
The spatial tear snapped shut. The Hokage vanished without a single trace.
Silence descended upon the stone table. The remaining humans and toads stared at the empty air, utterly bewildered.
"He... he ran away?" Naruto muttered, his jaw practically hitting the floor. "Master actually ran away?!"
The sheer betrayal stung worse than the sight of the bugs.
Shima sighed, regretfully withdrawing her hand and dropping the squirming caterpillar back onto the pile. "Since Hokage-sama is busy with official matters, there is nothing we can do." Her bulbous eyes then shifted, locking onto the white-haired Sannin. "Little Jiraiya, you are an old acquaintance. Come on, I saved the biggest one just for you!"
Jiraiya stared at a caterpillar thicker than his own thumb. Cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead and poured down his cheeks.
"Uh... Big Sis," he stammered, his usual bravado evaporating. "Actually, I already gorged myself on barbecue right before we came here. I am stuffed to the brim right now. I really cannot stomach another bite." He dramatically clutched his stomach, puffing it out to feign extreme fullness. "Look, my belly is practically bursting."
Shima narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing him with heavy suspicion. "Is that really true?"
"Absolutely true!" Jiraiya shot his hand into the air, swearing on his life.
Shima let out another disappointed sigh. Finally, her gaze drifted. It landed squarely on the sole remaining survivor at the table—Naruto.
A violent shudder ripped through the young genin's frame. An overwhelmingly ominous premonition seized his heart, screaming at him to flee. He scrambled backward, his boots scraping against the stone floor. "W-well... I also..."
A heavy weight suddenly clamped down on his shoulder. Fukasaku Sage had appeared directly behind him, his grip surprisingly iron-clad for a creature of his size.
"Since you are here to train," the elder toad croaked, his tone leaving no room for argument, "you must follow the local customs. These bugs are incredibly rich in Natural Energy. Eating them is exceptionally beneficial for your senjutsu training! If you do not eat enough, where will you find the physical stamina to endure the trials ahead?"
Shima approached from the front, a terrifyingly maternal smile stretched across her wide mouth. She held a massive handful of the wriggling, oozing insects right under his nose. "That is exactly right. Growing children need all the nutrients they can get. You cannot afford to be a picky eater! Come on now, open wide!"
Naruto let out a miserable, ear-piercing shriek that sounded remarkably like a pig being dragged to the slaughter. "No way! Help me! Pervy Sage, save me!"
Jiraiya immediately snapped his head away, staring intently at the empty sky above Mount Myōboku. "Oh, wow. The clouds are exceptionally white today."
A short while later, the brutal ordeal concluded. Naruto lay sprawled on the ground, his face a ghostly, sickly pale. He desperately clutched his own throat, dry-heaving into the dirt.
"It is... too disgusting!" he wailed, tears and snot streaming freely down his face. "That bursting sensation... ugh!"
Under the relentless and enthusiastic hospitality of Fukasaku and Shima, the boy had been forcefully fed three entire plates of the insect feast, choking them down through a waterfall of tears. He would never forget the trauma. The exact moment the thick green caterpillar had popped between his teeth, a vile concoction of sour, fishy, and sickeningly sweet juices had exploded across his palate, the horrific taste rushing straight to the top of his skull.
It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most terrifying thing he had ever consumed in his entire life. Bar none.
Just then, the air warped. A spatial rift tore open in absolute silence. Akira's tall, imposing figure stepped out of the void, his movements as elegant and unhurried as ever. He glanced down at Naruto, who was curled on the ground looking utterly broken in spirit, and offered a faint, amused smile.
"It seems you enjoyed your meal thoroughly, Naruto. Having replenished so much high-quality protein, I presume you will have more than enough strength for your upcoming training."
The sound of that calm, collected voice acted like a jolt of lightning. Naruto shot up from the dirt, his trembling finger pointing accusingly at the Hokage.
"Master! You are too cunning! You actually ran off and saved yourself! Do you have any idea how awful those bugs tasted?! Is that something a human being is even supposed to eat?!"
Akira casually adjusted his pristine sleeve, looking completely unfazed by his disciple's outrage. "That is a renowned specialty of Mount Myōboku. Outsiders could only dream of tasting such a dish, yet you were given a feast. You should be deeply thankful for the generous hospitality of the two Sages."
"Alright, alright, settle down." Fukasaku hopped onto the center of the stone table and cleared his throat, his demeanor shifting. "Now that you have all eaten your fill, let us get down to business."
The old toad's expression hardened into something far more serious. He turned his gaze directly to the Uchiha patriarch. "Hokage-sama. The Great Elder wishes to see you."
Akira raised a single brow. "The Great Elder?"
"He means the Great Toad Sage," Jiraiya interjected, his usual foolishness vanishing as a grave seriousness took over his features. "He is the absolute founder of Mount Myōboku. A living fossil who has survived since the earliest eras of the Ninja World. More, he possesses the ability to predict the future. The prophecy regarding the 'Child of Prophecy' was given to me directly by him."
A sharp, calculating glint flashed through Akira's dark eyes. Predicting the future? Now that was an interesting variable.
"Lead the way."
Deep within the hidden grottos of Mount Myōboku.
"This is the Great Toad Sage's residence," Fukasaku announced as he led the three shinobi into a massive, cavernous palace. The grand hall was dimly lit by glowing moss and ancient braziers. The air inside was incredibly heavy, saturated with a Natural Energy so dense it almost felt like wading through water.
Resting upon a colossal throne in the center of the main hall sat an impossibly massive orange toad. A giant string of wooden prayer beads hung around his wrinkled neck, with a central orb bearing the kanji for 'Oil'. The ancient creature had his eyes firmly shut, his chest rising and falling in a slow, rhythmic slumber. With every exhale, a large, translucent snot bubble expanded from his nostril, only to shrink back down with his inhale.
"Great Elder! Great Elder!" Fukasaku and Shima bounded up the steps, landing directly in front of the sleeping giant. They shouted at the top of their lungs. "Wake up! The honored guest has arrived!"
"Hoo..."
The Great Toad Sage offered absolutely no reaction. The snot bubble merely continued its steady cycle of inflating and deflating.
Fukasaku rubbed the back of his head, looking thoroughly embarrassed by the display. "Um... the Great Elder's habit of falling into deep slumbers has gotten progressively worse as of late."
Steeling himself, the small green toad took a massive breath, his chest expanding comically. He leaned directly into the ancient sage's massive ear and unleashed a deafening, earth-shaking roar.
"DINNER—IS—READY!!!"
Pop.
The snot bubble instantly burst. The Great Toad Sage's massive eyes snapped open. A heavy trace of senile confusion clouded his giant, yellow irises as he slowly scanned the empty room.
"Dinner?" his deep, rumbling voice echoed through the cavern. "Where is the dinner?"
A heavy, utterly deadpan silence fell over the hall.
Naruto's mouth twitched violently. He leaned toward Jiraiya, whispering loudly. "Is this old frog... actually reliable?"
"Do not be rude!" Fukasaku snapped, shooting a fierce glare at the blonde genin.
The elder toad then turned back, bowing respectfully to the giant on the throne. "Great Elder, it is not dinner. It is the guest you specifically requested to see. The Hokage of Konoha, Uchiha Akira, has arrived."
The Great Toad Sage let out a slow, drawn-out hum of realization. The massive amphibian then slowly, agonizingly slowly, lowered his massive head to peer down at the humans standing before him.
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