***
(after 2 weeks)
flutter
"Is anyone there?" A sleepy, slow voice filled with ancient wisdom reverberated in a room filled to the brim with nature's energy.
"Great Lord Elder, you are awake? Go and notify Fukasaku-san now!" The small toad in the room chirped up. It was their responsibility to take care of the Toad Sage, especially when he went into his months-long sleeps, as his body still performed all of the tasks required for living.
And they made sure it did.
Within a couple of minutes, two old toads walked into the room.
"Great Lord Elder, you are finally awake. We were really getting worried about you; you have been unconscious for one more week than you had said."
"Hohoho, can we really accurately predict something as fickle as the future, which can change with the death of a fly?... snore... snore"
"GREAT Lord Elder, should we call Jiraiya and Kaida?"
"...huh, who is this Jiraiya?" The Toad Sage opened his eyes a few millimeters, which were still looking almost closed.
"Toad Sage, he is the student we took, our summoner, the one who will teach the child of prophecy," Fukasaku did his best to stop himself from sighing in frustration.
"Oh yeah, yeah, yes, call them. I do need to talk to that boy," the Toad Sage said before going back to sleep once again.
And with a heavy doubt in his mind, Fukasaku went out of the room to call Jiraiya.
...
"According to the reports I have been getting, Kirigakure has really activated all of their spies in the Fire Country, especially in the village. All of them are searching for any trace of Kimimaro," Jiraiya presented his report at the table, with Hiruzen sitting in front of him and Shikaku analyzing some files on the sofa.
"Shikaku, can you spare some of your attention here as well, of course when you get time from trying to act busy, which you have been doing for quite some time."
"I really am busy, Lord Third..." Shikaku grumbled, closing the file with a sigh.
"But I don't see any point in discussing anything more about this. That boy is a trained ninja; if we place him in a place he doesn't like and a slip-up occurs when others are looking for him like this, it would spell doom for the much-needed peace. Since he is happy to stay hidden with Kaida, there is no point of relocating him somewhere else. It would just be better to postpone any of our plans ti—"
Poof
"Oh, Jiraiya boy, are you busy?" Kousuke, the messenger toad of Mount Myoboku, asked, entering the most secured room in the village like it was no big deal at all.
"Yeah, I was presenting a report, but why are you here Kousuke-san?" Jiraiya asked.
"Oh, the Toad Sage woke up." This much was enough for Jiraiya to know why Kousuke was here.
"Awake? Oh sensei, I need to go. This file contains all of the info I got this week."
"Jiraiya, does the village need to know about this?" Hiruzen asked. Since Kousuke was present in the room, he couldn't ask Jiraiya to tell him about the Toad Sage, an entity much older than even the history of the clans in the village, but the urgency in Jiraiya's voice suggested something important might be happening, and the Toad Sage's abilities were not much of a secret for Hiruzen as well.
"Not really. I'm in a hurry because he may go back to sleep anytime, and then I would have to wait for a few more months once again," Jiraiya said and went out of the office, leaving Hiruzen and Shikaku with Kousuke.
"So, Kousuke-san, how is the condition of Mount Myoboku?" Hiruzen asked.
"It's the same as old times, boy, just a little busy since the Toad Sage woke up. Oh, I should get going now as well." Kousuke said and went poof.
"There are already too many things for me to care about this," Hiruzen said, opening the drawer in his desk.
"Lord Third, that would be the third time you would be smoking in just three hours. Can you please control it a bit?"
"I would do it from tomorrow," Hiruzen said and still took out his smoke pipe. Being the leader of the village did come with some perks.
...
Kaida was working on the second array, with hundreds of clones busy with one task or another; some practicing ninjutsu, some kenjutsu, some working on arrays while others working on the colosseum.
Since Kaida was practicing in the Training Area, the whole place looked like a mess, with the same person present everywhere, apparently fighting himself—a scene enough to scare the life out of civilians.
While he was busy with his training, one of his clones suddenly dispersed itself.
"Sensei?" Kaida said, looking toward the entrance of the Training Area, where Jiraiya was standing, waving toward him—exactly at him.
"Are you preparing for a war or something? What is this?" Jiraiya asked, pointing towards the hundreds of shadow clones.
"Nothing, sensei, just polishing some of my techniques. And since you are here, I assume it is time to visit Mount Myoboku once again?" Kaida asked.
"Correct. Now let's get moving; the Toad Sage is always ready to take a month-long nap after such things," Jiraiya said, which meant to deal with the clones working around him.
"Okay, sensei... but I have something I need to ask before we go there," Kaida said, after making a shadow clone which sent a message to all of his other shadow clones to disperse themselves as soon as they could, for which he had to activate his Sharingan so that his brain would not explode because of the sudden influx of memories.
"Go ahead," Jiraiya said as popping sounds kept coming from all around them.
"During my fight against Orochimaru, I once again found out how useful a summon can be... so I have been thinking if it is possible that I can try to get one for myself as well," Kaida asked.
"And you want to ask if Toads can be your summon or not?"
'I mean, can you blame me? A mountain-size toad with a sword and smoke pipe who could throw a river of oil at opponents—can something be cooler than that?'
"I was thinking about it," Kaida agreed.
"Hmm, great choice, but I can't promise anything. It would be up to the toads whether you get the chance or not, though I am pretty sure your chances are quite high," Jiraiya said, having his characteristic smile on his face.