"Three ninja, genin level, 3.6 kilometers in the two o'clock direction."
"Avoid them. Proceed from the ten o'clock direction."
"One ninja, Jonin level, 4.2 kilometers in the one o'clock direction."
"Avoid him. Detour from the nine o'clock direction."
...Along the way, relying on Kyuushin's Kagura Mind's Eye and the assistance of many other sensory ninja, their group had not been discovered by any enemies since entering the Land of Grass, even after a full night had passed.
"No chakra reactions detected within five kilometers." After closing his eyes for a moment, Kyuushin spoke again.
Mokume Koutou looked at the faint dawn in the sky and exhaled. A night of searching had yielded no clues about Tsunade and her companions. Turning to look at his weary team, he gave the order to rest.
While Kyuushin and his team were resting, in another part of the Land of Grass, Tsunade and Orochimaru were also resting in a rock cave with an injured Jiraiya. Tsunade lowered her hands, wiping the sweat from her face, but seeing Jiraiya gritting his teeth in pain, she swallowed a soldier pill, and the green light of medical ninjutsu once again illuminated her hands.
Orochimaru squatted on the ground, a small snake crawling onto his hand. He sensed for a moment, then said, "It's safe. The enemy hasn't caught up yet."
"How long has it been since we sent out the distress signal?" Tsunade asked.
"It's been a day and a night since yesterday morning. By my calculations, reinforcements should have already entered the Land of Grass," Orochimaru replied. He paused, then shook his head. "But Jiraiya is severely injured and difficult to heal. We have no way to conceal our tracks, and the enemy will catch up eventually. We don't know if we'll have another chance to escape."
Jiraiya also managed to open his eyes at this point. After a few gasps, he said, "It's fine. If the enemy really catches up, I can still cover your retreat."
Orochimaru's eyes flickered, while Tsunade directly cursed, "Shut up! If we go, we go together. Don't forget your dream from before."
"Haha, what dream? I was just teasing you," Jiraiya gritted his teeth, then continued, "Do you know why Gamabunta asked me to go to Mount Myoboku before? It was actually the Great Toad Sage who called me."
"Hmm?" Tsunade and Orochimaru immediately showed curiosity.
Jiraiya recalled the scene of arriving at Mount Myoboku that day... "Sage Shima, Sage Fukasaku, why have you called me to Mount Myoboku this time?" Jiraiya had asked.
"Little Jiraiya, it was the Great Toad Sage who asked me to summon you," Sage Fukasaku had replied.
"Oh? Does the Great Toad Sage have a new prophecy? Could it be that he saw a scene of me displaying great power in the future?" Jiraiya had asked curiously.
Sage Fukasaku shook his head. "You'll know the specifics if you come with me." With that, he hopped towards the temple dedicated to the Great Toad Sage. The temple was the same as when he had visited as a child, but the Great Toad Sage, sitting atop, now looked as if he was on his last breath.
"Little Jiraiya..." the Great Toad Sage spoke, his voice weak.
"Great Toad Sage, you weren't asleep. What's wrong with you?" Jiraiya was startled and quickly asked.
"Little Jiraiya, the future has changed. I can no longer see clearly," the Great Toad Sage had said.
"Huh? What does that mean?" Jiraiya was instantly confused.
"Let me explain," Sage Fukasaku had said. "The Great Toad Sage suddenly awoke from a dream some time ago and told us that the future had been changed. The future he now sees is a chaotic mess. Little Jiraiya, your previous prophecy was that you would find the child of prophecy and, as his teacher, guide him to save or destroy the world. But now, that future has been changed. You no longer need to search for the child of prophecy. Or rather, it's unknown if the child of prophecy even exists anymore."
Jiraiya propped his chin, thinking for a long time before finally understanding. He clapped his hands. "That's great! I also thought finding the child of prophecy was too much trouble."
Sage Fukasaku shook his head. "You still don't understand. Your previous search indicated that a great disaster in the future needed the child of prophecy to resolve it. But this was still within the Great Toad Sage's foresight. But now, even he cannot foresee it. This means that in the future, someone is even able to block his precognitive abilities. This is absolutely impossible. If that person intends to destroy the ninja world, then we now have no countermeasures whatsoever."
"Afterward, the Great Toad Sage fell asleep many times, trying to find any glimpse of the future, but it remained blurry. Even after his last sleep, he suffered a severe backlash. This is why you see him so weak now." Sage Fukasaku's low voice echoed in Jiraiya's ears, making him shiver. Even after returning to Konoha, he dared not tell anyone about it.
"Cough, cough, what do you two think?" Jiraiya, lying on the ground, struggled to look at Tsunade and Orochimaru.
"Heh heh, I've never believed in prophecies," Orochimaru said with a dark laugh. However, despite saying so, he couldn't help but recall the White Snake Sage's strange attitude the last time he went to Ryuchi Cave, and he secretly kept this matter in mind.
"Exactly, Jiraiya. You're too pathetic, to be scared like this by some muddled prophecy," Tsunade also said.
"Yeah," Jiraiya said self-deprecatingly. At this point, he was almost dead; what good was thinking about prophecies now?
"Be careful!" Orochimaru suddenly became alert. "There's a chakra reaction within three kilometers. It seems we've been caught."
Meanwhile, after eating soldier pills, Kyuushin and his team gradually regained their strength. Mokume Koutou then ordered them to resume their search. They had now left the forest and arrived in a barren, rocky wasteland. Kyuushin closed his eyes and sensed again. A moment later, he suddenly opened his eyes. "I found them!"
The many ninja were startled, and Mokume Koutou urgently asked, "What did you find?"
"I sensed my teachers' chakra, 4.8 kilometers away in the two o'clock direction, but..." Before they could ask, Kyuushin quickly said, "I also sensed the chakra fluctuations of no less than twenty people. They must be attacking my teachers!"
Kyuushin's demonstrated sensory abilities had already convinced everyone. After all, the situation was urgent. However, Mokume Koutou did not order everyone to charge directly. Instead, he commanded, "When we get within two kilometers, two from the Inuzuka clan, two from the Aburame clan, and Yamanaka Yukito will stay behind. You will be the backup. If enemy reinforcements arrive, you must immediately send a signal. The rest of the combat personnel will follow me to rescue them." Then, he looked at Kyuushin and his companions. "You three can also stay behind. Once the battle starts, I might not have time to look after you."
Upon hearing this, the three of them shook their heads. After all, they had come all this way, and there was no reason not to contribute. Moreover, it was their teachers who were in danger.
Seeing this, Mokume Koutou no longer tried to persuade them. At this point, the squad no longer needed to conceal their tracks. Everyone simultaneously used the Body Flicker Technique and sped towards Tsunade and her two companions.