In the Hidden Village of Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya, led by Gamabunta, met Fukasaku. He learned that the Great Toad Sage had predicted his arrival and that he had formed a summoning contract with Mount Myōboku. At Fukasaku's request, he began training at Mount Myōboku.
Jiraiya, who initially disagreed, agreed once he realized that training there would make him stronger.
Of course, Jiraiya didn't train at Mount Myōboku all the time. While waiting for the Great Toad Sage's next prophecy, he returned to Konoha to inform Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tsunade, and Orochimaru that he would be spending most of his time training at Mount Myōboku.
"Mount Myōboku? The legendary Mount Myōboku, which, along with Shikkotsu Forest and Ryūchi Cave, is one of the Three Great Sage Locations?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was filled with shock, and his pipe fell onto the desk. He never expected Jiraiya to have such an extraordinary encounter; training at Mount Myōboku was a rare and coveted opportunity.
"That's right, I'm currently training under the guidance of Boss Fukasaku and Lady Shima."
Jiraiya nodded and smiled proudly, then looked at Tsunade and Orochimaru and said, "Just you wait, I'll become even stronger in the future! I'll definitely make you look at me differently!"
Mount Myōboku… Orochimaru ignored Jiraiya, thinking about her future path. Should she follow the path of Original Orochimaru? Many of the Ninjutsu Original Orochimaru mastered were only usable after forming a summoning contract with Ryūchi Cave.
The strongest summoned beasts in this world seemed to be from the Three Great Sage Locations. Mount Myōboku was definitely not for her, Shikkotsu Forest… could also be crossed off. The only option left seemed to be Ryūchi Cave.
However, Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode was simply too dangerous.
Could it be that Orochimaru turned into a half-human, half-snake because she accepted the White Snake Sage's Sage Chakra, causing her body to undergo snake transformation, then realized she couldn't master Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode, and subsequently fled Ryūchi Cave to avoid being eaten?
Just as Orochimaru was completely lost in her own world, a shadow fell over her. She looked up and saw Jiraiya, whose face was filled with displeasure.
"What's wrong?"
"What do you mean, 'What's wrong?' You're the one who never listens when people talk!"
Jiraiya glared angrily at Orochimaru, pointing at her. He had expected to see envious expressions on Orochimaru and Tsunade's faces, but Tsunade's reaction was surprisingly calm, and Orochimaru hadn't even been listening to him at all.
"In that case, why don't you show us the results of your training at Mount Myōboku?"
Orochimaru suggested with a smile.
"Alright! You said it!"
Jiraiya enthusiastically stretched his arms. "Witness Lord Jiraiya's training results!"
"Hiruzen-sensei…"
Tsunade looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had no intention of stopping Jiraiya.
"Summoning Technique!"
Jiraiya bit his thumb, smeared blood on his palm, formed hand signs, and slammed his hands on the ground. A small toad, with orange patches on its back, four legs, and a tail that hadn't completely disappeared, somewhere between a tadpole and a toad, was summoned by Jiraiya.
The air suddenly fell silent. Everyone looked at the small toad on the ground, kicking its legs and wagging its tail, seemingly observing its surroundings. The cawing of crows from outside sounded like they were mocking Jiraiya.
This was Jiraiya's training result at Mount Myōboku?
Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth twitched as he watched the small toad with its tail dragging, crawling around on the ground.
"Mistake, mistake! This is a mistake!"
Jiraiya laughed awkwardly, his face flushed red.
"Jiraiya, is this your true strength?"
Tsunade placed one hand on her hip, trying to suppress her laughter, but couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
"This isn't my true strength…"
Jiraiya looked down at the small toad on the ground, then released the summoning and sent it back.
Hiruzen Sarutobi highly approved of Jiraiya training at Mount Myōboku, but he didn't agree with Jiraiya training there for an extended period. He hoped Jiraiya could balance his time between Konoha and Mount Myōboku.
Jiraiya reached a conclusion on this after discussing it with Boss Fukasaku and Lady Shima.
Fukasaku and Shima also knew that they couldn't allow Jiraiya to train at Mount Myōboku for too long. Toads and humans have different living habits in many aspects. Moreover, they didn't know when the Great Toad Sage's prophecy about Jiraiya would appear.
Because of this, Shima deeply suspected whether the senile old Great Toad Sage had lost his ability to prophesy, yet he had indeed predicted Jiraiya's arrival.
Training Ground
Orochimaru and her Shadow Clones practiced Ninjutsu, while Tsunade, nearby, tried to use Shadow Clones to assist her training, hoping to increase her strength faster.
Orochimaru looked at Tsunade, who had created two Shadow Clones and was attempting to create more, and reminded her, "When using Shadow Clones for training, you need to stay within your own limits, Tsunade. You must pay attention to this."
She wouldn't doubt that Tsunade, with her Uzumaki and Senju bloodlines, had enough Chakra to use Shadow Clones for training. However, overtraining while they were still growing wasn't a good thing.
The reason why the average lifespan during the Warring States Period was less than 30 years was probably because people had to train desperately to survive.
Training in such a reckless manner would not only affect one's lifespan but also one's physical development.
Wait, affecting physical development… Orochimaru looked down at her chest. Wouldn't that be even better?
"Orochimaru, you're too noisy! I'll pay attention!"
Tsunade's cheeks puffed out slightly as she said impatiently. Her grandmother was already noisy enough on a daily basis; why did she feel Orochimaru was even noisier than her grandmother?
However, she didn't dislike Orochimaru's caring fussiness.
---
The Land of Tea, located south of the Land of Fire, is a peninsula country with abundant fishing resources.
Most people in the Land of Tea relied on fishing for their livelihood. Recently, a group of pirates appeared from unknown origins, specifically targeting fishing boats. The fishermen of the Land of Tea were suffering greatly. The Daimyo of the Land of Tea, realizing that this would affect his tax revenue, sent his retainer to Konoha to issue a mission.
"I understand. I will dispatch a Ninja squad as soon as possible to deal with the pirates."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the mission information, wanting to pick up his pipe and take a puff, but decided it wasn't appropriate.
"Hokage-sama, everything is in your hands!"
The Daimyo of the Land of Tea's retainer placed his hope of eliminating the pirates on the Ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Hiruzen-sensei!"
As soon as the Daimyo of the Land of Tea's retainer left, Jiraiya, who had returned to Konoha from Mount Myōboku, arrived at the Hokage Office and greeted Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Jiraiya, you're back. Just in time, I have a mission for you, Orochimaru, and Tsunade."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Jiraiya, who had returned from Mount Myōboku, and handed him the mission issued by the Daimyo of the Land of Tea's retainer. He decided to disguise himself and accompany them on this mission.
"It's not another D-rank mission to find cats and dogs, is it?" Jiraiya looked disdainfully at the document in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand. "I don't want to do such boring missions! How can Lord Jiraiya do such simple missions?"
"It's a C-rank mission. This mission requires you to go to the Land of Tea and eliminate the pirates who are robbing fishing boats."
Hiruzen Sarutobi placed the document on the table.
"C-rank mission? Isn't there a more difficult mission?"
Jiraiya, who had never performed a C-rank mission, felt there was no difference between C-rank and D-rank missions.
"Genin can only do D-rank and C-rank missions. Missions above that are for Chunin and Jonin!"
Seeing Jiraiya look down on C-rank missions so much, Hiruzen Sarutobi waved him away, "Alright, go prepare quickly!"