"The Future" was supposed to go to a set end.
"...an end written together by countless heroes and villains, but..."
Great Toad Sage gave a long yawn.
"Since you showed up, it's like pouring a bottle of strong liquor into a pot of sukiyaki. No one knows what it will taste like in the end. All the original flavors are covered by something called 'Linto'."
A strong "liquor smell" lingered in Great Toad Sage's dream world, making it dizzy just from smelling it.
Linto sat cross-legged facing Great Toad Sage.
"What did the future you saw in the past look like?"
If he could understand the storyline of the original "Hokage Ninja" through Great Toad Sage, it would definitely be an important gain for Linto.
Linto waited for its reply.
Great Toad Sage just shook its head slightly.
"I can't explain 'the future' to you. It's not that I deliberately want to hide it from you, it's just..."
Great Toad Sage scratched its head: "For example, when many people dream, they think of a great idea and wake up in the middle of the night to write it down in a notebook, just waiting to get rich from the idea the next day.
After waking up, they find that the notebook is full of nonsense like 'You have to take off your underwear to sleep, and bananas can be sold to monkeys'."
Linto thought for a while: "In other words, the future you observed in your dream, after a jump in the timeline, returns to reality, and the recorded observations and corresponding understanding...will be twisted?"
Great Toad Sage slowly took out a notebook and wrote it down stroke by stroke.
"What are you doing?" Linto asked.
"Your explanation sounds better than mine. If anyone asks me again in the future, I'll answer like that."
After finishing writing, Great Toad Sage closed the notebook and said:
"I spent hundreds of years spying on the future of the ninja world, knowing that as long as Akatsuki gives a slight 'push' at certain moments, it can make the future go towards the proper ending.
The world will return to peace, and conflicts will be eliminated.
But now, everything has been overwritten. What I see is a chaotic, disordered future. Affected by this new future, I become... ha..."
Great Toad Sage yawned again. The two wooden sticks supporting its eyelids snapped with a crack, and wood chips fell all over the ground.
"This is also the reason why I wanted to meet you."
Great Toad Sage lowered its eyebrows, seemingly falling into a deep sleep, and its kind voice had an added ethereal quality:
"Linto, where exactly do you want to push the world?"
The room fell silent.
Time seemed to stop flowing at this moment. Not only Great Toad Sage, but the entire world seemed to be waiting for Linto to give an answer.
Linto lowered his head and pondered for a long time, then slowly shook his head: "I would say a lot to others, but since you have the ability to see the future... please see it with your own eyes."
"I also really want to know how far I can go. If one day, in your dream future, I fail—"
Linto chuckled:
"Then help me see if there are still people willing to follow my path and continue moving forward."
Great Toad Sage slowly opened its eyes, which were filled with pity. The look flashed away, and it raised its teacup, covering most of its face. When it put it down, it returned to its usual drowsy appearance.
"Let's talk about White Snake Sage."
Great Toad Sage clapped its hands, releasing Sage Art, forming a sealing barrier.
Linto felt an aura similar to a "plastic bag" inside.
Then he heard Great Toad Sage say: "You can take out its Dragon Pill."
Linto nodded and, according to his memory, pierced his arm into the snake's head, bit by bit taking out White Snake Sage's Dragon Pill.
He opened his palm, and under Great Toad Sage's Sage Art, the life force of the Dragon Pill did not dissipate at all, but was firmly locked inside.
He had only sensed it with Ripple Perception before, this was Linto's first time seeing it with his own eyes.
As he had sensed, the Dragon Pill was an absolutely perfect sphere, half pure white and half golden.
Just as his eyes focused on it, Linto suddenly felt an extremely intense desire—
Eat it! Devour it!
And then...
Shed his human form and transform into a dragon!
The desire wasn't just in his mind, every cell, every bone, and even his soul and consciousness were shouting.
Great Toad Sage's lazy expression changed in shock.
It didn't expect that even after White Snake Sage was dead, the Dragon Pill still possessed such bewitching power... Since Linto had overwritten the future, these unexpected things had become more and more frequent.
Great Toad Sage clapped its hands again, about to manipulate the Sage Art sealing barrier to suppress the Dragon Pill, while reminding Linto:
"Be careful! You must not be bewitched by it—"
Halfway through speaking, Great Toad Sage saw Linto's calm expression.
He held the Dragon Pill tightly, and his entire body's Ripple surged, with golden lightning rampaging.
"Give me..."
Linto coldly looked down at the Dragon Pill in his palm.
"Behave!"
Whoosh—
A gust of wind swept past, and the Dragon Pill in his palm calmed down. All the bewitchment and enticement disappeared in an instant.
It was like an ordinary stone, lying quietly in Linto's palm, not daring to stir up any waves.
"It's really quiet?"
This was White Snake Sage's life force after thousands of years of cultivation, the crystal of its Dragon Transformation technique. Thinking about the bewitchment just now, there might even be a backup plan left by White Snake Sage inside.
And it was so easily suppressed?!
Linto glanced at the dazed Great Toad Sage and shook his head slightly.
He had even killed White Snake Sage. What was so surprising about suppressing a stone that grew in its brain?
Linto picked up the Dragon Pill: "How should I use it to extract the life force inside? Just eat it directly?"
"No! Never do that!"
Hearing that Linto was going to directly consume the Dragon Pill, Great Toad Sage's last bit of sleepiness disappeared, and its originally slow speed of speech doubled:
"It's a Dragon Pill, an irresistible temptation for any creature... well, except for you. Once consumed, the life force contained within will explode in your body.
Either, under the incredibly surging life force, you will constantly grow, becoming a huge, unconscious mass of flesh.
Or, you will be affected by the White Snake Sage genes inside, having your genes tampered with, becoming a new White Snake Sage.
Either outcome would be a disaster for you, the people who trust you, and the future you have overwritten."
Linto nodded slightly.
"Is that all?"
"Huh?"
Great Toad Sage thought it must have slept for too long.
What do you mean "is that all"? Isn't that enough?
Of course it wasn't enough.
Because for Linto, these two points weren't problems.
His physique, Ripple, and control over his own genes had long surpassed human limits. Even if there really was a problem—
Killer Queen appeared.
It gently touched the Dragon Pill, deploying First Bomb.
If there really was an unsolvable problem, Killer Queen would directly blow up the Dragon Pill, solving the problem from the root.
Linto decided to consume the Dragon Pill here while the Sage Art barrier was still up. He looked at Great Toad Sage, whose eyes were bloodshot from sleepiness:
"I estimate it will take some time to absorb the Dragon Pill. I see you're very tired, do you want to take a nap?"
Great Toad Sage looked at Linto, then at the Dragon Pill in his hand, sighed softly, and said a sentence it hadn't said in hundreds of years:
"I can't sleep."
Linto smiled and threw the Dragon Pill into his mouth like a candy bean.
---
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