__________ POV Narration __________

"Welcome to Mount Myōboku!"

The Sannin's words rang out as he spread out his arms in a flamboyant fashion.

Ken's head tilted to one side as he felt his surroundings with great interest.

Nature Energy was abundant, more so than ever. No amount of forestry and green pastures could ever compare to what he was feeling now.

And he felt his body morphing subconsciously, filling with power.

He could feel hundreds of toads, varying sizes and ages, all wandering about in their day-to-day lives. All of them wore clothing, and they all spoke to each other.

It felt jarring, as if he was 'looking' at just the usual human civilization, thriving and prancing around happily.

Besides Gamabunta, there were plenty of others of similar sizes, Toad Warriors, the size of small villages.

'If I remember correctly, Konoha is allied with the Toads. I guess I can understand why they are considered the strongest nation...'

After all, it wasn't just the toads.

Besides having the strongest Tailed Beast, the current God of Shinobi, and several Kage-level entities, they also had all 3 Great Summons contracted with them.

It was simply unfair to compare them with the other nations.

Even so, they were unable to help the Uzumaki when they were on the brink of destruction. And they were unable to win the war against the great alliance that opposed them singlehandedly.

Despite having all that strength, they were still spread out too thin. Too few allies, too many enemies.

The current Hokage was also said to be against the 'Nuke' option, which meant that losses would accumulate over time as the war progressed.

At least the destruction of the Alliance gave Konoha some time to breathe. But it wasn't going to last forever, the war was still ongoing.

This raised one very important question...

'Why aren't the Toads providing more support to the Leaf?'

Maybe their alliance was not that strong. Or maybe they just didn't wish to get involved in the conflicts of humans unless actually summoned by their contractor.

But they also didn't give out their contract freely to Konoha Shinobi, so few people had access to it that only one person was ever accepted, that person being Jiraiya.

'I guess I will never fully know unless I ask the toads or the Hokage... I don't think they'll ever answer to this specific curiosity, unfortunately.'

Ken ended up just sighing and focusing more on the landscape around him.

Then he felt it, something he didn't even think possible before... He instinctively turned his head towards it, tilting his head.

'A waterfall and fountain imbued with Pure Nature energy, surrounded by toad statues sitting in meditative positions.'

The fountain seemed to be made of a substance heavier than water, likely oil. Ken could feel it constantly moving and pulling in Nature Energy, seemingly endlessly.

"Impressive, huh?" Gamabunta asked, likely noticing him stalling for a few seconds.

"Indeed. One doesn't get to see such a beautiful land with their own eyes often, nor do they get to smell such clean and blessed air..." Ken sighed, not bothering to specify that he was more 'sensing' the sights than seeing them.

Jiraiya seemed to have noticed that, which made him give the assassin a weird look.

"Heh, aren't you a nice child?" A much smaller toad approached Ken, with another one following behind her.

The one that spoke up had the voice of an aged woman, she also had small curly hair. She wore a coat which covered most of her body.

The small toad that followed behind her was dressed similarly, it also had a tuff of hair on the top of its head, and another one on its chin, forming a pointed beard. He was also holding onto a small cane.

"Ma and Pa!" Jiraiya immediately became excited upon seeing them, he ran up to them with a wide smile on his face.

Both smaller toads looked up at him with what Ken could only describe as disappointment.

"Brat! Talk to me when you start taking your training more seriously!" Pa, the one with the beard, spoke out as he smacked his cane onto Jiraiya's shin.

The Blind Assassin sighed as he began to realize that Jiraiya felt like the butt of every joke with the Toads.

But it was also rather apparent that they cared for him. They cared enough to not let him recklessly practice Sage Mode unsupervised, they cared enough to answer his summons in the first place.

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Really, calling those two toads 'Ma and Pa' might've been accurate, as they did seem to have a familial bond with the Toad Sannin.

Gamabunta also seemed to care about the Sannin, especially since it stuck around with them even now instead of going off on its own.

"Ma, Pa, our visitor is here to meet the Great Geezer..." The gigantic smoking toad addressed the two smaller ones with respect.

Ken quickly started realising that the hierarchy amongst the Toads didn't have anything to do with size, but age.

This was a tad different for the Turtles, but they did only grow bigger as they got older. Meanwhile, the toads seemed to not all grow as big.

At least that was the case from Ken's limited understanding. Some Toads appeared to get really big Gamabunta being a good example. But there were also smaller ones that seemed to be younger.

The older ones were with more wrinkles on their skin, they also had a more powerful feel to them.

Ma and Pa were a good example, but Ken could feel plenty of others among the rocks. They were certainly beings with power.

While they couldn't use their size like Gamabunta, they appeared to be extremely agile, and very much capable when it came to chakra and especially Senjutsu.

"Oh, the kind young sage wants to meet Honorable Gamamaru?" Ma turned her small face towards Ken, a motherly smile still plastered onto it.

"Some skilled sage at that... I'm sure the Honorable Geezer will be curious about him." Pa also smiled as he scratched his beard.

It seemed that both Ma and Pa were able to tell that he was a Sage at the very least.

"Gamabunta, we can lead them if you're busy with training." Ma looked up at the gigantic frog with that same smile plastered on her face.

Gamabunta laughed a bit, taking the pipe out of his mouth and putting it in his stash, likely out of respect for her.

"I want to see what this whole thing is about before that." The Toad smiled as he lowered his palm. Ma and Pa quickly got on, Jiraiya also jumped on, still clutching onto his leg for a few seconds.

Ken received the message and quickly stepped onto the gigantic frog's palm as well.

They walked for a minute at the very least, Mt. Myōboku may have been a sacred site, but it was also an extremely vast one.

Eventually, they reached a rather large shrine, one which Ken's senses couldn't quite get into, at least not at first.

It was like a mass of Senjutsu inside, it was simply impossible for him to make out the shapes inside.

But the closer he got, the better an image of the inside he built.

And before they entered the gigantic shrine, Ken already knew what to expect.

Gamamaru was a giant frog, sitting on a chair to match its size. It felt wrinkled and old, and its eyes seemed to be almost permanently closed, at the very least Ken had yet to feel them open.

Gamamaru wore a gigantic professor's hat with tassels and an orb on top of it. He also wears a necklace around his neck. That was about the extent of what Ken could feel appearance-wise.

But one thing stood out, and it was somewhat obvious considering Gamamaru's title...

'His Nature Energy is simply insane...'

The gigantic toad seemed to be somewhat similar to Ken, as in it seemed to always have Nature Energy within its body. But it wasn't passively absorbing it, that was the only difference.

There were also two smaller frogs in front of the Great Sage, they stood to the left and the right, each having its own small chair.

Gamabunta opened the doors with one hand, before placing the ones he was holding on the ground in front of the old toad sages.

Ma, who Ken learned was also called Shima, and Pa, who was called Fukasaku, both went forward while he and Jiraiya stood back.

But Gamamaru and the other toad sages present had already noticed them.

"Oh, young Jiraiya and..." It was at that point that the Great Toad Sage finally got a good look at the Blind Assassin... And its eyes shot wide open.

"Oh..." Ken could hear some of the people around him exclaiming in surprise, but he was so transfixed on the Great Sage that he didn't even care about what they were saying.

"I see that another one has been born, but you seem, different too." The Great Sage's eyes remained open, Ken could feel an ungodly amount of Nature Energy radiating off of the gigantic Toad.

"Another one? So you know what I actually am?" Ken crossed his arms and turned his head towards the Toad Sage, making it look as if he was staring him in the eyes.

"Oh, I certainly know what you MAY be..." The Great Sage then did something even more unexpected... He stood up, hopping over to Ken in an instant, towering over him.

"Well, even that is helpful. I've yet to meet someone that can make heads or tails of my existence..." Ken's words sounded a bit discouraged, but he couldn't really be blamed.

He didn't hold some great importance over being a human. He had long since stopped caring about that. He only treated people right based on his beliefs, not because they were 'human'.

But while being human wasn't important, not knowing anything about himself just felt inadequate.

"Since you are already this intelligent, it's safe to assume you aren't the exact same... But I'll tell you nonetheless." Gamamaru huffed as his aged eyes turned to the rest of the people in the room.

It was a clear sign, all of them nodded and left, only Jiraiya took one last look before also leaving.

As soon as the doors behind him closed, Ken turned back towards Gamamaru, who sat down in front of me.

"Do you know the origin of the Tailed Beasts, young one?" Gamamaru's eyes were still open, it blinked slowly as it asked that question.

Ken couldn't help but tilt his head at that question.

"Unfortunately, no. I've not been able to find anything regarding that." The Assasin answered truthfully, there was no point in lying to someone that was helping him.

"Well, I can tell you how they appeared, and why." Gamamaru sighed as he realized he had to tell the tale from the start.

Then, Ken heard the tale of something he didn't quite expect... The Ten-Tailed Beast.

A monstrous entity, one born out of the world as if spawned by nature itself. And its nature was capricious, it fed off of the energy of others, and it trapped the entire human world within an eternal dream.

Gamamaru then spoke of two brothers, the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo, and Hamura head of the progenitors of the Hyuga, the Otsutuski.

They were the two that rose up to seal the beast. Being able to resist the dream because of the strength of their bloodlines.

And Gamamaru was the one to teach them Senjutsu, the art of controlling and manipulating Nature's Energy.

Their task was arduous, and they had fought for countless nights to kill the beast. And they had done so triumphantly at first.

But not even one year later, the beast had risen again, spawned from the earth once more.

After its death, it reformed in a different place within the Elemental Nations.

And the two brothers were after it again.

The cycle repeated again and again and again. But after a while, they realised that trying to actually kill that beast was fruitless.

And so, they sealed it within Hagoromo, hoping for that to halt its reappearance. In exchange, Hagorom became the first Jinchuriki and became god-like.

But he was not immortal. And upon reaching old age, he decided to permanently split the chakra of the Tailed Beast within him into 9 parts.

"... So that's how the 9 Tailed Beasts came to be, huh? It's certainly an interesting piece of history, unheard in human lands at the very least..." Ken sighed as he mulled over the information he had just received.

The thought of such a powerful being existing scared him slightly. It certainly helped him understand that he was not as powerful as he thought he was.

At the very least, it opened up the possibility of there being even more frightening beings out and about in the world, which meant he couldn't simply rest easy and stop taking his training seriously.

But throughout the story, Ken still had one question...

"And how exactly does this relate to my predicament?"