Naruto: Mizuki The Savior

Chapter 222: A Fading World

Jiraiya glanced at Mizuki, who seemed deep in thought, and sighed.

"Fate... No matter how you choose to face it—whether with disdain, reverence, or indifference—when it truly descends upon you, it always reminds you of life's uncertainty and unpredictability. In the end, none of us can escape its grip."

It seemed that all those who reached a certain level of strength would eventually confront this question. Mizuki hadn't yet experienced the full weight of "fate," but he could sense the need to start considering it.

As for Jiraiya, the entanglement of "fate" and "prophecy" had haunted him for decades—his understanding far surpassed Mizuki's.

Noticing Jiraiya's rare moment of sentimentality, Mizuki asked,

"That sort of melancholic thinking doesn't quite seem like your usual style, Jiraiya-sama."

"Well…" Jiraiya chuckled, recalling old memories.

"Some of it comes from Orochimaru. He too once wanted to delve deeper into this path. But sadly, war and death clouded his heart, and he forgot our original purpose."

"Orochimaru?" Mizuki nodded, finding it unsurprising that someone as brilliant as him would be drawn to such contemplations. The truly perceptive couldn't help but notice the bigger picture.

"So what exactly is this 'fate'?" he asked.

Jiraiya shook his head.

"No one knows for sure. We can't even tell what force governs this world. But Orochimaru, after poring over some of the Second Hokage's old notes, came to a conclusion: the overall power level of the ninja world has been in decline."

"The overall strength is declining?" That wasn't something Mizuki had ever sensed.

"Thanks to the accumulation of knowledge and techniques, it might appear that modern ninja are stronger than before. But that's just an illusion," Jiraiya explained.

"From the time of the Sage of Six Paths, to the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and now to the present day—you can clearly see that the strength of top-tier individuals hasn't grown, but instead has waned."

"But individual examples don't necessarily reflect the trend of the entire ninja population, right?"

Jiraiya sighed.

"There's something you might not know—Konoha's current number of jōnin has dropped significantly compared to before. And their overall strength is far inferior. If it weren't for renowned figures like Kakashi, Guy, and Asuma propping us up, Konoha's hollow façade would've collapsed long ago. Of course, your recent emergence is a good sign…"

"That bad?" Mizuki had tried to probe this before, but Tsunade had brushed him off citing confidentiality. He hadn't expected the situation to be this dire.

"Exactly," Jiraiya said with frustration.

"Konoha is in a state of decline, yet still struggling to hold on. The fact that the other villages haven't taken advantage of this after the Third Great Ninja War isn't just due to Hiruzen's clever diplomacy. It's because they too are facing a similar decline."

"I see…" Mizuki murmured.

The strength Konoha once wielded was evident in heroes like Sakumo Hatake, whose might alone was comparable to half of Sunagakure. His fame had even eclipsed the legendary Sannin. Or take the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and the prodigious Uchiha clan, exemplified by the likes of Shisui. But all of that was history.

Despite such a catastrophic decline, with even the Sannin having defected or gone missing, there was still no great war. The fragile balance remained intact—proof that other villages were in no better condition.

"So what's the reason?" Mizuki asked.

If the power of the ninja world truly was declining, there had to be a cause.

"We believe it has to do with chakra," Jiraiya replied, giving an answer both unexpected and completely reasonable.

"What else could affect the entire ninja world so profoundly, if not chakra, which permeates everything?"

Mizuki nodded in agreement, relieved that his own concerns weren't mere paranoia.

The rise of ninjas was thanks to chakra. And now, it seemed, the root of their decline also lay in chakra.

"But it's hard to prove," Jiraiya admitted.

"There are many theories about chakra's origin, but all of them, in one way or another, trace back to the Sage of Six Paths. Unfortunately, the records we have aren't enough to confirm our suspicions."

Even Mizuki, with all his insider knowledge, couldn't get to the bottom of it. Was it Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's seal that had failed? Or did the Sage himself do something? Everything remained shrouded in mystery.

If the previous decline of the ninja world had been gradual, then the past decade or so had seen an obvious rupture. Before the prophesied child and his companions could mature, very few individuals had risen to prominence.

"Ten years… If I had to name one major incident during that time—it would be him," Mizuki thought.

The biggest event he could recall was Uchiha Madara awakening the Rinnegan and summoning the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path—the husk of the God Tree. That very statue later became the epicenter of the chaos engulfing the world.

"If Madara's actions accelerated the decline, then the timeline matches. But… was it really just a coincidence?"

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Jiraiya asked, noticing Mizuki spacing out.

"Nothing much." Mizuki gave an apologetic smile, then asked,

"If a being existed that could absorb massive amounts of chakra… would that cause a decline in the world's overall power?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Jiraiya replied.

"Whether it's human chakra, senjutsu chakra, Tailed Beast chakra—or even natural energy—in essence, they're all the same. All chakra is a blend of will and life force, only differentiated by the life form producing it."

"Then what does natural energy represent?" Mizuki asked, finally voicing the question he had long pondered.

"All things possess spirit," Jiraiya answered seriously.

"If we consider the entire world as a living body, then it's only natural that the world would produce its own 'chakra'—natural energy—representing the will of the world itself."

"Then what are we humans, or intelligent summons that produce chakra on their own? Aren't we all just a part of nature too?"

Jiraiya looked at Mizuki and replied with conviction,

"If the world granted us wisdom, and gave us the ability to harness chakra—then how could humanity remain as unaware and passive as a rock by the roadside?"

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