Tsunade strolled through the many rows of shelves, all of which were laden with thousands of heavy tomes. Here, in the most secure section of the Archive, one could find the greatest repository of forbidden jutsu in the Land of Fire. And it was here that Tsunade hoped she would be able to find the record of the Second Hokage's most awe-inspiring jutsu ever- one that could bring the dead back to life.
"Orochimaru used this jutsu against the village," she mused as she combed through the multitude of volumes. "Am I any better than him? Does my grief excuse me, or am I just a madwoman?"
The silence was the only response as she paused in her tracks. There at the end of the aisle, was a display, nestled in which was a scroll sealed with a black ribbon. Tsunade could see the long, slanted writing upon the scroll, and immediately recognized it as the personal handwriting of the Second Hokage.
"Forgive me, Lord Second, but I must use that which you have expressly forbade me from using. Please, uncle, forgive me."
With the gusto of a mad genius, and the flourish of one who had mastered a difficult craft, Tsunade set to work with the scroll, drawing out formulas and summoning symbols. Small bits of an offering were placed in each of the sections of the summoning circles, and then, a bit of the person whose spirit was being summoned.
Tsunade had broken open another bottle of sake, and was swigging from it as she sat in the summoning circle and skimmed through the Second Hokage's neat, elegant handwriting. She was very nearly to the bottom of the scroll when her eyes popped, her throat caught, and sake shot from her nose as she coughed, thumping her own chest. She wiped her eyes, and reread the passage.
'-after adding the possession or piece of the person you seek to summon to the centermost circle in the formula, you must weave the hand signs-'
A large, black blotch obscured this part of the scroll, and in the margins, Tsunade saw a message in a different hand that said, 'At the behest of Lord Second Hokage, this jutsu's hand signs have been redacted due to the great risk posed to the user of the jutsu caster's soul.'
"Tch. Typical calculating Uncle Tobirama. How meddlesome… but that won't stop me."
Tsunade began to shake. A fire burned within her- a fire that could melt the winter in her heart and put her back on her feet, though she did sway a little bit.
"I, Tsunade, Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, bet that I will summon your soul by sunrise, JIraiya! I'll even have those reports gone through by then, too! And this time I won't lose, because I'll be wagering my very soul!"
Jiraiya's journey to the Great Toad Forest took well into the afternoon, and by the time he found the hermit toad's hut, the sun had sank under the tree line.
"Hello!? Mister hermit toad?! You home?!"
"I'm right here you great lump! Look down, human!"
And sure enough, there, at Jiraiya's feet, was a toad so small and warty it almost looked like a rock. The hermit toad was roughly the size of Jiraiya's fist, with rather nondescript gray robes and a long white beard.
"Oh, sorry, Mister Toad Hermit! I didn't see you there. I saw your hut and I guess I assumed you'd be a little bigger."
"Size does not matter to a toad, though you will learn what it means to be one of us soon enough. I assume you are the human sent by the Great Lord Elder, yes? I am Master Sage Shuma. Tell me, how is my sister, Shima?"
"Y-You're the old toad wife's brother? Why do you live way out here, instead of with the rest of the toads?"
"Yes, Shima is my twin sister, and I have known Fukasaku since before you were even thought of! Now, if Shima did not pass along a message for me, then I suppose we'll get right into it."
The old toad threw out an arm and exclaimed, "The hour grows late, and the initiation ritual must be completed this night! Be warned, we have never had a human take part in this ritual. It is… difficult for a civilized mind to comprehend the cruelty of nature. To know one's own place in the world, and to overcome the fear that follows is no small feat. Go now into the forest, and return with a chord of split firewood before the moon rises!"
Jiraiya, who was sure he would have a valiant quest, or a series of rigorous trials to prove himself, wrinkled up his nose and scowled down it at the little wizened toad.
"Let me get this straight," JIraiya crossed his arms, "my big, important task to prepare for this super important ritual is to gather firewood for you?"
"And be quick about it, human! These wilds are twisted and large. If you wish to see the sunrise, you must gather the firewood, and we must light the ceremonial bonfire! Do this, and all of the questions you have will be answered."
"All the questions I have will be answered, huh?" Jiraiya scratched at his chin. He thought about his last memories before he woke up that morning, and how he could have been an old man when he was still so young. Perhaps this was all a part of his test. After all, the Great Lord Elder would not have sent him to the hermit toad if it wasn't important, right?
"Fine then, I'll have your chord of wood chopped, split, and ready to go before the moon rises, or I'm not Jiraiya, the great and powerful Toad Sage!"
Jiraiya hopped about on one foot, putting on an impressive kabuki dance, but the old toad simply leapt from the ground, and planted an impossibly hard kick against the back of the young man's head, causing him to faceplant against the cold, hard earth.
"You're not a Toad Sage just yet, you knucklehead! Now go on, git! If you fail in this task, I'll be sending you back to the Great Lord Elder in pieces!"
It took Jiraiya all of an hour to collect the firewood, and bring it to the clearing next to the old toad's hut. He'd have gotten it done in fifteen minutes, but his sense of direction had led into a hollow of giant centipedes, which he managed to defeat quickly enough. Once he'd returned, Jiraiya was set to work building the bonfire, which was carefully built around a bundle of dried herbs that he had never even seen before.
"These are plants that only grow here, in this forest," Shuma explained when he saw Jiraiya curiously lick one of the herb's dried leaves. "In us toads, they bring about terrifying visions and hallucinations. I've halved the dosage, so it shouldn't be lethal to you, but you should still exercise caution."
Jiraiya gulped.
"N-Now hang on just a damned minute," the young sage said, "I've trained and trained for this, and I've put my life on the line multiple times already! Why do I have to do it again for some coming of age ritual that just might kill me anyway?!"
"Tell me, lad, when you summon a toad, what do you do with it?" Shuma asked dryly.
The strangeness of the question put a pin in Jiraiya's outrage for a moment.
"What do you mean?"
The old toad turned his horizontal pupils onto Jiraiya, who found himself pinned in place by the intensity of the stare.
"When you summon a toad, do you do so because you just put on some tea and want to discuss the news? Or do you summon toads to fight for you in battle?"
"Uh…" Jiraiya scratched the back of his head, suddenly feeling somewhat sheepish. "I guess I primarily summon toads when I'm in a bit of a bind…."
"Precisely. We toads are summoning animals, first and foremost! In order to be a summoning, a toad must first become initiated after coming of age. This test ensures that no matter what battle may lay ahead, a summoning toad will never back down. We are pulled from our homes at all hours, and summoned into the thick of battle, right into the very hearts of the wars of men. By taking this test, you will become as one of us, and gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a toad."
"Ok," Jiraiya said, his brow furrowing as he took in Shuma's words. "Still, there's something else that's bothering me… these visions you see in the ritual, what exactly should I expect?"
"The whole point of the ritual is to be unprepared, idiot! Otherwise you'll know exactly what you're up against, which wouldn't do a summoned toad any good out in the real world, you know!"
"I don't need specifics, but there must be something you can tell me. Should I prepare for battle at least?"
Jiraiya knelt before the old master toad (who still only came up to his thigh) and bowed his head.
"Please, Master Toad Sage… I only wish to do honor to the ritual. I can't go back to the Great Lord Elder a failure. I have a prophecy riding on me, after all."
"Hmmm." The old toad sighed softly. "I suppose I can tell you this much: no two tests are ever the same. You see, this test varies from person to person. A cowardly toad might find himself thrust into a battle with no chance of winning. A lazy toad might find himself in a state of perpetual exercise."
Jiraiya lifted his head, and noticed that his guide to this entire endeavor was frowning.
"So it changes according to each person… targeting your weaknesses?" Jiraiya hypothesized.
"In a way. There are toads who have died from this ritual. Others have gone mad, turning into raving lunatics. Those whose minds are left intact… they are never the same. To undergo such a grueling test is one thing, but to face off against your very nature is something else entirely. You will learn more about yourself than you ever thought you could know, and this knowledge of your true self- this understanding of your faults and flaws- it will remain with you unto your very dying day."
Once more, Jiraiya's mind went back to that vision of himself as an old man, sinking further and further into an onyx abyss. Could that have been more than a dream? Was it a premonition of his own demise?
Either way, he had only one choice.
Getting back to his feet, the white-haired young man declared, "I am ready to undergo your trial, Master Toad."
"Excellent," the old toad pulled out a match, and used it to light the bonfire, "then let us commence the ritual!"
Though she was plastered, Tsunade did not give up, and sign after sign, she tried to guess the appropriate gestures that would allow her to summon Jiraiya's soul. Getting a hold of his DNA, however, had been child's play. After all, Jiraiya's personal affects had become her property upon his passing. That included his hairbrush.
But no matter how many times she wove the various signs, none of them worked. Her hands were becoming cramped and sore, and the hands of the clock seemed to move in leaps and bounds as the night quickly wore on.
"Snake," Tsunade whispered to herself. "Dog, tiger, dragon!"
Nothing.
"Tiger, dragon, snake, dog!" She weaved the signs.
Still nothing.
"Dragon, tiger, snake, dog!"
But nothing she did had any effect. With each clap of her hands, her heart rose, and she felt that if she actually did manage to summon Jiraiya, she might just die from surprise. Until, at long last-
"Tiger. Snake. D-Dog. Dragon." Her hands very nearly failed her she was shaking so badly, and as she clapped her hands together after weaving the signs, the room filled with smoke. Tsunade heard the sounds of a hacking cough from somewhere in the smoke, and she crumpled to the floor, her head spinning as so much of her chakra left her that she reverted to her real form- that of an old woman.
Her eyes widened in shock as she stared into the fog, her eyes making out a familiar shape through it.
There was no way… could it really be…?
"J-Jiraiya?"
As Jiraiya danced the traditional dance of every initiated toad, he found that the hula skirt made entirely of leaves was not nearly as uncomfortable as the eyes of the Hermit Toad Sage upon him.
"Why dontcha just take a picture?!" Jiraiya barked, "it'll last longer, you old perv!"
"Like you have any room to talk. I've heard about your 'research,' boy. You humans really are prudes, aren't you? Toads don't even wear pants!"
"How does that make this situation any better?!"
The Old Toad Sage shook his head and said, "I must remain here to witness the trial. Or clean up the mess, afterward. Whichever happens to be the case. Remember, you must breathe deeply of the smoke as you dance. Let the rhythm of the drums fill you, and flow out of you!"
Jiraiya danced, trying and failing to pace himself with the beat of the many drums. No matter what he did, he could not move fast enough, and his body could barely twist itself into the proper forms. It was a dance meant for toads, after all.
But then the scent of the acrid smoke filled his nostrils, and Jiraiya felt all of his fears fading. The rhythm of the drums was powerful and alive, and it thrummed alongside his own pulse. Even as he listened, the sounds of the forest around him began to add to the tune, until it was a wild melody made up of the feral cries of animals and the rustling of leaves and the beating of the drums. Into this music, a primal force was poured, like the truth of nature itself was inlaid into the beat of every drum.
And so Jiraiya danced, until the ground beneath opened up, and swallowed him whole.
Author's Notes:
Uh oh, sad shit. Bing bong mfers, what do you expect from me?
This chapter was heavily inspired by a meme video on Youtube called The Wednesday Ritual by ZimoNitrome, which I watched while I was super faded from sleep deprivation and illness. The beat that Jiraiya dances to is the beat from the video. Shit bumps.
In fact, I think that will be my music recommendation for this chapter. Peace.
