Chapter 291: Sometimes, Not Changing Is Also a Kind of Change

The sarcasm in Uchiha Ren's tone made Jiraiya frown.

But what concerned him even more was the meaning behind Ren's words.

Jiraiya spoke in a deep voice.

"Clan Head Uchiha, what exactly do you mean by that? Are you saying you know who the Child of Prophecy is? Do you know what will happen in the future?"

Ren nodded.

"I know a little. Not everything—but certainly more than that toad or you do."

Tsunade immediately interrupted, clearly unconvinced.

"You say you know? And we're just supposed to believe that? Do you have any proof?"

"Proof?" Ren sneered and glanced at her.

"I've never intended to prove anything to you. Believe it or don't—it makes no difference to me."

Tsunade slammed her hand on the table.

"Uchiha Ren, what kind of attitude is that?!"

"Alright, alright," Jiraiya quickly interjected.

"We're just chatting. There's no need to get so worked up."

Seeing Tsunade on the verge of starting another fight, he hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

At that moment, Orochimaru spoke as well.

"Ren-kun, from what you're saying… it seems you know quite a few methods for glimpsing the future."

Compared to the argument between Tsunade and Ren, Orochimaru was clearly far more interested in the topic of the future.

To prevent Tsunade from derailing the discussion, he even took the rare step of calming the atmosphere.

Ren was willing to give Orochimaru face.

"There are many ways to glimpse the future," he said.

"For example, when the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan evolves to a certain level, it can sometimes awaken abilities resembling precognition."

"The priestesses of the Land of Demons also possess eyes that can see the moment of a person's death. That's another form of future sight."

"And compared to predicting the future…"

"Traveling directly to the future—or the past—isn't impossible either."

"For example, the Ryūmyaku (Dragon Vein) beneath Rōran in the Land of Wind has the power to send someone through time."

"And there's also an ancient lost treasure called the Plow, somewhere in the ocean, which can precisely target the point in time you want to travel to."

Then Ren glanced meaningfully at Tsunade.

"So just because you don't know about something doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"Don't use your ignorance to deny the diversity of this world."

Tsunade gritted her teeth.

"Damn it…"

"Enough, Tsunade," Jiraiya said seriously, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Then he looked back at Ren.

"Clan Head Uchiha, for now I'll assume what you're saying is true."

"Can you tell me more about this Child of Prophecy?"

Although Jiraiya sensed that Ren wasn't lying, he still maintained a degree of skepticism.

Fortunately, Ren had already revealed quite a lot.

Jiraiya had plenty of time to verify the truth later.

For now, the most important thing was extracting as much information as possible.

Ren thought for a moment before speaking.

"According to the original timeline, the Child of Prophecy that the toad spoke of would be born next year."

"And after wandering the world for more than a decade, you would eventually return to Konoha and accept him as your disciple."

"Wait!" Jiraiya interrupted in surprise.

"You're saying the Child of Prophecy is someone from Konoha?"

Ren nodded and looked at him as if he were an idiot.

"That's right."

"You spent more than ten years searching across the entire shinobi world…"

"Only to discover that the person you were looking for had been waiting at home the entire time."

Jiraiya: "…"

Tsunade: "…"

Orochimaru spoke up calmly.

"Ren-kun, what do you mean by 'original timeline'?"

True to form, Orochimaru had immediately grasped the most important point.

Ren looked at him with a hint of admiration.

"The future isn't fixed," he explained.

"The river of time has a main current—but it also splits into countless branches."

"To put it simply…"

Ren took a coin from his pocket and raised it in the air.

"You all know how flipping a coin works, right?"

"What do you think will happen when I toss this coin?"

"Heads or tails?"

Tsunade suddenly seemed interested.

"I bet heads!"

"Tsunade, stop interrupting," Jiraiya said, frowning.

"You haven't even tossed it yet. How could we possibly know the result?"

"Exactly," Ren said with a smile.

"I haven't tossed it yet—so how could we know?"

"That means the future currently has at least two possibilities: heads or tails."

"These are two different futures, two different branches."

Tsunade looked skeptical.

"Such a trivial thing could create a different timeline?"

Ren shook his head.

"Never underestimate the small details in life."

"At first the difference between two branches might be tiny."

"But when time stretches on long enough, the gap between them becomes enormous."

Both Tsunade and Jiraiya were stunned.

Even with their extensive experience, Ren's explanation still had a huge impact on them.

"Interesting… very interesting…"

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"What a fascinating theory."

He accepted Ren's concept almost immediately.

Ren continued.

"The theory of the river of time is extremely complex. Even I only understand fragments of it."

"So I won't try to explain everything."

"You only need to understand one thing."

"The future is not predetermined."

"Every action you take can change it."

"And the so-called Child of Prophecy is simply a relatively large variable within that system."

"So don't treat this 'Child of Prophecy' as something overly important."

"If he exists, fine."

"If he doesn't, the sky won't fall."

Jiraiya frowned even deeper.

"Even so… I still want to know what the Child of Prophecy actually does in the future."

"Why do you say he brings no real change to the shinobi world?"

Ren considered his words.

"In a sense, the Child of Prophecy is extremely important."

"His power eventually reaches an extraordinary level—even surpassing Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi."

"And he does thwart the plans of a certain mastermind, bringing a period of peace to the world."

"But that peace exists only because no one can challenge his power."

"It's similar to the years after Konoha was founded, when the First Hokage was still alive."

"On the surface the world seemed peaceful…"

"But beneath the surface, tensions were already building."

"And the moment the suppressing force disappears…"

"War erupts again."

Ren then looked at Jiraiya and shook his head.

"Under your guidance, that Child of Prophecy becomes an idealist."

"He spends his days talking about understanding between people and achieving eternal peace."

"But from beginning to end, he never changes the systems that shape this world."

"He doesn't even create surface-level reforms like Hashirama's one-country-one-village system, which ended the Warring States era."

"Under his leadership, the world remains the same."

"The shinobi world stays the shinobi world."

"He merely uses personal power to maintain temporary peace."

"He brings no real transformation."

Ren had no particular hatred toward Naruto Uzumaki.

But he didn't admire him either.

In Ren's view, Naruto was simply an idealistic dreamer who had been misled—and one who achieved little in terms of structural change.

After Naruto saved the world and became the Seventh Hokage, peace did indeed follow.

But as Ren pointed out, that peace depended almost entirely on the overwhelming strength of Naruto and Sasuke.

Even later, in the era of Boruto, the world was hardly stable.

Jiraiya's expression darkened.

"Are you certain the Child of Prophecy never creates any real change in the shinobi world?"

Ren answered carefully.

"From what I've seen of the future, he makes no effective reforms during his prime."

"And although he doesn't die…"

"He's eventually sealed away in another dimension, falling into a deep sleep."

"So it's unlikely he'll achieve anything further."

Jiraiya's eyes lit up.

"In other words, you haven't seen his entire future."

"So there's still a possibility he could accomplish something later!"

After devoting years to the mission of guiding the Child of Prophecy, Jiraiya naturally didn't want to accept that all his efforts might amount to nothing.

Ren shook his head.

"I may not have seen his entire future."

"But I've seen everything he does during his peak years."

"As the saying goes—"

"Each generation produces its own heroes."

"In the river of time, the Child of Prophecy is only a major variable for a short period."

"Eventually, a new variable appears."

"And the old one becomes nothing more than an ordinary figure."

"In simple terms…"

"At that point, he is no longer the Child of Prophecy."

"Destiny has moved on to someone else."

"Of course, it's not impossible for him to rise again."

"But the probability is so low that it can almost be ignored."

Jiraiya sighed heavily.

Still unwilling to give up, he asked:

"Earlier you said even the smallest difference can change the future."

"Is it possible that the Child of Prophecy's influence simply becomes visible far later in history?"

"You can't rule that out completely, can you?"

Ren smiled.

"I can't prove that."

"But have you ever heard the phrase—"

"'Use history as a mirror to understand rise and fall.'"

Jiraiya blinked.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that although the future is uncertain, the vast flow of history repeats similar patterns."

"By studying the past, we can make reasonable predictions about the future."

Ren flipped the coin into the air.

"Even though the coin might land on its edge…"

"Past experience tells us that the overwhelming probability is still heads or tails."

"The same principle applies here."

"What the Child of Prophecy does follows patterns we've already seen in history."

"That's why I say the chance of him creating real change is extremely small."

Jiraiya slumped slightly.

He finally understood Ren's point.

In essence, the Child of Prophecy simply followed the path laid out by his predecessors.

He never broke free from the framework of the existing world.

And without breaking the framework, true change was impossible.

Ren suddenly paused and shook his head.

"Actually… what I said earlier wasn't entirely accurate."

"The Child of Prophecy did change the world in a sense."

Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"Really?!"

Ren nodded.

"Yes."

"He prevented five different attempts to change the world."

"In other words… he preserved the existing order five times."

"And if you look at it from another angle—"

"Isn't that also a form of change?"

Jiraiya stared at him.

"Were those attempts at change all wrong?"

Ren shrugged.

"Some were right, some were wrong."

"It depends on perspective."

"But at least those people proposed new ideas and tried to act on them."

For example, Ren personally believed that Nagato's deterrence strategy using the Tailed Beasts—essentially a shinobi-world version of nuclear deterrence—had some merit.

It was at least a different path.

Unfortunately, the power of the Tailed Beasts in that era wasn't strong enough to truly enforce such a system.

What a shame.

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