A whole new world.....

Weeks have passed since Raven returned to Dome City, and the next world's creation is in-progress...while the creator continues to do the unfathomable to the Travelers inhabiting his multiverse, the populace once dominated by a lack of creativity and fun has evolved into something precious...

....

In Altissia, the Art's Guild's main venue is run and operated by the famous Stan Hope, now completely retired Diver, but current guild master...

He retired after his girlfriend, the Seraph named Athena, grounded him for a few months after something happened between the two.....many hypothesize what happened, but the two have never made the events public.

All they know is, that Stan will no longer dive into worlds....he simply does what he loves in Altissia while his wife adventures from time to time...

The man in question is now sitting high above the patrons inside his venue, watching the stage below as the annual art festival is underway...Divers from across the worlds have gathered once again to share their new discoveries...

.....

Under the watchful eyes of many in-house viewers and thousands more through streaming, the first performer took the stage under thunderous applause and drunken yells...

The man on stage looked to be in his elderly years, he was a well-known writer before entering Oscar's universe and has the second longest recorded time diving into any given world...

He recently came back from an extremely long dive into The Shinobi world.... after which many of his followers noted his somber and melancholic gaze....the watchers are eagerly waiting for the man to talk of his experience, something they are hoping to hear tonight...

The man pulled the stool under him as he sat down, his heavy gaze looking out over the calming crowd...the venue was bathed in sad and slow violin music, a prelude to the tale to come. His deep and raspy voice filled the ears of all listeners, they heard the regret and sorrow that filled his hollow and echoing words...

"I've learned much in recent years, more than I care to talk about...but I feel obligated to share with you the most important lessons I've learned, maybe the ramblings of this old man will impart something that will provoke enlightenment..." a sad smile hung on his lips, while the crowd sunk deeper into their seats.....awaiting the tale.

"In the Shinobi world.....it's not how you live, it's how you die...."

"A shinobi's life is not measured by how they live, but rather it's measured by what they've managed to accomplish before their death..."

"...and looking back, my life has been full of nothing but failure...continually rejected by the only love I've ever known, unable to stop my best friend, and unable to protect either my student or my mentor..."

Tears began to fall from the man's eyes, but he never stopped or wavered in his speech...

"Compared to the great and celebrated deeds of the Hokage, my actions are trifling insignificant things indeed..."

His teary eyes turned to look out the large window that arched over the seats, his gaze piercing through the stars.....trying to find something, anything that would soothe his aching heart...

"I wish that I could have died like each of the Hokage..... because a tale is only as good as its final turn of events, its plot twist..."

"....but it must be said that mistakes are an important part of the plot too...I've lived my life always believing that the lessons I've learned are what honed me, molding me into something greater than I was at the time..."

"I swore I'd accomplish a deed so great that it would obliterate all my past failures...I would die as a splendid shinobi at least.....that's how it was supposed to go..." the voice became lighter and lighter the more he went on, ending in almost a whisper...

After a few seconds of tense silence passed, the man's voice continued again with an even sadder and more depressed tone...

"But what happened in the end?...well, that was my plot twist.....My life did not end with me making up for a lifetime of mistakes..."

*deep breathe*

"...A great elder prophesied that I would be the one to guide a revolution, a person who will either bring peace or destruction to The Shinobi World.....at my last moments, I thought I would defeat Pain and stop the Akatuski, saving the world from destruction..."

"...but in the end, I even failed that too. How pitiful, how sad was the plot twist to the tale of Jiraiya the Gallant.....what a worthless story it turned out to be..."

The crowd watched the man slowly sink into himself, the tears stopped flowing as the hope in the man's eyes left him... they saw a depressed and broken man sitting on a wooden stool...

Surprisingly, deep in the crowd, one of the viewers in the venue stood up and shouted to the old man...."Jiraiya! You saved my wife's life in the second ninja war...I won't have my wife's hero falling into such a state!!..."

" YEAH!...." a young woman stood up from the other end of the large crowd..." although you peeked in the bathhouse while I was resting, the very next day I was about to be crushed by your fellow Sannin's large snake when he and the sand village attacked us...but you saved my life as well.....you're my hero!!"

"....the prophecy wasn't wrong sir, your student saved the world!.... I just left TSW, and it didn't reset....we won the war...Naruto Uzumaki, YOUR disciple SAVED THE WORLD!..."

One by one, the hundreds of people in the crowd stood up and began clapping.....they clapped for minutes with cheers and congratulations mixed in...

The broken man, who was too sad and depressed to pay attention to anything outside his mind for the past weeks was gaining light back in his eyes...

After minutes of thinking with the cheers and clapping slowing down, he spoke again after a small, relieved chuckle escaped his lips...

"....well, I guess this is a better ending for The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant. This is a much better ending....the final chapter...I think I'll call it, the frog at the bottom of the well drifts off into the great ocean, ready to take on his next chapter..."

*polite and muffled laughter*

"...hah, just barely glorious, but glorious indeed." the old man smiled relievedly, as he stood to walk off of the stage. Making way for the next person who wishes to tell their tale, sing their song, or play their music...

...

The festival went on for a week, with many interesting and impactful pieces being introduced to the populace....some sad, some uplifting, many thought-provoking and intriguing.

The end of the festival was marked, not only with the celebratory party but with a universal announcement popping up in front of all Dome City inhabitants no matter where they are in Raven's multiverse...

[Attention Dear Travelers....]