Gamamaru

Age shows on him plainly: deeply wrinkled brown skin over a white belly, eyes narrowed to a permanent squint. He ranks among the mountain's largest toads, a match in size for Bunta, Ken, and Hiro. A tasselled professor's hat topped with an orb sits on his head, and a necklace bearing the toad symbol for oil hangs at his neck. He receives visitors seated in a shallow pool inscribed with the kanji for sage, ringed by towering scrolls.

The old sage wears a near-constant smile, eyes shut or squinting. Time has left him forgetful and often adrift from the moment, prone to losing the thread, yet a reminder is enough to restore his recall in precise detail. His wisdom keeps the peace: he hushes the squabbling of Shima and Fukasaku and urges harmony, and unlike many toads he holds Jiraiya in genuine regard, pressing the two elders to work with him.

Gamamaru is the oldest living being native to the world, present before Kaguya Ōtsutsuki ever arrived. In the anime he witnesses her enslave the land through the Infinite Tsukuyomi, then approaches her sons Hagoromo and Hamura, exposing the truth of the God Tree draining natural energy and teaching them senjutsu at their request. Before the decisive battle he hands Hagoromo a sacred seal capable of reviving someone once from the brink, and he watches Hagoromo awaken the Rinnegan and Mangekyō Sharingan. His command of senjutsu runs deep enough to lift massive stone even in youth, and he can send water crashing through rock or observe distant figures through a crystal ball by their chakra. His rarest gift is foresight: he tells Hagoromo of a blue-eyed boy who would befriend the tailed beasts, and centuries on he warns Jiraiya of a student who could save or destroy the world. During Pain's assault he watches Naruto sway Nagato and concludes the prophecy pointed at both of them together. Later, when Gerotora hesitates over the Nine-Tails' seal key, Gamamaru foresees Naruto meeting a tentacled creature and clashing with a keen-eyed young man, and instructs that the key be handed over.