The Uchiha Clan Compound still stood in the center of Konoha, covering a vast area. It was about the same size as the Sarutobi Clan Compound, and the two clans had comparable numbers of members and ninjas.
Jiang Feng's home was just as large. Called Sakura Manor, it sat on the outskirts of the Uchiha Clan Compound and covered an equally vast area.
At first, Jiang Feng's home hadn't been so big. After making his fortune, he had bought up the surrounding homes and land from the clan members and remodeled his home into a small estate.
It was mid-March, the season when cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Nearly a hundred cherry trees—Oshima, Yoshino, Kawazu, and others—filled the courtyard with white and pale pink flowers.
As Konan stepped into the cherry-blossom-covered estate, she lost herself in the sight for a moment. An indescribable look appeared on her cool, alluring face. Having grown up in the Land of Rain, she had never imagined a place this beautiful.
"So beautiful," Konan murmured, somewhat relieved that she hadn't given Jiang Feng any cherry blossoms.
Jiang Feng turned his head. He wasn't looking at the flowers, but gazing straight at Konan. "It really is beautiful."
[Who said I didn't have any pictures? Speak up!]
Was he talking about the flowers, or me?
If she'd been more open with her feelings, someone who loved and hated boldly like Kurenai Yuhi, she would have asked him outright. She might even have pressed him to say who was more beautiful: Konan of the Hidden Rain, or Tsunade of Konoha.
By comparison, Konan, a few years older, was more reserved and had a more girlish quality.
The girl's cheeks flushed faintly. She turned to look at the cherry blossoms filling the estate and said slowly, "With so many cherry trees, they must need plenty of sunlight."
"Too bad this beauty doesn't last."
Jiang Feng suddenly sighed. "Cherry blossoms bloom even as they fall. A single blossom takes only seven days to go from opening to withering, and a tree's entire flowering season lasts just sixteen days.
"People are the same. A person may live a hundred years, but the most captivating years of their life make up only a tenth or two."
"It's precisely because that youthful splendor vanishes in an instant that it's all the more worth admiring and cherishing."
"But I want to make that fleeting beauty last forever." Jiang Feng handed Konan a book—or rather, a booklet.
"What is this?" Konan asked, a little puzzled.
"The Bright Jade Technique. It's a special method I developed to keep one's youth forever."
Jiang Feng shamelessly took credit for creating the Bright Jade Technique. After all, nobody else in the Naruto World could track down its original author.
Besides, he'd built on what came before, developing the original nine stages into thirteen. That made him a co-author at the very least.
It wasn't as if Jiang Feng had never drawn an Inner Force technique more powerful than the Bright Jade Technique. The Nameless Inner Force practiced by the Little Soldier version of Nangong Wentian, for example, was clearly stronger.
So why had Jiang Feng never switched to another technique?
Because the Bright Jade Technique, hailed as one of Gu Long's Four Great Divine Skills and the Gu Long-style technique closest to cultivation, had an incredible effect: it preserved youth, even making its practitioners look younger as they advanced.
In the original story of The Legendary Twins, when Yaoyue Lianxing first appeared, they looked about twenty. Ten or twenty years later, the two Palace Mistresses still looked about twenty.
After researching the technique in depth, Jiang Feng discovered that reaching the eighth stage of the Bright Jade Technique preserved youth and improved the skin, among other side effects that enhanced one's appearance. It could also extend one's lifespan to some degree.
This wasn't like the Yin Seal, whose so-called "eternal youth" vanished when its Chakra ran out. This was true eternal youth—even after death, the body remained young.
What more was there to say, brother? Of course he had to practice it. He didn't need to be the strongest. He just needed to be the most handsome!
The tenth through thirteenth stages that Jiang Feng developed further strengthened the Bright Jade Technique's life-extending effect. At present, Jiang Feng had a natural lifespan of at least two hundred years.
Having Konan practice this technique might not improve her strength by much. The main draw was its side effects: eternal youth, better skin, and a longer life.
A woman dressed for the one she loved. That very night, Konan began studying the Bright Jade Technique. The next day, Kurenai Yuhi's father, Kurenai Yuhi, sighed as he brought the young Kurenai to Sakura Manor, adding yet another splash of color to the place.
People in the Ninja World matured early. The young Kurenai was bold in love and hate, and Kurenai Yuhi had long accepted that Jiang Feng would be his future son-in-law. He was quite pleased with him, too.
But what did it mean to move into the man's home before they were even married?
The young Kurenai pestered him in every way she could and repeatedly emphasized the threat posed by that girl from the Land of Rain, Konan. In the end, she managed to convince her future father-in-law, Kurenai Yuhi.
After having a few cups of tea at Sakura Manor, Kurenai Yuhi got up to leave. Before he went, he awkwardly but sternly warned Jiang Feng: cuddling and kissing were one thing, but he absolutely mustn't do anything he shouldn't. His daughter was still young...
Jiang Feng thumped his chest and promised, "Don't worry, Captain. I'm a traditional man!"
Kurenai Yuhi understood what Jiang Feng meant by "traditional": traditional like those daimyos and nobles who wanted to marry many wives.
Although Konoha Ninjas were almost all monogamous, the prevailing custom in the Ninja World—at least among the nobility—was still polygamy, or one wife with several concubines. Those nobles generally took one Main Wife and several Concubines.
Since this was the tradition in the Ninja World, and this prospective son-in-law was too outstanding while his daughter had set her heart on him, Kurenai Yuhi had nothing more to say. He simply shot Jiang Feng a fierce glare, then left.
Over the next few days, Jiang Feng finally enjoyed the leisurely life he'd always dreamed of. Every day, he admired the flowers and beautiful women, practiced his techniques and skills in his spare time, and taught the two girls a few tricks.
Many people assumed that Heavenly Flying Immortal Jiang Feng, famous throughout the world while still a boy, must be full of energy and driven to get ahead.
In fact, the opposite was true. Jiang Feng was very lazy—sometimes so lazy he couldn't even be bothered to get out of bed, and wished he could find someone to pee for him.
And yet he was still full of life, because he loved life and knew how to enjoy it.
At noon, he sat beneath the cherry trees, forgetting every worry and grudge as he bathed in the sunlight and savored the flowers' rich fragrance.
After dusk, he sat by the window, putting aside unnecessary social obligations as he watched petals fall in the setting sun. He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of them landing.
By the bright moon, he sat beside the river, his mind at peace as he felt the cool, gentle spring breeze and the vigorous life of all things growing in the stillness of the night...
Why not morning or midday?
Because he couldn't get up.
Wasn't such a life intoxicating?
Better still, in his own Sakura Manor, he had beautiful women to admire: Konan, as serene as an orchid in a hidden valley, and Kurenai, lively and adorable...
Even though the two girls didn't get along all that well, it did nothing to diminish their beauty. Girls who got jealous were often more beautiful than girls who didn't.
Unfortunately, these happy days couldn't last forever.
Heavenly Flying Immortal wasn't a transcendent being who had withdrawn from the world. He was an immortal banished to the mortal realm, fallen into the dust of worldly life.
An uninvited guest arrived at Sakura Manor.
Before you continue