The Path to Longevity

Sage Jutsu? This, too, was a path to longevity—and the one with the greatest potential. Sarutobi Toru pondered silently.

The Shinobi World's paths to longevity could roughly be divided into three types: Forbidden Jutsu, bloodlines, and Sage Jutsu.

The most famous Forbidden Jutsu was Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation. Then there was Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear and Sasori's Human Puppets. They all shared the same traits: massive side effects, along with, "I'm not human anymore!"

Bloodlines went without saying. That was the route of those Otsutsuki aliens: eat a Chakra Fruit, or become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. It was a path only those with Otsutsuki alien blood could take.

As for Sage Jutsu, all those who had succeeded so far were nonhuman beings. No human had yet made it down that road, but it was also the most promising path.

However, learning Sage Jutsu was no easy matter. First, one needed an enormous amount of Chakra; second, one needed the ability to sense Natural Energy. The cultivation process was fraught with danger as well. Furthermore, Sage Mode was clearly not comparable to the sages of the three Sage Realms. There were surely many more hurdles ahead.

I'll start with the Yang God Martial Way. Although a Martial Saint can't achieve longevity, they can at least live close to two hundred years. And with Duy as a test subject, plus my Medical Ninjutsu, I'm quite confident in researching the Yang God Martial Way limited to the Martial Saint realm.

In truth, Sarutobi Toru did not possess the higher realm of the Human Immortal Martial Way. Whether humans of the Shinobi World could even learn it was still a major question. At any rate, Sarutobi Toru did not believe humans in the Shinobi World had anything like Primordial Acupoints.

Ah, looks like I'll still have to rely on my own efforts. Sarutobi Toru sighed inwardly.

Konoha's main gate.

"Ah! We're finally back!" The well-proportioned blonde girl stretched lazily, her face glowing with excitement.

"If you hadn't gone to the casino halfway through the trip, we wouldn't have gotten back this late! And you gambled away all the reward money from our last mission!" the white-haired boy beside her complained.

"Stop nagging. Once I get back, I'll pay you back double! And don't tell Toru about my gambling!"

The white-haired boy curled his lip. "Damn rich people. Damn it, when will the great Jiraiya finally rise up?"

Orochimaru, who had been coolly watching his teammates fool around, spoke up. "Instead of complaining here, why not train properly with me?"

Jiraiya's expression changed. "No, thanks. I don't want to do any more Ninjutsu testing."

"But wasn't your strength improving the fastest when you were undergoing Ninjutsu testing? Besides, Tsunade's Medical Ninjutsu has improved rapidly. Healing you is easy now."

But your Ninjutsu has improved quickly too. I'm afraid I won't live long enough to be healed! Jiraiya grumbled inwardly.

Seeing that Jiraiya, the tool man, was unwilling, Orochimaru sighed. What a pity—he could not test the power of the Spirit Transformation Technique he had just mastered.

After chatting for a while, the three headed straight to the Hokage Building to report in.

"Old man Hiruzen, I'm here to turn in the mission!" A year ago, Tsunade had barged in without knocking and discovered the Third Hokage's Telescope Technique. From that moment on, Sarutobi Hiruzen's dignity as a teacher had shattered completely. Not only had "Teacher Hiruzen" been downgraded to "old man Hiruzen," but to keep Tsunade quiet and make her keep it from his wife, he had agreed to quite a few unequal terms.

"Little Tsunade!" Ever since that embarrassing incident, Sarutobi Hiruzen had reflected deeply and finally decided... to set up a Perception Barrier outside the Hokage's Office, lest anything happen again.

Well, giving it up was impossible. As the dignified Third Hokage and Konoha's Ninja Hero, he naturally had to stay informed about the village's situation. It was absolutely not because the women's bathhouse was so pale and so big. Absolutely not.

"Here's the report for this mission. Take it."

"Not bad. Another Class A Mission? Then Orochimaru and Jiraiya should be about ready for promotion to Special Jōnin."

Orochimaru and Jiraiya smiled. Jōnin were already the absolute upper echelon of a ninja village. There were only a little over a hundred in all of Konoha, and even a Hokage's appointment required a vote of confidence from the Jōnin.

There were more Special Jōnin, but only two or three hundred of them. To have a chance at promotion by the age of twelve was an unquestionable sign of remarkable talent.

Tsunade had already become a Jōnin long ago. Her strength had met the standard even back then. However, Sarutobi Hiruzen had initially not wanted her to become a Jōnin so early. After all, the tallest tree in the forest was the first to be battered by the wind; that principle held true everywhere.

Unfortunately, Tsunade had leverage over him, so the Third Hokage could only sigh helplessly.

Konoha High-End Apartment District.

Five years ago, after Sarutobi Hiruzen married Biwako, Sarutobi Toru moved out of his uncle's home. After all, what kind of sense did it make for him to intrude as a third wheel on their world of two?

In this world, graduating from the ninja academy meant becoming independent. Since Sarutobi Toru was not short of money either, Sarutobi Hiruzen did not try to keep him. Instead, he transferred Sarutobi Toru's parents' inheritance to him.

However, Sarutobi Toru did not like the old-fashioned mansion his parents had left behind. In the end, he bought a high-end apartment in Konoha to live in, while using the old house as a private research base.

After a busy day, finishing his experiments in the laboratory and completing that day's daytime training at the training ground, Sarutobi Toru finally returned to his apartment.

The moment he saw the lights shining from inside, Sarutobi Toru smiled.

Pushing open the door, he found the table already covered with dishes. Tsunade sat beside it, a radiant smile on her delicate little face.

"Welcome back, Toru!"

"What a pleasant surprise! I didn't expect you to be back today."

Whether the Tsunade from the Original Work could even cook was questionable, let alone prepare dinner especially for someone else. It was clear just how important Sarutobi Toru was in Tsunade's heart.

They happily finished dinner together. The food was quite good, and it was obvious Tsunade had put a great deal of effort into it.

Tsunade began telling Sarutobi Toru about everything that had happened during her mission: the scenery she had seen, the enemies she had encountered, the interesting local customs, and more. Though she had only been away for a few days, she felt as if it had been a long time since she had been with Sarutobi Toru.

Sarutobi Toru did not interrupt her. He simply listened quietly. Once Tsunade had said nearly everything she wanted to say, she gazed at Sarutobi Toru in a daze and leaned against him, feeling incomparably fulfilled.

As one of Konoha Hospital's greatest treasures, Tsunade had the same right to choose her missions as Sarutobi Toru. She only took high-difficulty missions. If not for the glory of the Senju resting on her shoulders, combined with her exceptional talent as a ninja, the Third Hokage would have wanted her to simply become a pure medical ninja.

Even now, Konoha Hospital had practically become Tsunade's private domain. If she were not still so young, the position of Head of Medical Department would already have been hers.

And all of this had been planned by Sarutobi Toru. He had given Tsunade all the credit for developing Medical Ninjutsu because he wanted her to become the Head of Medical Department.

After all, the Medical Department would be enormously important to his future research, and he had quite a few studies that were less than humane. Becoming Head of Medical Department himself would impose too many restrictions on him, which was why he had pushed Tsunade, whom he trusted, into the position.