"To live is to witness more wonders and grasp more truths."
Orochimaru repeated Kiyohara's words, his golden vertical pupils narrowing.
He had not expected Kiyohara to say something like that.
Neither his teacher Sarutobi, respectfully known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," nor Tsunade, who stood at the pinnacle of the medical field, possessed such insight.
Those people were all immersed in their worldly desires.
Gambling, power...
Even Jiraiya, who had successfully cultivated Senjutsu, was nothing more than a lecher.
Those people were rusty windmills, no longer capable of being turned by the wind.
"That's right. Only by living long enough can one grasp the truth. The sages of the Three Great Sage Regions are said to have lived for thousands of years. If humans could live that long too, perhaps we could learn even more truths."
Kiyohara said.
In the Ninja World, there were actually legitimate methods of extending one's lifespan.
Aside from following the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki route and transforming oneself into an Otsutsuki, there was also Senjutsu!
Or rather, only Senjutsu was the orthodox power of the Ninja World.
The Great Toad Sage, for instance, had lived for thousands of years through cultivating Senjutsu. Even his two subordinates, the toads Fukasaku and Shima, had lived to be eight hundred years old.
It was simply that the locations of the Three Great Sage Regions were elusive and unknown. Ordinary people knew of them only as legends at most.
"Truth... immortality..."
Orochimaru repeated the words again.
Upon hearing the two keywords, "truth" and "immortality," it was as though something in Orochimaru's underlying code had been triggered.
His eyes suddenly grew far more fervent.
Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils abruptly contracted, then erupted with an unprecedented, almost tangible intensity of interest.
He leaned forward slightly, as if he wanted to see straight through