"Do you have any ideas?"
Senju Tobirama looked at Hyuga Hoshishaku and asked without thinking.
But he didn't actually have much hope.
It was already surprising enough that a child had an unusual Space-Time Talent and an extraordinary ability to investigate.
Could he really expect the child to keep up with his line of thought, too?
Meanwhile, Hoshishaku began to think back.
In the original story, Senju Tobirama had developed a forbidden technique called "Soul Imprisonment."
The technique imprisoned the soul of a deceased person inside their body, keeping it active and buying time for treatment.
It was used on Sasuke during the final battle, successfully saving him when he was on the brink of death.
So the key question was:
Why had this technique been developed?
Had Tobirama discovered the problem when Senju Yuto was nearing death, then developed the jutsu to buy time?
But what good was knowing that?
Senju Yuto had never appeared in the original story, which meant that buying time with a forbidden technique hadn't worked.
The forbidden technique itself hadn't helped.
Neither had the extra time it bought.
That meant that even if Senju Tobirama had discovered that something was wrong with Yuto's soul, he hadn't been able to solve the problem on his own.
And he, this "unexpected variable," was the key to solving it.
Hoshishaku suddenly broke the silence:
"I think Yin Release Chakra is worth trying. We should teach Yuto how to convert and refine Yin Release Chakra."
Then he added, "That's the first point."
Yin Release had just come up, so Senju Tobirama wasn't surprised.
But Hoshishaku continued:
"I think there's a serious imbalance between Yuto's mental strength and life force. Could we develop a jutsu or Sealing Technique to store his immense life force, so it's a little more balanced with his mental strength?"
Senju Tobirama looked at him in surprise. "You even know about the Yin Seal?"
Hoshishaku's eyes widened. He absolutely hadn't meant the Yin Seal. That thing just stored chakra!
So he argued back in a different tone:
"What? There's already a jutsu for that? Can the Yin Seal you mentioned, Sensei, store life force?"
"Life force..." Senju Tobirama furrowed his brow, regretting that he hadn't listened more carefully.
"There are jutsu that store chakra, but none that store life force. To be honest, we still don't understand what life force is, what mental strength is, or what the soul is."
That was what he said.
But Hoshishaku, who knew the original story, had complete faith in the man before him.
After all, someone who could develop a series of forbidden techniques like Impure World Reincarnation surely wouldn't be at a loss once he had a direction to pursue.
So Hoshishaku put his mind, different from that of the locals, to work again and offered another idea:
"Sensei, do you think Sage Mode or natural chakra might help?"
"After all, every sage from the Three Great Sage Regions has lived for ages. I think if an immortal sage didn't have a strong enough mind, living too long might drive him crazy, right?"
For the sake of that S-rank ninja card, Hoshishaku didn't bother hiding anything. He said whatever came to mind.
And Senju Tobirama, listening to his six-year-old disciple share such secrets and theories, was utterly shocked.
He would definitely find out later where this kid had learned so many secrets!
After taking a long look at his disciple, Senju Tobirama began considering whether these ideas were viable.
Meanwhile, Hoshishaku, having offered three suggestions, kept searching for more possibilities.
He didn't spare a thought for whether he was acting too concerned about a friend he'd only recently met.
But honestly, even if he had thought about it, he wouldn't have held anything back.
He wouldn't pass up a chance to rise to the top in one step!
That afternoon, after having dinner at the Senju Clan Grounds with the enthusiastic Hokage couple and setting a time for Sealing Technique lessons, Hoshishaku finally returned to his clan grounds.
There wasn't much time left that evening. He rushed to finish his daily tasks just in time, then fell into bed, exhausted.
For the next while, his routine became regular, since he had to go to the Senju Clan Grounds for lessons with Uzumaki Mito.
Every morning, he got up at eight, ate breakfast, then did warm-up training with Yun Fei and the other one.
After training until nine, he went to the Senju Clan Grounds to study Sealing Techniques with Senju Yuto.
He continued until after lunch, then used his lunch break to tell Yuto more stories.
From two in the afternoon until five, he continued studying Sealing Techniques.
He refused to have dinner there. He still had to spend two hours wandering around Konoha to complete his daily tasks.
He hardly had any time to rest during this period.
Whenever he needed to take care of the shop, he had to ask Lady Mito for leave.
Six months passed like this. During that time, he and Sensei Tobirama had discussed treatment plans for Yuto many times, and they finally came up with a result.
There were two treatment plans in total.
The first was an improved version of the Yin Seal.
It changed the condition for storage from chakra to life force.
This was the inferior option. In theory, it could only greatly delay Yuto's current condition.
In practice, after Yuto learned it, it only slowed down his countdown to death; it didn't truly solve the problem.
The second plan was an unconventional kind of Sage Mode, created from Hyuga Hoshishaku's wild idea.
Or rather, it was the "Natural Energy Body Refining Technique"!
Sage Mode simply put the user into a special state, allowing them to freely use the Natural Energy floating through the world for a short time to enhance their combat ability.
The "Natural Energy Body Refining Technique," on the other hand, used Natural Energy over time to open all the body's acupoints and strengthen its meridians, thereby improving the body.
Over the past six months, as Hoshishaku made faster progress in learning Sealing Techniques, he had also read many books in the clan archives, especially those about acupoints and meridians.
Combining the principles of cultivation from his previous life, the limitless possibilities of chakra, and the discussions he'd had with Sensei Tobirama and Lord Hashirama, they finally worked out this method.
At first, they thought they had failed.
The method was certainly powerful and could indeed strengthen the body and increase life force.
But wasn't Yuto's problem caused by having too much life force?
Still, Hoshishaku didn't want to give up. In the spirit of experimentation, he secretly practiced it on his own.
To his surprise, while his life force increased, the mental strength on his status panel also slowly rose!
With this method, Senju Yuto finally had a chance of survival!
However, even after they began teaching Yuto the Natural Energy Body Refining Technique, the S-rank mission wasn't completed right away.
But the mission countdown had disappeared. That meant Yuto's life was out of danger, and it was only a matter of time before the mission was fully completed.
Hoshishaku guessed that perhaps the mission would be completed once Yuto's mental strength reached the normal level of 100 points.
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