Natural Energy Seal

"Okay, that's all for today."

Uzumaki Mito wrapped up her lesson on the Four Symbols Seal.

Hyuga Hoshishaku glanced at the clock on the wall and saw there was still some time, so he quickly asked, "Lady Mito, I came up with another technique based on the Natural Energy Body Tempering Technique. Could you take a look at it?"

As he spoke, he took out a ninjutsu scroll and handed it to Uzumaki Mito.

Curious, Senju Yuto leaned over to get a look, eager to see what technique his friend had come up with.

After taking the scroll, Uzumaki Mito studied it for more than ten minutes. The thoughtful expression on her face never faded, as if she were working through whether the technique was feasible.

Yuto was the first to speak up and discuss it with Hoshishaku.

"Hoshishaku, are you trying to store Natural Energy inside your body?"

Hyuga Hoshishaku nodded, then shook his head. "Not simply store it in my body. I want to build on the Natural Energy Body Tempering Technique and store the Natural Energy refined through the meridians and acupoints."

Then he added, "I think it's a waste to go to all that trouble to refine Natural Energy harmlessly, only to use it to train our meridians and then let it dissipate once it leaves our bodies."

Senju Yuto was proficient in both the Natural Energy Body Tempering Technique and sealing techniques.

As soon as he heard Hoshishaku's explanation, he understood what his friend was aiming for.

"So you want to use a Sealing Technique to create an artificial chakra reservoir inside your body, like the chakra reservoir, except instead of refining chakra from your cells, you'd refine Natural Energy from outside your body and store it in that sealed reservoir?"

Seeing that Yuto had understood his idea, Hoshishaku smiled and ruffled his hair.

"You got it. That's exactly what I had in mind: place a Natural Energy Sealing Technique formula inside the body and use it as a chakra reservoir.

"Even if it couldn't function as a reservoir, simply sealing the refined Natural Energy so it wouldn't dissipate would keep the body vigorous thanks to that pure energy."

Just then, Uzumaki Mito set down the scroll and said, "There's more. If you stop extracting chakra from your cells and use the Natural Energy Seal as your reservoir instead, then as long as you can make the energy circulate, you should theoretically remain in Sage Mode all the time. Your ninjutsu would also become Senjutsu as the energy changes. Most importantly, your lifespan would increase greatly because you wouldn't be extracting chakra from your cells."

At her words, Hyuga Hoshishaku looked at Uzumaki Mito, his eyes shining.

"Lady Mito, can this technique really work?"

Uzumaki Mito regarded Hoshishaku approvingly and praised him. "I have to say, it's a truly ingenious idea. And the concept behind this Sealing Technique is already very well developed."

"However, once it's complete, chances are only you two will be able to learn it. The technique requires you to have mastered the Natural Energy Body Tempering Technique first, which is a bit of a shame."

"How about this? You two can take the next few days off from lessons. I'll do my best to help you finish developing the technique."

Hoshishaku was delighted, but he didn't forget to thank her.

"Thank you, Lady Mito. With this technique, Yuto should recover his mental strength and get back on his feet soon. Then he'll be able to go play in the village with me!"

Uzumaki Mito smiled and nodded, but her gaze had grown serious. It seemed she was ready to give it her all.

Actually, Hoshishaku had been waiting for Lady Mito to say exactly that.

Although he had already mastered many low- and intermediate-level Sealing Techniques, trying to develop a Sealing Technique more difficult than the advanced Yin Seal was pure fantasy.

So, in the scroll for the Natural Energy Seal, he had done his best to use the principles of Sealing Techniques to express what he wanted to achieve, rather than naively and presumptuously trying to develop a complete technique himself.

At his current rate of learning, he wouldn't be able to attempt it for another twenty years.

It was true that Lady Mito was willing to help complete the Sealing Technique for the sake of her son.

But to him, that made no difference.

The sooner Yuto fully recovered, the sooner he could cash in the S-rank Fate Commission.

The sooner the Natural Energy Seal was developed, the sooner he could start cultivating immortality.

That's right—cultivating immortality.

If he didn't cultivate immortality, how else could he face the enemies who would appear decades from now?

Forget whether he'd be too old to move by then.

What about the enemies of that era? Those Otsutsuki were immune to chakra-based ninjutsu. How could he fight them?

Even if he had drawn ten S-rank cards by then, he wouldn't qualify to take the stage without reaching the Six Paths Level.

Let alone defeat them.

So, right from the start of trying to solve Yuto's mental strength problem, he had been thinking about whether he could get the forbidden-technique expert Senju Tobirama to develop a technique for cultivating immortality.

After all, Doraemon Tobirama was a genius who could develop the Reanimation Technique and the Flying Thunder God Technique.

In a world with sages from the Three Great Sage Regions, developing a technique for cultivating immortality couldn't be that hard, right?

Today, he had achieved his goal through Uzumaki Mito, and he couldn't have been happier.

In return, the more he looked at red-haired Yuto, the more he liked him.

"Come on, I'll take you to my barbecue shop for a feast!"

As he spoke, he picked Yuto up and placed him in the wheelchair without giving him a chance to refuse. In high spirits, he pushed the chair, called for Kenshi, and headed to the Barbecue Shop.

The Hokage Building, the Hokage Office.

Senju Tobirama held the latest statistical report, his face so dark it seemed ready to drip.

Just then, Senju Hashirama opened the door to the Hokage Office and walked in with a heavy sigh.

He'd clearly lost every last coin gambling and had nowhere else to go, so he'd come to the Hokage Office.

When his younger brother didn't give him the usual scolding, Senju Hashirama curiously leaned over to look at the report in his hands.

The guilty look on his face quickly vanished, and soon his expression matched his brother Tobirama's.

"Why is this happening?" he asked first.

Tobirama rubbed his temples but didn't answer at once.

"Madara and I founded the village to reduce deaths and bring peace."

"But why were so many shinobi killed on missions last year? And why were so many children killed on missions?"

There was a note of sadness in Senju Hashirama's voice. He seemed unable to understand why so many young shinobi had died on missions over the past year.

Senju Tobirama finally spoke.

"Because the clans haven't changed their way of thinking. They're still following the old Warring States practice of sending children who can't even hold a Shuriken on missions. Those children are no different from ordinary kids, so of course their casualty rate is just as high as it was during the Warring States period."

Senju Hashirama raised his voice and asked, "But why would they do that? Konoha isn't as dangerous as it was during the Warring States period, so why are they sending those children into dangerous places?"

"Ah..." Tobirama sighed and continued, "Some clans have no choice. They don't have the long histories of the Uchiha and Hyuga, nor do they possess powerful ninjutsu and Taijutsu. The best they can offer may be a few low-level elemental techniques."