Chapter 3

Those weren't empty words.

With Uchiha Chisato's extraordinarily precise control over her own body, she could clearly feel that the Life-Nourishing Art was truly working.

She figured that as long as she kept practicing, ate better, and used some medicinal herbs to help her recover, she would eventually clear up some of her old injuries and ailments and replenish some of her depleted essence.

That would naturally buy her a few more years of life.

The thought filled Uchiha Chisato with joy.

"Whew-as long as it works!"

After hearing his mother's confirmation, Uchiha Xunjing finally felt a weight lift from his chest.

His smile nearly squeezed his eyes shut. "Then that means we can both keep living, Mom!"

"Oh, right, Mom. I didn't just get ** this time. My head was also filled with a whole bunch of knowledge and experience about medicine, herbs, and things like that."

"Hold still. Let me check your pulse. Then I'll write you a few prescriptions to help your body recover faster."

"Of course, I'll need some for myself, too."

As long as he could get ** body healthy and extend his life, he wouldn't have to rush anything in the future.

"Oh?"

Uchiha Chisato raised an eyebrow. "You even gained knowledge of medicine and herbs? This sage inheritance really is quite comprehensive."

"All right, then. Give your mother a thorough examination."

"Just tell me whatever herbs you need. We have more than enough money for that. I'll take care of it."

"Okay!"

Uchiha Xunjing nodded and immediately began examining his mother.

Before long, however, he frowned and lifted his hand from her wrist, his expression darkening.

"It's much worse than I thought."

"Leaving aside all your hidden injuries, you've severely overdrawn the vitality and essence in your cells to extract chakra over the years. That's the biggest factor affecting your lifespan."

"But even that isn't the deadliest problem..."

Uchiha Xunjing looked up, his grim gaze fixed on his mother's right eye with its gray-white pupil, and lowered his voice. "The real problem is that you used Izanami back then. It didn't just destroy this eye completely. It also consumed a considerable amount of your life origin and soul origin."

"That's the trickiest part."

He had thought losing an eye was the only price of that forbidden technique. He had never imagined there was such a nasty catch.

Seeing the thoughts he couldn't hide on his face, Uchiha Chisato chuckled softly. "It looks like the medical skills you learned really are impressive. You can even detect something like that."

"And you even know about a forbidden technique like Izanami."

"Apparently, when you said you knew the secrets of both worlds, you meant more than just the basics."

"But you're not entirely right."

"Izanami wasn't the main cause of the damage to my soul origin and life origin."

"Once the technique was perfected, it wouldn't leave those lingering effects as long as it was performed correctly."

"The price really was just the loss of sight in one Sharingan."

"But back then, I forced myself to develop that technique alone to quell the internal strife in the Uchiha Family."

"It was only natural for ** to go wrong during development."

"And that left my soul origin and life origin depleted like this."

There really had been no way around it.

Developing such an outrageous forbidden technique alone and surviving to complete it had already taken incredible luck.

The fact that she hadn't died during its development was a blessing in itself.

"Is that what happened?"

Understanding dawned on Uchiha Xunjing, and he gave his mother a thumbs-up. "Mom, you're incredible! You actually pulled something like that off."

"But..."

He frowned again. "If we want to restore the years you've lost, simply nurturing your body and treating your hidden injuries won't be nearly enough. We have to replenish your soul origin and life origin."

"And congenital physical defects ultimately come down to an inborn deficiency in life origin, don't they?"

"The medical skills I have now can't solve any of that."

"Why don't we go through the Space-Time Gate and look for a solution in the Pirate World on the other side?"

Of course, if he used his Heaven Rewards Hard Work talent to raise his traditional medicine skills to minor mastery or even great accomplishment, he might find a way.

But that would take a tremendous amount of time.

With the Life-Nourishing Art and his talent, he might be able to afford the wait, but his mother might not last that long.

Besides, the Ninja World was far too dangerous and unpredictable. Healing himself and his mother and improving his strength as soon as possible were what truly mattered.

Time waited for no one!

"Oh?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Uchiha Chisato's eyes. "That world has doctors skilled enough to resolve our physical problems?"

If that was true, it would be wonderful.

"Probably."

Uchiha Xunjing hesitated, then nodded. "Things over there are a little unusual..."

He briefly explained the basics of the Pirate World, including the general nature of things like Devil Fruits.

Then he added, "Among the Devil Fruits, things like the Heal-Heal Fruit and the Horm-Horm Fruit should theoretically be able to solve our problems."

"But those are hard to get. We could go to Drum Island and find a female doctor named Dr. Kureha."

"Her medical skills are incredible, and I've heard she even knows the secret of the Longevity Pill."

"Even if she can't cure us completely, she should at least be able to help us recover considerably and live a few more years, buying us more time to find other solutions."

"Most importantly, she's easy to find."

At that, he turned to his mother. "Mom, let's find time to visit the Pirate World as soon as possible and have Dr. Kureha examine us and help us recover."

"All right."

Uchiha Chisato nodded and agreed without much hesitation.

Then she asked, "How long would the trip take? I'll need to arrange the clan's affairs beforehand."

"Uh..."

Uchiha Xunjing was stumped. "I'm not really sure."

"The main problem is that I don't know where we'll end up once we cross over. How about... you come with me now? We can check roughly where we are, then come straight back."

He also needed to confirm what point in the timeline that world was at.

Hopefully, the story hasn't started yet.

He thought that silently to himself.

"That works."

Uchiha Chisato had no objections. "I don't have anything to do today, so let's go now. Do we need to bring anything?"

"No."

Xunjing waved a hand. "We can come back whenever we want, so there's no need to bring anything. But I don't know how safe it is over there. Mom, please keep an eye out."

He was far too weak right now. If they ran into trouble as soon as they crossed over, it really would be over before it even began.

"Don't worry. Leave it to your mother. I'm quite a fighter, you know."

Uchiha Chisato smiled and waved her fist.

"Okay."

Xunjing smiled too, reached out to take his mother's hand, and activated the Space-Time Gate rune in his Sea of Consciousness with a thought.

The next second, both of them vanished from the room.

In the Pirate World, in the first half of the Grand Line.

On a stretch of sea between Water 7 and the Sabaody Archipelago.

Two groups were locked in a fierce battle at sea.

One side was a fleet from Kuja Island. The other was the Frenzied Shark Slave-Trading Group, which specialized in capturing and selling slaves.

"Bring the ships alongside them! Capture those women!"

"The female warriors of Kuja Island are all premium merchandise! They'll fetch a fortune!"

"Hahaha! Don't worry, boss. Leave it to us!"

"Kill!!!"

The fighting had lasted less than fifteen minutes, but the Kuja Pirates were already visibly faltering.

The Frenzied Shark Slave-Trading Group's assault was too fierce. The women were pinned down, and the attackers had even stormed their deck.

Pale-faced, Sandersonia hid behind her older sister, her voice trembling. "Sis, what do we do now? Everyone's losing ground!"

Marigold stamped her feet anxiously. "That's right, Sis! Should we go out there and fight?"