Chapter 3

This wasn't just empty reassurance.

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

She thought to herself that as long as she kept practicing, ate better, and used some medicinal herbs to condition herself, she would sooner or later clear away some of those old injuries and lingering ailments. She could also replenish some of her depleted origin.

That way, she would naturally be able to extend her life by a few more years.

At that thought, Uchiha Chisato was overjoyed.

"Whew—good. As long as it works!"

After hearing his mother's confirmation, the huge weight in Uchiha Xunjing's heart finally lifted.

His eyes nearly crinkled shut as he smiled. "Then, Mom, we'll both get to keep living together!"

"Oh, right, Mom. This time, I didn't just receive **. My head is also stuffed with all kinds of knowledge and experience about medicine, herbs, and things like that."

"Don't move. Let me take your pulse first. I'll prescribe a few formulas to help condition your body and speed up your recovery."

"Of course, I need to sort myself out too."

As long as he could nurse his body back to health and extend his life, he would not have to worry about anything in the future.

"Oh?"

Uchiha Chisato raised an eyebrow after hearing that. "You even inherited knowledge of medicine and herbs? This Sage Inheritance is quite comprehensive."

"Fine, then give your mother a proper examination first."

"Just tell me whatever herbs you need. The family can afford them. Mom will take care of it."

"Mm!"

Uchiha Xunjing nodded and immediately began examining his mother.

But before long, he frowned and withdrew his hand from her wrist, his expression abruptly darkening.

"The situation is much worse than I thought."

"Never mind all the hidden injuries across your body. Over the years, in order to refine Chakra, you've severely overdrawn the vitality and origin in your cells. That's the main reason your lifespan has been affected."

"But even that isn't the most fatal problem..."

Uchiha Xunjing looked up, his face grim as he stared at his mother's gray-white right eye. In a low voice, he said, "The truly fatal issue is the Izanami you used back then. It didn't just completely ruin that eye. It also consumed a great deal of your Life Origin and Soul Origin."

"That's the most troublesome part."

He had assumed that the forbidden technique merely cost an eye. He had never expected such a deep hidden danger.

Uchiha Chisato saw through the thoughts he could not hide on his face and chuckled softly. "It seems the medical knowledge you learned is indeed impressive. You can even see through something like this."

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

"Looking at it now, when you said you knew the secrets of two worlds, you clearly weren't just talking about superficial knowledge."

"But you're not entirely right."

"Izanami wasn't the main cause of the damage to my Soul Origin and Life Origin."

"Once that technique was perfected, as long as it was used correctly, it wouldn't leave behind such aftereffects."

"The price truly was only one Sharingan going blind."

"But that technique was something Mom forced herself to create alone back then in order to suppress the Uchiha clan's internal strife."

"It was perfectly normal for something to go wrong during development."

"As a result, my Soul Origin and Life Origin were depleted to this extent."

There was really nothing she could have done about that.

For her to develop such a heaven-defying forbidden technique on her own and survive the process was already unbelievably fortunate.

The fact that she had not died outright during its development was already Heaven showing mercy.

"So that's how it was?"

After hearing that, Uchiha Xunjing understood. He gave his mother a thumbs-up. "Mom, you're seriously incredible! You actually managed to do something like that."

"But—"

He frowned as well. "If we want to restore the lifespan you lost, simply conditioning your body and clearing your hidden injuries won't be enough. We have to restore your Soul Origin and Life Origin too."

"If the body is born with deficiencies, isn't that ultimately because its Life Origin is innately insufficient?"

"There's no way the medical knowledge I have now can solve that."

"How about we pass through the Space-Time Gate first and look for a solution in that Pirate World on the other side?"

Of course, if he could use the Heaven Rewards Hard Work talent to raise his Chinese medicine skill to minor mastery or even major mastery, there might be another way.

But that would require a huge amount of time.

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

Besides, the Ninja World was far too dangerous. Healing both himself and his mother as soon as possible and increasing their strength were the proper priorities.

Time waited for no one!

"Oh?"

A flicker of surprise passed through Uchiha Chisato's eyes. "Are there doctors in that world capable of dealing with our physical problems?"

If that were true, it would be wonderful.

"Probably."

Uchiha Xunjing hesitated briefly, then nodded. "That place is indeed rather special..."

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

Afterward, he added, "Among Devil Fruits, things like the Heal-Heal Fruit and the Horm-Horm Fruit could theoretically solve our problems."

"But those things aren't easy to obtain. We could go to Drum Island and find a female doctor named Dr. Kureha."

"Her medical skills are extremely impressive, and I heard she also knows the secret of the Longevity Pill."

"Even if she can't completely cure us, she can at least help us recover significantly and let us live a few more years, buying us more time to seek other solutions."

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

At that, he turned to look at his mother. "Mom, let's make time to visit the Pirate World soon. We can have Dr. Kureha examine us and help condition our bodies."

"Alright."

Uchiha Chisato did not overthink it. She nodded and agreed.

Then she asked, "How long will one trip take? I should arrange the clan's affairs in advance."

"Uh..."

Uchiha Xunjing was a little troubled. "I'm not entirely sure either."

"The main issue is that I don't know where we'll end up after crossing over. How about... you come with me now? We'll check our approximate location, then come right back?"

He still needed to confirm the time period over there.

Hopefully, the story had not begun yet.

He silently thought to himself.

"That works."

Uchiha Chisato had no objections. "There isn't much going on today anyway, so let's go now. Do we need to bring anything?"

"No."

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

He was still far too weak. If they ran into trouble the moment they arrived, that would truly be game over from the start.

"Don't worry, leave it to Mom. Your mother is quite capable in a fight."

Uchiha Chisato smiled and waved her fist.

"Mm."

Xunjing smiled as well. He reached out and took one of his mother's hands, then with a thought, activated the Space-Time Gate rune within his sea of consciousness.

The next second, the two of them vanished directly from the room.

Pirate World, first half of the Grand Line.

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

Two groups were locked in a fierce battle at sea.

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

"Bring the ships alongside! Capture them!"

"The female warriors of Kuja Island are all premium goods! Selling them will make us a fortune!"

"Hahaha! Don't worry, Boss, leave it to us!"

"Kill!!!"

The fighting had lasted less than fifteen minutes, yet the Kuja Pirates were already clearly unable to hold on.

The Frenzied Shark Slave-Trading Group's offensive was too fierce. The Kuja Pirates were being pushed back, and the enemy had even stormed onto their decks.

Sandersonia's face had gone pale. Hiding behind her older sister, her voice trembled. "Sis, what do we do now? Everyone can't hold on anymore!"

Marigold was so anxious that she stomped her feet. "Yeah, Sis! Should we go up there and fight them?"