"If you ask me so directly... I don't know either."
"Speaking of which, don't you know yourself? Can't you distinguish your own current state?" Makoto countered with a question.
"If I could maintain this state frequently..."
Tsunade only said half the sentence, but the meaning was already clear.
"I know what you want to ask. Is it 'Immortality'? Is that word so hard to say? Are you afraid that Orochimaru, who desires immortality more than anything, might be eavesdropping and die of envy?"
"..."
Tsunade had grown completely numb to Makoto's bluntness.
How could he speak so casually about such heavy matters?
Doesn't Makoto have any thoughts about it himself? After all, this power originates from him.
"Adhering to the rigor of scientific research, my answer remains the same—I don't know."
Under Tsunade's anxious and expectant gaze, Makoto repeated these three words.
Tsunade immediately deflated. "How can you not know anything? You're the one who gave it to me!"
"Because I'm uncertain about the planet's lifespan and whether it has an upper limit."
Makoto shrugged.
In his previous life, not just planets—even the universe was inferred to have a lifespan.
So, strictly speaking, even if one could live until the universe's end, it wouldn't be "True Immortality"—at most, it could be called "Living as long as Earth."
If calculating based on planetary lifespan, the sun has about five billion years left.
So Earth has about that long too.
Of course, the fundamental laws in the Ninja World are different.
No one has ever calculated the planet's lifespan here.
Not to mention the Ninja World's planet has extreme peculiarities—even the God Tree sucking it dry couldn't kill it completely.
This makes it hard to say.
Hence, Makoto used "I don't know" as his answer.
"You mean...?!" Tsunade's eyes widened.
"Exactly. Here's a congratulatory message for you—May your life be as enduring as the Mountain's ancient pines, and your fortune as vast as the Sea's everlasting flow."
Makoto smiled and clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, like an old cultivator who teach spinjitsu.
"Uh-huh."
Tsunade's expression turned somewhat awkward.
The words sounded nice, but didn't they feel more suited for an elderly person's 80th birthday banquet?
'Wait.'
Tsunade's awkward expression suddenly froze.
She recalled a term Makoto had mentioned before.
Not the "blessing" part... but the "Sea's Flowing Water."
In certain contexts... that phrase had a more vulgar meaning.
It was a euphemism for... endless fluids.
So here's the problem.
Makoto's earlier blessing to her—"May your happiness be as endless as the flowing waters"—instantly took on a very different, very wet flavor!
Tsunade opened her mouth, then closed it, hesitating to speak.
If she pointed it out now and Makoto outright denied it ("What? I was just quoting a poem!"), wouldn't that just be her admitting she had a dirty mind?
Helpless, Tsunade could only hold it in, her face flushing slightly.
"Forget it! Forget it!" Tsunade waved her hand aggressively.
"Since you've mastered Natural Energy so well, wait for me to rest a bit and we'll go in again. You can experience it a few times and see if you can grasp the mechanism yourself."
"I'll teach a few medical classes here in your village these days. Consider it a paid vacation for me."
Tsunade tried to change the subject.
"Well, I'm afraid you won't be able to take that vacation."
Makoto took out a list from his pocket, flipped through it, and said, "There's a mission. You and Hikari need to come with me."
"?"
Tsunade pointed at herself in astonishment. "Having the Hokage teach in your village is already outrageous enough, and now you want me to run errands for you?"
Tsunade expressed that she didn't even do missions in her own village anymore.
She was the boss!
"What's wrong with Hokage do some work? Haven't you seen the Second Hokage working as a scientist in the research institute here? And haven't you seen the First Hokage sweeping the streets outside?"
"Ah?"
Tsunade could understand the first part, since she was currently in Orochimaru and Tobirama's lab.
But what did the latter part mean?
Her Grandfather is sweeping streets?
"This place is quite peaceful, no bandits or robbers around. Big Brother's full power has nowhere to be used. As for brains... well, he doesn't have that either."
"So he can't do anything complex."
"He felt bad just sitting around eating for free, so he took on some small D-Rank tasks that ordinary Genin handle."
Tobirama provided the explanation with a straight face.
Since returning from the Hidden Mist Village, Hashirama Senju had nothing to do.
So, he could only learn from the future Seventh Hokage—creating a dozen Wood Clones all day to take on menial jobs.
Catching cats, cleaning rivers, helping old ladies cross the street.
Moreover, Hashirama didn't even accept payment.
All the rewards he received were donated to the village public funds.
After that, he would pat Kakuzu's shoulder with a benevolent expression, telling him to "work hard on building the village and country."
Kakuzu had been completely bewildered at the time.
The First Hokage didn't seem to recognize him as the guy who once tried to assassinate him!
And now the God of Shinobi was doing minimum wage labor for him!
"..."
Tsunade had no choice but to compromise, glancing at the map Makoto was holding.
"Alright, fine. What's the mission? Where to? What are we doing?"
"Let's start with somewhere close first."
Makoto walked over to the side, pulled out a map, and pointed to a location.
The Land of Demons.
"Um... what do you mean by 'start' with somewhere close? That's halfway across the continent."
Tsunade felt something was off.
She didn't have much impression of this small country sandwiched between the Land of Earth and the Land of Snow.
"Nothing much. This 'start' was for myself; I wasn't planning to have you accompany me the whole time."
Makoto casually folded the map and walked toward the door.
His reason for bringing Tsunade along this time was simply to make use of her newly acquired ability, having her act as a Group Healer.
(Of course, not to heal him and Hikari. Makoto himself had Crazy Diamond for restoration—single-target "healing" was much simpler than Tsunade's current laborious Life Bestowal. She was there for the small folks.)
Why go to the Land of Demons?
Two days ago, "Black Zetsu" (Kaguya mama) brought back news after watching a movie.
"Black Zetsu" reported that converting the Dragon Vein's chakra from the Gedo Statue into Tailed Beast Chakra was still slightly incomplete.
There was some entropy loss during the conversion process.
However, in its thousand-year memories, "Black Zetsu" had located numerous potential chakra sources.
If they collected chakra from these sources, not only would it be sufficient, but there would even be a considerable surplus.
This surplus chakra could be reserved for other purposes later.
"Black Zetsu" saying this indicated it had fully accepted Makoto's plan.
Moreover, when it mentioned the Dragon Vein's chakra was insufficient and "just a bit short," it definitely meant it was genuinely lacking.
Drawing from the memories of Kaguya, "Black Zetsu" compiled a hit list.
One item on the list was the Land of Demons' Moryo.
It seemed impressive—a tentacled monster sealed away for unknown years, capable of destroying the world with its Ghost Army.
But in reality, upon reflection, no matter how powerful Moryo was... it still used chakra.
This meant the creature couldn't have existed for more than a thousand years, appearing sometime after Kaguya Otsutsuki's arrival and the spread of chakra.
And if it uses chakra... it was just another snack for Hikari's Eight Thousand Spears!
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator