From the moment a person is born, crying their first cry, life begins its countdown.
Having walked a long road of life, experiencing a longevity most could not comprehend, the Tonika Village Chief could already face the end of his lifespan with equanimity.
However, when the other party spoke of extending his life by twenty years, he had to admit, his heart was moved.
Although he wasn't sure why he possessed such blind confidence that the other person could indeed extend his life, and wasn't merely toying with him.
"Thirty years... is that possible?" the Tonika Village Chief asked, swallowing hard, his tongue moistening his cracked lips.
"I have no objection." Naruto Shadow Clone #1 leaned forward slightly, crossing his hands and resting his chin on them. "But whether your aged body can withstand it, that is a question."
"You've played with water balloons, haven't you? A reasonable amount of water makes them swell beautifully, but an overload of water will make them..." His palm suddenly splayed open. "—Pop!—explode into countless fragments."
The Tonika Village Chief instinctively leaned back.
"Think it over," Naruto Shadow Clone #1 gestured with his hand.
In this world, due to limitations in medical and living standards, fifty years was considered a ripe old age. Based on his observations, the old man before him was likely between forty and fifty years old. With his current mastery of Yang Release, enabling the chief to live another thirty years without illness, reaching around eighty, posed no difficulty. But the human heart is insatiable; to give in to every demand would only breed greater greed.
After a moment's hesitation, the Tonika Village Chief made his choice.
"I don't want outsiders to know about this transaction."
"Neither do I," Naruto Shadow Clone #1 smiled faintly. When faced with a choice, once a person hesitates, their heart has already decided.
"Follow me." The Tonika Village Chief stood up and walked out.
Finally, they stopped in the center of a dim basement.
The old man reached into a hidden compartment, took out two transparent short rods, and handed them to him.
Naruto Shadow Clone #1 reached out and took them. The rods had a glass-like texture and, under the torchlight, shimmered with rainbow colors.
"Hold out your hand."
The Tonika Village Chief complied.
Their palms touched. In that instant, a vast surge of life energy flowed into the old man's body. His originally white hair, starting from the roots, turned a lustrous black at an incredible speed. Sagging skin smoothed out, wrinkles vanished, the rings of old age replaced by the fine texture of youth.
Several minutes later, Naruto Shadow Clone #1 lowered his hand.
"This! This..." The Tonika Village Chief looked down at his own hands, feeling the vitality coursing through his body, his rejuvenated face filled with utter shock.
"Transaction complete!" Naruto Shadow Clone #1 gestured for the other to leave the dim basement.
Having personally experienced rejuvenation, the Tonika Village Chief understood even better why that powerful individual (the Dragon Heritage member from the previous chapter) had shown such respect to this youth whose face was so deceptively young—strength so immense it defied imagination, capable of erasing all disparities. How could he dare to object? He turned and left the basement without a second glance.
"Kurama, please notify my original body and have him come over," Naruto Shadow Clone #1 said, turning the two Musical Notes over in his hands, his gaze withdrawn.
"Already told him," Kurama replied.
He nodded slightly and tucked the two Musical Notes into his belt. He took out a scroll and retrieved its contents. A blinding white light dissipated, revealing an instrument in the basement, its material similar to the Musical Notes, with an overall futuristic feel. The top of the instrument had seven slots, five of which already had Musical Notes inserted. He didn't immediately use the notes from his belt to fill the empty slots, but waited quietly.
More than ten minutes later, the original Naruto arrived.
"All procedures are ready." The shadow clone handed him the Musical Notes from its belt and then vanished in a puff of white smoke.
After processing the memories transmitted from the shadow clone, Naruto let out a light breath and inserted the notes in his hand into the empty slots in sequence. The Musical Notes, of varying lengths, represented different tones.
"Ding, ding-dong..." Rainbow-colored lights illuminated each Musical Note in turn, and a melodious chiming began to echo through the empty basement. The sound of the instrument was very similar to that of wind chimes.
Rumble~
Just then, the earth began to tremble violently. A moment later, a massive pillar erupted from the ground. The pillar was entirely pitch-black. Countless dark red patterns snaked across its thick body, like the meridians of a human being. Naruto tilted his head back, observing this highly sci-fi pillar, which seemed like something from the future that had descended into the past.
"Ding-ding-dong..." The chiming of the instrument continued by his ear, interrupting his thoughts.
Naruto shifted his gaze back to it. According to the shadow clone's memories, releasing the power of the Spear of Heaven required rearranging the Musical Notes.
"What is that?!" In Tonika Village, Sakura, Sai, and Ino stared in shock at the sky, which had turned a dark crimson due to the appearance of the Spear of Heaven.
"Is this the forbidden power of the Creator Gods?" The Tonika Village Chief also noticed all this. But unlike the others who were discussing the cause of this phenomenon, he quickened his pace in packing his luggage. Whether the forbidden power of the Spear of Heaven would affect Tonika Village or not, he couldn't stay here any longer. The allure of the power of rejuvenation needed no further explanation.
Ding!
Naruto reinserted the last Musical Note into the instrument. After a soft chime, the instrument successfully converted to activation mode.
He suspected that the "Man of Flames" mentioned in Tonika Village's records was very likely Otsutsuki Isshiki, who had descended upon this world along with Otsutsuki Kaguya. The reason was simple: he didn't believe the native inhabitants of this world possessed the heaven-defying talent to create an instrument capable of controlling the Spear of Heaven. That would be as impossible as a Neanderthal creating an atomic bomb operating device. But this was just his speculation. After all, he couldn't figure out why, if Otsutsuki Isshiki truly was the "Man of Flames," he would use the power of the Spear of Heaven to save the world. And from whose hands did he save it?
With these thoughts, he lightly tapped his palm on the instrument, activating the Spear of Heaven.
Following the red energy meridians, the surface of the Spear of Heaven decomposed into numerous small plates, connected to the central pillar by black tendrils. The inner ring of the Spear of Heaven slowly rose.
BOOM!
With a tremendous crash, the cap at the top of the Spear of Heaven suddenly collapsed.
A few breaths later, a pillar of dark red light erupted from within, shooting straight into the sky. The powerful shockwave uprooted the surrounding trees, sending them flying into the distance. As the Spear of Heaven truly activated, deafening rumbles of thunder echoed from within the dark red storm clouds, and powerful lightning bolts tore one gash after another into the surrounding earth.
Naruto leaped up, landing on the edge of the pillar. Feeling the terrifying energy so close at hand, a craving surged from the depths of his soul, flooding his entire being. His soul, his body, everything was urging him to jump into this pillar of dark red light, to accept the baptism of this energy.
"Kurama..."
"Since when did you become so indecisive? If you want to do something, just do it!" Kurama interrupted before he could even finish his sentence.
"Thanks!" Naruto's gaze hardened. He leaped into the pillar of light.