Tōma understood one thing clearly.
He wasn't immortal in the absolute sense. He could still be killed.
But living for centuries… maybe millennia?
That counted as longevity in anyone's book.
Nearby, the Great Toad Sage watched him in silence, quietly astonished. Fate had always appeared to him as a flowing river of futures. Yet ever since Fujimoto Tōma had entered his sight, that river had turned opaque. The future of the shinobi world had become something he could no longer read.
At first, the Great Toad Sage had assumed the coming crisis would unfold as it always had.
Natural energy in this world was far too thin. For Tōma to complete his accumulation, only endless time should have worked.
And yet, only a few short years had passed.
Now Tōma stood here, having already crossed that threshold.
Perhaps… this man really could bring change to a world that had long been locked into its destiny.
Tōma steadied himself and spoke calmly.
"If I begin the transformation now, is there anything I should be careful about?"
The White Snake Sage snorted.
"Kid, even if you were born before chakra existed, you'd still be the first to reach this level. There's no one in history who can answer that."
Tōma frowned slightly.
"Then why are you so sure this level exists at all?"
For a moment, the White Snake Sage bristled, but the Great Toad Sage raised a hand.
"I'll explain," he said.
In ancient times, there had been no unified system of power. Every path was experimental. That no one had reached this stage wasn't strange. Among all factions, the Three Sacred Lands had progressed the furthest. Given a few more centuries, they believed they could have reached it themselves.
But they were never given that time.
The Divine Tree arrived and drained most of the world's natural energy, forcing everyone onto the chakra path instead. That path developed quickly thanks to the guidance of the Sage of Six Paths. Only after reaching their current level did the Three Sages realize something important.
The old road had never been a dead end.
They simply hadn't walked it far enough.
So Tōma wasn't an experiment.
They were certain that this road could at least reach the level of the First Hokage.
After finishing, the Great Toad Sage asked quietly,
"During your training… did you encounter any obstacles?"
Tōma blinked.
"Obstacles? Not really."
Silence.
The Three Sages stared at him as if he were some priceless relic. Tōma shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.
"…Then I'll begin?" he asked.
"You may," the Great Toad Sage replied. "We'll watch over you."
Tōma sat down cross-legged and released every restraint he had placed on himself.
In that instant, all three Sages felt their hearts tremble.
For a fleeting moment, it felt as though something beyond mortal definition had awakened.
They exchanged glances and moved at once. The White Snake Sage and the Great Toad Sage erected layered barriers, while Katsuyu expanded her vast body to envelop the entirety of Shikkotsu Forest.
At the center, Tōma's consciousness entered a strange, serene state. Every part of his body seemed to rejoice. Instinct told him the truth.
This wasn't a simple breakthrough.
This was a leap in life itself.
Time passed.
Days blurred into weeks. Weeks into months.
Finally, Tōma opened his eyes.
Despite sitting unmoving for so long, not a speck of dust clung to him. On his forehead, a new mark had appeared, identical to the one he had once seen etched into his own soul. Now, it existed physically.
Otherwise, he looked the same.
But he knew better.
The Three Sages stood before him again, gazing at that mark in silence. In their perception, the man before them wasn't yet overwhelmingly powerful… but in terms of existence itself, he had stepped onto a higher plane.
A pressure rooted in life itself pressed against their souls.
"So this is a true 'sage'," the White Snake Sage muttered, desire flickering in his eyes.
"Not quite," Tōma replied calmly, his voice deeper than before. "This is only the most basic foundation."
He understood now. This state might initially fall short of Sage Mode, but unlike Sage Mode, it was permanent. It would continue to grow.
Always on.
The vitality flowing through him confirmed what the Sages had said. A lifespan like this couldn't be measured in decades. He had truly stepped onto the path of longevity.
His cells weren't yet on par with the First Hokage's… but they were close. And with further growth, surpassing him wasn't impossible.
This wasn't ascension to the level of the Sage of Six Paths.
But it was more than enough.
Still, Tōma instinctively understood something else.
This was likely the highest level he could reach for now.
Not because the path ended, but because this world's natural energy simply couldn't support the next step.
Then he raised a hand.
Dense chakra formed in his palm. The Three Sages nodded and then frowned. Strong, yes. But was that all?
The chakra shifted.
Before their eyes, it reverted back into pure natural energy.
The Three Sages' eyes widened.
They had never seen this before. The Divine Tree absorbed natural energy and produced chakra. Tōma had just done the opposite.
Reversed.
Their gazes sharpened instantly.
This ability… might be the key.
If the world's chakra could be returned to natural energy, then the ancient path could be walked again. This time, with a guide.
The implications were enormous.
Tōma absorbed the energy back into himself and asked,
"Have any of you seen this mark before?"
The Three Sages studied it, then shook their heads.
"I see," Tōma murmured.
He didn't fully understand it either. The mark had first appeared on his soul, then manifested on his body after the transformation. It felt like a form of recognition… but of what, he couldn't yet say.
Then a thought struck him.
"How long was I out?"
The answer made him inhale sharply.
Half a year.
"…Six months?" Tōma muttered.
Time really did move fast.
So this was already Konoha Year 66.