Chapter 591: Skipping Thirty Years of Wrong Turns

"Lian Ye, your Mizuto Ayi's health is getting worse."

Night, on the eaves of the Qianshou Feijian Residence.

Senju Hashirama gazed at the full moon in the night sky, a hint of bleakness flashing in his eyes.

Today is Lian Ye's birthday; he and the Mito Clan were supposed to attend, but his wife's condition wasn't good, so they didn't come.

"Is it really impossible for Mizuto Ayi's condition to improve?"

Lian Ye, Uzumaki Mito's body had shown problems years ago; he didn't expect that after only three years it would already begin to deteriorate.

Although he and Mizuto Ayi don't spend much time together daily, she truly cares for him as a junior.

If possible, Lian Ye naturally does not wish her illness to worsen.

Unfortunately, birth, aging, disease and death are the norm; no extraordinary means can change that.

"Feijian has looked into it and says there's no way," Senju Hashirama's face showed bitterness.

The person he feels most guilty toward in this life is Uzumaki Mito; in earlier years he was constantly at war and had no time to care for his wife, later co‑founded Konoha Village with Madara Uchiha, but due to ideological differences they split, and in the Valley of the End battle he dealt a lethal blow to his friend, living thereafter in guilt and nearly falling into depression.

During that period, he had no mind at all to pay attention to his wife.

Then he learned from Lian Ye about Madara Uchiha's Fake Death, and voluntarily faked his own death to leave the village and search for his close friend's whereabouts for several years.

During that time he never considered whether this would make the Mito Clan sad…

It wasn't until a few years ago, after parting ways with Madara Uchiha, that he had time to return home and accompany his wife.

But from that time onward, Uzumaki Mito's physical condition was already far from optimistic.

If he could do it again, he would certainly not treat his wife this way.

Unfortunately, there is no "if"; what happened cannot be undone, and can only be buried in the heart as regret.

"Feijian let me spend more time with Mito…," Senju Hashirama's eyes were a bit moist.

Although he is usually carefree, he's not a fool, so of course he can read between Feijian's lines.

In other words, given Mito's current condition, she may not hold out much longer.

During the day he was constantly caring for his wife; when night deepened and his wife fell asleep, he finally had time to find Lian Ye and vent his inner anguish.

Madara Uchiha is dead; apart from Feijian and Lian Ye, he can find no other confidant.

Lian Ye feels similarly sorrowful, yet is powerless to do anything.

Birth, aging, disease and death are the human norm; everyone must experience them, even he himself is no exception.

Compared to dying on the battlefield, this counts as a natural death.

Actually, there's no need to be too sad…

"If you have time, check on your Mizuto Ayi more; she's been mentioning you to me these past few days."

Senju Hashirama stood up, leapt down from the eaves, and left without looking back.

In the darkness, his silhouette appeared especially forlorn.

"Kid, what are you thinking?"

Feijian, at an unknown moment, sat beside Lian Ye and asked softly.

He of course knows that the older brother came to the house, but he simply didn't come up to disturb their conversation.

He knew from the start that his elder sister‑in‑law's health was failing.

These years he has been searching for a method, but such matters aren't that simple.

Orochimaru did propose several ways to extend life, but he rejected them all.

"What could one think? Birth, aging, disease and death are as normal as it gets."

Lian Ye lay on the eaves, hands behind his head, gazing at the full moon in the night sky, saying nothing further.

This old fellow's body is still fairly robust; living another ten or so years shouldn't be a problem.

It seems that as long as there is no war, the average ninja lifespan can increase significantly.

The overwhelming majority of ninja die in battle; those who can die a natural death remain a minority.

Fortunately, in recent years the major ninja villages have been peaceful, with no village attempting to launch an invasion war.

In the end, Konoha is just too powerful.

At least Konoha is like this now; after another ten or twenty years, it's hard to say.

Achieving Ninja World Peace is unrealistic, and Lian Ye doesn't have such grand ambitions.

As long as you have no strong desires, you won't be used by schemers, thus becoming a pawn in others' plans.

Take Madara Uchiha as an example: if he, like Lian Ye, were to lie flat and slack off, spending his days strolling around the village, occasionally sunbathing with Senju Hashirama, how could Heijue possibly manipulate him in circles?

Given Lian Ye's temperament, even without knowing the plot, upon seeing the Stone Tablet's inscription, he would only make a few remarks.

As for implementing the "Moon's Eye" project?

Sorry, no time!

"It's fine as long as you think that way," Feijian said, looking at Lian Ye's calm demeanor, a slight smile at the corner of his mouth.

He worries that his elder sister‑in‑law's death might push Lian Ye into extremism, and also fears that when his own day comes, Lian Ye might act out of line due to grief.

After all, the Uchiha Clan's mental state isn't as stable as it appears on the surface.

Fortunately, as it looks now, such a thing probably won't happen.

"Uncle, don't you find it boring spending every day in the Laboratory?"

Since stepping down as Hokage, Feijian has been immersed in the Laboratory conducting experiments, day after day, year after year.

Orochimaru's young body can endure it, but this old fellow, already of advanced age, still does this.

Lian Ye worries that one day he might overexert himself and go "Gaba"—dying in the Laboratory.

"Not boring; how could doing experiments be boring?" Feijian gave him a sideways glance, irately saying, "But you, day in, day out, only know how to sunbathe at home—don't you find that boring?"

At first, when he saw Lian Ye sunbathing, he thought the kid was simply exhausted from battle, so taking a proper rest wasn't a big deal.

In the end, just by lying down I went from sixteen or seventeen to thirty‑six.

A full twenty years!

In Lian Ye's words, that means you retire at forty or fifty, while I started my retirement at sixteen or seventeen.

It's as if I skipped thirty years of detours!

"Doing nothing every day, just enjoying life—how could that possibly be boring," Lian Ye said irritably, as usual.

In his view, how could enjoying retirement time ever be boring?

Compared with fighting to the death on the battlefield, today's life is truly a godlike existence.

Usually, besides eating and sleeping, it's just sunbathing; occasionally I go fishing by the river with good brothers, have some barbecue—how wonderful is that?

Qianshou Feijian: "…"

He strongly suspects that the reason this kid is thwarting Madara Uchiha's Moon's Eye project is that, in his view, his real life is already more wonderful than Infinite Moon Reading.

Real life is already blissfully happy, so there's no need to enter a false Genjutsu World!

Sunbathe by day, watch the moon by night.

Tsk tsk, I have to admit this kid really knows how to enjoy life!

"Uncle, if you have nothing to do, go to sleep early; aren't you supposed to go to the Laboratory for research tomorrow?"

"Unlike me, I never need to get up early."

Qianshou Feijian: "…"

Hardening, the fist hardened.

Why does he suddenly feel like punching this kid?

Maybe Lian Ye is just too punchable.