Night fell over Konoha Village, at the Hokage Residence.
The Hokage's house was quite large, with a small Training Ground in the backyard.
Sarutobi Toru was currently training in the Training Ground, though it was really just physical training like sit-ups, push-ups, and running.
After all, he was only five years old. Sarutobi Toru wouldn't dare to do training that could leave lasting injuries, such as weighted stake training. Even his physical training only lasted about an hour.
For an Earth human, this amount of training would be suicidal, but the physique of Ninja World humans was indeed different from Earth humans. Especially after extracting Chakra, Sarutobi Toru felt completely different from ordinary people, with both his speed and strength surpassing an average adult.
After finishing his physical training, Sarutobi Toru exhaled, wiped his sweat with a towel, and began Chakra control training.
As a soul transmigrator, Sarutobi Toru's mental strength and Chakra control were far beyond ordinary people. He learned tree climbing in almost one try, and water walking in just a few attempts. What he was doing now was a technique he developed himself, 'Crossing the River on a Single Reed'.
He would place a reed in the pond and step on it. The Chakra wasn't directly emitted from his feet but infused into the reed and then transmitted to the water surface. This not only greatly increased the difficulty of manipulation but also severely tested his body's balance.
The reed was slender and fragile; it would break if he wasn't careful. Therefore, when infusing Chakra, he had to maintain buoyancy and strengthen the reed's integrity. Any oversight would result in the entire reed being destroyed by the Chakra.
Just as Sarutobi Toru's training was getting into full swing, a figure suddenly appeared in the center of the Training Ground. Startled, he heard a 'crack' under his feet, and the entire reed instantly snapped into several pieces.
Fortunately, Sarutobi Toru reacted extremely quickly, instantly switching his Chakra control to simple water walking, which prevented him from getting soaked.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen, can you please not use Instantaneous Body Technique in your own home? It's really scary, you know!"
Standing in the center of the Training Ground was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the current acting Hokage of Konoha Village. Now that the war was over, he would likely become the official Third Hokage soon.
"Haha, training should be constant, integrated into daily life. You're the one who said that, A-Che!"
Sarutobi Toru sighed, "I suspect you just wanted to scare me, but I have no proof."
Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled indifferently. He had indeed deliberately tried to startle his precocious and talented nephew. The still-young Sarutobi Hiruzen retained a bit of mischievousness, unlike his future, more composed self.
"How was school today, A-Che?"
"It was alright. Although I didn't learn much from the teacher's lectures, I did meet some interesting classmates." (Like Orochimaru, Tsunade, Hiruko, and other tools)
"Oh, it's good that you can make new friends," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with satisfaction.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had always felt a sense of guilt towards Sarutobi Toru.
When he took over the heavy responsibility of Hokage from the Second Hokage, only their six disciples were present. There was no election or Jonin confidence vote, so his position as Hokage was not stable.
To gain the trust and support of the Konoha Ninja, he had been constantly fighting on the battlefield. At that time, Sarutobi Toru's father, his cousin Sarutobi Man, had always protected him as a Shadow Guard, ultimately sacrificing himself on the battlefield two years ago.
Coupled with Sarutobi Toru's mother dying in childbirth, Sarutobi Toru became a complete orphan. To make amends and repay this debt of gratitude, Sarutobi Hiruzen adopted Sarutobi Toru.
However, Sarutobi Toru did not disappoint him. At such a young age, he possessed all five nature transformations, excelling in both talent and diligence. His mind was also mature beyond that of a five-year-old. He had initially worried that the mature Sarutobi Toru would disdain his Ninja Academy classmates, but it seemed Sarutobi Toru's emotional intelligence was also quite high, allowing him to get along well with his peers.
The only issue was…
"A-Che, your foundation is solid enough. How about I teach you a Ninjutsu today?"
"Forget it. I really don't want to follow in your footsteps as a master of all five elements. I just want to develop Medical Ninjutsu!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen secretly sighed. This was the one thing he was most dissatisfied with about his nephew. Despite having such great talent for mastering all five elements, and even proposing the concept of the S-rank Ninjutsu 'Five Element Great Barrage' to him, he insisted on developing Medical Ninjutsu.
"A-Che, a ninja always has to carry out missions. Medical Ninjutsu can't help you defeat enemies."
Sarutobi Toru also sighed inwardly. His uncle was good in every way, except that he always wanted him to inherit his legacy. But being a jack of all trades was not as good as mastering one. Even if he learned everything from him, what good would it do?
His uncle was already at the limit of a normal ninja, but his strength in the final battle was still only so-so, wasn't it?
In this Ninja World, bloodline limits came first, secret techniques second. For normal elemental Ninjutsu, the ceiling was simply too low.
Moreover, Sarutobi Toru's goal was immortality. If developing forbidden jutsu and bloodline limits offered a theoretical possibility of immortality, then elemental Ninjutsu, no matter how developed, could never achieve that effect.
However, he couldn't directly tell Sarutobi Hiruzen, 'Your Ninjutsu is too low-level; I'm not interested. Don't bother me while I cultivate for immortality.' He could only try to reason with him.
"Uncle, why do you say ninjas complete missions?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at him in confusion and said, "A ninja's duty is to complete missions. Why do you ask?"
A black line appeared on Sarutobi Toru's forehead: "Ninjas complete missions for money! What do you mean by 'duty'? Who would risk their life for you without money?!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen blinked, "A-Che, aren't you being too blunt?" He hadn't expected the five-year-old Sarutobi Toru to be so realistic. He thought he was going to talk about ideals or something.
Sarutobi Toru ignored his uncle and continued, "All of a ninja's missions are basically centered around money. From D-rank missions like cleaning trash and farming, to the Ninja World War we just experienced, they are fundamentally caused by money. Uncle, do you think my understanding is correct?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned. Although Sarutobi Toru's words were very realistic and stark, completely unaligned with the will of fire, he had to admit that Sarutobi Toru was absolutely correct.
Why did the Ninja World War break out? One must understand that countries and ninja villages are not a single entity. Even if other ninja villages invaded the Land of Fire, they would just plunder. Occupy the Land of Fire? Ninjas don't even know how to collect taxes, so what good would occupying it do?
The real reason was that Konoha Village was dominant in the Ninja World, hogging a large share of missions. Furthermore, if they could force the Land of Fire to cede territory, they could then receive large funds from the Daimyo in the future. That's why they acted so aggressively. To put it plainly, it was all for money!
Reluctantly nodding, Sarutobi Hiruzen hadn't expected his nephew to see things so clearly. "Don't say that out loud in the future, understand?"
Sarutobi Toru rolled his eyes, "Don't worry, I'm the Hokage's nephew, after all. I have that much ideological awareness."
Sarutobi Hiruzen could only smile wryly. If it weren't for the many precocious children in the Ninja World, he would have suspected his nephew was possessed by some old demon.
Unaware that Sarutobi Hiruzen had almost guessed his origins, Sarutobi Toru continued, "So, which ninja type can earn the most money? Of course, Medical Ninja!"
"What are the rich most afraid of? It's aging and illness! As long as Medical Ninja have the ability to cure diseases and delay aging, those rich people will wave wads of cash and pour into Konoha Village like mad!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen envisioned the scene Sarutobi Toru described and was greatly moved, but his lingering concerns brought him back to reality.
"But if ninjas invest too much in Medical Ninjutsu, the village's combat power might decline. Then, that would be truly dangerous."
"Uncle, you don't think there are many people who can become Medical Ninja, do you?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen coughed awkwardly. Although he had dabbled in many things, and even knew a bit of healing jutsu, he truly didn't know much about the requirements for becoming a Medical Ninja.
"To become a Medical Ninja, one must first have Yang-release Chakra. This alone eliminates eighty percent of candidates."
Yang-release Chakra is not rarer than other elements, but the five elemental Chakras can be developed later, while there's no known method for cultivating Yin-Yang release later in life.
"They also need extremely strong Chakra control and extensive medical knowledge. Basically, among current ninjas, those who can become Medical Ninja are, to say one in a hundred is an exaggeration, but one in fifty is absolutely not. Therefore, even if there are Medical Ninja, they will only be a minority in Konoha Village and won't significantly impact overall combat power."
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and finally relented, "Alright, I'll allow you to research Medical Ninjutsu, and I'll support your research. However, the future of Medical Ninjutsu is uncertain, so your combat training cannot stop! And I will test you. If you can't satisfy me, then forget about anything else!"
Sarutobi Toru said confidently, "Then you just wait, Uncle!"
He had already made plans for his future development. To protect himself in this cruel Ninja World, he also needed powerful combat abilities.
And his combat template was inspired by Minato Namikaze!
Being able to travel between worlds, he had already confirmed that he possessed extremely high spatial-temporal affinity. Combined with the Rasengan he had already copied, he would become the first 'Sarutobi Flash'!