Chapter 99: The Concept of Illusory Taijutsu
Konoha Main Street.
Tonbo Tobitake was openly "spying" on the two of them. Anko and Shinobu, as well as the surrounding residents, completely ignored him. It was as if he were a person who didn't exist in this world.
Watching them eat their way through the street while Mibu Shinobu constantly pulled out his wallet, Tonbo began to wonder if he had introduced the wrong girl. If Anko ate like this every day, even a Jonin's salary wouldn't last very long.
The two seemed to be getting familiar with each other, and Shinobu gradually began to relax and interact more. However, the initiative always remained in Anko's hands.
"Idiot. Back when I was chasing Ayame, the initiative was always in my hands."
Tonbo felt his disciple was quite dense; his talent clearly only resided in being a ninja. But seeing them interact reminded him of his own younger days. It was beautiful.
Unconsciously, he had survived in the ninja world for seven years. He had grown from an 11-year-old boy into an 18-year-old young man. He had fought in a Great War, been a teacher, acted as a spy... he even had a wife and children. Time truly flew. Everything was great—except for the fact that the ninja world was always so disaster-prone.
Hmm?
Suddenly, he spotted another familiar face on the street.
Shimon.
His former teammate, now his subordinate. Currently, Shimon was holding a girl's hand, laughing and talking as they fed each other skewers.
Hiss!
"I was wondering why I hadn't seen you at work lately, and I hadn't heard about any part-time teaching gigs. Turns out you were out picking up girls, and it looks like things are going pretty well."
Tonbo was happy for him. Seeing another acquaintance find love was good. However, he remembered that in the original story, Shimon seemed to be single. Did he get triggered by me having a wife and rush out to find one?
Looking at the receding backs of Shinobu and Anko, Tonbo felt Shimon's gossip was slightly more interesting. He'd let his disciple handle his own affairs; he was just the matchmaker, and his job was done.
Tonbo maintained his Genjutsu and drew closer to Shimon.
"Shimon-kun, you're so good to me."
"Of course. There's only one person in my heart, and I'll love you for ten thousand years."
Smooch.
"Hmph, here's a gift for you, don't you dare dislike it," the girl said after kissing his cheek.
"How could I..." Shimon looked like he was on top of the world.
"I remember you said before that you didn't want to find a wife. Why the sudden change?"
"That was the plan. But there's this colleague in the Analysis Division who keeps showing off his love life in front of me. I couldn't take it anymore and swore I'd also show my love life in front of him. But then I met you, and whether he sees us or not doesn't matter anymore. As long as you're by my side, his feelings aren't important."
The girl beamed. "Really? You're making me blush. Next time I'll go to the office with you and we can show off our love together, okay?"
"Really?"
"Mm..."
"Show off my foot. Luckily I have kids; you'll always just be an amateur trying to show off in front of a master."
Tonbo spat on the ground as he walked away. Having finished his day of gossip, he headed toward the Konoha Hospital. His leisure time was over; it was time for serious business.
Konoha Hospital was a vast complex. People constantly flowed through the gates—mostly ninjas, with a few civilians mixed in. As the center of the Medical Department, Tonbo had frequent contact here.
The Analysis Division's job involved gathering intel from the brains and bodies of corpses. Naturally, they collaborated with the Corpse Processing Team under the Medical Department. When Konoha ninjas died, they were sometimes sent to the Analysis Division to determine the cause of death and the enemy's methods. Once that was done, the bodies were moved back to the processing team to have all traces removed.
His purpose for coming here was to study medical knowledge. He wanted to develop a system of Illusory Taijutsu.
For example: Genjutsu: Self-Repair.
This was a product of combining medical knowledge with Genjutsu. One had to have a deep understanding of the part of the body the Genjutsu was "deceiving." The deeper the understanding, the more targeted the technique, and the less chakra it would consume. If he tried to deceive the entire body at once, chakra consumption would skyrocket, and the body's physical tolerance would be pushed to the limit. Genjutsu can trick the body into healing, but that self-healing still requires energy. The more precise the focus, the lower the cost.
He hadn't developed this heavily over the last seven years because he felt his Genjutsu system wasn't mature enough. A Genjutsu that required experimenting on his own body was something he had set aside in favor of Five-Senses Genjutsu, Mind Reading, and "Real Genjutsu." Now that his sensory manipulation was mature enough to handle elite Jonin 1-on-1, it was time for the next step.
"Furthermore, when facing techniques like the Preta Path's 'Blocking Technique Absorption' that drain chakra, physical attacks are the most efficient."
Tonbo was thinking ahead to enemies like Hiruko, the Preta Path, Obito, or Madara, who could be immune to standard Ninjutsu. Taijutsu was the priority. If he could develop a Genjutsu that deceived his own body to drastically boost its physical capabilities, this "internal" Genjutsu wouldn't be affected by an enemy's external absorption or negation. This was his direction for dealing with enemies up to the Otsutsuki level.
He would have liked to try Sage Mode, but he had no way in. He wouldn't try to research it himself—he didn't want to turn into a stone statue. He had a family to provide for; he couldn't afford to take unnecessary risks. If he could push Genjutsu to its peak—be it Yakumo Kurama's reality-warping ability, Illusory Taijutsu, or the depth of his "Touch of Life"—he could hold his own. Even Izanagi and Izanami weren't Sage Arts, yet they were devastating.
After greeting the person in charge of the Medical Archives, Tonbo began his studies. As a Jonin, Captain of the Analysis Division, and a member of Konoha's upper echelon, everyone treated him with great respect, which saved him a lot of trouble. He quickly immersed himself in the vast sea of medical knowledge.
The Capital of the Land of Fire. The Near-Guard Agency.
Swish! Swish!
A squad of obvious elites knelt on the ground. Their outfits varied, but they all wore armbands featuring the character for "Fire." Two men stood before them.
"Asuma, congratulations. You're finally going home for a visit," Chiriku said. It had been four years since they met, and they had forged a bond through shared battle.
Asuma pulled out a lighter and lit a cigarette. "Yeah. After all this time and everything we've been through, I've finally caught a glimpse of what it means to 'protect'."
This time, Asuma would lead the team to Konoha for training.
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