Senko's Research Log

Theory:Routes to "immortality."

Thanatophobia, the fear of death, is as natural as breathing. Biologically, all things that live exist solely to survive long enough to reproduce, and to ensure that at least one offspring lives to do the same. Thus, for beings who possess the intellect and self-awareness to know the fragility of their bodies and that their lifespan is inherently limited—that they will grow old and eventually shut down with the only escape being to be killed by something else first—is innately frightening. It takes a great deal of wisdom and maturity to accept that death is inevitable, and even then I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be happy to have at least a little extra time or to be young and healthy for a little longer.

I will admit that I am, despite my genius intellect and beyond-my-years maturity, not in possession of the wisdom to not fear death. The idea that I could spend a lifetime studying, experimenting, and researching towards some great truth only to just not wake up the next morning after laying down to sleep on the eve of a breakthrough terrifies me. I am not so arrogant as to think that it is possible to live forever, but I do believe that I could, with time, apply my existing area of specialty towards a method of extending one's natural lifespan or else layering multiple "kekkei genkai" with defensive applications to mitigate the risk of unnatural death

Theoretically, it is possible to live indefinitely if one can simply understand the process by which one's cells degrade and undo the effect, however, while one cause of this, telomeric degeneration, is known there is simply no known way to completely account for all diseases and everyday wear and tear and the reasons for the inefficiency of other aspects of cellular division are this time unknown.

So, while it may be possible to extend one's natural lifespan by cellular manipulation, this is no true immortality.

The next best thing then would be to continuously replace body parts as they get worn out: Speculation has been made that it is theoretically possible to replace one's limbs with ones based on Sand Village Puppets and manipulate them using a variation on those techniques, but that only accounts for limbs, not organs: Unless or can isolate the soul and seal it within a puppet that is then animated by some other source of chakra, this will merely postpone becoming physically helpless and, truth be told, as one who is passively in tune with the flow of energy throughout the natural world I find such... Unnatural methods of prolonging one's life to be distasteful.

Transplanting young, healthy organs to replace one's worn out organs would be more effective, and in my unique case I am theoretically capable of using my family's cellular regeneration techniques to replace my worn-out cells with younger ones, but... The brain will eventually begin to shut down or, at the very least, the mind will start to go. The brain, being the seat of intellect, cannot be so easily replaced. Once one starts replacing that which runs the body, can they even be called the same person? Not to mention that, of course, one can't always be certain to have access to young organs or cells.

However, this does not mean that one's life cannot be extended: The Uzumaki clan is known to possess, in addition to usually large reserves of chakra and an affinity to fuinjutsu, an unusual vitality that grants them great stamina, well above average health, the ability to survive things that would kill others, make a full recovering from things that should leave permanent damage, and live for two or three times as long as the average person, even controlling for death by disease or violence. If any Uzumaki still lives, their genes could grant the key to extending human life in general to a significant degree, especially, should it be determined, if they do not work by improving telomeric regeneration in which case such improvements could be layered on top of it.

The summoned animals are another potential route: It has been speculated that they are capable of living for centuries or even millennia, with it being speculated that a summoned toad from the time of The Sage of The Six Paths timeline still lives. It is thus possible that the summoned animals, either through metaphysical properties or just their cells being hundreds of times more efficient than a human's, contain the key to vastly increased lifespans. I've already proven that cross-species amalgamation of chakra and cells is possible in testing my bloodline grafting on rats. I would, however, need to study a summoned animal's cells and chakra and, with my inability to use even the most basic ninjutsu at this time I will be unable to learn the Summoning Jutsu and thus, my ability to obtain a summoned animal is unlikely barring unforeseen events to come.
Spoiler: Meanwhile
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A regally dressed pale waif sneezes. She's confused at first but then goes back to using genjutsu to get away with stealing meals.


In theory, if one could combine the longevity of the Uzumaki with that of a summoned animal, one might be able to live for scores of millennia in good health which I suppose would be the closest to true immortality as is possible in the absence of some method of continuous rejuvenation(which by current understanding of medical ninjutsu is a pipe dream.)

More esoterically, some Shinobi have absorbed that thoughts and emotions can be preferred in Chakra. Thermodynamics states that energy can never be destroyed, only change form. Theoretically, if one could cultivate ungodly levels of chakra one might be able to preserve part or all of their consciousness after the death of their physical body, though whether or not this can be said to be the same person or even a person at all, is a debate for the philosophers and whether or not such a thing truly does count as immortality is... Questionable.

As an aside, I sometimes wish I had someone to discuss things such as this with. Feedback on my research has been positive, but my plans for its use or my more... impractical theories tend to be things I feel would be better kept close to the chest.