Chapter 29.How old are you?

At the hospital, Saruto was packing his things. The door opened as Shizune entered the room. "Hey, you must be Shizune-san!"

"So, you're Saruto I guess!"

She looked at him, from top to bottom and spoke, "Tsunade-sama wants you to take some tests!"

"Oh, tests huh? She wants me to take some "tests"I guess", Saruto turned to his right and rubbed his hands against each other as he smiled. Shizune was confused. She didn't know why he was talking strangely.

"She said her methods have improved and she must take your tests one more time"

"Ooh I can't wait to experience her new methods" Saruto jumped in excitement as he could feel 106 again, without realising he wasn't alone.

"Saruto, the other medical ninjas are waiting too. You should hurry instead of talking non-sense"

"Other…medical…ninjas?" Saruto raised his eyebrows in shock. "Yes, others who will help her"

"Just to be clear, these tests we're talking about, those are tests as in literally, not a metaphor for anything, right"

"Yes, Saruto! Why would it be a metaphor? Can you hurry up!"

The disappointed Saruto walked through the door with a sad face.

Shizune thought, 'He acted like he didn't understand what tests meant! Is he stupid? He doesn't look stupid. He was Tsunade-sama's student after all. Maybe he was thinking of something else. So, test has another meaning? What could it be?'

That's when she understood. She started blushing as she thought about Saruto being intimate with Tsunade. 'Oh my god! What was I thinking? That's some inappropriate thought'

"Hey!"

Saruto was still waiting at the door. She panicked as she covered her face with the files she was holding. "You didn't tell me where she was!"

She lowered the files and grinned. "Yeah, follow me! I'll show you the way" She walked faster and went in front of Saruto. Saruto followed her as he scratched his head. 'What's wrong with her?'

[The question is what's wrong with you?]

'What did I do?'

[Your behaviour]

'What's wrong with my behaviour? I am perfectly alright, voice guy'

[Just walk faster idiot! Can't you see Shizune is in a rush?]

Saruto walked faster to catch up with Shizune.

_______________

Moments later, Shizune came back with the scan reports. Saruto followed her to see Tsunade after his tests. "Tsunade-sama, is it that necessary to do these tests?"

Saruto asked Tsunade who was ignoring his comments as she was reading his reports. After finishing, she put them on a table and asked, "Saruto, how old are you?"

"Huh, I don't know to be honest. I never cared about it anyway"

In fact, when Saruto first landed on this world his age was told to be between nineteen and twenty. He didn't care about it because he didn't know whether to count his past life age or not. Tsunade spoke, "It's been nearly ten years since your last checkup. You should be over thirty now!"

Saruto took a bottle of water nearby and drank. "But you're still twenty"

Saruto spilt the water he was drinking. "What the…?

'Voice guy, did you know about it?'

[Yes! I can't believe you didn't notice the fact that you haven't aged a lot since you came here]

"Tell me Saruto! Are you using any forbidden jutsu?"

Saruto could feel the rage in Tsunade's eyes. "You're the one who talks! Aren't you the one using a forbidden jutsu to look younger?"

"That's why I am asking you! I'll have to pay for the side effects of my jutsu. I can't let you go through what I must go through"

Her expression changed as she genuinely cared about Saruto's wellbeing. Saruto placed his hands on Tsunade's shoulder. Shizune's face reddened as she watched them being close, "Tsunade-sama, my body is a mystery to me. When I first came here, I didn't know what these writings on my body meant. Then I learned what they meant and I am using it to my advantage. Now, you're telling me I am not ageing! It's a new mystery to me too. It seems I have to find out what's causing this"

'Or someone who knew about this all along could explain it'

[Fine, I'll tell you what it is]

_____________

Meanwhile, Godaime summoned Naruto, Naruko and Shikamaru to his bureau. Fugaku gave the jackets to the shinobis who were standing in front of him. "After evaluating your performance during the final stage of the chunin exam, I am promoting you three as chunins"

"About that, I failed the final stage. How am I a chunin now?", said Shikamaru. Shikaku spoke, "Were you sleeping when Hayate announced the rules? It doesn't matter whether you win your matches or not. What matters is how you perform during the final stage. The proctors were evaluating how you put your skills to good use and handle tough situations like a chunin"

"I didn't want to become chunin. Leading a genin squad would be a drag!"

That got a little chuckle out of Fugaku but he hid it in front of the new chunins.

Naruko was feeling down. She was promoted to chunin but she lost the only match she fought, unlike her brother who performed well in all three matches he fought. She felt like she didn't deserve it. Naruto noticed it. After they went outside the bureau, Naruto called his sister. "Stop beating yourself, ya know!"

"Is it that obvious?"

She walked sadly. Naruto wanted to cheer up his sister. "Naruko, look at your hands!"

Naruko looked at them. There were bruises as a result of her hard training. She understood what her brother was trying to say. She worked hard for this exam. She even worked on her father and mother's jutsus at the same time. 'After all the work I've put in for this rank, I earned it. Thanks, Oni-chan! You're the best!'

"Let's go find Sakura-chan and Kakashi sensei and we can all go to Ichiraku ramen to celebrate our promotion, ya know!"

Naruko smiled at her brother and said, "That would be great, ya know!"

_______________

Saruto was lying down on his bed and thinking about what the voice guy said about him. 'I can't age?'

[Yes, you can't]

'I'll stay twenty forever?'

[For god's sake Saruto, you've been repeating the same thing all night. It's annoying, ya know]

'Why can't you let me age?'

[I am using multiple chakras to do this process. If you end up weakening or dying, our mission is done!']

'What if people think of me as an immortal? I don't want attention. Even, Tsunade-sama thought I was using a forbidden jutsu'

[Then take your time off when you're not needed here. People would forget how you looked and then you can give them some lame excuses. Plus, I can't believe I am saying this, if you stay young you can also get it on with some more ladies]

Saruto jumped from his bed.

'You should have started with that'

[You perverted monkey]

'Hey, you're the one who gave me a monkey face!'

[Monkey features, not exactly a monkey face]

Saruto was arguing with the Voice guy. There was a knock on this door. He walked up to the door and opened it. Tsunade was resting on his door with a saké in her right hand. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Saruto…", She touched his face as her fingers moved through his facial features. "My handsome monkey"

[(Voices guy laughed)]

'Stop laughing and go to sleep! I am going to be busy here'

"You know why I am here, don't you Saruto"

She placed her left hand on his chest. She walked forward while pushing him at the same time.

Author's note: I am taking a break for a week. I'll be back with some more chapters after the break. Please let me know what you think about this story up until now! I hope you all have a wonderful day!