Konoha's Hextech Ninja

After exchanging a few words, Orochimaru took out the contract scroll from Ryuchi Cave, activated the technique, and sent Yagami Yoruichi to Ryuchi Cave.

Chapter 280 Dragon Cave, White Snake Immortal Submits

Inside Longdi Cave.

"As expected, it's an alternate dimension separate from the ninja world; its natural energy is even more concentrated than that of the ninja world..."

Yagami Yoruichi looked around.

This is a dark cave with features similar to a karst cave, with stone pillars of various shapes towering upside down from the cave ceiling.

The air was very humid and had a faint fishy smell.

Yoruichi Yagami could sense that the natural energy here was very concentrated, but it was slightly different from the natural energy commonly found in the ninja world.

It seems to have some... characteristics of snakes?

Is it because the giant snake in Ryuchi Cave has lived in such an environment for a long time, and while being affected by the natural environment, it has also caused certain changes to the natural energy?

As Yagami Yoruichi pondered this, he extended his senses outwards.

……

Deep within Ryūchi Cave.

The White Snake Sage sensed an incredibly terrifying chakra and was immediately awakened from his slumber.

"This chakra... is from the Goddess of the Rabbit."

"No, she's even stronger than the Goddess of the Rabbit!"

The White Snake Immortal's massive body trembled slightly as he called the Three Snake Princesses to his side and instructed them, "A guest has arrived. Go and invite him over. Be respectful and do not offend him!"

"Guests? And you expect a respectful attitude?"

The three Snake Princesses were all taken aback.

This was the first time they had ever seen the White Snake Immortal in this pose.

But none of them dared to disobey the White Snake Immortal's order, so they immediately agreed and rushed to the entrance of Dragon Cave.

The Three Snake Princesses were extremely familiar with the environment of Ryuchi Cave, and could even sense every corner of Ryuchi Cave by using natural energy.

With only Yagami Yoruichi as an 'outsider' and not deliberately concealing her presence, she was easy to find.

"Human? Ninja?"

The three Snake Princesses were all taken aback. They sensed an immense amount of natural energy and chakra emanating from the human in front of them.

That terrifying chakra even gave them a trembling feeling, as if they had encountered a natural enemy.

Even the White Snake Immortal didn't exert this much pressure on them.

At this moment, they finally understood why the White Snake Immortal had instructed them to be respectful and not to offend this 'guest'.

If this guest is angered, Ryūchi-dō may face annihilation.

"Honorable guest, I am Princess Tashin/Princess Ichikishima/Princess Takitsu. I have come to greet you on the orders of the White Snake Sage. Please forgive any neglect I may have caused." The Three Snake Princesses said respectfully to Yoruichi Yagami.

"The White Snake Sage is quite sensible." Seeing the attitude of the Three Snake Princess, Yagami Yoruichi had a guess in his heart, and he became much more optimistic about the purpose of his trip to Ryuchi Cave. He said, "Take me to see the White Snake Sage."

"Please wait a moment, guests," said Princess Tianxin, her chakra traveling far and wide.

A moment later, a rumbling sound came, and a large blue snake crawled out from a side cave, stopped in front of Yagami Yoruichi, and lowered its head.

"It is the Green Serpent, one of the largest serpents in Dragon Cave, second only to us in status. It will temporarily serve as your mount," explained Princess Tianxin. "Please ride on the Green Serpent, and we will take you to see the White Serpent Immortal."

Yagami Yoruichi wasn't worried about any conspiracies or traps. She took a step forward and appeared on the head of the blue snake, saying, "Hurry up, don't waste my time."

"As you wish." Princess Tianxin said, seemingly conveying some command to the green snake in the manner of a snake, and the green snake immediately moved at high speed.

Despite its speed, the ride was incredibly smooth; even standing on the blue snake's head, Yagami Yoruichi felt no jolt whatsoever.

"Tsk tsk, is this still the unruly Ryuchi Cave Orochi? It's more docile than a domesticated pet," Yagami Yoruichi thought to himself.

Indeed, only strength can change other people's attitudes.

The giant snakes in Ryuchi Cave are all unruly and arrogant. They are like ten thousand snakes. When Orochimaru summons them to fight, they must first provide him with living people as sacrifices, otherwise they will bite Orochimaru back.

Needless to say, the three great snake princesses devoured countless ninjas who entered Ryuchi Cave.

The White Snake Sage's method of teaching Sage Mode is even simpler and more brutal: he simply bites the target and injects the unique Sage Chakra of Ryuchi Cave into their body.

Being able to adapt to Sage Chakra and survive is considered mastering the Sage Techniques of Ryuchi Cave.

Those who cannot adapt will be eroded and petrified by natural energy, becoming food for the giant snakes.

Compared to Mount Myōboku and Shikkotsu Forest, which diligently teach contractors and even proactively help them eliminate risks, Ryūchi Cave's attitude towards contractors is completely the other extreme.

But even the unruly Ryuchi Cave became incredibly obedient and docile after sensing his chakra aura.

This is the importance of strength.

A moment later, the view ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a grand hall.

At one end of the main hall, a huge white-scaled serpent coiled on a massive stone throne.

"I am connected to the natural spring of Ryūchi-dō and cannot leave this chair. Please forgive me, my guest."

The White Snake Sage took the initiative to explain why he did not personally greet Yagami Yoruichi.

It's called an explanation, but it's actually an admission of defeat.

"I thought all the giant snakes in Ryuchi Cave were ferocious, but it seems the rumors aren't entirely true," Yagami Yoruichi said with a smile.

"The attitude towards ordinary ninjas is naturally different from that towards powerful ones." The White Snake Sage said without any hesitation, "If we treat a powerful person like you with the same attitude as we treat ordinary ninjas, I fear that the end of Ryuchi Cave will come."

"You're quite sensible." Yagami Yoruichi nodded slightly and went straight to the point: "Now that I'm going to unify the ninja world, although your summoning beasts aren't human, they are still part of the ninja world and must be brought under my rule. All intelligent snakes in Ryuchi Cave must become part of the Land of Fire and abide by its rules. Do you have any objections?"

"As expected, they've come with ill intentions!"

The White Snake Immortal, wary, asked, "If we agree, what do we need to do? And what will we get in return?"

"I don't want to see a situation like this again, where people sign contracts with ninjas from the Land of Fire to serve the Land of Fire, just like ordinary summoning beasts. I don't want a situation like this where they need a so-called 'sacrifice' to work after being summoned."

After stating her demands, Yagami Yoruichi changed the subject and said meaningfully, "If you can do these things, Ryuchi Cave will have a reason to continue existing. If you refuse, then there is no need for Ryuchi Cave to continue existing."

"Your request... is excessive." The White Snake Immortal was silent for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Could you demonstrate your strength and whether you are qualified to make such a request?"

The White Snake Sage could sense an incredibly terrifying chakra emanating from Yagami Yoruichi, even greater than the pressure exerted on him by the Rabbit Goddess who nearly destroyed the entire ninja world a thousand years ago.

But, one's aura might be able to be faked.

For example, using illusion-like techniques to deceive its senses, etc.

Only through actual combat can we confirm whether Yoruichi Yagami truly possesses sufficient strength to make excessive demands on Ryuchi Cave.

The White Snake Sage was unwilling to believe that Yagami Yoruichi's strength was truly that great, but she was also afraid that Yagami Yoruichi was indeed stronger than the Rabbit Goddess from a thousand years ago, and that her request would anger Yagami Yoruichi and bring annihilation to Ryuchi Cave. She desperately layered her armor and said, "If you really have enough strength, even if your request is excessive, I will agree."

"Alright, then I'll show you." Yagami Yoru nodded, clasped his hands together, and frantically drew in natural energy.

Almost instantly, all the natural energy within the entire Ryuchi Cave alternate dimension was drained by Yagami Yoruichi.

As natural energy entered her body, red lines appeared on Yagami Yoruichi's face, a sign that she had entered Sage Mode.

"The Sage Mode of the Wet Bone Forest? You are a contractor of the Wet Bone Forest?" The White Serpent Sage was shocked and said repeatedly, "Enough, enough, I believe in your strength. Please stop!"

Although he didn't actually do anything, he simply entered 'Sage Mode'.

But it seemed effortless to drain all the natural energy from Ryuchi Cave in an instant.

This alone gives it the power to destroy the entire Ryuchi Cave.

If Yoruichi Yagami continues to extract energy, even the 'Natural Fountain' that sustains its life will be drained dry.

The immortals of the three sacred sites can live for thousands of years, entirely by relying on natural energy to maintain their vitality.

If they lose their natural energy, they will die in a very short time.

The older one gets, the more afraid of death one becomes. The White Snake Immortal, who has lived for over a thousand years, does not want to die for such a ridiculous reason as 'losing natural energy'.

Seeing that the White Snake Sage had backed down, Yagami Yoruichi did not continue and released the natural energy she had absorbed back into her body.

However, with this inflow and outflow, the natural energy was reduced by nearly 10%.

It was absorbed and assimilated by the chakra within Yagami Yoru in that extremely short time.

Sixth Path level chakra undergoes a qualitative change, becoming capable of directly assimilating most forms of energy, including natural energy, and directly creating chakra.

In other words, at this level, chakra is no longer limited to the chakra that one refines oneself.

Almost all forms of energy can be used to create chakra, which will greatly increase endurance.

The reason why the Sage of Six Paths and Hamura Otsutsuki were able to fight Kaguya Otsutsuki for months without stopping was because of this.

Of course, only a strong person who has reached the Six Paths level and completed the 'transformation of life level' can do this.

Unlike Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, who were given the "Six Paths Experience Card" by the Sage of Six Paths during the Fourth Shinobi World War in the original work, they could not achieve this level of power.

"I am willing to comply with your request, but I am connected to the Spring of Nature and cannot move. I can only have the Three Snake Princesses and the other snakes respond to the ninja's summoning."

The White Snake Sage looked at Yagami Yoruichi with lingering fear and said, "However, for a ninja to summon a giant snake, their own chakra must be strong enough, otherwise they cannot complete the summoning jutsu. You should know this."

In other words, one needs a certain level of power to summon a giant serpent of the corresponding level.

Yagami Yoruichi roughly estimated that the chakra of an elite Jonin was enough to summon a giant snake of the level of Manda or Shinja.

With chakra at a mid-level Kage rank, he could barely summon one of the three Snake Princesses.

A Kage-level peak chakra level would be able to summon all three Snake Princesses at once.

As for those below the elite Jonin level, they can only summon ordinary Orochi, who has relatively weaker abilities.

However, even an ordinary giant snake is a powerful ally for a ninja.

"I will command all the great serpents to cooperate with your actions. The situation where the Great Serpent demands sacrifices from its contractors will never happen again. I will give it a stern warning."

Seeing that Yagami Yoruichi remained silent, the White Snake Sage assumed that Yagami Yoruichi was dissatisfied and cautiously said, "The contract scroll of Ryuchi Cave is with Orochimaru, but if you need it, I can make a new one."

“That’s fine. Orochimaru is also one of my subordinates, so we can use his contract scroll.” Yagami Yoru nodded and said, “Later, I will have the selected ninja sign the contract. Also, I will be going to destroy Mount Myōboku in a while. I heard you like to eat food rich in natural energy? Do the toads of Mount Myōboku suit your taste?”

Hearing Yagami Yoruichi's words, the three snake princesses' eyes lit up.

But in front of the White Snake Immortal, they dared not interrupt at all, and could only desperately try to wink at him, hoping that he would agree.

"Ahem, the toads of Mount Myōboku, I do indeed find them very unpleasant. If you need anything, all the snakes of Ryūchi Cave will fight for you."