Chapter 167: White Snake Sage, Do You Want a Mangekyo?
Yasushi finally had time to learn Snake Sage Mode.
Since escaping Konoha, he'd been working constantly to destroy Konoha.
Instigating relations between villages, dragging the Akatsuki organization into the water, pushing forward the Konoha destruction operation, causing trouble for Konoha, taking revenge on Itachi, taking revenge on Obito, abducting tailed beasts, threatening the daimyo...
This series of actions continued without interruption. He constantly rushed east and west, staying busy, having no time to rest at all.
Now everything had entered its proper track. The Five Great Nations fought fiercely—no one could cease hostilities.
Seeds of internal chaos had also been planted in Konoha, just waiting for time to germinate and sprout.
The remaining matters no longer needed him to push anything forward. Just watching quietly, he could naturally see Konoha destroyed by the nations, the Land of Fire divided among nations.
If mishaps occurred midway, he could intervene to correct deviations.
So after staying in the Land of Rain for several days, Yasushi suddenly discovered—he had nothing to do.
Ordinary training no longer showed obvious improvement. For the next significant advancement, besides the Rinnegan, there was only Snake Sage Mode.
So after making simple arrangements, he took out the summoning scroll Orochimaru had given him earlier, wrote his name on it, formed seals, and slapped.
After a puff of white smoke, a large snake appeared before him.
"Are you that Uchiha Yasushi Orochimaru mentioned?" The great snake showed golden vertical pupils, examining him up and down.
Yasushi casually tossed several captured bandits to the great snake, smiling: "First meeting—a small greeting gift. Please accept it."
"Haha, truly an interesting person!" The great snake immediately became happy, opening its bloody maw and swallowing those bandits whole, one by one.
There's a saying—eating someone's food makes your mouth soft. After eating the greeting gift, the great snake immediately became much warmer.
"I'm called Manda. I've heard Orochimaru mention you. So you want to learn Snake Sage Mode?"
"Correct. Please lead the way!"
Manda nodded, canceling the summoning technique and returning to Ryuchi Cave. Moments later, he used reverse summoning to call Yasushi over.
This spatial ninjutsu was indeed rather mystical. Eyes closed then opened—a different space entirely.
Before he opened his eyes, damp fishy odors already drilled into Yasushi's nasal cavity first.
That was the cold stench of rotting leaves rubbing against snake scales, mixed with the rust smell seeping from thousand-year rock crevices, weaving a greasy net in the air.
Yasushi frowned slightly, looking around carefully. He saw himself standing before a massive cavern.
Unlike Myoboku Mountain's paradise-like natural scenery, Ryuchi Cave lay buried underground, perpetually sunless.
The ceiling was endless deep purple. Sharp stalactites hung like inverted wolf fangs. Each falling water droplet struck ground puddles, creating ghostly blue glimmers that illuminated intertwined vines covering the ground.
Those vines weren't ordinary vegetation either. Leaf edges glowed with poisonous fluorescent green. When wind passed, they made sounds resembling snake hissing, as if the entire cave were a living body.
At the cavern entrance, a massive green snake coiled into a heap, cold gaze staring straight at him. Its vertical pupils were transparent like amber yet held no warmth whatsoever.
"I'll only take you this far. The path ahead, you must walk yourself. Life or death depends entirely on your luck."
Manda emerged from behind the green snake, flicked its tail at Yasushi, then turned and left.
"That's enough." Yasushi stepped forward, walking into the cavern step by step under the green snake's gaze.
Perhaps because of the contract, the green snake didn't obstruct him, merely watching him disappear into darkness.
Not walking far, Yasushi heard delicate tinkling sounds from deep in the cave.
Yasushi looked toward the sound. He saw a tall, magnificent castle sitting ahead among mountain stones and vines, its interior brightly lit—completely unlike Ryuchi Cave's damp darkness.
The castle gates stood wide open. An ancient-costumed beauty emerged from the castle's shadows.
Her features were beautiful to the point of demonic. Her eye tails curved upward like serpentine seduction. She wore spherical golden ornaments on her forehead, hair piled high—dignified and elegant.
Pure white shrine maiden robes, the hem dragging across the ground, perfectly concealing the snake tail within.
Just looking at her appearance, no one could believe this beauty was actually a man-eating snake.
"I am Tagitsuhime. I've long heard Lord Yasushi's great name and came especially to welcome you. I've already prepared delicacies and fine wine in the castle. Please enter and enjoy, Lord Yasushi."
Tagitsuhime smiled sweetly, bowing very politely, extending her hand in invitation for Yasushi to enter the castle.
"Hehe..." Yasushi laughed coldly. The Mangekyo pattern suddenly appeared in his eyes, sweeping once over the castle then falling back on Tagitsuhime, speaking dismissively: "Let's cut straight to the point!"
"Whatever tests you have, just bring them out. Don't use these genjutsu tricks to embarrass yourselves here."
"No one is qualified to display genjutsu before the Uchiha, not even Ryuchi Cave."
"Also, that Ichikishimahime and whatever Tuanjin Hime—come out together too. My time is precious. I don't have time to waste."
"Is that so!" Tagitsuhime covered her cherry lips with her hand, seemingly smiling.
But the next moment, her beautiful face rapidly elongated, directly tearing apart. Her eyes transformed into snake pupils. A long forked tongue extended from her bloody maw, circling back and forth across her face.
"As expected of the Uchiha clan's most outstanding member—you saw through it so quickly!"
"I heard your Mangekyo ocular ability is prophecy?"
"Is that really true?"
Seeing Yasushi had already seen through the genjutsu, Tagitsuhime no longer maintained her human disguise. Her body rapidly transformed into serpent form, revealing her true appearance.
Inside Ryuchi Cave was extremely boring. Now that an interesting human finally came to Ryuchi Cave, they absolutely had to cause some difficulties and play around longer.
Tagitsuhime just wanted to create more trouble to make things difficult for Uchiha Yasushi, but when Yasushi's blood-red Mangekyo Sharingan glanced at her, she involuntarily shuddered inwardly, unconsciously producing several degrees of fearful feeling.
"Since you can identify this as genjutsu, there's no need for any tests."
"If your Mangekyo ocular ability truly is prophecy, then other tests have no meaning for you either."
"I'll take you directly to see the White Snake Sage."
She led with somewhat panicked emotions, quickly turning and swimming toward the cave's depths. The original palace also vanished instantly, reverting to its originally dark and damp appearance.
Person and snake advanced rapidly. Soon, a painted beam and carved pillar pavilion appeared ahead with a massive plaque above bearing three gilt characters: "Ryuchi Cave."
Yasushi looked once with his Mangekyo Sharingan. This time the building was no longer genjutsu. Only then did he follow Tagitsuhime inside.
He saw a kindly old woman sitting in a chair at the pavilion's center. Seeing Tagitsuhime bring Yasushi over so simply, surprise appeared in her eyes.
The White Snake Sage understood her subordinate snakes' personalities best—calling them cruel and murderous was putting it politely.
However, before she could speak, Yasushi asked first:
"White Snake Sage, do you want a Mangekyo?"
"I'll give you a pair!"