Chapter 156: A Prodigy, Unseen in a Thousand Years!
Tsukasa was currently in an extremely awkward situation.
He possessed numerous forbidden techniques, each a massive consumer of chakra.
He wanted to use his regenerative immortality and super-speed healing to fight, but the chakra he had gained through various transformations was only enough for survival—far from sufficient to battle a Kage-level powerhouse.
Abandoning regeneration and relying solely on the power from the Cursed Seal of Heaven was also insufficient to overcome his current predicament.
Therefore—
When this fluorescent green cat's eye jewel was placed before Tsukasa, he didn't hesitate at all.
He raised his left hand and seized it!
The instant he grasped the cat's eye jewel, Tsukasa felt blinding light flood his vision!
The entire structure of the world before him instantly transformed.
In this deep serpent cavern, fluorescent green particles floated through the air, connecting with each other and shooting out crisscrossing emerald lines that blotted out the sky, illuminating the entire Ryūchi Cave!
The dark, damp, gloomy cavern of Ryūchi Cave—in that single instant—transformed into a mystical wonderland!
"This... this is..."
Tsukasa's serpentine eyes narrowed slightly. He could sense the violent power contained within these countless points of light!
It was pure, natural energy—the inherent power of the world itself!
"You can see it?"
"You can actually see it?!"
Beside Tagitsuhime, a beautiful young girl suddenly appeared.
She had long, deep blue hair and sky-blue eyes, wearing a golden circlet like Tagitsuhime.
At this moment, she rushed forward eagerly, her cute face instantly distorting as a hideous serpent visage emerged beneath. Her serpent eyes fixed on Tsukasa, and she asked excitedly:
"What does it look like?"
"What does the true Ryūchi Cave look like?! Tell me!"
She hesitated, taking small, nervous steps forward. Suddenly, she stopped, her serpentine nostrils flared, and two cold beams shot from her icy serpent eyes.
"Hiss! Such a delicious scent! I want to devour you!"
"If I eat you—"
"I can obtain those eyes, those abilities! I can seize this opportunity to transform into a dragon!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
"Hiss! Hiss!"
Tsukasa stared at her in shock.
The next instant, the beautiful young woman suddenly raised her hand, tearing away her human-serpent hybrid face with her blue-tinted nails. A gigantic serpent maw instantly filled Tsukasa's entire vision!
The stench, the cold, and the premonition of imminent death sent a chill down Tsukasa's spine.
This was a death crisis even more terrifying than facing Ebizō's S-rank Wind Release technique!
"Ichikishimahime! What are you doing?!"
A thunderous shout rang out, and a figure with long brown hair descended from above.
The next moment, she transformed into a terrifyingly massive brown serpent and crashed down, coiling around the blue giant serpent that Ichikishimahime had become.
In the instant before Tsukasa would have been swallowed whole, the two giant serpents intertwined.
The entire Ryūchi Cave trembled from the collision of these two divine serpents!
Countless lesser snakes throughout the cave raised their heads, glanced in their direction, and began fleeing in all directions.
"Tagorihime, Tagitsuhime—don't you understand?!"
"He saw it!"
"He actually saw it!"
The giant blue serpent that was Ichikishimahime burst into tears. Excitedly, she opened her massive jaws and tore a large chunk of flesh from Tagorihime's body, swallowing it while crying.
She roared in a trembling voice:
"This power—destroyed by the Rabbit Goddess and reborn after a millennium! This final treasure of the apocalyptic world! This key to dragon transformation!"
"Waaaaaah! He really saw it!"
"A thousand years! A chance we've waited millennia for!"
"I want to eat him! I want to eat him!"
"I must devour him!"
As the excited, almost mournful cries subsided, all three serpents simultaneously turned toward Tsukasa.
Their gazes suddenly shifted—becoming greedy, cold, indifferent, and utterly selfish.
Even Tagitsuhime, still in human form, looked at Tsukasa with subtle hostility creeping into her expression.
Tsukasa swallowed hard, feeling a chill run down his spine.
It seemed Ryūchi Cave wasn't exactly a charitable sanctuary after all.
The next instant, the two giant serpents stopped their entanglement and abruptly turned, lunging at Tsukasa with their massive jaws wide open!
"He's mine!"
"No, you witch—he's mine!"
Tagitsuhime's serpent eyes turned cold. She leaped over the two giant serpents, gliding through the air as she flew toward them, her delicate mouth opening wider and wider until it completely obscured Tsukasa's vision!
"Haha! Hiss!"
"You two fools—this boy is mine!"
Staring at the enormous, inescapable serpent maw before him, Tsukasa felt ice flood his veins.
Wasn't he supposed to gain power here?
How did these ancient beings suddenly change their tune and decide to devour him instead?
And how did his supposedly worthless body suddenly become such a coveted prize?
The absurdity of it all left Tsukasa no time to continue his internal complaints.
He gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with murderous intent, and gripped the green cat's eye jewel tightly in his hand—then crushed it with all his strength!
CRACK!
The green cat's eye jewel shattered instantly in Tsukasa's grip!
The radiant wonderland before him, with countless emerald particles crisscrossing and slicing across the sky, suddenly seemed to find an outlet—all converging toward Tsukasa!
He only managed to grasp a few scattered particles and threads!
BOOM!
The scene before him crumbled and collapsed!
The border of the Land of Wind, on the endless desert.
High-pressure winds whipped across the boy's forehead, ruffling his long black hair and billowing his tattered Uchiha high-collared robe!
Tsukasa opened his crimson serpentine Sharingan!
His icy gaze pierced through the dust storm raised by the Thousand-Faced Wind Blade, fixing on Ebizō, who was descending and landing steadily in the distance.
Tsukasa took a deep breath and raised his left hand, which tightly gripped the blazing white sword.
He opened his little finger. Fragments of the green cat's eye jewel slid free, and a sphere of emerald light—invisible to normal human eyes and composed of dense particles—quietly floated on his palm.
"Is this... the power of a Sage?"
Tsukasa murmured to himself, then suddenly raised his palm and pressed the sphere of light against the Cursed Seal of Heaven on his neck.
Instantly!
A terrifyingly surging power flowed into his body through the Cursed Seal!
The stagnant Forbidden Technique: Flesh Metamorphosis activated once more!
Flesh and blood reformed, bones reconstructed, muscle fibers stretched and wove together!
A complete right arm suddenly extended from the severed stump of Tsukasa's right shoulder!
Having accomplished this, the power continued spreading.
The curse mark pattern on his neck bloomed like a dark flower, and black lines almost instantly covered half of Tsukasa's body.
The lost power returned—spreading, gathering, surging, and mutating throughout his limbs and entire being!
This was the power of the Cursed Seal—the power of Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode!
At this moment, in the enormous sand crater, the towering serpent barrier collapsed and shattered. Countless invisible wind blades shot downward!
Tsukasa took a step forward, gripping the blazing white longsword with both hands!
His serpentine eyes stared intently at Ebizō.
He crouched low—and charged!
With his 360-degree infrared vision, Tsukasa didn't need to look to sense where the wind blades would strike.
He twisted his foot, gripped the longsword, swung with devastating force—and charged forward!
Sword light flashed, tracing arcs like moonlight cutting through darkness.
The Uchiha sword style, with its flowing aerial slashes, bloomed like ephemeral night-blooming flowers across the battlefield!
Tsukasa suddenly raised his head, revealing a ferocious face covered in black markings, and roared:
"It's time to settle this!"
"EBIZŌ!!!"
End of Chapter 156
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