"Have you eaten people before?"
"If not, then what?" The White Snake Sage asked.
Ryosuke's gaze, mixed with the blazing sun, fell down together, locking eyes with the White Snake Sage.
"If you haven't eaten, I can talk to you about the matters of the Hidden Cloud Village."
"If you have eaten…"
"Die."
"Heh," The White Snake Sage let out a sneer.
The earth suddenly cracked apart, and a giant serpent, whose body was in no way weaker than Manda's, entirely crimson, slithered up from beneath the ground.
The Great Serpent, Garaga.
It had one blind eye, and in its only remaining single eye was written endless hatred and mania toward humans.
"Garaga, kill him. Your reward will be the same as Manda's."
"Don't order me!" Garaga was different from Manda.
It didn't need payment to kill.
Because hunting humans, for Garaga, that in itself was the greatest reward.
Garaga slowly crawled out of the ground, crimson scales glimmering with a steel-like sheen under the sunlight. It opened its fangs, two venomous teeth flashing with a ferocious cold light.
"Roar!"
Hard to imagine, this was a serpent's cry.
Waves of sound rippled outward. Amidst its roar, Garaga leapt skyward, covering the heavens and blocking the sun, like a true dragon soaring across the sky.
It looked down at Ryosuke, mouth wide, spraying endless reeking venom that blotted out the sky.
Crazy as it was, Garaga was no fool.
Manda in its eyes was indeed trash, yet within the Ryuchi Cave, still ranked among the more notable trash.
For Ryosuke to smash Manda's skull within just a few minutes, it had to admit, that was something.
Therefore, when Garaga struck, it was with its strongest move.
Once its venom touched you, even a single drop, under the effect of Sage Art, it would petrify into stone blocks, and then it would smash you to pieces with one swing of its tail.
Garaga raised its tail, its gaze locked onto Ryosuke. But in the instant their eyes met…
It felt something was off.
In Ryosuke's eyes, not only was there killing intent, but also an indescribable trace of… anticipation.
Like when eating a little matcha cake, suddenly discovering a red strawberry hidden inside.
This was self-evident.
Manda had given Ryosuke 800 soul fragments. And now, another serpent no weaker than Manda, Garaga.
Likely another 800 points of income.
Cold chill spread from the tip of its tail to its head, and Garaga's heart gave an inexplicable thump, immediately followed by endless fury, "Who do you think you are!"
"Even that old hag White Snake doesn't dare look down on me like this!"
Garaga opened its mouth once more, without a shred of holding back. Gray-black venom, seemingly infinite, splashed forth like a tsunami.
Its massive body also lunged faster, attacking down at Ryosuke.
Amid the sky of venom and the descending Garaga, Ryosuke still did not take the Ruin Greatsword from his back.
He only pulled Sasuke behind him and waved his hand lightly. Natural Energy gathered into a violent gale, blowing away the venom that rushed toward him.
But in Garaga's venom, there was also natural energy. A few drops still fell onto Ryosuke's hand.
"Fool! Turn into stone for me!"
Garaga roared, baring its fangs, ready to shatter petrified Ryosuke in a single bite.
The next second, it saw Ryosuke shake his hand.
Venom dripped down, yet the hand touched by venom remained pale and powerful.
"How is that possible?!"
Garaga's so-called petrification was merely Sage Art energy attached, which upon entering the body, triggered a phenomenon similar to Mount Myōboku's toad oil petrification.
With Ryosuke's body, there was no way such weak influence could affect him.
Ryosuke calmly watched Garaga, drawing ever closer. Without asking deliberately, the stench of blood from it was nauseating.
Looks like it had eaten quite a lot of "little snacks."
Ryosuke raised his hand and pointed at it.
Star Platinum appeared.
On one side was Garaga, massive as a train, heavy, each scale radiating killing intent.
On the other side, Ryosuke, not even as tall as its fangs.
The two were not on the same level at all.
The White Snake Sage lifted her eyes slightly.
Aoda and Tagorihime instinctively held their breath.
"Will he win?"
A young snake, not yet fully intelligent, stared blankly at the scene and whispered, "Do your best! Big red-scaled brother!"
The clan's eyes all fell on Garaga. Power surged through its body. It opened its huge mouth and bit down toward Ryosuke,
"Ora!"
Thud!
A dull sound.
Star Platinum's fist smashed into Garaga's face.
A half-second pause.
In the eyes of others, it seemed like an eternity had passed.
Garaga's charging momentum, under that one punch… stopped.
A mere human, just like that, easily and irresistibly halted Garaga's full-force strike.
Its massive body, under that punch, even lifted upward half a meter.
And this, was only the beginning.
Star Platinum took a deep breath, pupils flaring with brilliance, "Ora ora ora ora!"
After a flurry of punches, Star Platinum suddenly spun, returning behind Ryosuke.
Garaga froze midair like a frame of stop-motion.
Crack!
Garaga's entire face caved in. The sound of bones shattering thundered through the Ryuchi Cave. From the point of impact, waves rippled across its body like the sea.
The wave surged from its head down. Wherever it passed, Garaga's body stretched rigidly straight, crimson scales shattering, fountains of foul blood spraying out, only to collapse afterward.
BOOM!
Devoid of scales, Garaga crashed heavily to the ground.
"You… I…"
Garaga's mind went blank.
It couldn't understand what had happened. All thoughts, under that one punch, were wiped away. The only remaining feeling was a single word, 'pain'.
But even that pain soon ended.
[Slayed Great Serpent, Garaga, gained 800 soul fragments.]
Blood and brain matter spilled across the ground.
Ryosuke's boots stepped into it. With every step, faint splats echoed, not loud, but to the ears of the serpent sages, like the whispers of a devil.
Ryosuke once more returned to the collapsed cavern's edge and cast his gaze down.
The serpent sages, following his eyes, also looked.
The White Snake Sage still leaned on her cushion, smiling as she smoked, "I'm a little older than you, so shamelessly, I'll call you little brother."
"Brother Ryosuke, look, you destroyed my cave, killed my two right-hand serpents, counting the two serpent princesses from before, that makes four."
"Shouldn't that calm your anger?"
"You can take Manda and Garaga's corpses away. If that's not enough, I don't have much else, but living most of my life, I've saved plenty of gold and jewels. You can take some of that too."
"This way, you'll have both face and substance. The grudges between us, we can call even. How about it?"
The White Snake Sage saw very clearly.
Humans, as they say, were nothing more than quarrelsome monkeys.
From the time of the Sage of Six Paths, then Hashirama Senju, Uchiha Madara, and more recently Uchiha Itachi and Ryosuke,
Could they fight?
Naturally, they could.
But what was the point of being able to fight?
In this world, it wasn't about who could fight. It was about who could live to the end.
Manda and Garaga, the stronger they grew, the less they listened to her orders. For such subordinates, she simply used Ryosuke's hand to dispose of them.
It wasn't that she couldn't fight Ryosuke, just that there was no need to.
Anyway, with a ninja's lifespan, though Ryosuke never admitted he was a ninja, at most, wait a few decades, and Ryosuke would be dead. At that time, she could reclaim the Dragon-Snake Jewel.
The White Snake Sage felt she had already given Ryosuke enough face.
Ryosuke nodded and said, "You are a clever one."
"You agree then?" the White Snake Sage asked.
"… But you haven't answered my question." Ryosuke said, "Have you eaten humans?"
'Eaten humans?'
Of course, the White Snake Sage had. Otherwise, what was the "little snacks" that Manda begged her for?
Beneath the cushion she sat upon, there was a vast underground cavern.
Inside were all her tidbits.
The White Snake Sage stared at Ryosuke, her smiling eyes gradually revealing coldness. Her body slowly swelled.
A pure white, incomparably massive serpent appeared.
Upon its head was a purple silk forehead protector. Embedded in its crown was a red night pearl. On its tail were two golden rings. Every scale radiated a jade-like brilliance.
An overwhelming surge of natural energy and life force was released.
The White Snake Sage.
This was her true body.
The White Snake Sage opened her mouth, hoarse voice saying, "I gave you face."
"I gave you money."
"And I gave you the lives of two great serpents."
The White Snake Sage glared coldly at Ryosuke, "And yet you still dare think of killing me? I've lived since the era of the Sage of Six Paths! Do you truly think, just because you've slain a few Tailed Beasts, that you can kill me?!"
"Face?"
Ryosuke said flatly, "Do I need a beast that eats humans to give me face?"
He raised his hand, eyes sharp as blades.
"Star Platinum!"
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