Time stopped flowing.
Ryosuke pulled out the Ruin Greatsword, flicked his wrist, and the bandages wrapped around the blade edge unraveled.
Ripple and Natural Energy poured into it, and the blade, already close to two meters long, grew longer again, turning into a light-blade a full ten meters long.
Ryosuke and Star Platinum exchanged a glance, then stepped forward together.
The great blade swung, the Ora relentless.
One man and one Stand, bursting out with absolute speed and strength.
From the White Snake Sage's head all the way down, they hacked and smashed each section of its body into pulp, straight down to its tail.
Its tail had merged together with the ground of Ryuchi Cave, endless Natural Energy flowing along the earth into its body.
Ryosuke raised the great blade high, and cut it off in one stroke.
9.9 seconds, not the slightest bit wasted.
Time began to flow again.
Chi~
One second before, the White Snake Sage had still been cold, arrogant, mocking. Now, every inch of its skin burst open with blood, countless pieces of fragrant flesh and blood spraying out, one piece landing on Aoda's eye.
"So… the White Snake Sage can bleed too?"
Aoda was a dumb snake, staring blankly in place.
Tagorihime had already been scared stiff by the scene before her.
She knew it too well.
That's exactly how Yugito was beaten to death. Afterwards it was Manda, then Garaga, and now it was the White Snake Sage's turn.
Her eyes filled with despair.
'Could it be that the White Snake Sage too, just like those before, would be ruthlessly beaten to death by Ryosuke?!'
'What kind of monster have we provoked? A so-called Sage of the Six Paths himself?!'
Tagorihime looked at Ryosuke.
But what she saw was Ryosuke without a hint of joy, his grip on the blade tightening a bit more. The next second, Tagorihime saw the flesh and blood on the ground being swallowed by the earth.
The White Snake Sage's body, almost beaten into meat paste, in an instant restored to whole.
Of course.
Tagorihime hadn't seen the White Snake Sage fight for so long, she'd nearly forgotten, her old self… was invincible.
Undying, immortal.
Limitless power.
Knowing all things.
In this world, not a single person existed who could defeat the White Snake Sage.
"Not bad for loosening the muscles and moving the blood."
The White Snake Sage slowly got back up, "Too bad, you can't kill me! There simply cannot exist anyone in this world who can kill me!"
It opened its mouth, a phantom crimson dragon with a pearl in its jaws flying out.
"Sage Art, White Rage Technique!"
The crimson dragon, pearl at its center, spun at extreme speed, until suddenly, at a certain point, it exploded.
A blinding flash and ear-piercing sonic blast that could blind and deafen erupted.
With the explosion, the air vibrated with abnormal ultra-high frequency tremors, transmitted instantly through the air into Ryosuke's body.
His skin, muscles, even bones all quivered along with it.
The ripples and Natural Energy in his body were disrupted, movement difficult.
Just one technique, and a man would lose his five senses, his body frozen.
Truly worthy of an old monster surviving since the age of the Sage of Six Paths, and this was just a control-type Sage Art. The real attack followed right after, "Sage Art, Inorganic Reincarnation!"
The earth writhed like the sea, countless rocks turning into venomous snakes, blades and spears, carrying overwhelming Natural Energy, stabbing toward Ryosuke at speeds the naked eye could not perceive.
Time stopped again.
Ryosuke rubbed his sore eyes, strode right up to the White Snake Sage.
This time, he didn't rush into brute force.
The recovery ability the White Snake Sage displayed was completely different from Orochimaru, from the Cult Leader, even from Ryosuke himself.
Orochimaru relied on a body modified hundreds of times, plus all kinds of survival ninjutsu.
The Cult Leader relied on rituals, formations, stealing the lives of innocent beings.
Ryosuke relied on ripple, Natural Energy, and deep development of his own genes.
All three of these shared one limit, when the life force or stolen energy within the body was exhausted, recovery would stop.
But, the White Snake Sage gave Ryosuke a totally different feeling.
Ryosuke could sense the breath of all things. When he swung his blade earlier, he had blasted a large amount of ripple into the White Snake Sage's body to destroy its cells.
Even if hard to kill, with many strange secret techniques of recovery, restoring a body from minced flesh to whole should at least cause fluctuations, drops in life force.
But… there were none.
The White Snake Sage's life-force field not only did not diminish, it grew even more vigorous.
Ryosuke walked to the White Snake Sage's side, stretched out a hand, placed it on her body.
Ripple flowed in.
Following the Sage's cells and the flow of Natural Energy, tracing a circuit, then the ripple… flowed into the ground.
Time stop ended.
"You and the earth are one?"
Ryosuke hadn't expected it, but only this could explain it.
No wonder it couldn't be killed. No wonder there wasn't the slightest fluctuation of life force.
Because the White Snake Sage, after a thousand years of cultivation, had already fused with the earth, and the "Inorganic Reincarnation" Sage Art was nothing but an extended ability of this fusion.
The White Snake Sage struck the ground with her tail, the pipe once again falling into her mouth,
"So quick to notice? You are indeed a perceptive young man. Too bad, you made the mistake all young men do, "
"A lack of respect for your elders."
"Sage Art, Super Inorganic Reincarnation!"
The earth shifted again, but this time, not limited to Ryuchi Cave's range.
A flood of Natural Energy released. With the White Snake Sage at its center, within a radius of three kilometers, all ground was given "life."
"For a thousand years, I have witnessed the changes of mountains, rivers, lakes, seas."
The White Snake Sage breathed out smoke, "Ryosuke, I watched your battle with Yugito. You can control ocean waves. But earthquakes, landslides, tectonic shifts… these are the 'waves' that belong to the earth."
The earth rose up behind the White Snake Sage.
Stones, trees, animals… all of it like tiny splashes in water, unable to stir even a ripple before this 'Sage Art.'
Only when truly standing before a rising wave of the earth itself could one feel their own insignificance.
The White Snake Sage stared coldly at Ryosuke, "I very much want to know, can you face the wave of the earth?"
'Tailed beasts?'
The power the White Snake Sage displayed wasn't anything a tailed beast could compare to.
This was, in the truest sense, disaster-level power.
Ryosuke dodged the crushing earth, grabbed Sasuke in one hand, and soared into the sky.
Hands made of earth reached to grab. Ryosuke twisted and turned, when he couldn't dodge, he slashed them apart.
Flying up a kilometer, the attacks from the earth finally grew too far away to reach them.
The earth's wave returned to calm again. The White Snake Sage smoked, her tail curling from the ground to lift a "snack," tossing it into her mouth, crunch crunch chewing.
"My eyes can see everything happening in the shinobi world. Ryosuke, with your power, you're free to run rampant in almost every place under heaven, except for three."
"Myoboku Mountain, Shikkotsu Forest, and my Ryuchi Cave."
The White Snake Sage, the Toad Sage, the Slug Sage.
Three ancient beings surviving to this day, each walking their chosen path, under time's grind walking further than any other.
The Toad Sage pursued the "future," able to leap beyond the river of time, see the far shore, lay plans first.
The Slug Sage chased the "past," achieving chaos returning to one. In the entire Shikkotsu Forest, there was only one slug; all were its clones, yet all were its body.
And the White Snake Sage.
"…I am a pragmatist. I remain in the 'present.' The strongest strength, Sage Arts, and the earth beneath me, this is my power."
"As for eating humans?"
She curled up two... three more snacks, tossed them into her mouth.
Crunch~ Crunch~
In the silence the sound was piercing.
The White Snake Sage spat out a small head, "I eat them. What can you do about it?"
"You want to kill me?"
"You think you f*cking deserve to?!"
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/XenosX
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰h