"Hehe, Kiyohara-kun will be accompanying me somewhere."
Orochimaru said with a smile.
Hearing that, Kurenai turned to look at Kiyohara.
"I'm going with Lord Orochimaru to Ryuchi Cave."
Kiyohara explained.
"Ryuchi Cave?"
Kurenai had heard of the place before. It was said to be one of the Three Great Sacred Lands, but its location was extremely mysterious, and very few people were able to find it.
"You're going there to sign a summoning contract?"
Kurenai asked curiously.
"No. The White Snake Sage there wants to meet me, and I also want to see Ryuchi Cave Sage Arts for myself."
Kiyohara replied.
Of course, there was also the matter of fulfilling a last will.
Otherwise, he would have had to rely on the directions given by White Snake Kiyohara and search for Ryuchi Cave personally.
Now that Orochimaru was introducing him directly, it would obviously save a lot of trouble.
"Can I come too?"
Kurenai immediately expressed her desire to go along.
"I'll be back soon. Red can just wait for me here."
Kiyohara said.
"Fine…"
Kurenai instantly drooped like a wilted eggplant, losing all her energy.
"I'll take you with me on a mission next time."
Kiyohara rubbed her head gently.
Only then did Kurenai smile again.
"Then it's a promise!"
Kiyohara nodded slightly.
Afterward, he asked Orochimaru to wait for a moment while he went to inform Tsunade.
"That Orochimaru guy really is punctual."
After receiving the message, Tsunade went to find the shinobi in charge of the camp and informed him that she and Kiyohara would be leaving for a period of time.
"Lady Tsunade, you two are…"
Nara Enchu wanted to say something.
But Tsunade waved her hand dismissively and had already left with Kiyohara toward Orochimaru's direction.
Enchu could only shut his mouth helplessly.
For the next several days, Kiyohara and Tsunade traveled together with Orochimaru and Anko.
Orochimaru seemed to know a shortcut, so they moved extremely quickly along the way.
Eventually, the mist around them grew thicker and thicker, resembling a canyon perpetually shrouded in fog.
Kiyohara glanced at the mist surrounding them.
He remembered that Mount Myoboku had similar mist. Travelers who accidentally wandered into the area would eventually follow the fog back out, making it nearly impossible to find Mount Myoboku itself.
Clearly, Ryuchi Cave had a similar arrangement.
Tsunade walked beside Kiyohara, her gaze occasionally sweeping over the rock walls faintly visible through the mist on both sides.
"Orochimaru."
She suddenly spoke.
"When you trained in Sage Arts back then, did you also walk this same path?"
Orochimaru turned his head slightly.
"Hehe… Since when did Tsunade become interested in my training stories?"
"Just asking casually."
Tsunade crossed her arms, sounding indifferent.
"It's just that the road you're leading us through doesn't really feel like we're heading to a sacred land. It feels more like we're heading to some shady underground hideout."
"The cultivation of Sage Arts was never meant to be seen openly. It's nothing like your Shikkotsu Forest."
Orochimaru withdrew his gaze.
"Especially Ryuchi Cave."
Anko walked at the very back, curiously looking around everywhere. Small snakes occasionally slithered past her feet, and every time she crouched down wanting to touch one, Orochimaru stopped her with a single glance.
"Anko."
Orochimaru's voice was not loud, yet it instantly made Anko pull back her hand.
"Don't touch things carelessly."
"Y… Yes…"
Pouting, she jogged forward a few steps to catch up, though her gaze unconsciously drifted toward Kiyohara again.
Kiyohara wore black shinobi clothing, with several sealing scrolls hanging from his waist.
Anko looked at his profile for a moment before hurriedly looking away again.
Originally, she had planned to save money to repay his kindness and buy him some dango as well.
But by the time Anko realized what had happened, all the money she had earned had already turned into food inside her stomach.
A complete disaster!
Even Anko herself could only sigh helplessly at her love for sweets.
Kiyohara seemed to notice something and turned to glance at her.
"What's wrong?"
"N… Nothing!"
Anko hurriedly waved her hands, but her foot accidentally caught on a protruding rock, causing her entire body to pitch forward.
Kiyohara reached out immediately.
His movement was so fast it was nearly invisible. By the time Anko reacted, he had already caught her by the arm.
"Be careful."
Kiyohara released her arm afterward.
Anko's face instantly turned bright red.
"Th… Thank you…"
She lowered her head, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.
Tsunade glanced back at them, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly.
This brat really could attract young girls no matter where he went.
She withdrew her gaze and said nothing.
After walking for a while longer, the mist ahead gradually became denser.
Unlike ordinary mountain fog that felt cool and damp, this mist carried a faintly sweet scent. When inhaled, there was even a subtle sweetness lingering in the nose.
Orochimaru suddenly stopped.
"We've arrived."
He raised his hand and pointed toward the depths of the mist.
"The entrance to Ryuchi Cave is right ahead."
Everyone looked in the direction he indicated.
The fog slowly parted open.
Revealing a palace.
The palace was magnificent beyond compare, glittering with gold and jade. Towering eaves, carved beams, and ornate decorations appeared and disappeared within the mist.
The great doors stood wide open. Inside, long tables draped with fine silk cloths were covered in delicacies, exotic dishes, and fine wine.
The aroma drifted through the air, enough to make anyone's appetite stir.
Anko's eyes lit up immediately.
"It smells amazing…"
Without realizing it, she stepped forward.
"Anko."
Orochimaru's voice sounded again.
Anko froze midstep.
"That place…"
Just as Orochimaru was about to speak, Kiyohara spoke first.
"This is a genjutsu."
Kiyohara said calmly.
"If you want food, we can buy some after we go back."
Anko froze.
She looked at Kiyohara, then back at the dazzling palace.
A genjutsu?
But she could clearly smell the fragrance, hear the faint ringing sounds, and see the luxurious feast spread across the tables—
"But…"
Before she could finish speaking, the palace suddenly began to distort.
The glittering walls melted like wax. The delicious food transformed into rotten snakes and insects, while the silk covered tables became jagged stones.
In the blink of an eye, the luxurious palace vanished entirely.
In its place stood a dark forest blanketed in dense mist.
The ground beneath their feet was covered in slippery moss. Ancient trees blocked out the sky above, while the surrounding air carried a decaying, damp stench.
Anko was completely stunned.
"Th… This is…"
"Tagorihime's test."
Orochimaru's voice echoed through the fog.
"The entrance to Ryuchi Cave is never in the same place. Only those who can truly see through greed can find the correct path."
A soft laugh suddenly echoed through the mist.
The laugh sounded alluring to the bone, yet somehow made everyone's spine turn cold.
"Orochimaru, the person the White Snake Sage wishes to meet certainly has excellent eyes. His performance is even better than yours was during your first visit."
A graceful figure slowly emerged from the mist.
It was a woman dressed in flowing white robes. Her pale green hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and her face was so exquisitely beautiful that it almost did not seem human.
Tagorihime.
She walked directly in front of Kiyohara, slightly bending forward as she leaned close to his face.
"So you're Kiyohara?"
Kiyohara did not retreat.
He met her pale green eyes directly.
Kiyohara knew that this was merely her transformed appearance.
Once Tagorihime became excited, those eyes would turn into golden vertical snake pupils, accompanied by red markings extending toward her nose.
"You saw through the genjutsu quite quickly."
Her voice carried a teasing sweetness, yet it was impossible to tell whether she was speaking sincerely or merely probing him.
"Even your teacher was momentarily distracted, but you recognized it at a glance."
Clearly, Tagorihime already knew about the relationship between Tsunade and Kiyohara.
She looked toward Tsunade.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow slightly.
She truly had not noticed the illusion.
More accurately, she had not even considered the possibility of genjutsu.
After all, she had only come to Ryuchi Cave to accompany Kiyohara. Her mind had never been focused on any sort of test.
Still, after being exposed, she was not annoyed. She simply crossed her arms and looked at Kiyohara with a faintly amused smile.
"Brat, your eyesight is pretty good."
Tsunade remarked.
"My sensei taught me well."
Kiyohara replied with a smile.
Then he turned toward Tagorihime again.
"So, does that mean I passed the test?"
"Of course."
Tagorihime stepped aside and gestured deeper into the mist.
"Please."
After speaking, she added another sentence.
"However, if you wish to meet the White Snake Sage, you still have to pass two more tests."
Hearing this, Kiyohara frowned slightly.
The White Snake Sage wanted to meet him, yet there were still tests?
Seemingly noticing his confusion, Orochimaru explained.
"There are three tests in total before meeting the White Snake Sage. They are helpful for training Ryuchi Cave Sage Arts."
Orochimaru said.
"The genjutsu just now was a test of greed and gluttony."
"I see."
Kiyohara nodded slightly.
He already knew about this.
In Boruto, the plot of these three trials had been shown completely, so Kiyohara already knew the methods to overcome them.
Right now, all he needed to do was pass the tests just like in the original story.
Kiyohara stepped forward.
Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Anko followed behind him as they passed through the mist.
On the other side of the fog, the scenery changed once again.
Before them stood a stone built hall.
The walls of the hall were covered in moss, stalactites intertwined overhead, and the stone floor beneath their feet was slippery with moisture.
Deep within the hall, a gigantic stone gate could vaguely be seen.
The gate was tightly shut.
Standing before it was a young girl.
The girl looked no older than ten years old. She was small in stature and wore a white robe. Her dark blue hair flowed down to her waist, and atop her head rested a tiny golden crown with a golden sphere embedded at its peak.
Her eyes were large, but the pupils were vertical and golden, while deep red eyeliner curled upward at the corners of her eyes, giving her pale face an eerie beauty.
She stood there like an exquisitely crafted porcelain doll.
But when she smiled, her sharp teeth revealed the coldness of a serpent.
"You've arrived?"
Ichikishimahime's voice was crisp and carried the charming sweetness unique to a young girl.
Tilting her head, her gaze swept across the group before finally landing on Kiyohara.
"Orochimaru, is this the person the White Snake Sage wants to meet?"
"Mm."
Orochimaru responded briefly.
Ichikishimahime circled around Kiyohara once, examining him from top to bottom.
"He does look quite handsome… but whether you can enter or not depends on yourself."
Then Ichikishimahime waved her hand.
In an instant, Tsunade, Anko, Orochimaru, and the others vanished into the mist, while Kiyohara alone appeared inside a cave filled with countless holes and gaps.
"Hm?"
Tsunade instinctively prepared to act, but Orochimaru immediately stopped her.
"Kiyohara is undergoing the trial. Once it is over, the mist will disappear."
Only then did Tsunade suppress the urge to intervene.
Kiyohara looked around at the completely changed surroundings.
Ichikishimahime appeared before him again.
She raised a hand and pointed toward the countless depressions and holes covering the cave walls behind her. They varied in size and depth.
"See those holes?"
Ichikishimahime walked over and patted the cold stone wall.
"Use the crystals on the ground to fill every single one of them."
She pointed toward the corner of the hall.
There was a pile of crystal stones stacked there.
Each differed in size and shape.
The largest were as big as grinding stones, while the smallest were only the size of fingernails.
It was obvious that these crystals were supposed to perfectly fit the gaps in the walls.
"Once they're all filled, the trial is complete."
"Pretty simple, right?"
Ichikishimahime smiled brightly.
Of course, it was not that simple.
Because some of the holes had shapes that did not correspond to any crystal at all.
"It does seem pretty simple."
Kiyohara replied.
She looked at him curiously.
How would this human, the one whom the White Snake Sage personally wished to meet, handle the challenge?
Kiyohara waved his hand, causing the crystals in the cave to rise into the air.
The next moment, he spread his fingers and pointed his palm toward the floating crystals being stirred by the currents of Wind Release chakra.
Chakra began to gather.
A blue white glow shone from his palm, condensing into a rapidly rotating sphere of chakra.
Rasengan!
Ichikishimahime blinked in confusion.
What was he trying to do?
Then she watched as Kiyohara slammed the Rasengan directly into the pile of crystals.
Boom!
Under Kiyohara's control, the entire crystal pile shattered into powder.
Countless tiny crystal fragments spread through the air like drifting smoke, forming a gray white haze.
Kiyohara raised his left hand.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
A gust of wind surged from his palm, carrying the crystal powder toward the holes in the wall.
In the blink of an eye, every single gap had been filled with crystal dust.
Smooth as a mirror.
Ichikishimahime's mouth slowly formed a perfect circle.
She looked at Kiyohara, then at the completely filled holes inside the cave.
"Th… This… this also counts?"
Her voice rose sharply.
"Wasn't the task just to fill them?"
Kiyohara brushed the crystal dust from his hands.
"I filled them."
Ichikishimahime froze.
She had overseen this trial for hundreds of years and had seen all kinds of people come seeking Sage Arts.
Some honestly carried the crystals one by one, sweating profusely as they worked day and night before finally getting the idea to search nearby caves for matching crystals.
Some gave up halfway, collapsing onto the floor and crying.
Some attempted to blast the walls open with ninjutsu, only to cough up blood from the rebounding force.
Some even tried bribing her with all kinds of promises and benefits.
But nobody had ever done this before.
Because the crystals themselves were part of the conditions of the trial.
No one had dared risk destroying them.
"Y… You really…"
Ichikishimahime opened her mouth, wanting to say something, only to realize she had no idea what to say.
Why did this person refuse to follow the normal path?
After a long pause, she suddenly laughed.
"You humans are interesting."
She clasped her hands behind her back and circled around Kiyohara again.
Due to her childlike appearance, she was only about half his height.
Then her tiny nose twitched slightly.
Suddenly, she sensed an oddly familiar aura coming from Kiyohara.
Her little brows furrowed in confusion.
After thinking about it for a while and failing to understand why, she gave up trying to figure it out.
"I told you to use crystals to fill the holes. Who said you could crush the crystals into powder first?"
"The rules only said to fill them. They never specified how."
Kiyohara looked at her calmly.
Boruto had used a similar method.
Although Boruto had first matched the corresponding crystals one by one before crushing the remaining crystals into suitable shapes to complete the trial.
"I filled them, so the task is complete."
"Fine, fine. You pass."
Ichikishimahime said helplessly.
She stepped aside, and the surrounding mist dispersed.
"But there's still one more trial ahead. It's guarded by Tagitsuhime, and she's not as easygoing as I am."
"Understood."
Kiyohara replied.
Only then did Tsunade and the others see Kiyohara again.
Seeing this, Tsunade quickly walked to his side.
As she passed Ichikishimahime, her steps paused slightly.
"What kind of expression is that?"
She looked at the girl's face, which was obviously trying to suppress laughter.
"Nothing, nothing."
Ichikishimahime waved her hands dismissively, though her golden snake eyes curved into crescent moons.
"I just think this brat… is very interesting."
"Go on, go on. There's still another trial ahead."
Her figure quickly disappeared back into the mist, leaving only a string of clear laughter behind.
Tsunade withdrew her gaze and followed Kiyohara forward.
The path beyond became even darker than before.
The stone walls on both sides were covered in moss, while the slippery ground made walking difficult.
The air was thick with damp decay, mixed faintly with a fishy sweetness.
Anko stayed tightly behind Kiyohara, nervously glancing around from time to time.
"Um… Kiyohara…"
she spoke softly.
"Hm?"
"That Tagitsuhime person… is she really strong?"
"I don't know."
Kiyohara continued walking without slowing down.
He had met Tagitsuhime before.
In truth, each of the three great snake princesses possessed their own unique abilities and personal Sage Arts.
The first, Tagorihime, possessed Sage Art: Matter Transformation. Using Sage Chakra, she could transform an empty area into a magnificent Ryuchi Cave castle filled with delicious food to lure people seeking Sage training. Once the victims ate the food, their bodies and chakra would be devoured by her.
Ichikishimahime possessed Sage Art: Absorption.
She could create an illusory environment where those seeking Sage training were forced to fill every hole in the stone walls with crystals in order to leave, all while their chakra was continuously drained away.
Just like Tagorihime, anyone who failed would have their body and chakra devoured by her.
Finally, Tagitsuhime possessed Sage Art: Binding.
By injecting Sage Chakra through her sharp fangs, she could inflict hallucinations upon her targets and render them unable to move.
In short, all of these were essentially genjutsu based Sage Arts.
"Still, since this is a Ryuchi Cave trial, it probably won't be easy."
Anko swallowed nervously.
She gripped the corner of her clothes tighter and unconsciously moved a little closer to Kiyohara.
At that exact moment—
A white shadow shot out from the side!
The speed was astonishing, so fast that its trajectory could barely be seen, leaving behind only a faint afterimage.
Its target was Kiyohara's neck!
Anko cried out in shock.
Tsunade instinctively raised her hand.
But Kiyohara was faster.
At the very moment the white shadow lunged toward him, he simply tilted his body slightly.
The white figure swept past the side of his neck, the wind from the attack slicing away several strands of black hair.
Then Kiyohara raised his right arm.
Elbow strike.
The white figure was smashed by Kiyohara's elbow and let out a muffled groan before stumbling backward.
Only then did everyone clearly see her appearance.
It was another woman dressed in white robes.
Tagitsuhime.
Tagitsuhime's gaze landed on Kiyohara, surprise flashing through her eyes.
"Good reflexes. But…"
Her body blurred as she lunged again!
This time, her target was still Kiyohara's neck.
Inside her opened mouth, sharp fangs gleamed coldly.
Yet the corners of Orochimaru's mouth slowly curled upward.
Thunk.
A dull sound echoed.
Tagitsuhime suddenly froze.
Her fangs had bitten directly into Kiyohara's neck.
But they could not pierce through.
A layer of black metallic color had emerged beneath his skin, hard as forged steel.
Earth Release: Earth Spear.
Tagitsuhime was stunned.
"You…"
She released her bite and stepped back half a step, staring at Kiyohara's neck.
The black metallic layer slowly faded away, revealing perfectly intact skin beneath.
There was not even a tooth mark left behind.
"What kind of technique is that?"
Tagitsuhime's voice carried genuine shock.
"Just a hardening technique."
Kiyohara replied calmly.
He raised his eyes, and the crimson Sharingan glowed within the dim cave.
Three tomoe rotated slowly.
"Do we really need to continue?"
He looked directly at Tagitsuhime.
"There's probably no point in continuing genjutsu based trials anymore, right?"
Was he, Kiyohara, really supposed to fail the tests of the three snake princesses?
"That's true. You possess other Sage Arts, and you also have the Sharingan."
Tagitsuhime retracted her fangs and stepped back two paces, carefully examining Kiyohara from head to toe.
"Tagorihime said you saw through her genjutsu without even using the Sharingan. Ichikishimahime said you filled all her holes. I didn't believe them."
She shook her head slowly.
"But now I do."
She stepped aside and gestured deeper into the tunnel.
"My apologies for earlier. We had to follow the process. Now, please proceed."
Tagitsuhime said.
If Kiyohara could already see through Tagorihime's genjutsu without even activating the Sharingan, then now that he had opened it, even injecting her own Sage Chakra into him probably would not have any effect.
After all, Kiyohara himself also possessed Sage Chakra.
"Let's go."
Kiyohara nodded slightly and walked forward.
As he passed beside Tagitsuhime, her voice came from the side.
"The White Snake Sage is waiting for you inside."
After a brief pause, she added softly,
"Good luck."
Tagitsuhime said.
She had never offered blessings to a human before.
But after meeting Kiyohara, she kept feeling an inexplicable sense of familiarity, and the words slipped out unconsciously.
"Alright."
Kiyohara nodded faintly.
The White Snake Sage, huh.
Come to think of it, this would probably be his first time seeing the true body of one of the sages from the Three Great Sacred Lands.
Even the Slug Sage, he had only ever seen split bodies of rather than the true main body residing within Shikkotsu Forest.
(End of Chapter)