In the cave Ichikishimahime used to test those who sought power, the oddly shaped holes on the stone door were replaced by movable puzzle pieces. Strangely, these puzzle pieces had no patterns.
"Want to give it a try?"
Orochimaru looked at Tagorihime, Ichikishimahime, and Tagitsuhime, who had been staring at the stone door for a long time.
"Is this a puzzle?"
Tagitsuhime recognized the puzzle on the stone door, but with no patterns on the pieces, how was one supposed to solve it?
This was clearly designed to prevent anyone from passing the trial!
Tagitsuhime realized Orochimaru's true intention.
"If this is a puzzle, how do you solve it?"
Tagorihime didn't realize the stone door was a puzzle and speculated, "It must be some kind of special mechanism, right?"
"What kind of trial is this? A trial is meant to be passed, not to prevent people from passing."
Ichikishimahime had stared for a long time but couldn't figure out what the blocks on the stone door were for. If it was a puzzle, there were no patterns; if it was a mechanism, there was no obvious way to interact with it!
It was clearly a test not meant to be passed!
"This is to test IQ. If you..."
Before Orochimaru could finish his sentence, he was met with the murderous glares of the Three Snake Princesses. He cleared his throat, placed his hand on the stone door, and said, "Just inject Chakra."
As Chakra was injected into the stone door, the puzzle pieces emitted different colored lights. Orochimaru casually pieced the puzzle together. The light faded, and the previously unpatterned puzzle revealed a painting.
"This is..."
Tagorihime and Tagitsuhime looked at the figure in the painting, then at Ichikishimahime beside them.
The figure in the painting was Ichikishimahime, lying lazily in the air, her languid posture vividly depicted by the exquisite brushwork.
Although they were all puzzle games, Orochimaru felt that the puzzle he casually designed was more difficult than Ichikishimahime's trial, capable of weeding out many unintelligent fools.
"This is the trial you designed!"
Ichikishimahime looked at the completed painting of herself in surprise.
"How is it? Isn't it better than your childish trial?"
Orochimaru saw the expression on Ichikishimahime's face and knew that his designed trial had already received her approval. He then continued, "If you want someone to pass the trial, just give them a slight hint. Injecting Chakra into the stone door will show the puzzle pieces emitting different colored lights. Arranging them in a specific order will reveal this painting. Try it a few times, and you'll get it."
"Orochimaru, you're amazing!"
Ichikishimahime looked at Orochimaru with admiration, asking curiously, "How did you manage to make the puzzle pieces emit different colored lights?"
"The puzzle pieces use different materials, which are almost indistinguishable from the surface."
Orochimaru, while researching Chakra explosives, liquid invisible contact lenses, and Chakra Poison, had come across many materials and discovered those that emitted different lights when Chakra was injected.
Other than that, these materials had no other special uses.
The reason it turned into a painting after the puzzle was completed was because each puzzle piece had a formula set by Orochimaru. The formula, activated by the Chakra of the person undergoing the trial, would display the hidden painting once the puzzle pieces were arranged in a specific order.
Simply put, this puzzle was a little gadget Orochimaru made using his knowledge.
"Different materials..."
Ichikishimahime thought of how Orochimaru had improved the soldier pill formula, and the rebirth pill was also developed by her. It wasn't surprising that he could do something like this.
"So, are you satisfied with the trial I designed?"
Orochimaru reminded Ichikishimahime of their agreement.
"I'll reluctantly say you passed."
Ichikishimahime had to admit that Orochimaru's designed trial was indeed better than hers.
"Good that you haven't forgotten. I need to continue my training in Sage Art: White Rage Technique."
Sage Art: White Rage Technique, as one of the two great Sage Arts of Ryūchi Cave, was more difficult for Orochimaru to master than Inorganic Reincarnation. To this day, she had not successfully performed it.
Inorganic Reincarnation gives life to inorganic matter through Sage Chakra nature transformation.
So, is Sage Art: White Rage Technique a combination of Sage Chakra nature transformation and shape transformation?
Orochimaru returned to her training cave, made hand seals, and condensed Sage Chakra in her mouth.
"Sage Art: White Rage Technique!"
A malnourished, glowing red dragon wobbled out of Orochimaru's mouth, clutching an irregularly shaped black orb that looked like it could explode at any moment.
The glowing red dragon circled the black orb. Before it could merge into the black orb, the black orb shattered first, erupting in dazzling light and deafening noise.
"It failed..."
Orochimaru straightened up. She could feel the effects of the failed Sage Art: White Rage Technique on herself.
If it were the true Sage Art: White Rage Technique, she would only be able to move freely by strengthening her body with Sage Chakra to resist the effects of the White Rage Technique, allowing her to attack the enemy while they were affected by the White Rage Technique, rather than being hard-controlled by the White Rage Technique along with the enemy.
In the following time, while practicing Sage Art, Orochimaru would also go to the Great Snake Nest to adapt to the power of Sage Mode. The great snakes residing in the Great Snake Nest were excellent sparring partners, and fighting them greatly benefited her.
Every few days, she would ask the Three Snake Princesses to send her Shadow Clones out of Ryūchi Cave. In Ryūchi Cave, she found it difficult to sense the Flying Thunder God Technique formula outside.
Instead of exerting effort to have the Shadow Clone use the Flying Thunder God Technique to go to the Laboratory and Laboratory Base, it was better to ask the unusually idle Three Snake Princesses for help.
Ichikishimahime and the others were very puzzled as to what Orochimaru's Shadow Clones were doing.
As Orochimaru became more proficient in using the power of Sage Mode, most of the great snakes in the Great Snake Nest were powerless against her. Fighting her offered no experience at all.
The great snakes, forced to be sparring partners, did not think so. They felt that their long snake lives had entered their darkest hour. They protested more than once to the White Snake Sage and the Three Snake Princesses, strongly requesting that Orochimaru be sent out of Ryūchi Cave to restore peace to the Great Snake Nest!
Previously, the great snakes of the Great Snake Nest were the most irritable snakes in Ryūchi Cave. Now, it was truly difficult for them to be irritable. With Orochimaru visiting them daily, even the most irritable temper couldn't flare up.
Now, when they saw Orochimaru, they would hide from her, simply not wanting to fight her again.
Island Laboratory Base
Uchiha Madara looked at the car flying through the air, which looked much smaller than a truck, had a more exquisite appearance, and was fiery red.
Was this the latest developed car that Si had mentioned?
Uchiha Madara couldn't take his eyes off the car. He could tell that the car could fly due to its unique structure and Wind Release Chakra.
The car descended from the air and stopped steadily in front of Uchiha Madara.
Si got out of the car, closed the door, and looked at Uchiha Madara, saying, "Old man, how's my car? This is the latest developed vehicle, not for sale to the public yet."
"Not for sale to the public?"
Uchiha Madara was a bit disappointed. He really wanted to try what it felt like to drive this car.
"Old man, seeing as you don't have many years left, I'll give you this car."
Si saw that Uchiha Madara was very tempted by the car. He casually threw the special authenticated key over, pointed at the fiery red car, and said, "See? This is how technology changes the world, you old geezer who doesn't understand anything!"
No, I can't laugh. I have to hold it in.
Just thinking about Uchiha Madara speeding, Si's mouth was almost unable to stay shut.
"Then I'll accept it."
Uchiha Madara didn't care about what Si said, nor was he polite to her. He glanced at the exquisitely shaped authenticated key in his hand and eagerly walked towards the car.
If he still couldn't awaken the Rinnegan, how much longer could his increasingly frail body last? Who knew?
Perhaps one day, he would fall asleep and never wake up, entering eternal slumber.
No matter how unwilling he was, with the Rinnegan still unawakened, there was nothing he could do. Instead of waiting for death underground, he might as well do something he was interested in while alive.
For example, driving around.
And so, an old man driving a fiery red car appeared on the northern peninsula north of the Land of Iron and in the nearby sea areas.
Uchiha Madara would occasionally drive his beloved car to other sea areas, either flying in the air or driving on the sea surface.
People on merchant ships and cargo ships at sea were very curious to see this fiery red car. From its appearance, it was clear that the car was related to the White Snake Pharmaceutical Technology Company.
Land of Lightning, Kumogakure.
A large unit of Ninja left Kumogakure, advancing by land towards the west of the Land of Frost.
Black Zetsu watched Kumogakure's movements, as if it could already see the destruction of Uzushiogakure.
Similar to Kumogakure, Iwagakure and Sunagakure also dispatched units, their target seemingly Konoha.
A massive Air Fortress subtly emerged from the clouds. Inside a huge cylindrical room, a large mass of flesh Wriggling strangely.
Land of Fire, Konoha.
Hokage Building, the atmosphere in the conference room was heavy and oppressive.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was grim. He took a deep drag from his pipe to calm himself.
"Hiruzen, according to the intelligence gathered by Root, a unit of several thousand Ninja from Kumogakure will cross the Land of Frost soon… Iwagakure and Sunagakure have also mobilized several thousand Ninja, and will likely act very soon. Their target is Konoha."
Danzo Shimura's face was gloomy. He took a deep breath and continued, "This time, we may be facing a combined attack from Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure."
Bang—!
Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his hand on the armrest, unable to suppress the rage in his heart. "What are they thinking? Haven't the wounds from the last war been enough? Why start another war?!"
Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure's sudden actions this time were baseless. It was as if they had agreed upon it, suddenly attacking Konoha.
"War isn't something we can avoid just because we don't want it, Hiruzen, you know that very well."
Homura Mitokado sighed. Having experienced war himself, how could he not understand Hiruzen Sarutobi's feelings?
"Homura is right. War isn't something we can control. If they come to attack us, how can we just sit and wait for death?"
Utatane Koharu's face showed a hint of anger. It was clear that Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure saw Konoha developing too well, so they united to attack Konoha, just like in the last war.
"Organize the intelligence gathered by the Ninja, enter a state of war readiness! Assemble all of Konoha's Jonin, and prepare for battle!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that Konoha could only fight now. Faced with the attacks from Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure, there was no other choice but to engage.
"What about Uzushiogakure? Should we inform them?"
Danzo Shimura thought of Uzushiogakure, which had signed a friendly agreement with Konoha.
"Danzo, this is Konoha's war. We cannot involve Uzushiogakure, which has been on good terms with Konoha for generations."
Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Danzo Shimura from the corner of his eye. Lord Second Hokage Tobirama did not ask Uzushiogakure for help in the last war, so how could they ask Uzushiogakure to assist Konoha?
Konoha was not yet so weak that it needed Uzushiogakure's help!
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