Tagorihime slithered around him excitedly.
Her massive snake body crushed the grass and trees.
"You should have just said you wanted to sign a contract earlier! Although I wouldn't have agreed right away, if you showed me your cooking and I liked it, I definitely would have signed! Why did you have to beat me up?!"
Byakuya still couldn't accept this sudden genre shift.
It was just too hard to imagine.
"You seem nervous."
"Your body is too big."
"Oh, right. You humans are so tiny, so naturally I look huge to you. Wait a sec. Although I haven't learned Sage Art from the Sage yet, my sisters taught me the Transformation Jutsu."
"Ryuchi Cave's Transformation Jutsu?"
"Uh-huh."
A moment later, a young girl wearing a long blue-black dress stood in front of Byakuya.
Her appearance was sweet, and her voice was just as lovely.
"You're taller than me," Tagorihime said, comparing their heights. "Makes sense. In terms of snake years in Ryuchi Cave, we're the same age."
Byakuya was dumbfounded.
Tagorihime asked, "What are you surprised about?"
"I..."
"Haha, are you shy?"
"Not shy, just... having trouble processing."
She was very smart. Tilting her round chin up, she thought briefly, then realized, "Oh, I get it. Is my true form particularly scary by human standards?"
"Uh, I wouldn't say that exactly."
"It is scary! Hmph! But by snake standards, I'm beautiful."
Byakuya caught the keyword in her earlier sentence. "The Sage hasn't taught you Sage Art yet?"
"Uh-huh. I need to complete my training time and pass three trivial little tests to prove to the Sage that my mind is ready to learn Sage Art."
"Is your chakra Senjutsu chakra?"
"You're so strong, but your head is kinda slow. Of course my chakra is Senjutsu chakra! Let's go, let's go! I'm starving to death! Make me something delicious!"
Dragging Byakuya by the hand, Tagorihime walked a few steps before stopping abruptly. "Oh, wait. There are no ingredients."
Byakuya pointed to the forest. "Ingredients are everywhere."
For this Root mission, he had been given four days to prepare. To avoid starving in the Land of Rivers, he had brought an iron pot, utensils, and seasonings.
Another lesson learned from last time.
He said, "Let me recover some stamina first."
"You humans are so fragile."
"You have Senjutsu chakra; I don't."
"True. Sister Tagitsuhime said we recover fast because we have Senjutsu chakra. But Ryuchi Cave's heritage isn't known for recovery. Those stinky toads at Mount Myoboku focus more on that."
Byakuya got straight to the point. "Can you take me to learn Ryuchi Cave Senjutsu?"
Tagorihime reached out to take off his mask.
Byakuya didn't stop her.
"Wow, you're really handsome. I like it." She touched Byakuya's face. "I thought you were ugly and wore the mask because you were afraid of scaring people."
He put the Shuten-doji mask back on. "I don't like exposing my identity. Can you take me to Ryuchi Cave?"
"Aren't you afraid of death? Someone once found Ryuchi Cave and begged the Sage to teach him Sage Art. He couldn't handle the natural energy and became food. The Sage ate him."
Byakuya smiled. "I found you by sensing the fluctuations of natural energy."
Tagorihime's eyes lit up. "No wonder you could find me just now! So you can sense natural energy?"
"Yes, but I can't absorb it yet."
"Of course. Natural energy is everywhere, but it's elusive and very dangerous. Only the heritage of the Three Great Sage Regions provides a way to utilize it."
Saying this, she held Byakuya's hand.
It was smooth and cool, like a snake.
"In that case, it's highly likely you can handle natural energy. If you pass the tests, the Sage will teach you Sage Art, and you'll become one of us in Ryuchi Cave."
"Alright, alright, enough talk. My stomach hurts from hunger. Time for good food."
Byakuya had recovered about thirty percent of his stamina.
Letting Tagorihime lead him, they searched for ingredients in the forest. Mushrooms were the most abundant, but most were poisonous.
He picked some edible ones and let Tagorihime carry them.
Using his katana, he killed a wild boar.
Arriving at a riverbank in the forest, Byakuya started cooking.
Wild boar meat was difficult to handle; it had a gamey smell. Even after draining the blood, he had to boil it multiple times, constantly skimming off the scum.
Using only mushrooms, wild vegetables, and boar meat, he made six dishes for Tagorihime.
Given the limited conditions, he couldn't achieve perfection in presentation, so Byakuya focused entirely on taste.
"Is it ready? Is it ready? I really can't wait!"
Tagorihime drooled, circling him anxiously.
Her drool hit the ground, sizzling into wisps of poisonous mist.
Luckily, he had eaten the Snake Fruit from Ryuchi Cave. Otherwise, being this close, Byakuya wouldn't have been able to withstand the poison Tagorihime inadvertently released.
"Eat this dish first. See how it tastes."
"Ah! I'm digging in!"
She tasted a small bite, and her eyes instantly lit up. Her mouth suddenly transformed into a giant maw, dumping the entire dish in at once.
"So delicious food like this really exists in the world! Signing a contract with you was the right choice! I can eat so much good food from now on!!"
"This one is ready too. Try it."
"I'm digging in!"
Six dishes weren't nearly enough to satisfy her.
To prevent Tagorihime from turning on him and eating him one day, Byakuya kept cooking continuously until her belly was round and she was rolling on the riverbank in sheer bliss, satisfied beyond belief.
He exhaled.
It was still hard to accept this genre shift.
Imagine: the sweet girl in the blue-black dress in his vision was actually a terrifying giant blue-black snake.
"Am I becoming Izanagi?" Byakuya mocked himself inwardly.
But Lady White Snake's true form...
Hard to say. Just because TV shows depicted her true form as beautiful didn't mean that was what a snake demon actually looked like.
"I'm so sleepy. Ah! It's all your fault! You blew up my bedroom!!"
Remembering this, Tagorihime suddenly sat up, crossing her legs and glaring at Byakuya with puffed cheeks.
She was barefoot. Her ankles were graceful, and her calves were white as mutton fat jade.
He said, "You tried to eat me back then."
"I didn't think about eating you!!!"
Tagorihime huffed and jumped up.
"I was tired from playing in the forest and went back to my bedroom to rest. Suddenly I found a stranger. I thought you were another ninja hunting me, so I just wanted to teach you a little lesson and chase you away if you didn't attack!"
She grabbed Byakuya's hand and swung it back and forth, acting like a spoiled, naive girl.
"But you used explosive tags to bomb me! I have snake scales for protection, but my cave didn't!"
"I was so angry I screamed! I hurried to check how bad my bedroom was destroyed, so I didn't have time to chase you!"
Byakuya said, "I thought you couldn't catch up to me."
"I'm Tagorihime of Ryuchi Cave! How could I not catch up to you?"
In reality, she had been dizzy from the explosions and indeed hadn't been able to chase him in time.
"What was that jutsu called? It's so powerful. It broke through my scale defense."
"This one?"
Byakuya formed seals and spat out Storm Style: Thousand Blades.
A laser beam pierced a large tree and exploded.
"Yes."
"Storm Style: Thousand Blades. It's my Kekkei Genkai."
Tagorihime nodded. "It's very fast. I've never seen such a fast jutsu."
"Why didn't you use poison on me just now?"
"I'm still young. I can't control my poison well. I can only use it at close range."