Ichikishimahime held onto one of Ryou's hands and said, "Master, I ate the spore you used to control me. Can you give me another one to control me?"
Ryou pinched her head. "You think my spores are like common cabbages, don't you?"
The fact that Ryou's spores could parasitize a person after being implanted was quite terrifying.
But some capable people could still counter them.
Sage Arts could control them, Sealing Jutsu could seal them... The spores were increasingly failing to keep up with Ryou's power system.
Ryou asked Ichikishimahime, "Little snake demon, you've eaten humans before, haven't you?"
Ichikishimahime stammered, "Master, I only eat the brains of smart people!"
"Damn, you dare to eat people? See if I don't dunk on you!"
Candy was speechless; Ryou really did love playing with snakes!
Soon, Candy arrived at Tagitsuhime's Trial Grounds with Ryou and Ichikishimahime.
Tagitsuhime's Trial Grounds was not Tagorihime's palace, nor was it Ichikishimahime's Sealed Cave.
It was just a dark, empty space.
But even after arriving, Tagitsuhime did not show herself.
The content of her trial was the Genjutsu of the Heart, testing willpower, self-perception, and emotional obsession.
To be more specific, Tagitsuhime would inject the challenger with Senjutsu Toxins, and the challenger would enter an extremely realistic illusion.
They would see the things they feared most.
After Boruto was caught in Tagitsuhime's Genjutsu, he saw those closest to him criticizing and rejecting him.
In the illusion, all of the challenger's guilt, inferiority, self-doubt, and failure would be magnified.
Tagitsuhime would repeatedly force the challenger to admit their own inadequacy.
When the challenger succumbed to self-denial and suffered a mental breakdown, it counted as a failure. According to the rules, Tagitsuhime would then eat them.
However, after Ryou arrived, he found that the chief examiner was not there.
He asked the little snake demon beside him, "Ichikishimahime, where did Tagitsuhime run off to? Is this final trial happening or not?"
"..."
Ichikishimahime did not answer. She grabbed one of Ryou's hands, biting her lower lip as she twitched slightly.
She was enduring!
Ryou had implanted another spore in her, strictly forbidding her from swallowing it this time, and had kept the spore active from just now until now.
Ichikishimahime hadn't even noticed what Ryou was saying.
Ryou performed a hand seal and stopped his control over Ichikishimahime.
The little snake demon let out a long sigh of relief; she was finally saved.
Ryou was truly a natural devil!
But she wasn't exactly normal either; she actually liked staying by Ryou's side and being infused with knowledge by him.
Ryou asked again. Ichikishimahime sensed the surroundings but didn't find Tagitsuhime's chakra either.
"Strange, where did that girl run off to?"
Ichikishimahime didn't know where Tagitsuhime had gone either.
She guessed that she might be scared.
And she had every reason to be!
Among the Three Great Snake Princesses, Tagorihime was the strongest, but even she had been easily defeated by Ryou, so Tagitsuhime had no chance.
Even Ichikishimahime herself, after seeing Tagorihime be so easily defeated, had thought of using an extremely difficult riddle to trap Ryou.
But Ryou didn't follow the trial rules of Ryūchi Cave and straight up finished off the examiner.
Tagitsuhime saw her sisters—one after another, they were all done for.
Afraid of being dealt with or finished off by Ryou, she ran away.
Candy suddenly shouted to Ryou, "Ryou, come quick! It's Anko!"
Ryou was startled.
"Anko?! Is there a 'bean' to mess with?"
He rushed over, thinking Candy had found a naked woman, but it was actually Anko—literally, Anko.
She had short, deep purple hair tied into a signature spiky high ponytail, and wore a loose, brownish-red top.
She looked like a tomboy—capable and carrying a youthful air.
However, she was currently unconscious on the ground, looking as if she had been drugged, her face somewhat pale.
Besides Anko, there was another person nearby.
They had dark brown hair, a soft face, a black high-collared mask around their neck, and wore a dark gray sleeveless undershirt with a light gray Shinobi vest.
Dressed in Konoha Anbu attire, they looked like a girl Anbu.
He (she) was unconscious just like Anko.
Candy placed a paw on Anko's nose and felt her breath. "Not dead yet. Probably caught in a Genjutsu."
"I see. Let me help her break the Genjutsu!"
Ryou reached out, intending to mess with the 'bean', preparing to release chakra from inside Anko's body to break the illusion.
He was quite delighted; he didn't expect to be able to scavenge a body in this godforsaken place. He thanked the heavens for this gift!
"No messing with her!"
Candy scratched Ryou and hissed, "This is my friend, not one of those snake demons!"
Anko was Candy's friend; they were sugar buddies.
Candy loved eating sweets, and Anko's sugar intake was also off the charts.
Back in Konoha, Anko would often treat Candy to Tricolor Dango at the Dango Shop.
Before long, they were both as sweet as can be.
"Fine, fine, I won't mess with Anko. I'll mess with the other one!"
Ryou reached out toward the other 'girl,' but Ichikishimahime suddenly warned, "It's a man!"
"What?!"
Ryou quickly stopped and flipped over the person who was unconscious with Anko to look closely. There was an Adam's apple and the chest was flat—it really was a man!
"Yamato?!"
Ryou recognized him. This was Yamato; when he was young and grew his hair out, he really did look like a girl.
Ryou gave him a slap. "Damn, I almost ruined my lifelong reputation!"
Ichikishimahime giggled on the side.
Ryou glanced at her and then performed a hand seal; Ichikishimahime's eyes immediately rolled back.
Candy released chakra to break Anko's illusion.
But even after releasing a lot of chakra, it couldn't interfere with the Genjutsu energy inside Anko's body.
Candy looked at Ichikishimahime. It guessed that Tagitsuhime had cast a Senjutsu Genjutsu on Anko and Yamato, and wanted Ichikishimahime to break the Senjutsu Genjutsu for Anko.
But Ichikishimahime was currently being controlled by Ryou.
Candy gave Ryou a scratch and hissed, "You guy, doing nothing productive all day! This family is doomed sooner or later!"
Ryou snapped out of it a bit after Candy's lecture, released his control over Ichikishimahime, and told her to break the Genjutsu for Anko and Yamato.
Ichikishimahime approached Anko, placed her hand on her body, and released Senjutsu chakra to break the Senjutsu Genjutsu.
While breaking Anko's Genjutsu, she explained to Candy why it couldn't break it.
"Tagitsuhime's Genjutsu is triggered by toxins. To break Tagitsuhime's Genjutsu, you must first clear the toxins out of Anko's body."
Candy nodded.