"Hehe… Kiyohara-kun is coming with me to a certain place."
Orochimaru said with a smile.
At that, Kurenai looked at Kiyohara.
"I'm going with Orochimaru-sama to Ryūchi Cave."
Kiyohara said.
"Ryūchi Cave?"
Kurenai had heard of it. It was said to be one of the Three Great Sage Regions, but its location was extremely mysterious, and very few people could ever 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 Ryūchi Cave sage arts for myself."
Kiyohara answered.
Of course, there was also the matter of fulfilling a lingering wish.
If not for that, he would have had to use the location described by White Snake Kiyohara and search for Ryūchi Cave on his own.
Now that Orochimaru was introducing him, it would clearly save him a lot of trouble.
"Can I come too?"
Kurenai immediately said she wanted to go as well.
"I'll be back soon. Kurenai can just wait here for me."
Kiyohara said.
"All right…"
Kurenai wilted like a drooping eggplant, her whole mood sinking at once.
"I'll take you along on the next mission."
Kiyohara ruffled her hair.
Only then did Kurenai smile again.
"That's a promise!"
Kiyohara gave a small nod.
Then he had Orochimaru wait there for a while so he could go inform Tsunade.
"Orochimaru really is punctual."
Once she got the news, Tsunade went to find the ninja in charge of the camp and told him she and Kiyohara would be heading out for a while.
"Tsunade-sama, this…"
Nara Enchu started to say something.
But Tsunade just waved him off and left with Kiyohara toward where Orochimaru was waiting.
Nara Enchu could only swallow the words back down.
…
For the next several days, Kiyohara and Tsunade traveled alongside Orochimaru and Anko Mitarashi.
Orochimaru seemed to know a shortcut, so they made very good time.
Eventually, the fog along the road grew thicker and thicker, until it resembled a gorge permanently wrapped in mist.
Kiyohara looked around at the mist.
He remembered that Mount Myoboku had similar fog. Any traveler who wandered there by accident would simply get turned around and leave again, never finding the true location.
Ryūchi Cave clearly had the same kind of setup.
Tsunade walked beside Kiyohara, her gaze occasionally drifting to the rock walls half-visible through the fog.
"Orochimaru."
she suddenly said.
"When you trained in sage arts back then, did you take this same road?"
Orochimaru turned his head slightly.
"Hehe… Since when did Tsunade become interested in my training stories?"
"Just asking casually."
Tsunade folded her arms, her tone offhand.
"It's just that the path you're leading us down… doesn't really feel like the way to a sacred land. It feels more like you're taking us to some shady hideout."
"The path of sage arts was never exactly something meant for public display. It's not like your Shikkotsu Forest."
Orochimaru looked forward again.
"Especially not Ryūchi Cave."
Anko was bringing up the rear, curiously looking all around. Every now and then a small snake slithered past her feet, and she would crouch down to try and touch it—only to stop the moment Orochimaru shot her a glance.
"Anko."
Orochimaru's voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to make her instantly pull her hand back.
"…Yes."
She pouted, then hurried forward a few steps to catch up, though her eyes kept unconsciously drifting toward Kiyohara.
Kiyohara wore a black ninja outfit, with several sealing scrolls hanging from his belt.
Anko looked at his side profile, then quickly looked away again.
She had originally wanted to save up and repay him somehow—maybe even buy him some three-color dango.
But by the time Anko realized it, all the money she had earned had already become food in her stomach.
A total defeat.
Anko let out a quiet sigh at her own weakness for sweets.
Kiyohara seemed to sense something and glanced at her.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing!"
Anko immediately waved her hands, but in her fluster she caught her foot on a protruding rock and pitched forward.
Kiyohara reached out.
His movement was so fast it was nearly invisible. By the time Anko understood what had happened, he was already holding her by the arm.
"Be careful."
Kiyohara released her.
Anko's face flushed bright red.
"Th-thank you…"
She lowered her head, her voice barely more than a mosquito hum.
Tsunade looked back at the scene once, the corner of her mouth twitching.
This brat really does attract girls everywhere he goes.
She looked away again and said nothing.
After they walked a bit further, the fog ahead grew even thicker.
Unlike the cool dampness of ordinary mountain fog, this one carried a faintly sweet, cloying scent. The moment it entered the nose, there was even a trace of sweetness on the tongue.
Orochimaru stopped.
"We're here."
He raised his hand and pointed into the mist.
"The entrance to Ryūchi Cave is ahead."
Everyone looked in the direction he indicated.
The fog slowly parted in a narrow seam.
Behind it stood a palace.
It was magnificent—gold and jade gleaming, with ornate eaves and carved beams, half-hidden in the mist.
The great doors stood open, and inside could be seen long tables draped in brocade, covered with rich food and fine wine.
The fragrance drifting out made the appetite stir all on its own.
Anko's eyes lit up instantly.
"It smells amazing…"
She unconsciously took a step forward.
"Anko."
Orochimaru's voice stopped her.
Her foot froze.
"That…"
Orochimaru was just about to explain when Kiyohara spoke first.
"It's an illusion."
Kiyohara said.
"If you want food, we can buy some on the way back."
Anko blinked, stunned.
She turned to look at Kiyohara, then back at the splendid palace.
An illusion?
But she could clearly smell the aroma, hear the bells, see the feast laid out on the tables…
"But…"
Before she could say more, the palace before her suddenly began to twist.
The splendid golden walls melted like wax, the food turned into rotting snakes and insects, and the brocade-covered tables became jagged stones.
In the blink of an eye, the palace vanished without a trace.
In its place stood a dark forest shrouded in thick mist.
Underfoot was slick moss, overhead were ancient trees blocking out the sky, and all around hung the smell of rot and dampness.
Anko froze.
"Th-this is…"
"Tagorihime's test."
Orochimaru's voice came out of the mist.
"The entrance to Ryūchi Cave never appears in the same place twice. Only those who can truly see through greed can find the right path."
A soft laugh drifted through the fog.
The sound was seductive to the bone, yet for some reason sent a chill down the spine.
"Orochimaru, the one the White Snake Sage wishes to meet does have good eyes. Better than yours were the first time you came."
A graceful figure slowly emerged from the mist.
It was a woman in a white robe, her pale green hair falling down like a waterfall, her face so refined it didn't seem human.
Tagorihime.
She walked up to Kiyohara and bent slightly closer to his face.
"So, you're Kiyohara?"
Kiyohara didn't step back.
He looked directly into those pale green eyes.
Kiyohara knew it was just a transformed appearance.
Once Tagorihime got excited, those eyes would turn into long gold serpent pupils, and the red eye shadow would stretch down toward the sides of her nose.
"You saw through that illusion very quickly."
Her voice carried a soft teasing sweetness, but it was impossible to tell whether she meant it or was testing him.
"Even your teacher got caught for a moment, but you saw through it right away."
Tagorihime clearly knew about Kiyohara's relationship with Tsunade.
She turned to look at Tsunade.
Tsunade raised a brow.
She really hadn't seen through it.
More precisely, she hadn't even been thinking in terms of genjutsu.
After all, she was only here to accompany Kiyohara. Her mind had never been on any sort of trial.
Still, being called out on it didn't annoy her. She simply folded her arms and looked at Kiyohara with a half-smile.
"Brat, not bad."
Tsunade said.
"That's because I had a good teacher."
Kiyohara smiled.
Then he turned back to Tagorihime.
"Does that mean I passed?"
"Of course."
Tagorihime stepped aside and gestured into the deeper mist.
"Go on."
Then she added:
"But to meet the White Snake Sage, you still have to pass two more trials."
At that, Kiyohara's brow tightened slightly.
The White Snake Sage wanted to see him, and there were still tests?
Seeming to understand his confusion, Orochimaru explained:
"To see the White Snake Sage, there are always three trials. They're useful for training in Ryūchi Cave sage arts."
The illusion Tagorihime had just used was a test of greed and gluttony.
"I see."
Kiyohara gave a slight nod.
He knew all about this.
Boruto had shown the full sequence of the three tests, so Kiyohara already knew how to clear them.
For now, all he had to do was go through them 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, the scenery changed again.
This time it was a stone hall.
Its walls were overgrown with moss, the ceiling hung with jagged stalactites, and the floor was paved with slick stone slabs.
At the far end of the hall stood a massive stone gate.
The gate was closed.
In front of it stood a girl.
She looked no older than ten or so, small in stature, dressed in a white robe. Her dark blue hair spilled all the way down to her waist, and atop her head sat a tiny golden crown with a round golden ornament at its peak.
Her eyes were large, but the pupils were vertical and gold, while her pale face was accentuated by deep red eye shadow that gave her an eerie beauty.
She stood there like a delicate porcelain doll.
But when she smiled, the teeth she showed were sharp, cold, and unmistakably snake-like.
"You're here?"
Ichikishimahime's voice was bright and girlish.
She tilted her head, let her gaze sweep over all of them, then stopped on Kiyohara.
"Orochimaru, this is the one the White Snake Sage wants to meet?"
"Mm."
Orochimaru gave only a short response.
Ichikishimahime circled Kiyohara once, inspecting him from top to bottom.
"He's handsome enough… but whether he can go in depends on him."
Then she waved her hand.
Tsunade, Anko, Orochimaru, and the others instantly vanished into the mist, while Kiyohara found himself alone in a cavern riddled with holes.
"?"
Tsunade instinctively moved as though to intervene, but Orochimaru spoke first.
"Kiyohara is undergoing the trial. Once it ends, the mist will disappear."
Only then did Tsunade suppress the urge to interfere.
…
Kiyohara took in the new surroundings.
Ichikishimahime appeared before him.
She raised a hand and pointed at the countless indentations in the wall behind her—different sizes, different depths.
"See those holes?"
She walked over and patted the cold stone wall.
"Use the crystals on the ground to fill all of them."
She pointed toward the corner of the hall.
There lay a pile of crystal stones.
They varied in size and shape.
Some were as large as millstones, others no bigger than a fingernail.
It was obvious that these crystals were supposed to fit the holes exactly.
"Once they're all filled, you pass."
"Pretty simple, right?"
Ichikishimahime smiled sweetly.
Of course, it wasn't simple at all.
Because some of the holes had shapes that didn't correspond to any of the crystals.
"It is pretty simple."
Kiyohara said.
She looked at him curiously.
How exactly was this human—someone who had made the White Snake Sage express interest—going to handle it?
Kiyohara waved a hand, stirring the pile of crystals with a gust of wind.
Then, opening his fingers, he aimed his palm at the crystal pile being tossed around by Wind Release.
Chakra gathered.
Blue-white light appeared in his palm, condensing into a rapidly spinning sphere.
Rasengan.
Ichikishimahime blinked.
What was he trying to do?
And then she watched as Kiyohara drove the Rasengan straight into the crystals.
Boom!
Under Kiyohara's control, the entire pile of crystals was pulverized into dust.
A fine cloud of crystal powder spread into the air like pale smoke.
Kiyohara raised his left hand.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
A light gust surged from his palm, carried the crystal dust, and pushed it into all the holes in the wall.
In the blink of an eye, every last indentation had been filled.
Smooth as a mirror.
Ichikishimahime's mouth dropped open into a perfect circle.
She looked at Kiyohara, then at the wall now fully packed in.
"…Th-that works too?"
Her voice jumped up in pitch.
"Didn't you say to fill them?"
Kiyohara dusted crystal powder off his hands.
"I filled them."
Ichikishimahime froze.
She had overseen this trial for centuries and had seen all kinds of people come to train in sage arts.
Some honestly carried the crystals one by one, sweating profusely, and spent a full day and night doing it, before finally thinking to search nearby caves for matching pieces.
Some got halfway and gave up, collapsing to the ground in tears.
Some tried blasting the walls open with ninjutsu and were thrown back by the recoil until they vomited blood.
Some even tried to bribe her, offering all sorts of things.
But never, not once, had anyone solved it like this.
Because the crystals were supposed to be fixed conditions.
No one had ever dared risk destroying them.
"Y-you really…"
Ichikishimahime opened and closed her mouth, but for once, she genuinely didn't know what to say.
This human didn't follow the rules at all.
After a long moment, she laughed.
"You're interesting."
She clasped her hands behind her back and circled around Kiyohara again.
Because of her little girl appearance, she was only about half his height.
Then her nose twitched, and she suddenly caught a strangely familiar scent on him.
Her tiny brows drew together, and she couldn't quite make sense of it.
When she failed to figure it out after thinking for a while, she gave up on the thought.
"I said fill the holes with the crystals. Who told you to grind the crystals into powder and use that?"
"The rule only said to fill them. It didn't say how."
Kiyohara looked at her.
Boruto had done something similar too.
Only instead of crushing them right away, he had first filled as many holes as possible one by one, then reshaped the remaining crystals into fitting pieces to pass the test.
"I filled them. So I pass."
"Fine, fine. You pass."
Ichikishimahime said.
She stepped aside, and the mist withdrew.
"But there's still one more trial ahead. Tagitsuhime is guarding that one, and she's not nearly as easygoing as I am."
"I know."
Kiyohara said.
At that point, Tsunade and the others could see Kiyohara again.
The moment she did, Tsunade quickly walked up beside him.
As she passed Ichikishimahime, though, her steps paused.
"What's with that expression?"
She looked at the girl's face, which was so clearly struggling not to laugh.
"Nothing, nothing."
Ichikishimahime waved her hand, but those golden slit pupils had already curved into crescents.
"I just think this brat is… really interesting."
"Go on, go on. There's still another stage."
Her figure quickly disappeared back into the mist, leaving only the sound of her bright laughter.
Tsunade withdrew her gaze and followed Kiyohara.
…
The path beyond this point was even darker than before.
The stone walls on both sides were thick with moss, and the paving stones underfoot were damp and slippery.
The air was full of a wet, rotting smell, and hidden beneath it was a faint trace of sweetness like blood.
Anko walked closely behind Kiyohara, glancing around nervously from time to time.
"Um… Kiyohara."
she said in a small voice.
"Yeah?"
"That next one… Tagitsuhime… is she strong?"
"I don't know."
Kiyohara didn't slow his pace.
He knew what kind of abilities the three snake princesses had.
Each of them had their own unique form of sage arts.
The first one, Tagorihime, had Sage Art: Object Transformation. Using sage chakra, she could turn an empty stretch of land into a castle from Ryūchi Cave, filling it with food to lure in those who came seeking sage arts. As soon as they ate the transformed food, both their flesh and chakra would be devoured.
Ichikishimahime's technique was Sage Art: Absorption. She could create an entire environment, and anyone trying to leave would have to fill every hole in a wall with crystals while their chakra was forcibly drained. Like Tagorihime, if they failed, both their bodies and chakra would be eaten.
And then there was Tagitsuhime, who used Sage Art: Binding. With her sharp fangs, she could inject sage chakra into a target, making them hallucinate and become unable to move.
In short, all of these were essentially illusion-based applications of sage arts.
"But since it's a Ryūchi Cave trial, it probably won't be easy."
Anko swallowed hard.
She clutched the hem of her clothes and edged a little closer to Kiyohara.
Just then—
a white blur shot in from the side.
It was unbelievably fast, almost impossible to track, only a fleeting afterimage visible.
Its target was Kiyohara's throat.
Anko let out a startled cry.
Tsunade instinctively raised a hand.
But Kiyohara was faster.
The moment the white blur lunged, he shifted slightly.
It passed just beside his neck, the wind from it slicing off a few strands of his black hair.
In the same instant, Kiyohara brought up his right arm.
An elbow strike.
The white figure took the blow, gave a muffled grunt, and stumbled back.
Only then did everyone see clearly what it was.
A woman, dressed in white as well.
Tagitsuhime.
Her gaze landed on Kiyohara, and a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.
"Good reflexes. But…"
She blurred again and lunged.
This time, her target was still Kiyohara's neck.
Her mouth was open now, the sharp gleam of her fangs visible.
At the same time, a slight smile tugged at Orochimaru's mouth.
Thunk.
A dull sound.
Tagitsuhime froze.
Her fangs had bitten down on Kiyohara's neck.
But they couldn't pierce it.
Beneath his skin, a layer of black metallic sheen had appeared, hard as forged steel.
Earth Release: Earth Spear.
Tagitsuhime stared.
"You…"
She released her bite and stepped back half a pace, eyes fixed on his neck.
The black color was already fading, revealing perfectly intact skin beneath.
Not even a tooth mark remained.
"What kind of technique is that?"
There was open surprise in Tagitsuhime's voice now.
"Just a hardening technique."
Kiyohara replied calmly.
Then he raised his eyes, and the crimson glow of his Sharingan lit up in the dimness.
The three tomoe turned slowly.
"Do we really need to continue?"
He looked at Tagitsuhime.
"If the trial is illusion-related, then isn't it unnecessary?"
Would Kiyohara really fail a test from the three snake princesses?
"That's true. You already know other sage arts, and you have the Sharingan."
Tagitsuhime withdrew her fangs and stepped back twice, looking him up and down.
"Tagorihime told me you saw through her illusion without even using the Sharingan. And Ichikishimahime said you filled the holes. I didn't believe them."
She shook her head.
"Now I do."
She stepped aside and gestured deeper into the passage.
"Forgive the rudeness. We had to follow procedure. You may go in now."
Tagitsuhime said.
If Kiyohara could already see through Tagorihime's illusion without using the Sharingan, then once he activated it, even if she injected her own sage chakra, it probably wouldn't have any effect at all.
Because Kiyohara already possessed sage chakra himself.
"Let's go."
Kiyohara gave a small nod and stepped forward.
As he passed Tagitsuhime, her voice came from the side.
"The White Snake Sage is waiting inside."
Then, after a brief pause—
"Good luck."
Tagitsuhime said.
She had never given a blessing to a human before.
But after seeing Kiyohara, she kept feeling a strange sense of familiarity, and the words slipped out before she thought about them.
"All right."
Kiyohara nodded lightly.
So the White Snake Sage, then.
When he thought about it, this should be the first time he would see the true body of one of the Three Great Sage Region sages.
He had only ever seen fragments of the slug sage, never Shikkotsu Forest's real body.
~~~
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