Kiyohara and the others continued forward.
At the end of the passage stood a massive palace.
No—rather than a palace, it was more like an enormous stone temple.
Its eaves curved sharply upward, red tiles covered the roof, and the corners were decorated with exquisite dragon carvings.
The great doors stood open, and on the plaque above them were three striking characters:
Ryūchi Cave.
This was the White Snake Sage's residence. Ordinary snakes didn't even have the qualifications to appear before her here.
Without question, the White Snake Sage was the serpent standing at the very top of all serpent-kind.
How strong is she, exactly? Kiyohara wondered.
After all, none of the sages of the Three Great Sage Regions had ever actually been shown fighting.
Her background description was only a single line: "the ruler of Ryūchi Cave, radiating mysterious divine majesty."
If she had really lived from Kaguya's era until now, there was no way she was ordinary.
"What do you know about the White Snake Sage's strength?"
Kiyohara asked the White Snake Kiyohara inside the urn.
White Snake Kiyohara's spirit floated out, currently in the form of a giant serpent.
It seemed that, for him, this form was far more natural and unrestricted.
"That, I can't say. Even I've never seen her fight."
White Snake Kiyohara shook his head.
He truly didn't know how strong the White Snake Sage was.
"But one thing is certain—she's absolutely not as simple as she looks."
White Snake Kiyohara said.
The White Snake Sage possessed the ability to glimpse fate, and she had once said things similar to what Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki later said.
Both of them had remarked that Boruto's fate was extremely unusual, and that he could not escape the course of destiny.
"In any case, if she tries to inject natural energy into you later, accept it. While she's doing it, I can help absorb part of it for you."
"You can do that?"
Kiyohara raised a brow.
"Of course."
The massive serpent head of White Snake Kiyohara bobbed once.
"If we do it that way, you won't just master Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode…"
He paused.
"You might even go a step further."
Something stirred in Kiyohara's heart.
A step further?
"There are two kinds of Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode."
White Snake Kiyohara continued.
"One is the kind Yakushi Kabuto uses. The other…"
He paused.
"…is the kind Mitsuki uses."
"Mitsuki…"
Kiyohara fell into thought.
Mitsuki was one of the artificial humans Orochimaru had created by combining multiple superior genetic sources.
In truth, Mitsuki was a clone of Mitsuki's failed predecessor. To make him capable of "sage transformation," Orochimaru had erased his memory five times with drugs, and each time it failed.
Only after the sixth memory wipe did he, by a stroke of chance, awaken an innate Sage Mode, after which he was renamed Mitsuki.
His Sage Mode was different from Kabuto's Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode.
Green sage chakra coiled around his body, like Naruto's tailed beast chakra—capable of taking solid form and changing shape freely.
Judging by appearance alone, it really did look far more impressive than Kabuto's.
After all, a lot of leaking chakra only appeared when the quantity was so massive that the body's internal chakra network couldn't contain it, forcing it into a circulation pattern outside the body.
That was why a complete tailed beast state could fully unleash a bijū's power, while otherwise the beast was mostly just used as a battery pack to boost the jinchūriki's own abilities.
"You have my bloodline inside you, and you also have my experience."
White Snake Kiyohara's voice carried a trace of amusement.
"If I help you, you have a chance of reaching that level."
"You could count that as one of my own wishes, too. I'm honestly curious whether it can succeed."
White Snake Kiyohara said.
Even he himself had never successfully cultivated that version of Sage Mode.
Because of the structure of a serpent's body, the way sage chakra flowed within him was the same as it was for the three snake princesses.
But this—this would be built on a human base, while also layering in his bloodline.
Honestly, he was curious what it would become.
"There won't be any danger, right?"
Kiyohara frowned.
"It'll be fine. Just use up any excess natural energy."
White Snake Kiyohara explained that since Kiyohara had already entered Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode before, even if the final result failed, he could simply switch into that state and burn off the surplus natural energy through sage techniques.
Kiyohara thought it through carefully and realized it really did sound possible.
If he could master a Sage Mode like Mitsuki's, then it would at least be worth trying.
That would effectively give him a kind of pseudo-Susanoo—something like the skeletal stage, with chakra materialized outside the body to raise defense or expand attack range.
A snake-style Susanoo? Kiyohara thought to himself.
"Why'd you stop?"
At that moment, Anko noticed Kiyohara had slowed down and looked over curiously.
Kiyohara shook his head and said it was nothing, that he was just admiring the scenery, and kept walking.
This temple stood against a mass of jagged stone deep inside the pitch-black cavern.
Inside, the light was dim. Only a few candle-lamps flickered from the corners.
At the very rear of the hall sat an enormous throne.
Coiled upon it was a snake.
A gigantic snake.
No one could tell how long her body was, as it spiraled around the throne itself.
Her head was raised high, her orange-gold slit pupils looking down at the group below.
A pipe rested in her mouth, and smoke curled lazily upward into the air.
The White Snake Sage.
Tsunade lifted her head and looked at the colossal body that seemed to occupy nearly half the temple, and a trace of seriousness flashed through her eyes.
So this was the sage of Ryūchi Cave.
A being that had lived for over a thousand years.
Orochimaru gave a slight bow.
"White Snake Sage. I've brought him."
The White Snake Sage's gaze swept over him, then settled on Kiyohara behind him.
Those orange-gold slit pupils stared at Kiyohara without moving.
The hall was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
Only the smoke continued to rise and disperse.
After a long while—
"Little Uchiha boy."
The White Snake Sage finally spoke.
"I've been watching you for quite some time."
Kiyohara's brow twitched faintly.
Were all the old monsters in the shinobi world like this?
The Great Toad Sage liked using the Telescope Technique to spy on the world, and the White Snake Sage clearly wasn't much different.
But none of that showed on his face. He simply gave a slight nod.
"I'm honored to have drawn the Sage's attention."
"Heh heh…"
The White Snake Sage laughed.
It was a low sound that echoed through the empty hall.
Then she turned and looked at Tsunade.
"You're the little girl who signed a summoning contract with Katsuyu, aren't you?"
Tsunade raised a brow.
So she even casually called the Slug Sage by her true name.
Then again, in front of the White Snake Sage, Tsunade really was only a little girl.
"Yes."
Tsunade nodded.
The White Snake Sage also nodded.
"And the granddaughter of Senju Hashirama."
Then her gaze returned to Kiyohara.
"You want to learn Ryūchi Cave Sage Arts?"
That was, after all, the very first reason she had taken notice of Kiyohara.
A human, yet somehow self-taught in snake sage arts—that was quite extraordinary.
The White Snake Sage could only chalk it up to the white snake cells inside his body.
She knew a fair amount about the trouble Orochimaru had caused.
"I do."
Kiyohara nodded.
The White Snake Sage took another drag from her pipe, as though still studying him.
"You already bear traces of other sage arts on your body."
She said slowly.
"From those toads of Mount Myōboku… correct?"
Kiyohara did not deny it.
"Yes. I've seen Jiraiya-sama use that Sage Mode before."
Kiyohara said.
The Mount Myōboku Sage Arts he had inherited from Toad Kiyohara could serve perfectly well with Jiraiya as a cover.
"Heh heh…"
The White Snake Sage laughed again.
"Very good. To have this kind of comprehension… very good."
She paused.
"But do you actually know what sage arts are?"
Kiyohara thought for a moment, then answered:
"They involve absorbing natural energy and strengthening one's ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu so their power multiplies."
The White Snake Sage shook her head.
"You can say that… and yet that still isn't quite right."
Her body shifted slightly upon the throne. In the darkness beyond the reach of the candlelight, her coiled form seemed like dense black ink. It was almost as if endless serpent flesh were churning there, stirring the darkness itself.
"Yes, natural energy can multiply the power of your techniques. But the true meaning of sage arts isn't multiplication…"
She paused.
"It is becoming a dragon."
Becoming a dragon?
Kiyohara frowned.
That famous Kabuto line—I've shed my snake skin and ascended to dragonhood.
Could it be he hadn't just meant surpassing his former self?
"Do you know Senju Hashirama?"
The White Snake Sage suddenly asked.
Kiyohara nodded.
"The God of Shinobi."
"The God of Shinobi… heh, that title does fit."
The White Snake Sage exhaled a plume of smoke.
Among shinobi, the one who had ended the Warring States chaos was revered as the God of Shinobi.
"That man is one example of becoming a dragon."
Her voice deepened.
"His cells remained active even after his death. His Wood Release could suppress tailed beasts and even absorb their chakra in turn. His chakra reserves were so great that they exceeded those of ordinary shinobi entirely."
She looked directly at Kiyohara.
"Do you understand what that means?"
"His Sage Mode drew out the potential hidden in his body."
Kiyohara answered.
Hashirama had been Asura's reincarnation, and Asura had inherited the "sage's body" from the Sage of Six Paths.
Asura couldn't defeat Indra in the beginning, but after intense training, he gained tremendous power rapidly.
That was because he was the type who needed time to develop.
Of course, in the end, he still needed the Sage of Six Paths to personally empower him, and also needed the chakra of his comrades working together, in order to defeat Indra.
But the generation of Hashirama and Madara had been absurd in a completely different way.
Hashirama had developed like some kind of monster, receiving one insane boost after another until brute force solved everything.
To put it simply, cultivating sage arts for him was practically like cultivating immortality.
Madara's Perfect Susanoo was about the same size as Hashirama's Wood Release: Wood Golem.
And yet that Wood Golem was merely like a hat sitting on the head of the Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands Buddha.
It wasn't even half as large as the Buddha's head.
That Buddha could seize the Nine-Tails in a single hand.
And it had a thousand hands.
Just imagining how much chakra it took to sustain a Wood Release construct on that scale said everything.
Madara had been forced to fake his death and rely on schemes.
"Exactly."
The White Snake Sage nodded with satisfaction.
"Hashirama used Sage Mode to draw out the potential in his own bloodline and push the Yang Release power of his body to its limit."
She paused.
"One might even say beyond its limit."
Kiyohara's brow furrowed slightly.
Pushing Yang Release past its natural limit…
When paired with the vitality of Hashirama cells, it did make sense.
Even Asura himself probably hadn't possessed that much raw cellular activity.
The White Snake Sage's gaze drifted from Kiyohara to some point high near the temple ceiling.
"Do you know what kind of being Senju Hashirama truly was?"
Tsunade's brows drew together.
She was about to speak, but the White Snake Sage continued before she could.
"He was a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths."
What?
Tsunade froze.
The golden slit pupils of the ever-scientific Orochimaru suddenly contracted.
The Sage of Six Paths?
That near-divine being from legend, who created Ninshu?
Those myths… were real?
And Senju Hashirama was his descendant?
Kiyohara also put on an expression of surprise, as though learning this for the first time, while his mind raced beneath the surface.
Of course, he had already known it.
But hearing the White Snake Sage say it so directly still caught him off guard.
Anko was completely lost.
The Sage of Six Paths?
What was that even supposed to be?
Her personality had always been rough and boyish, and her academic studies had been a disaster. She looked from one person to another in total confusion, completely unable to keep up.
"The bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths was passed down through his two sons."
The White Snake Sage continued calmly.
"The elder son, Indra, inherited the Sage's eyes and powerful spiritual energy. The younger son, Asura, inherited the Sage's body and powerful physical vitality."
Her gaze swept across Kiyohara.
"The Uchiha clan are descendants of Indra. The Senju clan are descendants of Asura."
Tsunade's heart jumped.
The Uchiha were… descendants of Indra?
Was that why Kiyohara was such an absurd genius?
Instinctively, she looked toward him.
Then, after a second thought, she realized Kiyohara within the Uchiha clan was probably like her grandfather within the Senju clan—an extreme anomaly even among anomalies.
Because the others definitely weren't this ridiculous.
"The reason Senju Hashirama was able to exceed his limits was because of the Asura blood inside him."
The White Snake Sage went on.
"He used Sage Mode to completely draw out the potential hidden within that bloodline."
She turned to Tsunade.
"That same blood also flows in you. It's just a pity…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
But Tsunade understood what she meant.
It was a pity that she had not inherited her grandfather's power.
Her chakra reserves were simply too small—only around an "8 in vitality."
"Of course, even that still wasn't the true limit. Not the real ultimate limit."
The White Snake Sage looked back at Kiyohara, and her gaze grew heated.
"The current age belongs to shinobi. But before the age of shinobi… it was the age of gods."
The White Snake Sage began speaking of a far older layer of history.
The Earth, clearly, was a special planet.
Its natural energy was extraordinarily dense, which was why things like sage arts had come into existence.
And in that distant age, many powerful gods had existed.
The strongest among them, however, had been the Dragon Vein deep beneath the earth, whose chakra was nearly infinite.
"Because of the Rabbit Goddess and another mysterious companion of hers, the gods fell, and even the mighty god of the Dragon Vein was slain. After the divine war ended, they planted a giant tree, and that tree began drawing power from the earth. Thus the age of gods ended."
"And before the era of shinobi, there was an intermediate age—the age of Ninshu, founded by the Sage of Six Paths. He defeated the Rabbit Goddess and then spread chakra throughout the world. That was the origin of human chakra usage."
The White Snake Sage continued.
Kiyohara nodded slightly.
There really were many bizarre things in the ninja world.
Mōryō, the immortal monster of the Land of Demons.
The Zero-Tails, born from the darkness in human hearts.
Placed in ancient times—especially before humans had learned to refine chakra into ninjutsu—those things really were almost indistinguishable from gods.
And the Dragon Vein itself still existed now, beneath the ancient city of Roran.
Only the line of the Queen of Roran could use its power.
Even Anrokuzan had only managed it because the previous queen cooperated with him in building those towers that could draw in and use Dragon Vein chakra.
Given how barren the Land of Wind was, if that devastation had really come from a war between gods, it wasn't impossible.
Though Kiyohara already knew most of this, he still listened carefully, wanting to see if there might be any information hidden within it about Isshiki Ōtsutsuki.
Kaguya was already sealed, but Isshiki was still alive.
He was only limited by the poor quality of his vessel, unable to freely unleash his full power without destroying its lifespan.
"So what exactly is becoming a dragon?"
Kiyohara had a vague sense of where this was going.
"The so-called act of becoming a dragon is the true essence of sage arts—to make one's body capable of bearing power from the source itself."
"And then to fuse with that power and ascend into dragonhood, thereby breaking through the shackles of mortal flesh…"
"At that point, lifespan ceases to be a limitation, and even the smallest movement can trigger phenomena that affect heaven and earth, reaching the realm of myth!"
As she said this, the White Snake Sage lowered her enormous head. Before anyone realized it, her massive body had drawn so close to Kiyohara that her huge shadow fell over him in the candlelight.
Those golden slit pupils looked down at him, burning with heat.
"And in this old one's eyes, you are a person of tremendous promise!"
The White Snake Sage's gaze grew more and more fervent, almost resembling the look Orochimaru sometimes gave Kiyohara.
The more Kiyohara listened, however, the stranger it sounded.
The realm of myth?
To him, it sounded suspiciously like another way of describing a Six Paths-tier existence.
The "source" she meant was probably power like Dragon Vein chakra—or at least some equivalent symbol.
And the Dragon Vein itself was everywhere, having accumulated an enormous amount of natural energy. It was the greatest aggregate of power on this planet.
Roran was only one of its outlets.
The God Tree's power came from the natural energy in the earth and air, plus the life force of living creatures.
Those were exactly the things the Otsutsuki sought as well.
They refined them into chakra fruit and pills, and by swallowing them, their evolution advanced.
The White Snake Sage's path, however, was different: she sought to seize the entire power of the Dragon Vein directly, calling that process becoming a dragon.
In her eyes, Senju Hashirama had done something similar—using his "sage's body" and pushing it to the absolute limit, drawing out the power buried inside it.
And tracing that power back through his bloodline, its source led to the God Tree.
Which in turn drew its strength from the planet itself.
This old woman's ambitions really are enormous, Kiyohara thought.
He had only been thinking about extracting a portion of Dragon Vein chakra and becoming a Dragon Vein jinchūriki.
This old monster, however, wanted to directly bear the entire Dragon Vein.
"Your bloodline is even more complex than I imagined."
The White Snake Sage continued.
"No one with talent like yours has appeared since Hashirama. You stand at a truly important turning point in history!"
The White Snake Sage looked directly at him.
Hashirama had belonged to Shikkotsu Forest.
For a thousand years, Ryūchi Cave had never encountered anyone with this level of potential.