White Snake Sage's gaze slid past Naruto, finding nothing of note, and settled on Sasuke. She had taken the form of an old woman in a long white robe. "You're the new contract holder for Ryuchi Cave, aren't you?"
Shuffling slowly toward Sasuke, she suddenly paused, letting out a soft gasp as if she'd uncovered a hidden secret. "That chakra signature... there's no mistaking it. You carry the scent of the Sage of Six Paths. It has been a long time, Indra."
Her eyes, which had been half-lidded while examining Naruto, narrowed to slits.
"I don't know any Indra," Sasuke said flatly. "I am Sasuke Uchiha." It was one thing for Naruto to call him that, in a way, they were bros, but he wouldn't accept it from anyone else.
'And yet,' he thought, 'she saw right through me to Indra, while completely missing that Naruto was Ashura. Typical. The idiot is impressive in the most infuriating ways.'
"My apologies, Sasuke Uchiha." White Snake Sage seemed delighted with her new contract holder, licking her lips as she murmured, "Excellent, truly excellent..."
"Uh... Alright," Sasuke managed, thrown by her sudden politeness. Even the sage's three closest aides looked on in shock, they had never seen her act this way.
"So, my honored guests," she said, settling back onto the stone bench on the high platform, her squat frame moving with a slightly awkward shuffle. "What brings you to Ryuchi Cave?"
"We're here for Ryuchi Cave's senjutsu," Naruto said bluntly. Sasuke gave a single nod of agreement, that was his goal, too.
"I would imagine anyone else," White Snake Sage replied, unsurprised. "Senjutsu is the only thing of value we have to offer. By our rules, anyone who wishes to learn senjutsu must first pass a trial." She paused. "But for you two, given your identities, I believe we can make an exception."
Tagitsuhime and Tagorihime exchanged startled glances but held their tongues.
"As my new contract holder, it is only natural you learn our senjutsu," the sage told Sasuke, then flicked her eyes toward Tagitsuhime, a silent order to prepare what was needed. She took a light puff from her pipe before turning to Naruto. "As for you, honored guest... Ryuchi Cave's senjutsu is unique to the snake clan. Perhaps you would consider becoming one of us? A partner."
"I'm not interested in any of the small fry here," Naruto said, brutally honest.
White Snake Sage simply nodded. The power he had unleashed earlier far surpassed that of any other snake in the cave, save for herself.
"But if you agree to be my summon," Naruto added, "I might consider it."
"Deal!"
The sage's answer was so fast it cut him off, her calm demeanor shattering in an instant.
"Sage-sama!" Tagitsuhime gasped out, but a sharp glance from her master silenced her before she could say more.
"Honored guest, my word is given. You cannot go back on this."
Tagitsuhime's mind reeled. White Snake Sage was the highest authority in the Three Holy Lands, a being who had lived since the time of the Sage of Six Paths himself. Not punishing Naruto for his insolence was mercy enough, but to agree to become his summon? And to sound so desperate, as if she were afraid he'd take it back? 'Has the world changed so much,' she wondered, 'or has she finally gone senile?'
Tagorihime, however, understood completely. She had faced that terrifying burst of power herself, it had nearly broken her. 'In the summoning world, strength is absolute,' she thought. 'Age and status mean nothing before power like that.'
"You seem to think pretty highly of me, White Snake Sage," Naruto said, his eyes narrowing in a sly, fox-like grin.
"Hsssss..." A strange, unintelligible hiss escaped the sage. Naruto didn't understand snake speech, but he understood her following words perfectly: "I lack the prophecy skills of the Old Toad, or the unique physiology of the Old Slug. But I am extremely sensitive to aura, and I am an excellent judge of character."
"A thousand years ago, I was one step behind the Old Toad," she began, her voice slow and heavy with memory. "He positioned Mount Myoboku as the orthodoxy of the shinobi world, blessed by the Sage of Six Paths himself, the leader of the summoning world. Meanwhile, Ryuchi Cave was relegated to the second tier, left with Shikkotsu Forest as mere background characters to Myoboku's prestige."
"Decades ago, that reclusive Old Slug chose a ninja named Hashirama Senju as her successor. His strength grew until the world called him the God of Shinobi, and Shikkotsu Forest's name spread far and wide. They still couldn't match Mount Myoboku, but they left us far behind. All the while, that old toad kept peddling that nonsense about his 'Child of Prophecy.'" She scoffed, unable to resist a jab at her old rival. "Hmph. Whether it's a true prophecy or just something he made up, only he knows.
"We tried to find our own successors, but true talent is rare. Most who come here can't even pass the trial. They are useless trash, and useless trash only stinks up the place. It is better to drain their chakra and use it as nourishment for a stronger generation. That is why they call us a den of man-eating monsters. But how is that any worse than Mount Myoboku turning failures to stone? Or Shikkotsu Forest dissolving them until not even a body remains? We do the same deeds, yet they receive glory while we are branded with infamy."
Her gaze locked onto Naruto. "I can sense the great power hidden within you. It is as vast as the ocean. What you have shown is only a fraction of it."
'That terrifying power... wasn't even his full strength?' Tagorihime's heart seized. 'No wonder Sage-sama is so desperate to bind him to us.'
'With that kind of potential... if we could absorb his chakra to produce offspring...' The thought was intoxicating. 'We could create the strongest generation the Snake Clan has ever known!' She could barely contain her excitement, her eyes shining as she stared at Naruto.
"Your potential is immense," White Snake Sage said, her gaze burning into him. "You are in no way inferior to the Sage of Six Paths himself. At this rate, you will eventually reach his level. Ryuchi Cave has been silent for far too long. It is time we showed ourselves to the world again."
'For a crusty old monster who's thousands of years old, she's still got a lot of fight in her,' Naruto thought, though he couldn't tell if her intentions were genuine.
Meanwhile, Sasuke's heart pounded at her words. 'Close to the Sage of Six Paths? Naruto is already that strong?!'
He had only been aiming to match his past life as Indra, and now Naruto was approaching the level of their father?
'We agreed we were brothers... and now you're turning into my dad?!'
===============
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