Boom—
Within the underground cavern, a moving natural disaster descended upon the serpent horde. Wild thunder flashed, dropping the snakes lunging at Gusion in twitching heaps.
Gusion modulated the output of his lightning—enough to paralyze but not kill—thus meeting the White Snake Sage's stipulation for the trial.
All he could say was, the Raijin Fruit was insanely useful. If he were brute-forcing his way through with a blade, it would be hard to hold back enough not to kill any snakes.
And hacking a path would be exhausting. With AOE lightning blanketing the field, the road cleared itself.
Ordinary snakes couldn't withstand his lightning at all—they'd stick out their tongues and flop over, motionless.
But as he pushed deeper into Ryuchi Cave, the serpents grew larger, and their resistances were beyond what normal snakes could match.
Just now, for instance—he'd struck a forty-meter serpent with a bolt, and after the hit it still dared lunge to bite him.
Gusion found that the larger the snake here, the more abundant its chakra. Among those over forty meters, some even had senjutsu energy condensed within.
The snakes of Ryuchi Cave weren't creatures of the wild but intelligent spirit-serpents, all capable of human speech.
They knew how to use their power. Facing Gusion's lightning, they would try to wrap themselves in chakra or natural energy to reduce the damage.
Given their massive bodies, these ninja beasts were usually far more durable than humans. By the end, Gusion had to go all out with his lightning to bring down the ultra-giant pythons.
Half a day later, Gusion reached the depths of Ryuchi Cave. After he'd just zapped a few snakes numb, a fierce gale shot at his back.
His Observation Haki warned him in advance. Stepping on air, he flash-stepped away and dodged the strike.
Boom—
His assailant wasn't so nimble. Its head shot out too fast, slamming into the rock wall ahead of Gusion and blasting shards in every direction.
Gusion turned. In Ryuchi Cave's dim light, he saw a ferocious, crimson, one-eyed serpent.
This giant snake had not only a colossal body but also a vast well of chakra—no ordinary serpent by any measure.
"Brat, you're the one making a mess in my territory? Tired of living?"
The red serpent spoke, its single eye cold and vicious as it stared at Gusion.
Gusion used his detection skill and thought, no wonder even the White Snake Sage gets a headache over this one. This was Garaga, who only appeared in Boruto—a far more irascible and vicious creature than Orochimaru's Manda.
In terms of raw power, Manda couldn't compare, being just big and temperamental. Garaga was a millennia-old elder serpent and even used a petrification technique that might be senjutsu.
Gusion's detection returned a row of question marks. Note, to speed his way through the serpents he'd already released his Shikai—his Spirit stat was at 70—yet he still couldn't read Garaga's stats.
That meant Garaga's Spirit had to be at least 75. Judging by that massive body and explosive speed, this snake was likely a six-attribute all-rounder.
Boom—
No need for chatter. Gusion wasn't much for talk-no-jutsu. Faced with Garaga's lunge, he blasted a bolt of lightning straight down.
To his surprise, Garaga's resistance was extraordinary. Even after taking lightning from the Raijin Fruit, the serpent merely stiffened for a heartbeat—then snapped at him.
Gusion triggered his Demon God state. With Mazuko in hand he hewed out a mountain-toppling slash, colliding with Garaga's fangs in a ring of clashing steel.
A huge force ran up his arms. Rarely in a head-on contest did Gusion lose in raw strength—but Garaga hurled him bodily away.
Boom—
Gusion smashed through two rocky knolls before stopping. He dusted off his clothes and bared white teeth in a grin. "Now that's some punch. Worth a good swing."
"Brat, you really have a death wish."
Garaga's voice fumed. He swaggered through Ryuchi Cave, unchecked even by the White Snake Sage. For some outsider punk to boast to his face—
Standing in the rubble, Gusion twisted his neck, bones crackling. He drew a deep breath and vented a torrent of crimson steam.
By his estimate, as a frontal bruiser ninja beast, Garaga's physical stats were sky-high. To put this snake down, he needed more output.
He overclocked the Demon God state. The dark-violet demonic tracery on his skin turned blood-red. The lightning around him went savage and red, interwoven with Conqueror's Haki. The air snapped with crackling arcs.
Gusion sank his stance. The knotted muscles of his calves bulged, like bowstrings drawn to the limit—then he released all at once.
With a deafening thunderclap, the ridge behind him exploded. A ring of dust rippled outward. The sonic boom shrieked through Ryuchi Cave as Gusion became a dark-red streak, surging toward Garaga with blazing fighting spirit.
Even Garaga hadn't expected Gusion's combat power to spike so fast. This blow was in a different league from their earlier exchange, catching him flat-footed.
In haste, Garaga didn't unleash petrification but met him fang-to-blade.
Ting—
The clear note lasted only an instant, then came the fracture of bone. With dark-red Ryuo sheathing it, Mazuko's toughness and keenness rose by more than a grade.
The shock of Haki shattered Garaga's hardened fangs. Mazuko drove on, shearing off the two prominent canines in his mouth; then, with a flash of blade-qi, it split half his jaw.
And that was just the start. As Gusion pressed the attack, the Raijin Fruit launched at full power. Lightning poured in through Garaga's mouth, bypassing his exterior defenses to strike within.
In an instant, the massive current froze Garaga up, aborting his planned attack. His tail managed only half a whip before going limp.
At the same time, Gusion let the momentum flow, shifted his posture, and slashed diagonally down. Ryuo extended Mazuko's reach further—his target: Garaga's head!
On the brink of life and death, some strength surged up in Garaga. He yanked back hard, dodging the killing stroke by a hair.
He lived, but was still cut. A swath of scales at the back of his neck were peeled away, fluttering in the air.
Having largely missed with the blade, Gusion followed the force through, turning with the swing. As he came around he whipped a leg out, booting Garaga across the face.
That spinning kick, powered by Conqueror's Haki and Ryuo, didn't feel any lighter than a blade strike when taken head-on. On impact, the shockwave visibly dented Garaga's cheek; a spray of jagged teeth burst from his mouth.
With the advantage secured, Gusion didn't want to violate the White Snake Sage's injunction. He dismissed Mazuko and stepped forward with Shave.
His upper body was a mass of knotted muscle, skin strained to splitting and beaded with blood. Planting with Shave, he channeled power from the feet up—waist turning, arms driving.
As his straight punch launched, the air itself seemed to cave in. Compared to Garaga he was an ant, but the blow carried mountain-cleaving weight.
An ancient martial secret—Gusion's reworked fist art: Mountain Collapse!
Before the fist arrived, the compressed air blasted Garaga's head like a giant shell, furrowing the skin of his face into ripples.
Boom—
Gusion's punch crashed square into Garaga's face, snapping the truck-sized head back, blood spraying and broken teeth flying.
He kicked off with Shave, rose, and brought a leg down like a battle-axe onto the crown.
With a roar, Garaga's head slammed into the ground and sank into a crater.
By the time Gusion landed, the serpent's immense body twitched twice and went still.
Dusting himself off, Gusion turned and continued deeper.
Garaga's numbers were off the charts, but as a ninja beast he leveraged size for strength and durability. In practice he was nowhere near as nimble as a ninja, so bringing him down hadn't taken much.
"Hey… brat… the fight isn't over yet."
To Gusion's surprise, after he'd gone only a few dozen meters, Garaga's voice came from behind.
"You're really a tough one. Definitely stronger than Manda."
Gusion turned. He wondered if he hadn't hit hard enough. If Garaga kept dogging him, he wouldn't be able to explore ahead properly.
"Manda?"
Garaga's face was misshapen, his mouth emptied of teeth. His speech was slurred, but the disdain at the mention of Manda was clear. "That whelp, compare to me?"
Gusion thought: every generation at Ryuchi Cave is more arrogant than the last. Then again, fair—compared to Garaga, Manda really was a youngster.
Garaga had been on the scene since the days of the Sage of Six Paths, a mighty ninja beast who rampaged across the ninja world. In Ryuchi Cave, his seniority was second only to the White Snake Sage. Betrayed by a companion of Asura long ago, he stopped believing in humans and turned violently temperamental.
"Before I came to Ryuchi Cave, I thought Manda was the strongest summoned snake here."
Gusion smiled. He wanted to needle Garaga into challenging Manda and leaving him alone.
"Hmph! You came with Orochimaru, right? What is Manda, to dare call himself the strongest serpent of Ryuchi Cave?"
Garaga knew plenty. He spoke of Manda with utter contempt.
"Judging by our fight, you're definitely stronger. It's just that folks outside have only seen Manda. With you staying home in Ryuchi Cave, how would outsiders know you outclass him?"
Gusion grinned. Sorry, Manda—don't blame me for fanning the flames. A snake-on-snake scuffle shouldn't be fatal anyway.
What came next shocked Gusion for a hundred years. "I'll make the world understand I'm far stronger than Manda. Hey, brat—you've got some chops, going toe-to-toe with me. Form a contract with me. I want to see what the ninja world is like now."
Gusion: Huh???
He wanted to say, Garaga, aren't you the type who's brash outside but a softie inside who needs the tender care of a partner?
I didn't talk-no-jutsu you, let alone preach the beauty of bonds. How did we get to you asking to contract with me?
Gusion glanced at Garaga's neck. It seemed he'd accidentally knocked off Garaga's reverse scale just now… but that still wasn't a reason to turn into a tsundere giant snake, was it?
"Brat? Why aren't you saying anything? You've got complaints about contracting with the great me?"
Garaga's tone soured. "Want to go another round?"
Gusion sighed inwardly. He didn't want to keep brawling and burning stamina. Beyond the White Snake Sage's task, Garaga was an elder of Ryuchi Cave. Killing him would cause big trouble.
The guy was thick-skinned and hard to put down. If he didn't kill him, fighting was just a waste of time.
"All right then. I'll make a contract with you. When I need to, I'll summon you to see the outside."
Gusion said. He thought about it—having a summoned beast in this world wasn't a bad idea. In some situations, a large summon was very useful; Garaga was top-tier among summons. He had no reason to refuse.
Garaga turned his head, almost as if embarrassed. "I'm not trying to be your summoned beast. I just want to see the outside and prove I'm the strongest in Ryuchi Cave."