Snakes are cold-blooded creatures with indifferent emotions, often even devouring each other when food is scarce. Therefore, the concepts of mutual aid and shared identity among members of the same species are far less strong among snakes than they are among the toads of Mount Myoboku.
As for Katsuyu, there's no need for comparison at all—it's simply a slug.
There's an old legend saying snakes are fallen dragons. Long ago, a scaleless white dragon supposedly grew jealous of his immortal, scaled kin while facing his own inevitable demise. He ended up betraying his entire race, which led to their extinction.
The White Snake Sage, as the leader of Ryuchi Cave, actually doesn't pay much attention to the life or death of each individual snake. After all, there are too many snakes here, and he is too old—his emotions are even colder than those of ordinary snakes. In truth, even if Manda were his own son, should he die, it wouldn't matter at all.
Even in the worst-case scenario, even if the White Snake Sage wanted revenge for Manda's death, it would still have nothing to do with Haseo. First of all, slugs naturally suppress snakes in terms of racial traits. Second, at most, Haseo could just run away.
Of course, fighting him in Ryuchi Cave would be impossible—but how about a face-off in Shikkotsu Forest later?
Naturally, this was only the worst possible speculation. The most likely reality was that even if Haseo brought Katsuyu along and devoured everything in sight, the White Snake Sage probably wouldn't care at all.
"Katsuyu, earlier when you spoke of the Three Secret Regions, you mentioned there's a White Snake Sage in Ryuchi Cave, right?"
"Yes, Lord Haseo."
"If we go meet him and take a look around... it shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"As long as you can find him, taking a quick look wouldn't be a problem," Katsuyu replied.
Haseo nodded in understanding. Of course, he had only wanted to take a look anyway.
Thus, he kept moving downward. By now, the underground space wasn't as complex as the upper levels anymore. Instead, the layers began to appear increasingly regular. From time to time, Haseo could see the abnormally huge bodies of colorful snakes—sometimes their tails, sometimes the middle sections, even their heads. Yet these giant snakes seemed to be hibernating. At best, they simply watched him with their vertical pupils—no longer daring to attack.
The space of Ryuchi Cave was shaped like a spindle, gradually widening from above before slowly narrowing once more. Its center must have been extremely vast. However, Haseo had no time or desire to explore. He kept going downward until finally reaching the last hall...
There was no White Snake Sage at the end of Ryuchi Cave.
Oh right—the great snake seemed to hide extremely well. Even a mature Orochimaru had needed an exceptionally long time, even decades, before finally locating him.
Though Haseo's sensing abilities were no worse than The Second's, whose powers bordered on unnatural, standing within this final chamber, whether real or imagined, he faintly sensed powerful waves of chakra pulsing around him.
That might very well have been what was known as Sage Chakra, but Haseo's perception was unclear and fleeting—everything felt too distant and intangible.
"Why don't we summon the enormous body from Shikkotsu Forest again and dig our way down? We've come this far, so we should at least meet the master of Ryuchi Cave."
Haseo carefully inspected the entire hall but found no hidden mechanisms. This was his less-than-elegant solution... When there's truly no path forward, brute physical force becomes the only option.
Give me some explosives and I'll turn even a rookie into a demolitions pro.
Katsuyu: "..."
Before Katsuyu could say anything, Haseo had already felt the stone floor beneath his feet suddenly flip over. What had been solid ground was now the ceiling above him in an instant.
Haseo glanced toward Katsuyu perched on his shoulder. After noticing its antennae twitched twice, he relaxed his legs and floated gently down.
A long, square corridor now stretched out beneath his feet.
"If this were one of those grave-robbing novels—like Chinese tomb-raiding fiction—walking further would lead straight to the main burial chamber, probably guarded by a millennium-old corpse." Muttering this softly to himself, Haseo proceeded deeper into the corridor.
Before long, purple lanterns began lighting up along both sides, casting an eerie glow across his path. Yet such a creepy atmosphere didn't scare anyone easily, and it wasn't long before Haseo finally reached the end of this space.
"Ryuchi Cave."
On the upright wall at the end of the passage was carved a dragon's head, holding a massive scroll in its mouth. Exactly those three characters were written on the cover of the scroll.
Seated before this wall was a large white-scaled serpent on a giant stone chair. Wearing a strange hat and with a long pipe clenched in its mouth, it looked like a snake, yet appeared highly anthropomorphic in expression and demeanor... This was the White Snake Sage.
Unlike all those chaotic spaces above and countless giant snakes, the reason Ryuchi Cave is truly known as Ryuchi Cave, the reason it stands among the Three Secret Regions, lies here.
"Successor of Shikkotsu Forest, why have you come before me?
It is strictly forbidden for you to enter Ryuchi Cave. No one ever told you this?"
The White Snake Sage exhaled a puff of smoke first, then spoke slowly and chillingly.
This snake wasn't particularly thick, but extremely loooong—the tail seemed to stretch endlessly into unknown darkness. Now, Haseo could clearly sense that immense Sage Chakra—it radiated directly from this serpent.
Inwardly, Haseo thought, *Wasn't it you who let me in because you feared destruction of the deeper layers? Why are you playing dumb now?*
Besides, what was wrong about entering anyway? Didn't your predecessor already come through here?
Thinking this, Haseo opened his mouth and stated honestly why he'd come:
"Just for a visit."
"..."
If the White Snake Sage had hands, it would surely be doing that face-palm gesture right now. It couldn't quite figure out this world anymore—or perhaps living too long really created a generation gap as deep as the Mariana Trench—a trench-deep divide between itself and younger ninjas?
"Just satisfying my curiosity," Haseo added after thinking briefly.
"...Are we really going to destroy someone's base just to satisfy our curiosity?"
White Snake Sage felt like it had been quite a while since its last meal of human brain — maybe it was time to feast again to nourish its serpent mind?
Forget it. It decided not to dwell on those eccentric mental circuits, and instead proceeded with its own routine for conversation. "Young ninja," it continued, "even though you are the inheritor of Shikkotsu Forest..."
While speaking, the White Snake Sage even cast a glance at Katsuyu who had been silently standing by, then continued, "Since you've come before me, by ancient custom, I can offer to teach you Ryuchi Cave's Sage Art. How about it? A ninja shouldn't refuse greater power."
Indeed, as long as White Scales Great Snake was willing, it could offer instruction in Sage Arts to anyone who approached. In fact, this was exactly what it did. However, this was hardly an act of mercy — the few ninja who ever mastered Ryuchi Cave's Sage Art were scarce indeed, and the odds of success were even lower than Mount Myoboku's Sage Techniques.
The reason being that the White Snake Sage's so-called teaching method was too simplistic and brutal — injecting a massive amount of Sage Chakra directly into the trainee's body. After that, things became simple: if the person didn't die on the spot, they had succeeded in learning the technique.
Sounds simple enough? Of course, everyone still ended up dead.
This was truly a great opportunity for Haseo to experience Sage Arts, so after careful consideration, he finally replied:
"It sounds tempting, but I must decline. My allegiance lies with the old master from the northwest..."
Forget that last sentence. Haseo switched to a more appropriate phrase:
"The reason is simple — I remain devoted to Katsuyu alone."
Who does this little white snake think it is?
Well, better keep that thought to yourself; wouldn't want to bruise the serpent's ego.
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