Chapter 156: The White Snake Sage's Trial
Drip, drip.
In the damp cave, water droplets fell to the ground from time to time, making a crisp sound.
At the same time, a group of colorful poisonous snakes were constantly moving around, making a hissing sound. If an ordinary person were here, they would have likely fled in terror long ago.
But Kyosuke didn't mind. At this time, he was already immersed in the joy of about to obtain Sage Art.
After walking for about twenty minutes, Kyosuke looked up at the cave, which still seemed to have no end in sight, and couldn't help but sigh to himself. "As expected of the nest of a giant creature. It's so vast."
Another twenty minutes passed...
"Still haven't reached the end? Well, I guess so. Mount Myoboku is almost the size of a small world. It's normal for Ryuchi Cave to be a bit bigger."
Another twenty minutes passed...
"...Normal my ass!!!"
Kyosuke's patience had been completely worn down by this seemingly endless road.
But for the sake of the "Sage Art" inheritance, he could only continue to walk patiently.
A long time passed again. At some point, Kyosuke had become a bit dazed.
He was like a mummy, mechanically walking forward on the seemingly endless road.
At the same time, snake scales were constantly growing on his body. It was likely that in a short while, his entire body would turn into a poisonous snake.
But then, the unexpected happened.
On Kyosuke's neck, a snake scale had just grown out when it was ground away by a black pattern. And Kyosuke himself was almost simultaneously jolted awake.
"This is... damn it. I actually fell for it," Kyosuke cursed in his heart. Then, a cold and evil aura suddenly gathered in his eyes.
"Sharingan, activate!"
Instantly, both the Tagitsuhime who was leading the way and the endless road disappeared. What appeared before his eyes was a huge underground cavern, hundreds of meters high.
It turned out that at some point, he had fallen into a genjutsu. If it hadn't been for the snake scales accidentally touching his cursed seal, he would have likely slept on until he died.
Kyosuke took a deep breath, calming his rapidly beating heart. He then turned to look at the place where he was.
To his left, a few women, including Tagitsuhime, were looking at him with a calm expression. And to his right, Aoda was lying there with its head bowed, constantly giving him a look.
Kyosuke followed Aoda's gaze and saw, directly in front of him, a white snake, at least a few hundred meters long, coiled on a huge stone platform. And its snake pupils, which were bigger than Kyosuke himself, were staring at him coldly.
Instantly, Kyosuke felt as if he had been plunged into an ice cellar. His whole body froze, unable to move.
At this time, not to mention moving, even the chakra in his body seemed to have been frozen, and it did not obey his command at all.
At first, Kyosuke had thought that this was a test from the White Snake Sage. After all, many powerful people liked to play this kind of "show of force" trick.
But when Kyosuke's body began to feel a sharp pain, he finally understood that this was not some damn show of force, but another kind of trial, just like the previous genjutsu.
Having figured this out, Kyosuke directly activated his cursed seal.
But to his surprise, the cursed seal, which had always been as easy to control as his own limbs, was now not only difficult to control, just like his chakra, but even the speed at which it spread was extremely slow.
Fortunately, in the end, it still managed to cover his entire body, and at the same time, the feeling of being frozen successfully left him.
"Whew..." After regaining control of his body, Kyosuke directly bent over and began to breathe heavily.
After a long while, he finally recovered. He then looked up at the White Snake Sage on the high platform again.
This time, the White Snake Sage finally spoke. "That ability of yours is very interesting. This is the first time I've seen it."
Kyosuke knew it was talking about his cursed seal. After all, the cursed seal was derived from sage chakra, so it was only natural that it would be interested.
At the moment, Kyosuke directly began to talk about some of the characteristics of the "Cursed Seal Transformation" and the help he expected it to be in his sage art training.
When the White Snake Sage heard Kyosuke say that he could store "sage art chakra" in the cursed seal for later use, even with its calmness, it couldn't help but lean forward slightly.
"What you said, do you have any proof?"
Kyosuke smiled to himself, then replied calmly, "I can't guarantee it one hundred percent, but the success rate is very high."
After he had finished speaking, the White Snake Sage did not continue to speak, but fell silent.
After a long while, it slowly said, "Very good. Since you have passed my two trials, you are now qualified to practice my Ryuchi Cave's Sage Art. As for the specific training method, Tagitsuhime will teach you."
"Thank you, White Snake Sage," Kyosuke said, hearing its words, a sense of relief in his heart.
"You may leave."
"Yes, sir."
Then, Kyosuke followed Tagitsuhime to her residence, a clean and tidy... cave.
On the way, the two of them had a simple conversation, and Kyosuke also successfully learned that her full name was Tagitsuhime. At the same time, she was also one of the White Snake Sage's three disciples, and her strength was not to be trifled with.
As for the remaining two, they were Ichikishimahime and Tagorihime, whom he had also met just now.
"Are they all beautiful snake women...?" Kyosuke thought to himself, looking at her.
Tagitsuhime did not have his jumbled thoughts. Since the White Snake Sage had asked her to teach him, she would naturally do her best.
"Since you want to learn Sage Mode, do you know what sage art chakra is?" Tagitsuhime asked.
Kyosuke naturally knew the answer to this question, but since Tagitsuhime had the intention of explaining, he didn't mind reviewing it.
"Sage Art, or the power of a sage, to put it simply, is a state in which one can freely use natural energy."
"This state can use natural energy to greatly increase vitality, and at the same time, increase agility, strength, and defense. At the same time, it can also use natural energy to enhance the range of taijutsu attacks and perception."
"The chakra created with natural energy is called 'sage art chakra.' Using it can greatly enhance the power of one's ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu."
Tagitsuhime's explanation was basically the same as Kyosuke's understanding of Sage Art and Sage Mode. Of course, on the surface, he still had to put on a "I see" look.
After all, Tagitsuhime had worked so hard to explain, so he had to respond appropriately. This was the most basic etiquette of an apprentice.
And so, Kyosuke began his sage art training in Ryuchi Cave.