(A/N: I haven't watched Boruto, nor do I generally use it as a reference when writing this story, but I used some of its content to write the plot of Ryuchi's cave.)
Outside the village, Jugo walked calmly until he found a large enough open space.
The next moment, he began making hand seals so fast that it looked like his hands had become blurry.
From his finger, a single drop of blood trickled, his control over his own body had reached a tremendous level.
With one movement, he slammed his hand against the ground.
The next moment, Jugo was rapidly lifted to the top of a large purple snake. The snake took a moment to adjust as its immense body slithered across the ground. Luckily, he was far from Otogakure, or such a large snake would have caused great panic.
Manda's vertical eyes turned upwards, as if she could see Jugo on her forehead.
-You're not Orochimaru... a new summoner?- Manda asked with utter coldness.
Jugo knew the snake's temperament well, in the next moment, a huge wave of chakra emanated from Jugo. Not just his chakra, but Jugo unleashed the malice of the Tenebrous world with all his might. With his current control, the level of power he could use was far greater than when he was a mere lunatic.
The malice was so great that Manda's entire body stiffened, if he could sweat, he would be completely covered in sweat by now.
Manda didn't speak, he didn't move, he didn't even dare to cancel the summoning, he knew that even if he fled now, that monster could still find him in Ryuchi Cave and if Manda angered Jugo... he would die!
Jugo stood there, simply letting his aura and chakra flow out. At that point, most would freeze just from sensing that aura, even many battle-hardened chunin would still freeze.
The current Jugo has reached the level of monsters, the kind that plays with tailed beasts like grown-up pets.
-I need a summoning to deal with the cannon fodder, what do you think of that role?- Jugo asked calmly.
Manda was silent for a moment, before swallowing hard and saying. -It's my honor to be chosen.
Jugo smiled and nodded. -That's great, do I need to pay anything?
As soon as he asked that, Jugo pressed even harder with his aura. Manda wanted to cry now, he bet that if he asked for any sacrifice, he would die the next moment, or at the very least get a severe beating.
-No, no... serving you is enough.- Manda promised quickly, in the most flattering voice the proud snake could muster.
-All right.- Jugo nodded, and the evil aura suddenly vanished, his monstrous chakra returning to his body. Manda even felt that the day had become brighter.
-I need to go to Ryuchi's cave, take me to find the White Snake Sannin.- Jugo became incorporeal and possessed Manda directly. Manda was a little confused, but when he heard Jugo's voice coming from his consciousness, he swallowed hard and quickly canceled the summoning.
When Jugo came to, they had arrived at Manda's cave. The darkness did not deter Jugo at all, as he possessed a vision that could see through the deepest darkness.
He got off the snake and sat on its head. - Go.
Manda didn't dare argue or delay, so as soon as Jugo ordered it, the enormous snake began to move.
Manda was the chief of the common snakes, so except for the White Snake Sannin and her guardians, there was no other snake that could defeat Manda head-on, so calling him the chief of the snakes was not wrong.
Manda wandered swiftly through the gigantic, winding cave. The cave was enormous, teeming with snakes, yet he didn't see another snake for quite some time, as if the place were desolate.
This already demonstrated how big this place is.
But after a while away from Manda's area, Jugo felt a kind of intrusion in his mind, it was weak, but it seemed to bypass everything, as if it had been created with extreme subtlety.
Without a doubt, a powerful genjutsu.
Unfortunately... It was Jugo they were facing and without Jugo needing to do anything, the foreign chakra was expelled, not only that, but it returned directly to its summoner.
In front of Jugo, a trio of white snakes, much smaller than Manda, appeared. All three had vacant eyes, as if they had just fallen into a stupor, but it only took a moment for them to regain their clarity.
Surprised, the three snakes looked directly at Jugo, who smiled slightly at them. -It's best not to use Genjutsu on me, it doesn't work on me.
The next moment, an evil aura leaked from Jugo again, exploding outwards and spreading for miles around, a furious roar was heard from afar as the snakes in front of him froze in fear.
The hurried dragging sound echoed through the cave, it wasn't long before a large white snake, bigger than the three snakes in front of it, but still smaller than Manda, appeared.
The White Snake Sannin.
Her body looked different from that of scaled snakes, her scales protruded almost like fur and she even had an orange mane of hair over a purple turban.
-Demon... what do you want in my house?- The snake's voice was extremely solemn at that moment, she hadn't felt that kind of aura in a long time.
Jugo's eyes blinked. Demon? How did she know he was a demon? Well, not exactly, he fits more as a curse than a demon, that will have to wait until he assimilates the path of the Abyss.
-Do you think I'm a demon?- Jugo asked curiously as he withdrew his aura.
The question made the snake pause for a moment. - You are a demon, the aura is unmistakable, only a demon can carry such malice.
Jugo tilted his head, curious, then tried something else, his body quickly transformed into the eyes of snakes.
Jugo entered the second stage of his curse power and released his chakra completely.
At that moment, the snake's sannin eyes widened. -You... you're a descendant of Hagoromo Yamaru?
Jugo was a little confused by the title. - Who?
The snake looked at Jugo, who seemed genuinely confused and incredulous.
He didn't know he was a demon, nor who his ancestor was...
-Boy, you're really... interesting.- The snake sighed slightly before turning and beginning to slither away. -Follow me.
Jugo returned to normal, curious, he patted Manda on the head and he began to follow the White Snake.
The three guardians did not move, wanting to stay as far away from Jugo as possible.
Jugo followed the snake to a large bed, where the snake curled up comfortably. It seemed to think that Jugo wouldn't do any harm, but this snake was actually lazy, returning straight to the bed after moving around a bit.
-What did you come here to do, boy?- the snake asked curiously after settling down.
Without leaving Manda's head, Jugo said. -Senjutsu, but now I'm curious about what you know about demons and about this Hagoromo Yamaru fellow.
The snake stared directly at Jugo for a long moment, without answering, as if pondering something. Finally, it sighed. -I can help you with these three things, but then get out of my sight and don't come back.
Jugo raised an eyebrow, expecting tests or something of the sort, but the snake seemed quite straightforward. Although Jugo didn't plan on accepting any tests, he would force an answer if compelled to.
He wanted to know what that hairy snake would look like when it transformed into a werewolf.
A Weresnake or a Wolfsnake?
In short... it seems the big snake had a good sense of danger, because it gave up on any testing and went straight to the helping part.
Hakuja Sennin also wanted to complain, she had a very strong intuition, asking Jugo for anything made her feel like something terrible was going to happen to her, so she gave up and wanted to get rid of this pest as quickly as possible.
-First, about the demons...