After finalizing the Hidden Rain Village's governance policies, the meeting quickly came to an end.
Uchiha Ren glanced at Konan—still unconscious—and shook his head faintly.
In the original story, Konan had been nothing but a tragedy, killed by the masked man—Uchiha Obito.
Now, her fate had been completely rewritten.
Whether she could survive this turning point… would depend on her alone. Ren couldn't carry her through it for her.
"I'll take her," Tsunade said as she stood, smiling lightly. "If you never fall, you'll never see the rainbow. She's just… too fragile right now."
Ren nodded without hesitation.
Tsunade's past wasn't all that different from Konan's. If anyone could pull her out of the abyss, it was Tsunade.
"When she wakes up, I'll talk to her," Jiraiya said quietly. Guilt flickered in his eyes.
"Do whatever you want," Ren replied with a shrug. "Let's move."
Tsunade laughed softly, stepped forward, and casually hoisted Konan onto her shoulder before striding out of the room.
"Hokage-sama, don't worry," Jiraiya said solemnly as he watched them leave. "I'll make sure she finds her footing again in the Hidden Rain Village."
Ren didn't answer. Jiraiya turned and left as well.
The Hidden Rain Village had been annexed.
The entire storyline had been rewritten.
Ren's lips curved slightly as he murmured to himself, "Now we'll see how Obito and Black Zetsu choose to draw their swords."
After a brief pause, he leaned back in his chair.
"System. I want to use the bonus sign-in."
At his current level, he was already the strongest beneath the Six Paths tier.
Which was exactly why he craved what lay beyond it.
Especially now—after obtaining the Sage of Six Paths' secret art: Yin–Yang Release.
That yearning had only grown sharper.
He had tried to break into the Six Paths realm before.
But every time… he fell short by the thinnest margin—as if something invisible was pressing down on him.
It left him uneasy.
If someone really was suppressing him from the shadows…
Then the answer was obvious.
And that only doubled the pressure in his chest.
Ding. Host, random teleportation will begin shortly. Confirm?
"I confirm."
Hiss—!
White smoke erupted.
And Uchiha Ren vanished.
Ryūchi Cave
Ryūchi Cave—one of the legendary sanctuaries of inheritance, on par with Mount Myōboku and Shikkotsu Forest—was infamous throughout the shinobi world.
Its founder was the ancient White-Scaled Great Serpent, a creature that had survived for over a thousand years since the era of Kaguya.
The beings of the cave revered it as the White Snake Sage.
Within Ryūchi Cave, almost nothing happened without that being knowing.
Deep inside the hidden domain—
A massive, crimson serpent with a single eye and jagged reverse-scales coiled in its lair, cultivating Sage Mode out of sheer boredom.
Its name was Manda II.
It had lost one eye in battle long ago.
Since then, it had become a violent disaster that lived only to destroy—so unruly that even the White Snake Sage found it troublesome.
The other serpents hated it.
None approached it willingly.
"How much longer until I can leave this place…?"
Manda II opened its lone eye and shifted its enormous body, irritation flickering through its gaze.
It decided to go bully some lesser serpents—anything to kill the boredom.
Hiss—!
Just as it moved to slither out—
Space rippled.
A human appeared inside its lair.
A human.
Manda II froze.
For a heartbeat, it couldn't process what it was seeing.
Then realization hit—and disbelief turned into savage delight.
A human… in my cave?
Is the world finally giving me a gift?
Its mouth split into a grotesque grin, fangs gleaming like blades.
"So… I finally get to taste human flesh…"
With a brutal lunge, it opened its jaws wide enough to swallow a person whole and snapped toward Ren.
Ren had barely finished registering the thick natural energy saturating the air—
when a reeking wave of blood and spit slammed into his senses.
His eyes narrowed.
And then he saw it:
A mouth—larger than he was—closing in.
Rows of razor fangs.
Drool hanging like threads.
Ren's expression didn't change.
His fingers curled into a fist.
And he punched forward.
Whoosh—!
A seemingly ordinary strike—
yet in the instant it launched, it unleashed a force so violent the entire Ryūchi Cave trembled.
Manda II didn't even have time to react.
The air in front of Ren cracked—
no—shattered—
spreading like a spiderweb of white fractures.
What…?
That was Manda II's final thought.
Because the moment that pale, trembling power struck its gaping jaws—
its body locked.
And then—
BOOM.
Its mouth, skull, and entire massive body exploded into pieces.
Blood and flesh sprayed across the lair in a storm of gore.
Violent. Instant. Absolute.
At the same time—
Ryūchi Cave shook.
Serpents everywhere snapped their heads up, eyes wide with disbelief.
Because deep within the cave—where Manda II resided—
a human presence had appeared.
And then—
Manda II's life aura vanished.
The serpents weren't stupid.
A human had infiltrated Ryūchi Cave…
and killed Manda II.
A thought that made their scales go cold.
In the next breath—
the entire sanctuary erupted into chaos.
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