"What chicken?" Linto asked.
"Tagorihime."
Jiraiya looked serious, a drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead as he explained to Linto: "There are three Senjutsu inheritances in the ninja world: Mount Myōboku, Shikkotsu Forest, and Ryūchi Cave.
The founder of Ryūchi Cave is the White Snake Sage. Tagorihime is a close aide of the White Snake Sage. After hundreds of years of cultivation, she possesses extremely vast Senjutsu Chakra.
She is responsible for the trials of Ryūchi Cave. Only those who pass the trial of Tagorihime are qualified to practice Ryūchi Cave Senjutsu."
Linto stared at Tagorihime. She was very beautiful, with a seductive feeling like the snake spirit sister from the Calabash Brothers cartoon he watched as a child.
"Is she strong?"
"Strong…"
Jiraiya hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's not a matter of strong or weak. Immortals who have cultivated for hundreds of years usually possess all kinds of magical abilities different from Ninjutsu."
Linto hoisted up the Ruin Greatsword.
What a coincidence, he also had magical abilities different from ninjas.
Jiraiya recalled, "But in my memory, Orochimaru did not obtain the right to practice Senjutsu… What price did he pay to invite this person to take action?"
Faced with Linto and Jiraiya's wary gazes, Tagorihime seemed oblivious. She held Orochimaru, her slender hand gently stroking Orochimaru's cheek:
"Poor little snake, you've aged so much since I last saw you, no longer as handsome as you were when you were young... I should have eaten you in one bite when you were at your most beautiful."
"I have not learned Senjutsu, and I am only human, so I naturally cannot compare with you, who has a long lifespan. The current busy days and nights are just to chase after your footsteps."
Orochimaru's body was quickly repairing. He respectfully said, "Please take action."
Tagorihime chuckled. She just liked Orochimaru's cleverness. She opened her arms and slowly flew into the air, defying gravity.
Jiraiya shouted to Tagorihime, who was rising into the air, "Tagoimi-sama, this is our battle with Orochimaru. Do you have to interfere?
If you take action, I will also invite the two elders, Fukasaku and Shima. At that time, it will be a clash between Ryūchi Cave and Mount Myōboku."
Jiraiya's meaning was very clear.
Their fight with Orochimaru was a human-versus-human battle.
Both sides had equally powerful backers, and there was no need to escalate the war.
Tagorihime covered her mouth and chuckled, her gentle laughter containing the contempt of a higher life form towards a lower one.
"Then summon... no, 'invite' one and try?"
Hearing this, Jiraiya's heart skipped a beat. He felt a sense of foreboding and immediately bit his finger, formed hand seals, and slammed his palm on the ground, performing the Summoning Technique.
Normally, as the Ninjutsu was performed, patterns would spread outwards, and the summoned beast and the caster would sense each other, eventually answering the call.
But now —
The patterns on his palm landed on the ground and were about to spread outwards when they exploded.
Jiraiya could not contact Mount Myōboku!
Following the sensed power, Jiraiya turned his head to look at the poisonous snakes that Orochimaru had released, surrounding the village earlier.
They were continuously spewing poisonous mist from their mouths, and a circle of dark mist covered the sky above the village, eventually flowing into Tagorihime's hands, forming a barrier that isolated the inside from the outside.
Manda Black Formation!
"Rest assured."
Tagorihime looked down at everyone and said, "Little snake does not have the qualifications to practice Senjutsu. Due to the rules, I will not directly attack you. I will only conduct a..."
"Test."
What is a test?
A question flashed through everyone's minds.
Tagorihime held up a green gem with both hands. Her long white dress moved without wind, and ten thousand feet of colored light appeared behind her. Within the light, faintly visible spiritual snakes coiled around, and a faint, sweet scent filled the air.
The first to be affected were the surviving villagers in the village.
They immersed themselves in this miracle, opening their arms and breathing deeply, feeling that the injuries on their bodies were about to heal.
"Ah! I... what's wrong with me?!"
The villager looked down and saw that his body was inexplicably covered in scales. Before long, his clothes fell off, and a snake crawled out from within.
Snake.
The person had turned into a snake.
"Natural energy?"
Linto used Ripple power to feel the breath of the world.
The barrier covered in colored light was filled with extremely dense natural energy.
This natural energy originated from Tagorihime, who was floating in the air.
However, it seemed that because it had been transformed by Tagorihime, it had subtle differences from the natural energy that Linto absorbed from the outside —
It was extremely aggressive and would actively invade the human body. Once it was impossible to harmonize the natural energy and Chakra in a specific ratio, one would turn into a snake.
Sasuke was terrified: "Is this the practice method of Ryūchi Cave? It's too overbearing!"
Jiraiya frowned: "Impossible, even Ryūchi Cave can't force natural energy into the body without any medium..."
He stared at the green gem in Tagorihime's hand, vaguely remembering the toad sage mentioning that the Great Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave had a Senjutsu treasure orb that had been refined for thousands of years, which had an extremely strong natural energy manipulation effect.
Could it be this one?!
Linto witnessed living people turning into snakes with his own eyes.
This is natural power...
Mount Myōboku is stone.
Ryūchi Cave is a snake.
Then does failure in Shikkotsu Forest mean becoming... a slug?
The so-called stone and snake are just appearances.
Natural energy truly changes the genetic structure of the human body.
"Genes..."
Linto opened his left hand.
"Come to me!"
Jiraiya shouted, opening his arms and doing everything he could to mobilize natural energy, using his body as a springboard to transform the surrounding natural energy.
Within a meter of him, he was barely able to prevent the effects of Tagorihime's "test," creating a purified area to protect Sasuke from being affected.
But this was not a long-term solution.
Purifying natural energy took a lot of Jiraiya's Chakra, and it wouldn't be long before he ran out of Chakra.
If it was a competition of accumulated Senjutsu Chakra, how could he possibly compare to Tagorihime, who had been practicing for hundreds of years?
Moreover, this was not an endurance game.
This was a fight to the death!
Orochimaru slowly straightened his back, raised his head, and took a deep breath, feeling indescribably comfortable all over.
He was indeed unable to practice Senjutsu, but that didn't mean that Orochimaru had no exposure to natural energy or Senjutsu Chakra.
Cursed seals.
They were a variation of Senjutsu Chakra.
For today's battle, Orochimaru had adjusted the cursed seals. Within Tagorihime's domain, he would not be affected in the slightest, and could even further enhance the effectiveness of his Ninjutsu and the speed of his physical recovery.
And his enemies, as long as they were not Ryūchi Cave Senjutsu practitioners, would be suppressed.
As for the Genjutsu of the Sharingan?
That's right, Orochimaru's resistance to Genjutsu was indeed not high.
But Tagorihime was a true master of Genjutsu, enough to counter any form of Genjutsu.
This was Orochimaru's entire plan.
From discovering Hope Village, visiting Ryūchi Cave, adjusting the cursed seals, hiding in Jugo, killing civilians... the entire series of arrangements was for this moment of foolproofness.
Click.
A cracking sound came. Jugo, who had been burned to a crisp, stood up again.
The dense natural energy had repaired his body.
Jugo rubbed his neck and stood behind Orochimaru. Accompanying him was Kimimaro, who had entered his Cursed Seal state and extracted his spinal cord.
Orochimaru stuck out his long tongue and licked away the blood stains that Linto had created earlier.
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