Listening to Amane's words, the White Snake rolled around in the liquid of the culture tank, expressing its joy.
"I can finally go home."
The voice was still very moving, but this time it was just purely moving, not reaching the point of tugging at one's heartstrings.
It was a very interesting technique, but unfortunately, Amane had tentatively asked about it over the past two years. Although the White Snake didn't care about whether to teach it or not, its teaching ability was just as heaven-defyingly bad as Naruto's.
What does it mean to gather Chakra in the throat and then go by feeling?
What's the difference between practicing like that and winning the lottery?
This forced Amane to temporarily give up on such an interesting technique.
"Following your plan these past two years has scared me to death. You have no idea how terrifying that person is; countless times I thought I was going to be sliced into pieces."
As soon as the White Snake remembered, its body, which had been swimming in the culture tank's liquid, began to tremble violently.
Two years ago, after Amane defeated the Grass Shadow, she created a key for her spirit to enter the seal, and was immediately attacked by this thing.
While cursing about despicable humans taking advantage of others, it also said it would never be sealed by humans again.
Seeing that this White Snake's intelligence was actually so high, Amane immediately thought of creatures from the Sage Art holy lands like Manda and Gamabunta.
So Amane decided to give it a try and gave the White Snake a beating within the mental space.
Strong, almost at the Jonin level.
But the 8-year-old Amane was a Sealing Jutsu master. Fighting on the home turf of the sealed mental space, although she couldn't exert 100% of her power, her attribute advantage was maxed out.
So, as expected, the White Snake was physically calmed down by Amane.
After that, the human and the snake engaged in an equal and friendly exchange. Amane also learned that this White Snake indeed knew about Ryūchi Cave.
However, it wasn't a snake that lived in Ryūchi Cave; it didn't have the qualifications.
It was precisely to obtain those qualifications that it had left home to train and adventure.
The White Snake also understood that Amane hadn't come to reseal it, but had defeated the person who previously sealed it and then made a key to the seal to come in and see what it was.
With the misunderstanding cleared, the White Snake saw that Amane had no hostility toward it and planned to leave, muttering, "I want to go home first this time." But it was stopped by Amane.
Amane told the White Snake that it couldn't leave now, as a human even more terrifying than the one who sealed it had already set his sights on it, and she briefly explained the situation outside.
Upon hearing this, the entire space was filled with a sense of oppression, and the White Snake's negative emotions reached a new height.
Through the previous dialogue, Amane also made a judgment about the White Snake.
Its intelligence was indeed not inferior to a human's, but just as many stories say, this kind of existence, similar to a 'demon' in myths and legends, did not understand human rules.
So Amane made a suggestion to the White Snake, or rather, an agreement.
She would bring it to that person exactly as it was, and then let the White Snake reveal a bit of information about Ryūchi Cave, but not the location.
It was to show great resistance to Orochimaru, but display a close attitude toward Amane because she had saved it and helped it escape control.
Then, after maintaining this for a while, as close as possible to when Orochimaru was losing patience, it would propose the condition of telling them where Ryūchi Cave was in exchange for Amane taking it back to its hometown.
Finally, she told the White Snake that if an emergency occurred, it could tell anyone what she had said at any time.
Even so, the White Snake was still somewhat hesitant and untrusting. But when it saw Yakushi Kabuto through the Grass Shadow's body and keenly realized that if this person acted, it would be a dead end, it could only give up the idea of escaping.
Then it saw Orochimaru. Fine, everything Amane said was true.
And when it saw Orochimaru preparing some strange tools, the White Snake understood that Amane's method might really be the only way to survive.
"But congratulations on making it through, and it was a success. We set out tomorrow morning. I'll come pick you up in the morning, then cooperate with me as much as possible. As long as I don't die, I guarantee I'll take you home."
Amane made the guarantee confidently, causing the White Snake to suddenly perk up in the culture tank and start swimming with immense joy.
However, it soon seemed to realize something and began to look around suspiciously.
Seeing its expressive appearance, Amane found the little thing increasingly cute, so she said:
"Don't be afraid, that person won't come. I've found a way to sense him now, so rest easy."
The White Snake was worried about Orochimaru; according to its words, this person was more like a snake than it, a real snake, was.
And Amane wasn't just talking nonsense.
Back in the Sealing room of the Hidden Mist Village, the reason Amane hadn't sensed Orochimaru was that he had used some method to eliminate the Chakra in his body.
With the Chakra gone, Kagura Minds Eye naturally had nothing to work with.
After so much time, Amane had naturally thought of a new method.
Although the White Snake didn't know where Amane's confidence came from, such an attitude was undoubtedly very reassuring.
"Speaking of which, I haven't mentioned my own name yet."
Amane, who had already reached the door, suddenly paused and turned around to wait for the beautiful White Snake's next words.
Then she saw the White Snake's small tail wagging slightly and rapidly, looking very much like a shy human girl.
[Can it really be this cute? I definitely have to find a way to make it sign a Summoning contract with me.]
Even though she thought this, Amane's expression before the White Snake was very calm, making her look like a person of integrity to the other party.
So the White Snake finally plucked up the courage to say its name.
White Snake.
"That's a very nice name."
[It doesn't happen to have a sister named Qing'er, does it...?]
Amane suddenly really wanted to ask. But seeing the White Snake turn its head away, not daring to look directly at her, it clearly wasn't the right time to ask.
After saying another goodbye, Amane left the laboratory.
However, she didn't directly release the Shadow Clone, but walked to the position of the first door coming in, which was the second door coming out from the lab.
She turned her body and silently looked toward a certain spot.
To the naked eye, there was nothing there. But in Amane's Kagura Minds Eye, a breeze carrying a trace of Chakra formed a humanoid creature there.
Clap, clap, clap... "Just how many more surprises can you give me, little Amane?"
Orochimaru walked out from the shadows, clapping his hands.
"Wait until I find the location of Ryūchi Cave before you say that, Uncle Snake. Also, you don't mind if I go in first to scout some intel for you, or were you planning to follow me secretly?"
Two years ago, Amane had told Orochimaru exactly what she had said to the White Snake.
At that time, Orochimaru was amazed.
This style of using the truth to deceive others and gain their trust was very much to his taste!
So he immediately decided to adopt Amane's plan. However, precisely because the plan was so much to his taste, he understood even more clearly that Amane must have her own little schemes.
To be safe, he worked on both ends. On one hand, he used the intelligence gathered over the years to continuously narrow the range until he pinpointed the location of that clan.
On the other hand, he kept Amane by his side, giving her resources and space to work for him, keeping her schedule packed so she wouldn't have the spare energy for any little tricks.
Only after two years did Orochimaru finally formally launch the plan to find the location of Ryūchi Cave.
But until today, seeing Amane casually coordinating with White Snake and very casually sensing him with a new technique...
Orochimaru knew that there must be something he hadn't accounted for.
In other words, everything happening now was within Amane's calculations.
[Whether he comes or not is the same; the point is that I need to know the specific location of Ryūchi Cave.]
In the original work, Orochimaru couldn't enter Ryūchi Cave at all. As soon as he reached the entrance, he had to stop because of physical discomfort, not even getting the chance to enter the cave to train.
But Amane felt she could give it a try.
If even someone like Kabuto with that Indian-style patchwork bloodline could be qualified, why couldn't she?
Although according to the official guidebooks, training in Ryūchi Cave's Sage Art was extremely dangerous, and one could become food for the White Snake Sage if not careful.
But in this Ninja World, is there ever a time when you're not risking your life?
The 10 years she had lived this life gave Amane a deep appreciation for this. At least she had this opportunity in front of her to grasp, and once she succeeded, she would have a trump card with significant weight.
The best part was how it would help the current situation. If she succeeded, she could almost talk to Orochimaru on equal terms.
This was the one point Orochimaru couldn't see.
He could never imagine that he himself didn't even have the qualifications to train there.
Only then would he continue to develop the Cursed Seal, accelerate the perfection of Living Corpse Reincarnation, and plot to steal the body of someone from the Uchiha Clan.
What? Not afraid that Orochimaru will set his sights on your body?
As long as she could come out of Ryūchi Cave, that wouldn't be a problem at all. Because the Cursed Seal was essentially a 'lite' version of Sage Mode.
If you already know how to collect and harmonize Natural Energy, how much effect can something developed based on that really have on you?
Furthermore, Amane wasn't entirely ignorant about the development of the Cursed Seal.
By then, whether Orochimaru would even dare to give Amane a Cursed Seal would be a question.
"I'd like to do that too, but the current Sound Village cannot be without me. Besides, I trust you completely."
Orochimaru spoke his true feelings.
No matter what Amane wanted to do, she at least couldn't hide the location of Ryūchi Cave. Even if she suddenly chose to hide it against her usual behavior, based on the intel from that side, the people of that clan would surely tell him.
"How unexpected. It seems the establishment of this Sound Village is very useful to you; you've never told me that before."
Amane and Orochimaru smiled at each other; everything was understood without words.
"Take this and look it over on the way."
A stack of papers covered in writing was tossed over. Amane caught it and took a cursory glance, suddenly feeling very surprised.
It was some intelligence regarding the trials of Ryūchi Cave. Where did Orochimaru get this?
"Don't die. Also, this new sensory Ninjutsu—the idea is quite good."
[If you can come back alive, I'm starting to not want to let go. I'm a bit curious to see just how far you can go.]
Orochimaru felt the breeze passing by him.
This was sensing shapes formed by the flow of wind hitting obstacles and then using Kagura Minds Eye to perceive those shapes. It was truly a stroke of genius for Amane to have such a creative idea.
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