Tagorihime and Ryou's Sharingan met, and she was confused for a second before immediately breaking Ryou's genjutsu.
Tagorihime wasn't Orochimaru, who messed up his own soul.
She was a Snake Sage, second only to the White Snake Sage in Ryūchi Cave, and a Snake Sage skilled in genjutsu herself.
Sage Mode, coupled with her own genjutsu specialization's resistance, allowed her to easily break Ryou's genjutsu.
After breaking the genjutsu, Tagorihime floated in the air and coldly shouted at Ryou: "Enough, Uchiha Ryou, let's stop pretending!"
"I am Tagorihime, one of the Three Great Snake Princesses under the White Snake Sage. You are not allowed to disrespect the Sage like this."
Ryou shed his frivolous expression and sneered at Tagorihime: "Tagorihime, you're not going to pretend with me anymore, are you?"
Ryou was not someone whose smaller head controlled his larger one. He had watched Boruto, so he naturally knew what trials the Three Great Snake Princesses of Ryūchi Cave had.
The first test of desire, Tagorihime's trial for Boruto, was appetite.
But when it came to Ryou, Tagorihime added lust to his trial, placing some genjutsu-created snake women in the palace.
Ryou guessed that if he connected with the snake women, he wouldn't pass this first stage.
Fortunately, the snake women didn't have pens, so Ryou couldn't connect.
Tagorihime dispelled all the genjutsu in the palace, and suddenly the surroundings became a desolate open space, still the dark, snake-smelling place of Ryūchi Cave.
Ryou was somewhat amazed by Tagorihime's advanced genjutsu; even his Sharingan hadn't detected that some of the surroundings were genjutsu.
This must have been genjutsu infused with Senjutsu chakra.
After the palace disappeared, Tobirama pulled Orochimaru and quickly hid using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Tagorihime looked grimly at Ryou: "Uchiha Ryou, you know me?"
Ryou nodded: "This was all told to me by Manda. It said that the first checkpoint of Ryūchi Cave is hosted by you, Tagorihime."
"This palace is fake; everyone here except you is fake."
"Manda?!"
Tagorihime's cold gaze swept over Manda, a hundred meters away.
Damn, I've been framed!
Manda felt a chill run through its body under Tagorihime's icy stare; it hadn't told Ryou anything at all.
It had merely guided him to participate in the trials of the Three Great Snake Princesses.
Tagorihime's first trial placed great importance on intelligence. If the trial participant knew the trial's contents beforehand, the trial's effectiveness would be halved.
For example, if a beautifully dressed woman appears, but you know beforehand that she is a man, would you still fall for it?
The trial of desire focuses on a person's most authentic judgment.
But Manda didn't dare to resist Ryou now, so it could only suffer in silence.
Tobirama, in the shadows, looked at Orochimaru's Summoned Beast and said, "Orochimaru, your Summoned Beast has been trained like a dog by someone else!"
Orochimaru was a bit annoyed: "Damn it, Manda is so easily subjugated. I thought it would be more arrogant, but it turns out to be a take advantage of who fears the strong."
"I should have been tougher when I summoned it!"
Orochimaru didn't dare to use Manda anymore. Seeing Manda's state, it had already been tamed by Ryou, and he didn't know what methods had been implanted in it.
If he summoned Manda in the next battle, would Manda betray him according to Ryou's will?
But he wasn't afraid. Now Orochimaru had Edo Tensei, treating the Edo Tensei body as a Summoned Beast.
However, Tobirama and Hashirama couldn't be treated as Summoned Beasts; they could only be treated as ancestors. With these two ancestors, what other Summoned Beast would Orochimaru need?
Ryou asked Tagorihime: "Tagorihime, you've dispelled your genjutsu, which proves I've passed the first trial, right?"
Tagorihime's expression was a bit grim. Ryou hadn't eaten the delicacies in the palace, nor had he engaged in intimacy with the snake women.
According to the trial requirements, Ryou had already endured the test of desire.
But Tagorihime didn't believe Ryou had passed the desire stage.
It was her fault for using lust for the first time in a test and lacking experience; the snake women she transformed into didn't lead Ryou astray.
If she had done it herself, it would have been too easy for Ryou. She was a noble Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave, a snake with a lifespan equal to heaven.
How could she be defiled by mortal blood?
Tagorihime looked gloomy for a moment, then regained her composure: "Uchiha Ryou, you are very good. You have passed my trial."
"Go, go find Ichikishimahime for the second trial!"
The second trial was about strength and endurance. Ryou was able to defeat Orochimaru and Tobirama and tame Manda.
This proved that his Shinobi stats had surpassed ordinary people, and perhaps even these Snake Sages were no match for Ryou in terms of stats.
The second stage would be the easiest for Ryou.
The focus of Ryūchi Cave's trial for Ryou was the third stage—the Trial of Reflecting the Heart.
In this stage, Orochimaru's two disciples, Anko and Yamato, were stagnant, facing the test of their inner selves.
Ryou nodded to Tagorihime and was about to leave.
"Bold snake demon!"
Candy suddenly jumped onto Ryou's back with a Gunbai in hand, immediately unleashing an Uchiha Reflection.
The Gunbai unleashed a powerful Wind Release that sent Tagorihime flying.
Candy said to Ryou: "This guy tried to sneak attack you!"
It turned out that the moment Ryou turned his head, Tagorihime was preparing to attack him.
She couldn't bear to let Ryou's pure and vast chakra slip away; rather than sacrificing it to the White Snake Sage, she preferred to enjoy it herself.
Ryou unleashed a massive killing intent on Tagorihime: "Tagorihime, you used desire to test me, but you, a Sage, unexpectedly succumbed to desire."
Tagorihime struggled to her feet and glanced at the Gunbai in Candy's paw.
"Gunbai!!"
Tagorihime and Tobirama exclaimed simultaneously in surprise.
Tobirama was even more surprised. The Gunbai had always been the symbol of the Uchiha Clan head, and the Uchiha Clan crest was designed to resemble the Gunbai.
Only the strongest in the clan was qualified to wield the Gunbai.
In the Sengoku period, the Gunbai was combined with the Uchiha's Fire Release.
When Uchiha Clan members unleashed Fire Release, it would transform into powerful fiery meteors with a swing of the Gunbai.
The Gunbai could be used for offense and defense; the Senju Clan Shinobi had suffered many losses from it.
The last wielder of the Gunbai was Madara. When he left Konoha, he took the Gunbai with him.
This led to the Uchiha Clan losing the Gunbai, and the position of clan head remained vacant, with the Police Force captain governing the entire Uchiha.
Whoever wielded the Gunbai was the strongest in the Uchiha Clan, equivalent to the clan head.
Tobirama didn't expect Madara's Gunbai to be passed to a cat.
Previously, seeing that Ryou's Susanoo's spiritual tool resembled the Gunbai, he thought the other party had integrated the Gunbai into his Susanoo.
He didn't expect the Gunbai to be on his Summoned Beast.
If the Uchiha Clan members saw the Gunbai in Candy's paw, he wondered how complex their expressions would be?
Tobirama's mouth curved into a smile of anticipation.
He loved seeing the Uchiha people suffer.
...
If Satori had been present, he would have immediately seen that Tagorihime had been malicious from the start.
All the food she prepared contained her Sage poison. If Ryou had eaten it, even Hashirama cells wouldn't be able to suppress its toxicity.
At that point, Tagorihime would be able to devour the poisoned Ryou.