— — — — — — —
Uchiha Renzo scanned his surroundings and compared them with the map and images Orochimaru had given him. After confirming the dark and eerie cave before him, he muttered, "This should be the place."
Without hesitation, he stepped inside.
Raising a hand, he extended a finger and softly chanted, "Lumos."
A gentle white glow emanated from his fingertip, illuminating the path ahead as he ventured deeper into the cave.
The cave was long. Renzo walked for nearly two hours before reaching a vast cavern.
"Kid! You've got guts, daring to set foot here!"
A massive purple serpent coiled in the distance, its cold eyes glaring at Renzo. Its tongue flicked menacingly as it spoke in a low, threatening voice.
Its gaze was that of a predator eyeing its next meal.
"You're Manda, right?" Renzo smirked at the giant snake. "Didn't Orochimaru warn you not to mess with me?"
Manda: "???"
'Shouldn't I be the one saying that to him?'
'And since when did any human dare speak to me like that?'
"Brat! You're courting death! Even Orochimaru doesn't dare talk to me like this!"
Enraged, Manda lunged, its massive jaws snapping toward Renzo.
Swish!
In an instant, Renzo vanished like a flash of lightning and reappeared above Manda's head. Then, he threw a devastating punch downward.
"Impact Punch!!"
Boom!
A sharp, searing pain erupted in Manda's skull.
A terrifying shockwave sent the colossal snake crashing headfirst into the ground, embedding its head deep into the cavern floor. A crater several meters deep and dozens of meters wide formed beneath it.
A fist-shaped indentation was visible on Manda's head.
Scales shattered, and blood oozed from the wound.
"Damn you! You wretched brat! I'll eat you! I'll devour you!!!"
Despite its injuries, Manda showed no fear. Roaring in fury, it lunged at Renzo again.
However, to Renzo, its movements were sluggish—like a snail in slow motion. With his advanced observation abilities, he easily sidestepped the attack.
"Die!"
Manda swung its enormous tail at him, cutting through the air with a sharp whoosh!
It was truly furious.
"Armament Haki - Impact Punch!!"
Renzo didn't dodge. Instead, his right hand was instantly coated in black Armament Haki, merging high-level armament power with the impact force of an Eevee's skill.
With his monstrous strength, he delivered a devastating counterpunch against Manda's tail.
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion rang out as their attacks collided. The resulting shockwave sent both Renzo and Manda flying backward.
Renzo twisted in midair, dispersing the force before stabilizing himself in the sky.
Manda, however, wasn't as lucky. Its tail slammed into the floor, shaking the entire cave. Stones and debris rained down, sending smaller snakes scattering in panic.
But Manda wasn't done—it lunged again at Renzo.
"Susanoo!"
Renzo's Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan spun, and a torrent of chakra surged from his body. In an instant, a colossal, semi-formed Susanoo materialized, towering dozens of meters high.
Raising a massive hand, Susanoo's clawed fingers clamped tightly around Manda's neck.
It was as if a giant had seized a worm.
"D-Damn it! Let me go! Let me go right now!!!"
"This is humiliating! Utter humiliation! You brat, I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!!"
Manda flailed and thrashed, shrieking in rage.
It struggled like an earthworm caught by a child, but no matter how much it twisted, it couldn't break free.
If snakes weren't cold-blooded creatures covered in scales, Manda's face would have been burning red from embarrassment.
After all, it was Manda—the greatest snake beneath the Ryuchi Cave's Snake Sage.
Since when had it ever been humiliated like this?
"Pffft... What a sight, Manda!"
A mocking laugh echoed from the distance.
A large red serpent with a single eye slithered into view.
Its missing eye only made it look even more sinister.
"Garaga?! You bastard dare laugh at me?! You better watch out—I'll make sure you lose that other eye too! Just you wait!"
Manda roared in rage.
Of course, more than anger, he was utterly humiliated.
He had never been this embarrassed before!
"Hiss hiss~ You should probably worry about escaping from that human first, Manda! Tsk tsk..."
Garaga was irritated at being reminded of his lost eye, but outwardly, he maintained a mocking smirk.
In truth, many of the other snakes felt the same way as Garaga. They couldn't help but take some pleasure in Manda's suffering.
After all, Manda was notorious for his arrogance, and they had all suffered under his tyranny before.
"Damn it! You little brat! Let me go right now, or I swear I'll make your life a living hell!"
Manda, enraged by Garaga's taunts, was desperate to restore his dominance and immediately turned his fury toward Renzo.
"You really don't know when to quit, do you?"
Renzo smirked coldly at the struggling Manda. Controlling Susanoo, he grabbed Manda's tail with one massive hand while loosening his grip on the snake's vital weak point.
Just as Manda thought he was about to be freed, Renzo lifted the gigantic snake and began slamming it violently against the ground.
Back and forth, side to side, repeatedly smashing Manda like a ragdoll.
The scene was eerily reminiscent of how the Hulk had once smashed Loki into the floor.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sheer force of the impact made the entire cave tremble.
The other observing snakes, including Garaga, felt a chill run down their spines.
"This human is brutal!"
"We better not mess with him!"
"Since when did humans become so terrifying? I thought Orochimaru was weak and easy to talk to!"
The cave filled with hushed whispers of frightened snakes.
(Orochimaru: "...")
After slamming Manda more than ten times, Renzo finally loosened his grip. The once-mighty serpent was now a limp, battered mess, lying motionless like a discarded piece of old wood.
Renzo dismissed Susanoo and turned to the other snakes. "I'm looking for the White Snake Sage. Who can take me to her?"
"Uh… hiss hiss…"
The snakes visibly shuddered under Renzo's gaze and instinctively backed away.
Manda had been completely humiliated. Who among them would dare step forward now?
Just then, two human-like girls approached from the back of the cave. They nodded slightly at Renzo and spoke.
"Orochimaru has already informed the White Snake Sage about you. You've passed the initial test. Follow us."
"Oh? Shape-shifting snakes? Interesting."
Renzo smirked. Only now did he recall that the snakes of Ryuchi Cave had the ability to transform. He figured it might be worth studying—perhaps he could learn something unexpected from them.
Of course, mastering Sage Mode was still his top priority.
Soon, under the guidance of the two snake women, Renzo entered a massive, ancient stone hall deep within the cave.
Inside, an enormous white-scaled serpent rested atop a grand stone throne, lazily puffing from a massive pipe. The snake's slitted eyes gleamed with interest as it gazed at Renzo.
"A young Uchiha, huh? You're even more fascinating than Orochimaru described."
The White Snake Sage finally spoke.
The ancient being found itself unable to fully perceive Renzo's true nature.
More disturbingly, it had an eerie sense of danger—an instinctive feeling that this human could pose a genuine threat to it.
That was absurd.
As one of the three Great Sages of the Summoning Realms, the ruler of Ryuchi Cave, the White Snake Sage had lived for a thousand years and possessed terrifying power.
Yet, a mere ten-year-old Uchiha was making it feel uneasy?
"You're too kind, Sage."
Renzo smiled faintly. "I assume Orochimaru already told you my purpose for coming here."
"Hiss… Indeed."
The White Snake Sage exhaled a smoke ring and flicked its forked tongue. "He has. And I have agreed. After all, you are a summoner of Ryuchi Cave."
"However, I must warn you—training in Senjutsu is extremely dangerous. There is no guarantee you will succeed. It all depends on your own talent and willpower."
"Additionally, we have an unspoken rule here. If you fail to master Sage Mode and don't immediately die… you'll be eaten by the ones training you."
The White Snake Sage's slitted eyes gleamed with amusement.
"If you still wish to proceed, then I will have Tagitsuhime and the others teach you with all their effort. Anything you are capable of learning, you may learn."
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