— — — — — — —
"There's nothing to hesitate about! I will succeed!"
With unwavering confidence, Renzo flashed a smile and turned to the three Snake Princesses (Tagitsuhime, Tagorihime, and Ichikishimahime). "Alright then, I'll be counting on you all!"
"Ssss!"
Tagitsuhime licked her long tongue with a playful smile. "I like your confidence. Let's hope you really can pull it off. Follow me."
Without hesitation, she led Renzo to a side chamber and began explaining, "Ordinary ninjutsu is powered by chakra. Chakra itself is a fusion of spiritual and physical energy in a certain ratio. I assume you're already familiar with this?"
"Of course."
"Good. Now let's talk about Senjutsu. Senjutsu is the application of Sage Chakra in jutsu, which we refer to as 'Sage Arts.'"
"Sage techniques far surpass normal jutsu in both power and effectiveness."
"The foundation of Senjutsu is Sage Chakra. To obtain Sage Chakra, you must balance physical energy, spiritual energy, and natural energy in a 1:1:1 ratio. Only then can you successfully fuse them."
"Now, I'll guide you in sensing natural energy."
---
One Minute Later…
A terrifying surge of absorption power erupted from the side chamber.
The Snake Sage, who had been resting, suddenly snapped its eyes open and looked toward the source of the disturbance.
"This brat…!"
It could feel the natural energy of Ryuchi Cave rushing wildly toward the chamber. Without hesitation, it teleported over.
What it saw left it in shock—Renzo was seated cross-legged, madly absorbing natural energy… but showed no signs of losing control.
Ten minutes passed before Renzo finally stopped.
He slowly opened his eyes.
A terrifying aura burst forth, sending shivers down Tagitsuhime's spine and making the other snakes in Ryuchi Cave instinctively tense up. Even their scales tightened in fear.
Only the Snake Sage remained calm, merely narrowing its eyes slightly.
"How is this even possible?!"
"You already mastered Sage Mode?! And it's a perfectversion?! How?!"
Tagitsuhime was in complete disbelief.
Never before had she seen someone with such terrifying talent.
It took him just one minuteto comprehend Senjutsu, and the next ten minutes? Those were purely spent absorbing natural energy.
In other words, this brat had mastered the technique just by hearing the method once!
---
Renzo clenched his fist, sensing the changes in his body. But instead of standing up, he shut his eyes again.
However, beneath his closed eyelids, his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan activated, analyzing Sage Chakra and the principles behind Snake Sage Mode.
"What is he doing?"
Both Tagitsuhime and the Snake Sage were baffled.
Wasn't he done mastering Sage Mode?
Why continue meditating?
Yet Renzo had no intention of answering their questions.
"So that's how it works, huh? No wonder it has snake-like features. They added an extra element… but that just makes it impure. This won't do. It's not pure enough!"
For two days, Renzo dissected every last secret of Snake Sage Mode.
"Now that I understand everything, I can strip away the unnecessary elements and create a version of Sage Mode perfectly suited for humans."
That was his plan.
Of course, he wouldn't do it now.
At least, not in front of the Snake Sage and Tagitsuhime.
Otherwise, wouldn't that be a direct slap in their faces?
With his objective achieved, Renzo finally opened his eyes again. He stretched lazily, cracking his joints before grinning at Tagitsuhime.
"Thanks for watching over me. I've fully mastered Sage Mode! Next, I want to learn all of Ryuchi Cave's Sage Techniques! I'll be counting on you."
If there was one thing Renzo appreciated about Ryuchi Cave, it was their straightforwardness.
Whether it was about the risks of learning Senjutsu or their approach to teaching, they were refreshingly direct.
No manipulation, no deception. They even warned about the downsides.
Now that was honesty!
A rarity in this world.
Sure, there were hot-headed idiots like Manda, but there were also decent ones… or, well, decent snakes.
At least, that was how Renzo saw it.
"Alright! Follow me! There's not enough space to practice here."
Tagitsuhime shot Renzo a deep look, as if trying to see through him.
But no matter how hard she tried, she found nothing.
Well…except for one thing.
Renzo seemed to be maintaining Sage Mode the entire time.
It was as if... this was his normal state.
"So, you've spent the last two days figuring out how to stay in Sage Mode permanently?"
On the way, Tagitsuhime couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
"You could say that."
Renzo responded with a playful smile.
Of course, that wasn't the whole truth.
What Tagitsuhime mentioned was just a small side effect of his deeper analysis of the Snake Sage Mode—not even worth mentioning.
When your mental prowess and comprehension are on another level, you can do whatever you want.
His control over Sage Chakra was unprecedented.
"But... what's the point of this?"
Tagitsuhime still didn't quite get it. "As long as you generate new chakra, the balance will be broken again."
"To constantly merge ordinary chakra with natural energy, making it second nature, is nearly impossible!"
"Besides, Sage Chakra is powerful, but it also puts a heavy burden on the body and mind! You should be careful."
Tagitsuhime was genuinely concerned.
After all, Renzo was incredibly talented and, let's be honest, pretty good-looking.
Having such an exceptional contract holder from Ryuchi Cave would bring prestige to their name in the Ninja world, wouldn't it?
At the very least, it'd be satisfying to rub it in those damn toads' faces.
"I get it! Thanks for the warning, Tagitsuhime!"
Renzo smiled and nodded.
Even though it wasn't really an issue for him, he still appreciated the concern.
Gratitude is important.
"Alright, let's start with Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation..."
For the next two days, Renzo followed Tagitsuhime and learned every single Sage Art Ryuchi Cave had to offer.
His learning speed was terrifying.
By the end, Tagitsuhime was completely numb to it.
She was convinced—Renzo wasn't human at all.
This guy was a straight-up freak of nature.
Who the hell learns Sage Arts like they're just eating and drinking?
No technique stumped him for more than half an hour.
Most of the time, he mastered them just by hearing the explanation once.
After practicing a few times, he had them down perfectly.
For someone like Tagitsuhime, who had spent centuries honing her own abilities, this was a massive blow to her confidence.
---
Another day passed
With everything learned, Renzo decided not to linger any longer. He went to see the White Snake Sage one last time to bid farewell.
"Go on. Come visit Ryuchi Cave whenever you get the chance."
The White Snake Sage actually smiled at him.
Yeah. Even though it was in snake form, Renzo could tell it was smiling.
It was... just scary.
"Definitely!"
Renzo nodded. "Before I go, I've prepared some gifts for both the White Snake Sage and Tagitsuhime! Here you go!"
With a wave of his hand, Renzo used his ability, Fantasy Creation, to conjure a mountain-sized pile of top-tier tobacco from the KonoSuba World, along with a massive stockpile of Sea King-class meat from the One Piece World.
Creating them only required a bit of mental energy—barely any effort at all.
"Oh? This tobacco... it actually contains a trace of natural energy?"
The White Snake Sage instantly perked up and rushed over to inspect the pile with fascination.
"And this meat? It's overflowing with vitality and energy! What kind of beast is this from?"
Tagitsuhime practically pounced on the heap of Sea King meat, licking a piece before biting off a chunk. As she chewed, her eyes sparkled with excitement, and she looked at Renzo in astonishment.
"Haha! As long as you like it, that's all that matters!"
Renzo gave a slight smile but didn't answer her question.
Tagitsuhime got the hint and didn't push further.
.
.
.