Roran's ritual made Orochimaru the biggest beneficiary of the transformation, but the little White Snake didn't fare too badly.
It had split from Orochimaru, gained complete freedom, and even learned "Sun Breathing," something Orochimaru now desired most.
While this came at a cost, with the annihilation of most of its spiritual body and the need for deep hibernation during the day to avoid the burning sun's pain... it was still a massive profit.
If Orochimaru found himself in its position and had to make such an exchange, he would have jumped at the chance.
Yet, this little fellow before them seemed quite unhappy, full of complaints. Its snake heads struck down again and again, like pounding garlic.
Boom, boom, boom…
The ground shook non-stop, and with resounding thunder, yellow sand splashed into the air.
Within the dust and mist, a giant shadow flickered. The observing toads felt a suffocating sensation and retreated several miles further.
After the change in events, the current battlefield was no longer something they could participate in. Forcing their way in would only bring unnecessary casualties to Mount Myōboku.
Even the most powerful sacred land of summonings in the ninja world was as helpless as ordinary beasts in this higher-level battle. The only thing they could do was pray.
"I hope this fellow Orochimaru can truly do as the Great Lord predicted..."
"..."
However, the White Snake Sage was doing most of the work at this moment.
The little White Snake's attack style was primitive yet ferocious. She relied on her agility advantage to dodge repeatedly, refusing to trade blows.
The White Snake Sage's recovery ability was, of course, also incredible, but compared to the little White Snake, it was still inferior by more than just a bit. After all, with her principle of "one is all, all is one," she had no so-called vital points. As long as her internal natural energy was sufficient, she could always remain unharmed.
"How do I deal with this thing?"
While moving the battlefield further away, the White Snake Sage questioned Orochimaru mentally.
How could one defeat a creature of the same level that couldn't get hurt?
"Pay attention, it can't recover without cost like it does during the day anymore..."
Golden light flashed in Orochimaru's eyes, a smile playing on his lips. "Now, whether it attacks or gets injured, it's depleting its own reserves."
But compared to its vast reserves, this depletion was truly negligible, so much so that even the White Snake Sage hadn't noticed.
"But if we fight like this, even if a whole night passes, it might not be over. And then..."
The White Snake Sage's expression was grim. Battles between giant beasts weren't as brief as those between ninjas. When one possessed vast amounts of Chakra and natural energy, and each had their own recovery abilities, unless one side had a decisive technique to defeat the enemy, battles would drag on for a long time.
A thousand years ago, Kaguya's Ten-Tails fought Hagoromo and Hamura for over a month, making the entire planet a wreck, before being sealed by the "Six Paths Level: Chibaku Tensei."
The White Snake Sage now felt she didn't have the ability to inflict a fatal wound on the opponent, or rather, to do so within a single night.
She excelled in recovery and self-evolution, but was weaker than the opponent in these aspects. If it came down to trading blows, she would be the one to run out of steam first.
"The method is simple: inflict greater injuries."
Orochimaru licked his lips, his Senjutsu Chakra surging. He chuckled, "I'll help you too."
The White Snake Sage immediately felt her body undergoing a transformation and angrily exclaimed, "What are you doing again?"
"Helping you defeat it..." Orochimaru projected an image into her mind. "This snake body has too few combat methods. You need to change your form."
"What are you talking about? Why should I do this?" The White Snake Sage roared in the mental space.
"Do I have to explain this?" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly. "The future ninja world will only become more dangerous. Battles of this scale won't be the only ones. Are you going to keep hiding in Ryūchi Cave and avoid fighting?"
The little White Snake's current abilities were terrifyingly strong. Even Orochimaru wasn't confident he could defeat it. After all, this way of survival was too unusual. And as soon as daylight broke, it could start recovering at a horrifying speed...
Even if he destroyed the "little White Snake's" main body, if he missed even a few fragments, it could rise from the ashes like Roran.
The White Snake symbolized "luck and regeneration," but Orochimaru felt that the "tail-swallower" embodied these two concepts even better than himself.
"..." The White Snake Sage didn't know the full extent of the little White Snake's background, but she had witnessed its different states during the day and night, and had long considered it the "best food" that could grow without limits. Now, it was just a matter of finding the right way to bite into it.
This level of combat was certainly not a one-off. The White Snake Sage, as a Sage, of course knew this and was considering how to take a few good bites out of the opponent, but that didn't mean she was willing to accept Orochimaru's force of control.
Orochimaru didn't need the White Snake Sage's consent. She was a pragmatist; as long as the result was good, the process didn't matter.
"Ahhh..."
A surge of Senjutsu Chakra flooded the White Snake Sage's body, along with her own Chakra, beginning to transform her body.
Muscles writhed, bones shifted... The part that originally belonged to her upper body now stood upright, arms pushing aside scales and gradually emerging.
A snake's body... no matter how powerful, or how its strategy and tactics changed, a snake's body was actually not conducive to combat.
Without arms, one couldn't flexibly use tools or weapons. Even if one could gain a slight advantage from their size, if that aspect was neutralized, there would be no recourse.
As for Sage Art Ninjutsu... it was effective against the weak or enemies with fragile bodies, but when battling equally powerful foes, concentrated strength far surpassed dispersed strength.
Although Orochimaru had excellent talent, he had fought his way out of the grinder that was the ninja world. His experience in various aspects even surpassed that of the White Snake and the Six Paths.
Since he considered the White Snake Sage a useful ally, he didn't mind giving her some guidance.
Boom...
During the transformation, her movements were inevitably stiffened somewhat. The little White Snake seized the opportunity and struck with a headbutt. Even with a thick stone armor as protection, it still suffered a considerable impact.
The White Snake Sage coughed up the blood from within her body. Under Orochimaru's control, she repaired the stone armor and continued her transformation.
"Let me... do it. This is my body. 'Shape-shifting' is better done by you. Give my body back!"
The White Snake Sage shouted, then softened her tone. "I won't do as you say... If you continue like this, you'll severely injure me."
She had seen Orochimaru's determination and knew he wouldn't choose to retreat temporarily and proceed slowly, even at the cost of damaging their relationship, he intended to take down this monstrous snake tonight.
The White Snake Sage didn't fully understand the reason behind this, but she knew that if she continued to oppose Orochimaru, regardless of the outcome, she would likely be the biggest loser tonight.
"Very well." Orochimaru readily handed back control of the body to the White Snake Sage, but a past memory came to mind.
When he first met the Genie Lamp, it immediately took control of his body to show its abilities. After establishing dominance with a show of force, it then quite frankly stated its desires.
Therefore, after that, although there were still occasional tests, he didn't spend much energy fighting the Genie Lamp. The cooperation they reached was unprecedentedly stable and smooth.
It was just a pity that the same thing wouldn't happen with him and the White Snake Sage. Even a normal level of cooperation was difficult to achieve.
"...Perhaps I'll need to put in more effort." The thought flashed through Orochimaru's mind.
Boom, boom, boom...
The White Snake Sage's transformation continued. However, unlike before, she burrowed underground and condensed sand and stones into a giant cocoon, or rather, an eggshell, to defend against the little White Snake's attacks.
Tremors continued incessantly. The stone layers were chipped away by the impacts, and before long, only a thin layer remained.
Just as the little White Snake was gathering its strength, a round, translucent forehead broke through it, directly colliding with the little White Snake's head. However, the latter felt no pain, while the former was repelled backward.
After losing its thick stone armor, the weight difference between the two was too great. Ordinary methods were completely useless.
"What should I do next?"
The White Snake Sage warily looked ahead, but then shook her snake tail and retreated backward, quickly creating distance from the little White Snake.
She was completely unfamiliar with the combat style of this body. If she were to use it, she would only be on par with a snake princess from Ryūchi Cave.
"Let me teach you."
As a peanut fell, Orochimaru once again took control of the other's body. First, he created dense snake scales on its smooth upper body, which shimmered like armor under the moonlight.
He looked down at his flat upper body and nodded slightly. A more masculine body was more conducive to combat. Having two extra lumps of flesh wouldn't provide extra defense against sword blows.
The wind howled, the ground churned, and the little White Snake, riding the sand waves and trailing smoke, charged forward like an arrow or a spear.
Orochimaru lightly shook his snake tail and twisted slightly, narrowly dodging the thrust.
At the same time, he raised his palm. Countless gold and stone minerals surged from the ground, condensing into a giant golden hammer in his palm. Using the momentum of his body's rotation, he smashed it down forcefully.
"Eighty!"
With an inexplicable utterance, the golden hammer struck the center of the snake's body. Under the immense force, the little White Snake's two ends curled up, briefly forming a 'V' shape.
"Eighty, eighty, eighty..."
Amidst the deafening roar, the golden hammer struck again and again, and with a peculiar emphasis, each blow was stronger than the last.
"What on earth is going on?"
Inside this body, the White Snake Sage was shocked to find that the force was growing stronger and stronger, exerting several times, even ten times, the power.
Orochimaru continued his assault but slowly said, "Have you realized? This is human strength..."
Unlike those who relied purely on their innate physical abilities, like the White Snake Sage, humans were much more fragile.
Although ninjas possessed Chakra, the upper limit of this ability was fixed from the start. It was more for those without talent, like Guy. If they focused their energy on it, they would be completely buried.
But taijutsu was different; it was a path everyone could strengthen themselves on.
One could temper their muscles and bones, increasing their punching power from a hundred pounds to two hundred pounds, and also through techniques, making a hundred pounds of force produce the effect of two hundred or three hundred pounds.
Orochimaru was now applying techniques, breathing methods, and techniques from the Konoha-style taijutsu.
No matter how much ordinary ninjas tempered their muscles and bones and explored techniques, they could not transcend dimensions and threaten the White Snake Sage, who looked down on them. But if the latter did the same thing, she could defeat the little White Snake, who was already on the same level.
Rumble, rumble... Loud thuds echoed across the vast desert. Under the bombardment of the giant hammer, dust and sand were pushed outwards, completely preventing the little White Snake from burrowing underground to escape.
The battle between the two was naturally not just a pure clash of brute force as it appeared. It was just that the little White Snake was no match for Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage in its mastery of manipulating the vast sand and stones. Moreover, using dust and stones to attack couldn't harm the opponent, making it meaningless. Thus, the other battlefield remained calm.
Otherwise, if they had truly traded blows back and forth, the spectacle would have surpassed the battle at the Hidden Rain Village.
And after a full hour, the tremors of the ground finally stopped.
The little White Snake, realizing it couldn't escape, completely abandoned its middle section, allowing the two halves of its body to break apart and escape, rejoining in the distance.
After regaining control of her body, the White Snake Sage unceremoniously grabbed large handfuls of mushroom carcasses and swallowed them along with the sand.
A gentle warmth spread throughout her body as it moved down her esophagus. The White Snake Sage felt a sense of ease, and the losses suffered from the forced transformation were immediately alleviated.
Gazing at the little White Snake's still massive body in the distance, the White Snake Sage's eyes blazed with even more intensity.
"No need to rush. We're just getting started."
Despite saying this, Orochimaru, who was residing in the gem on the White Snake Sage's forehead, opened his mouth and greedily devoured more than half of the solar energy from the desert.
In a way, he was more closely related to the little White Snake in terms of species and bloodline, making the digestion of such similar energy simpler.
Meanwhile, having witnessed the vile deeds of Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage, the little White Snake was utterly enraged.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."
Amidst a series of great snake hisses, countless points of light suddenly appeared on its originally yellowish-brown body, twinkling like stars, as if it had swallowed an entire galaxy.
The White Snake Sage and Orochimaru frowned, sensing a massive surge of Chakra.
Both of them, especially Orochimaru, were very curious about what the little White Snake was doing. As far as he knew, it had no special techniques.
"Whatever it plans to do, we can't let it succeed."
The White Snake Sage had the same thought and was about to pounce forward, but a strange Chakra fluctuation suddenly appeared in front of the little White Snake, and four light spots, about human-sized, gradually coalesced.
"Wait..."
Orochimaru stopped the White Snake Sage's charge, his gaze sharpening.
Among the four light spots, the second from the left, a man clad in crimson armor, was the first to open his eyes and slowly speak, "The day has finally come... when that kid Nagato grows up..."