Ryūchi Cave, is it a place only for madmen who wholeheartedly seek power?… Orochimaru closed the book in her hand and placed it on the table. On the table were several books, more or less recording information about the Three Great Sage Locations.
She had perused all the books containing information about the Three Great Sage Locations in Konoha and Uzushiogakure, but still couldn't find the exact location of Ryūchi Cave. It seemed that finding Ryūchi Cave could only rely on luck.
To achieve a qualitative leap in strength, Sage Mode was the only path she could take.
Moreover, Sage Art Explosives also required Sage Chakra for experimentation.
Relying on external forces, with the Chakra Explosives and Chakra Poison she developed, it wasn't impossible to secretly kill Kage-level powerhouses. But she developed Chakra Explosives not to blow up Ninjas, but to blow up Ōtsutsuki, and Chakra Poison was also to deal with Ōtsutsuki.
If possible, she didn't want to use these things in battles with Ninjas.
After all, she was a pacifist.
Orochimaru arrived at the Hokage Office and said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Hiruzen-sensei, I plan to leave Konoha for a while. I want to search for Ryūchi Cave, one of the Three Great Sage Locations."
"I don't object to you searching for Ryūchi Cave, but you must be careful for your safety, understand?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had long known this day would come. Orochimaru had searched for books related to the Three Great Sage Locations more than once, perusing the Konoha library's collection, the Hokage Building's archives, and even some materials left by Lord Tobirama.
"Hiruzen-sensei, I will be careful."
Orochimaru nodded. She wanted to maximize her strength before the Various Ninja Villages moved against Uzushiogakure, in order to save more people from the Uzumaki Clan.
"Orochimaru, I think Enma is also good. Would you consider him?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but recommend Enma, the summoning beast passed down through the Sarutobi Clan, to Orochimaru. He was called 'monkey' by the First Hokage and Second Hokage not only because he was as agile as a monkey in the forest, but also because of his summoning beast.
With Orochimaru's growth rate, she could take over the position of Hokage in her twenties or thirties, and Enma would likely have no objections.
However, Orochimaru had never been interested in the position of Hokage.
It truly made him worry endlessly.
Not only Orochimaru, but Jiraiya, who shared his preferences, was also uninterested in the position of Hokage, and Tsunade even more so.
Almost all of Konoha's younger generation considered becoming Hokage their dream, but his own disciples were all uninterested in the Hokage position.
Is the Hokage position really that troublesome?
"Sarutobi-sensei, if I can't find Ryūchi Cave this time, perhaps wielding the adamantine staff wouldn't be a bad idea."
Orochimaru wasn't rigid; if she truly couldn't find Ryūchi Cave, Enma was a good alternative. Besides, there were other ways to master the power of Sage Mode; she wouldn't put all her eggs in one basket.
Senju Residence
Orochimaru informed Grandma Mito and Tsunade that she would be leaving Konoha for a period.
"Ryūchi Cave... Ryūchi Cave is too mysterious, Orochimaru, you must be careful. Don't be reckless if you encounter danger, understand?"
Uzumaki Mito stroked Orochimaru's head, earnestly admonishing her.
Having taught Orochimaru Sealing Technique for two years, she knew Orochimaru's character too well. She seemed capable of calmly analyzing situations, yet sometimes she would do crazy things to verify certain hypotheses. The Yin Seal on her wrist came about this way; a slight mistake and her arm would have been crippled.
If she could no longer use her hands, her Ninja career would be over.
Uzumaki Mito thought that since Orochimaru had mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique developed by Tobirama and learned the Sealing Technique of the Uzumaki Clan, no one should be able to stop her if she wanted to escape, and her worries lessened.
"Orochimaru, are you going to look for Ryūchi Cave? Then I'll go look for Shikkotsu Forest!"
Tsunade felt she couldn't fall behind and wanted to search for Shikkotsu Forest, which was as famous as Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave.
"I believe you'll find it."
Although Orochimaru didn't know what kind of adventure Tsunade would experience, she still gained the approval of the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest and signed a summoning contract with Shikkotsu Forest, allowing her to summon a portion of the massive Katsuyu.
(Katsuyu is the name of the Slug. It is said that Katsuyu's main body is very, very large, and even Tsunade and Sakura Haruno together can only summon a portion of its main body.)
Before returning home, Orochimaru also visited Danzo Shimura, Utatane Koharu, Homura Mitokado, and friendly clans: the Akimichi Clan, Nara Clan, Yamanaka Clan, Aburame Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Iburi Clan.
She did not visit the Hyuga Clan, mainly because she felt her relationship with the Hyuga Clan wasn't good, possibly because she had deciphered the Caged Bird Curse Mark and developed a new Caged Bird Curse Mark.
As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one fears a rope for ten years.
Moreover, the Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird Curse Mark and the main family-branch family system had existed for hundreds of years.
She didn't realize it until she visited, but after going around in a big circle, Orochimaru found that she had quite a few people to visit before leaving Konoha for a long time. Just the social interactions alone would waste a lot of time, which was truly a bit annoying.
However, her relationship with them was quite good. Having visited others and other clans, it wouldn't make sense not to visit them.
"Thank you all for your hard work..."
Orochimaru smiled faintly at the members of the Uchiha Military Police Force Sixth Squad who were helping her move things. She still remembered them; they had also helped move snacks from the Akimichi Clan a few years ago.
This time, they were again helping to move items sent by the Konoha Higher-Ups and various clans after learning she would be leaving Konoha for a long time to search for Ryūchi Cave.
"It's nothing."
Uchiha En said with a smile, signaling his squad members to leave.
"Orochimaru, did you go shopping?"
Hyuga Mio opened the door and looked at Orochimaru, who stood at the entrance as if she had plundered a convenience store and a pharmacy. Not to mention all sorts of snacks, there were also packaged soldier pills and rebirth pills, as well as various Ninja tools. The most outrageous thing was that the exploding tags were in stacks!
All these items combined would cost at least nearly ten million Ryo. Among them, the most valuable were secret medicines like rebirth pills for saving lives, and Ninja tools like exploding tags and smoke bombs.
"These were all gifts from others."
Orochimaru tilted her head slightly, a hint of pride on her face. "It's such a headache, they gave me so many things."
"Because, Orochimaru, you have a very good relationship with them, and they are all very grateful to you."
Hyuga Mio said with a smile, helping Orochimaru move these items into the house.
In the brightly lit Laboratory, Orochimaru lay on the bed in the center of the room. Imu fitted her with the fourth-generation liquid invisible contact lenses.
The fourth-generation liquid invisible contact lenses could resist stronger genjutsu. Whether they could resist the genjutsu of the Mangekyo Sharingan would only be known after testing.
However, in the Ninja World, most visual genjutsu Ninja would now find it very difficult to trap Orochimaru in genjutsu, and there was even a possibility of the genjutsu being reflected.
In another room, an experiment on Chakra Poison was underway. Orochimaru's Shadow Clone, after drinking the Chakra Poison, could feel the Chakra within its body disappearing at a relatively slow rate.
No, rather than disappearing, it was being devoured by the poison. The poison fed on Chakra and proliferated. As the amount of poison in the body increased, the speed at which Chakra was devoured also increased.
"The Chakra Poison is devouring Chakra to proliferate."
Hyuga Mio used her Byakugan to observe the changes in the Chakra Poison within Orochimaru's Shadow Clone. It fed on Chakra and proliferated more and more.
"The speed at which the Chakra Poison devours Chakra is too slow."
Orochimaru felt the speed at which Chakra was being devoured by the Chakra Poison in her body. At the current speed, even if it increased tenfold, it would still not be enough. She needed to develop a Chakra Poison that could devour Chakra at a faster rate.
This is still slow?
A hint of surprise flashed across Hyuga Mio's face. With her Chakra reserves, if she were poisoned by the Chakra Poison, her Chakra would be completely devoured within a few short minutes.
At such a terrifying speed, Orochimaru still complained that the Chakra Poison was too slow at devouring Chakra!
What kind of speed would be considered fast?
To devour the poisoned person's Chakra completely in an instant?
"Is it reaching its limit?"
Orochimaru sensed that the Chakra in her body was almost entirely devoured by the Chakra Poison, and with a 'bang,' it turned into smoke and disappeared.
Orochimaru, in another room, received the Shadow Clone's memories and the pain of being poisoned by the Chakra Poison. After a moment, she sat up from the bed.
"Lady Orochimaru, how do you feel?" Imu asked with concern.
"Not bad, there's still room for improvement with the liquid invisible contact lenses."
Orochimaru got up and walked out. When she went to search for Ryūchi Cave, she would still leave a Shadow Clone in the Laboratory and the Laboratory Base on the island to continue research. Even if progress was slow, she would not stop researching.
"Imu, you should also take a break occasionally. There's no need to spend all your time on research."
Orochimaru looked at Imu's skin, which had become somewhat pale from long-term lack of sunlight.
Imu said, deeply moved: "Yes, Lady Orochimaru, I will make sure to rest!"
Lady Orochimaru is so gentle. It is the greatest honor of my life to serve Lady Orochimaru.
"You are my important subordinates."
Orochimaru pushed the door open and walked out of the room, seeing Hyuga Mio waiting for her at the entrance.
"Mio, it's time to go back."
Orochimaru placed her hand on Hyuga Mio's arm and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to take her back to their home in Konoha.
"Orochimaru, this is the data I observed using my Byakugan."
Hyuga Mio recorded what she observed with her Byakugan and handed it to Orochimaru.
"Hmm, thank you for your hard work."
Orochimaru looked at the Chakra Poison data.
"The speed at which the Chakra Poison devours Chakra is already very fast, why are you still not satisfied? Could it be that the Chakra Poison isn't meant for Ninja?"
Hyuga Mio thought of the summoning beasts with enormous Chakra and believed that Orochimaru might be researching Chakra Poison to deal with those summoning beasts.
"What I want to deal with are beings with enormous Chakra. Chakra Poison is merely one method to deal with those guys."
Orochimaru saw Hyuga Mio lost in thought and was too lazy to explain. With a flick of her hand, the paper in her hand turned into tiny shreds and flew into the trash can.
The next day, Orochimaru left her house and walked towards the Konoha gate.
The clear blue sky and bright sunshine seemed to be sending her off on her long journey away from Konoha.
The honking of a car sounded, and the White Snake Pharmaceutical Technology Company's small truck could be seen from a distance. People walking through the gate had long grown accustomed to the small truck, losing the initial novelty of seeing something rare.
"Is she coming?"
In the temple deep within Ryūchi Cave, the White Snake Sage, who was coiled lazily on a chaise longue, slowly opened her eyes. She seemed to see Orochimaru walking out of the Konoha gate and embarking on her journey to find Ryūchi Cave, and she narrowed her eyes.
Interesting little girl, interesting, truly interesting... Let me see if you can withstand Sage Chakra to transform into a snake and then a dragon, or if you will become food to be eaten?
A gleam of light appeared in the White Snake Sage's eyes.
On the other side, Orochimaru, walking through the forest, suddenly felt the surroundings dim, and a large amount of mist appeared, drastically reducing visibility. She keenly noticed that the space she was in had shifted.
This is... could it be related to Ryūchi Cave?
It seems that only those who are invited can enter the Three Great Sage Locations. Otherwise, no matter how much time one spends searching, they will never find the way to enter the Three Great Sage Locations.
The Sages of the Three Great Sage Locations... indeed, none of them are easy to deal with.
Orochimaru realized where she had arrived and abandoned the idea of using the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave. This was precisely the place she had left Konoha to find.
It seems I can only move forward.
Orochimaru set up a trigger-type Sealing Technique on herself, ready for battle at any moment. Facing the unfathomable Sages of Ryūchi Cave, she had to be vigilant.
Lights faintly appeared ahead, and Orochimaru walked towards the lights, seeing a luxurious hotel with the large characters "Ryūchi Cave" written on a giant sign.
Genjutsu?
No, is it a tangible illusion constructed by Sage Chakra?
Sage Art Genjutsu that turns the illusory into reality?
Orochimaru did not rashly enter this castle-like hotel. She stood outside, contemplating a strategy. Rashly entering the hotel was undoubtedly the most foolish action. She smelled the aroma of food wafting from inside the hotel.
Not only did it not arouse any appetite, but what surged in her heart was apprehension and vigilance.
Did I fall into genjutsu without realizing it?
To be caught in genjutsu without feeling it, truly worthy of Sage Art Genjutsu.
Orochimaru squatted down, placing her hands on the ground, sensing everything around her.
Can't sense anything?
It's an existence whose location cannot be determined through sensing.
Then, in this situation, there is only one way.
Orochimaru stood up, forming hand signs.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang--!
The smoke dispersed, and a Shadow Clone appeared beside Orochimaru.
"Earth Release: Fissure Palm!"
Orochimaru extended her hands, Earth Release Chakra gathered in them, and she slapped the ground. From her center, cracks spread outwards.
"Water Release: Water Shockwave!"
Orochimaru's Shadow Clone condensed Water Release Chakra in its throat and spewed out a large stream of water, which flowed into the cracks.
Facing the trial given by the Sage of Ryūchi Cave, Orochimaru would not let down her guard at all.
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