A few days after Uchiha En returned to Konoha, he suddenly received a message from Lightning.
Lightning brought a letter from Asana, stating that Asana was going to Ryūchi Cave to learn Sage Mode.
After Uchiha En finished reading the letter, he immediately rushed to the Land of Rice Fields.
Asana's Byakugan had undergone an evolution. Although it was still far from the Tenseigan, it was already very different from a normal Byakugan and could use two basic abilities of the Tenseigan.
Asana's current overall strength was not inferior to that of an average Kage-level Ninja, but she was certainly not strong enough to face top Kage-level Ninja like Minato Namikaze or the Third Hokage, let alone Uchiha En.
Therefore, Asana also wanted to improve her strength as soon as possible. She didn't want to be left behind by Uchiha En, which is why she brought up learning Sage Mode in Ryūchi Cave when she left Konoha with Orochimaru.
Orochimaru naturally agreed wholeheartedly. He also wanted to see if people injected with hashirama senjus cells had an advantage in learning Sage Mode.
However, after Orochimaru and Asana arrived in the Land of Rice Fields, most of their energy was focused on building a new base and capturing various Bloodline Limit Ninja to become their test subjects.
Asana simply couldn't spare the time to learn Sage Mode.
Now that the base was basically completed, Orochimaru and Asana also took advantage of Kirigakure's bloody massacre to capture many Bloodline Limit Ninja from them, which was enough for Orochimaru to research for a while.
Therefore, Asana decided to learn Sage Mode now.
By the time Uchiha En arrived at Orochimaru's base in the Land of Rice Fields, Asana had already packed everything and was ready to enter Ryūchi Cave.
Regarding Sage Mode, Uchiha En dared to say that no one in the entire Ninja World, except for the Summoned Beasts in the holy lands, knew more about it than he did, after all, he had read the script.
There were three and a half Sage Modes that appeared in the original work.
One was Naruto and Jiraiya's Frog Sage Mode, which is Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode. This Sage Mode greatly increases Chakra reserves, significantly enhances the power of Ninjutsu, and possesses powerful sensory abilities.
Another was Kabuto's Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode. This Sage Mode allows one to sense surrounding Chakra or life forms using Natural Energy. Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode also has the special ability to imbue inanimate objects with kinetic energy.
There was also Senju Hashirama's Sage Mode. This Sage Mode was simple and crude, characterized by clapping his hands and having whatever he wanted.
There are generally two theories about the origin of Senju Hashirama's Sage Mode: one is that it is the Sage Mode of Shikkotsu Forest, and the other is that Senju Hashirama developed it himself through exploration.
Uchiha En personally leaned more towards the latter, because the Sage Modes of Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave both have strong regional characteristics.
Shikkotsu Forest, as one of the three holy lands, certainly has its own Sage Mode, but its Sage Mode should also have its unique regional characteristics.
However, Senju Hashirama's Sage Mode has nothing but eye shadow, which Uchiha En felt didn't quite resemble Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Mode.
As for the last half, it was Orochimaru's Cursed Seal, or rather, Jugo's special constitution that could absorb Natural Energy.
Why half? Because strictly speaking, this is not Sage Mode, and it is very difficult to control. Jugo himself would lose control and go berserk due to Natural Energy in the early stages.
Honestly, looking at these three and a half Sage Modes, Uchiha En felt that Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode was more suitable for Asana.
Asana's Byakugan would definitely continue to evolve later. After Uchiha En completes the Lesser Ten-Tails, it's not impossible to reach the moon and have Asana's Byakugan evolve into the Tenseigan.
Uchiha En felt that the compatibility between the Tenseigan and Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode was quite good, especially the ability of Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode to imbue inanimate objects with kinetic energy and the Tenseigan's ability to control puppets could complement each other.
The only thing to worry about was whether Asana could learn Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode, and if she failed, whether she could retreat from Ryūchi Cave unscathed.
"Asana, do you want me to go with you?" Uchiha En asked.
"No need, I've already made some preparations, and Lord Orochimaru also told me what trials I need to go through to learn Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode. I feel like I'll be fine.
Even if I can't learn Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode in the end, I can still retreat unscathed."
After listening to Asana, Uchiha En nodded in agreement after a moment of silence.
Asana then summoned a small snake. After communicating with the snake, the snake nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later, with a ripple in space, Asana was directly taken to Ryūchi Cave by the Reverse Summoning Technique.
Orochimaru's eyes flashed with a strange light at the sight, and he licked his lips, revealing an excited smile.
Shifting the scene to Ryūchi Cave, a huge castle appeared before Asana. Inside the castle were various exquisite foods. Asana glanced at the food and said indifferently, "I am not a member of the Akimichi Clan, I'm not interested in food."
The castle immediately disappeared, replaced by a giant snake in front of Asana. The giant snake opened its gaping maw and lunged at Asana. What was worse, Asana found that she suddenly lost her ability to move.
Asana had previously received a "guide" from Orochimaru and knew in her heart that this giant snake was most likely a genjutsu from Tagitsuhime, one of Ryūchi Cave's elders.
But with Asana's current abilities, she couldn't break it. Helpless, Asana had no choice but to close her eyes and activate her Byakugan. Under the Byakugan's sight, Asana was 100% certain that there was no giant snake in front of her, and Tagitsuhime's genjutsu was broken without attack.
"This kid is not simple! She actually passed both of our trials. Ichikishima, do you want to continue?" Tagorihime asked Ichikishimahime beside her.
"The White Snake Sage allowing her to enter Ryūchi Cave and even reverse-summoning her here means she has the aptitude to learn Sage Jutsu. You two were just being superfluous."
"Hehe, that's true. Then take her to see the Sage!" With that, Tagitsuhime dispelled the genjutsu.
The scene in Asana's eyes changed again. The three elders of Ryūchi Cave appeared around her, "Congratulations, you have passed our trials. Now you can go see the White Snake Sage."
Asana was a bit surprised to hear this. Orochimaru told her there were three trials in Ryūchi Cave! How could it be over after only two?
Of course, these were just her thoughts. Asana would never ask such a question; wouldn't that just cause trouble for herself?
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