Sage Mode

"I'll skip the needless chatter, lest this turn into a whole lot of hot air... No, I mean, lest we waste time. The final trial starts now. The previous trial didn't exactly follow the rules, but I'll count it as a pass..."

Tagitsuhime, the tall woman with brown hair, spoke first. Without giving Zi Xu time to react, she sprang behind him like a gust of wind and clamped both hands around his shoulders like iron pincers. Then, as her jaw stretched wider and wider, her entire face flipped upward, revealing a horrifying, cavernous maw. It looked as though the upper half of a snake's face had turned into human skin, enough to make his scalp crawl.

"Clang! Clang!" Two metallic sounds rang out from Zi Xu's neck. Tagitsuhime looked surprised. She had held back quite a bit, worried she might bite straight through his neck.

Even so, she shouldn't have failed to break through his defenses. A body like his was far tougher than those of most people who came to Ryūchi Cave to undergo the trials. But Tagitsuhime had lived for thousands of years, and she wasn't about to give up. When she realized her fangs hadn't pierced Zi Xu's skin, she followed through with another bite, this time putting in considerably more force.

In the blink of an eye, Zi Xu felt a cool, numb sensation at his neck, prickling like an electric shock. Then he toppled over, unconscious. There was no helping it. The women facing him were monsters who had lived for thousands of years. At this point, he couldn't stand up to them in any way.

Seeing Zi Xu unconscious on the ground, the purple-haired little girl, Ichikishimahime, finally relaxed her pout. She threw a few vindictive punches at him in the air, but that was all.

Unconscious, Zi Xu felt his head spinning, as if he'd been shrunk down and tossed into a washing machine to be violently spun dry. When he came to again, the two Goddesses were gone.

The collapsed ruins at the fork in the path still lay before him. But after being subjected to several illusions, he could now vaguely tell that everything he saw was an illusion. It was like how people developed a tolerance to drugs after taking them repeatedly. After so many powerful illusions, he felt he was starting to build up some resistance.

"Let's try a different approach. If everything before me is created by an illusion, then the illusion will automatically end once I meet the conditions for passing the trial. So why waste time figuring out how to pass the test and searching for the conditions? I can just dispel the illusion. All the trials are based on illusion. The illusion is the foundation of everything."

Zi Xu no longer wanted to waste time searching for the conditions to complete the task. The two Goddesses' appearance just now had made one thing clear: as long as he could dispel the illusion, nothing else mattered.

"Genjutsu mainly targets the mind. In general, the less resolute someone is, the easier it is for them to fall under an illusion. And damage to the soul greatly reduces resistance to Genjutsu... The mind, the soul... Conqueror's Haki!"

Zi Xu thought of Conqueror's Haki. Whether they were Ninja or pirates, cultivation required unity of body and mind. Only a will and character that matched one's strength could bring out one's full power.

Momonosuke, who was hated by everyone, was a living counterexample. He had a Demon Fruit with Kaido's lineage and abilities nearly identical to Kaido's, yet lacked the will to match them and couldn't control that power. In simple terms, he was unworthy of his position.

"I still can't use Conqueror's Haki at will. If I could, maybe I'd be able to break this illusion..." Zi Xu remained motionless inside the illusion, thinking about how to awaken his Conqueror's Haki directly. The two Goddesses watching him from the sidelines couldn't figure out what he was up to. Instead of looking for a way to break the stalemate, he was just standing there. Had he given up?

"Right, intense emotional upheaval can trigger Conqueror's Haki. Think of something that really made me furious..." Zi Xu frowned, straining to remember. He thought so long his face looked constipated, but couldn't come up with anything particularly infuriating. He wasn't someone whose emotions swung wildly, and for a while, he couldn't think of anything that would make him angry.

But then a memory from his previous life suddenly surfaced: he'd spent several big bundles of cash on gacha pulls, only to get the guaranteed prize. That had been one of the three darkest moments of his gacha career.

Thinking about how he'd lived on dirt for a month afterward, and even had to use his roommate's card to take a shower, filled him with rage. His parents had even suspected he was secretly using cocaine behind their backs. At first, he'd regretted it—regretted it terribly. Then he'd completely lost it, unable to take it anymore, and railed against the unfair odds. Finally, after seeing a group chat member get six gold pulls in a single ten-pull, his composure had shattered completely.

"Hmm? Something's... off about this kid. I can feel a hint of pressure coming from him? What's going on?" The Goddess, who had been calmly watching from the side, suddenly sensed an overwhelming pressure emanating from Zi Xu.

At first, she only noticed Zi Xu's expression darkening, as though something had deeply shaken him. Then, moments later, that presence burst open like a firecracker in a glass bottle. Countless invisible ripples spread around Zi Xu inside the illusion. Wherever they reached, the illusory world crumbled like a beast fleeing its natural enemy, collapsing at the slightest touch.

In the real world, Zi Xu opened his eyes and glared at Tagitsuhime and Ichikishimahime, radiating a terrifying aura. The Goddesses were far stronger than he was, and their reason told them there was no need to fear the boy before them. Yet their bodies instinctively began inching backward. This wasn't a matter of strength; it was a pressure that came from the very essence of their beings. A young tiger roaring in the forest, a hidden dragon rising from the depths—none could profane a king.

Zi Xu couldn't maintain that state for long. After only a brief moment, he half-collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Huff, huff." He felt as if every last bit of strength had been drained from him. His muscles ached all over, and every cell seemed to have been stripped of its energy.

"Young man, you've done well. Congratulations on passing the trial. You are now qualified to practice Senjutsu..." A kind, aged voice reached Zi Xu's ears. The scene around him shifted constantly, and when it finally settled, a huge white figure appeared before him.

It was an enormous white snake with a green cat's-eye gem on her chest. A purple ribbon served as her Headband, with a dark green, horn-shaped ornament set at the front. A red luminous pearl was embedded atop her head, and she held a pipe in her mouth. Two golden rings encircled her tail. Now coiled on her throne, she looked down at Zi Xu. The Three Divine Maidens stood behind the giant snake, though he didn't know when they had appeared. The voice had come from the White Snake Sage.

"I passed the trial? Good... Uh." Before Zi Xu could relax, he felt another cool sensation at his neck. This time there was no numbness, only a refreshing chill. He could clearly sense the strange energy inside his body.

"Boy, Sage Mode isn't easy to learn. First, you need a large amount of Chakra. Otherwise, you'll be consumed by the power of nature and turn into a mindless snake." Tagorihime spoke first, explaining it to Zi Xu. He could indeed feel another kind of energy blending into his body alongside his own Chakra and spiritual energy.

"Next, you need to learn how to absorb Natural Energy. The White Snake Sage has already injected Snake Enzyme into your body. It will help you sense the Natural Energy in the air. Once you get used to it, you won't need to use anything at all to begin training to control Natural Energy."

Ichikishimahime followed with an explanation. Zi Xu did as she said and tried to sense his surroundings. Sure enough, he could vaguely feel the rich, damp energy in the air.

"Finally, there's the principle behind it. Ordinary Ninja must also balance their spiritual and physical energies in their training. On top of that, they must balance the Natural Energy they absorb as well. Only then can they successfully master Sage Mode. If there's too little Natural Energy, you can't fuse it into Senjutsu Chakra. If there's too much, you'll turn into a snake.

"So, you must combine the Natural Energy you absorb with your own physical and spiritual energies, maintaining a ratio of 1:1:1 among the three. Only then can you condense Senjutsu Chakra. The appearance of the markings on your face means you've successfully entered Sage Mode." Tagitsuhime also spoke up. Finally, the White Snake Sage, sitting cross-legged on her throne, added:

"The principles of Sage Mode are these: never give up, and keep your mind resolute. Only then can you become a Sage. I won't interfere with how you use this power. That is all I can teach you." Smoke slowly rose from the White Snake Sage's pipe, gradually enveloping Zi Xu.

"...Thank you. But can I leave now? My companions may be worried about me. I..." Zi Xu nodded his thanks. These women might threaten to kill him at the drop of a hat and trap him in illusions, but at least they'd teach him Senjutsu after he passed the trial. More than anything, he wanted to know whether he could return to Konoha.

He could have simply run away, but Chino had helped him a great deal over the years. He might not feel any attachment to Konoha, but that didn't mean he was ungrateful. At the very least, he had to help Chino deal with her Cursed Seal.

"Don't worry about that. The Sages won't restrict your freedom. Take two snakes: leave one in Ryūchi Cave and bring the other to wherever you're going back to. Then you can use Reverse Summoning to travel between them. There's more Natural Energy in Ryūchi Cave, so your training here will be twice as effective." Tagorihime handed Zi Xu a small white snake and a small black one. He accepted them without hesitation and signed a contract with both. He left the white one in Ryūchi Cave and kept the black one with him.

The White Snake Sage never opened her eyes. She simply let out a breath, and a formula appeared beneath his feet—the same Reverse Summoning technique that had brought him here. The familiar sensation of being transported came over him. Zi Xu's body lifted into the air, and after memorizing the location, he entered the summoning circle.