Snake Shedding

The snakes of Ryūchi Cave, regardless of their size or status, really like biting people?

The intense stinging sensation caused Yuzuru's thoughts to disconnect once more.

Setting aside Yuzuru's current predicament, Ryūchi Cave was inherently more brutal than Mount Myōboku when it came to dealing with Sage Mode practitioners. The toads of Mount Myōboku provided one-on-one guidance, while Ryūchi Cave's educational method was "sink or swim."

Ryūchi Cave would directly inject excessive Natural Energy into the cultivators. If they could withstand it, it proved they had the aptitude to cultivate Sage Mode; otherwise, they would have to try again in their next life.

Within this "dream," the White Snake Sage's treatment of Yuzuru was somewhat special, yet not entirely so.

The White Snake Sage believed Yuzuru's aptitude was insufficient to withstand Natural Energy, so it didn't follow the usual procedure. Instead of Natural Energy, it injected its own snake blood into Yuzuru's body.

Consider the physical changes Yakushi Kabuto experienced after actively receiving Orochimaru's blood. And that was just Orochimaru. Now, Yuzuru had been injected with the ancient snake blood of the White Snake Sage, which had lived for thousands of years—its purity was off the charts.

The excruciating pain, exceeding his body's and mind's capacity to bear, rendered Yuzuru unable to even cry out. He gritted his teeth, feeling as though every cell in his body was being burned and torn apart.

Worse still, for some reason, the more pain he felt, the clearer his consciousness became.

Death seemed imminent. Yuzuru felt his body undergoing some intense transformation, and at this moment, he couldn't determine if this change was positive or negative.

I need to find a way...

Yuzuru's brain grew increasingly active. Suddenly, he seemed to realize something... In the next moment, whether due to the instincts hidden within the snake blood or the knowledge he had just learned from Orochimaru's laboratory surfacing in his mind.

In any case, his survival instinct compelled him to bring his hands together, forming an unusual hand seal.

As Yuzuru channeled his Chakra, his cells began to divide rapidly, an attempt to gradually adapt to the power within him through accelerated metabolism.

Externally, Yuzuru, who was crawling on the ground, began to shed his skin like a snake.

Simultaneously, a system notification popped up before Yuzuru's eyes.

"Warning: You are currently undergoing a special plotline—Snake Molt."

"Exceeding predetermined progress, you have come into contact with the world's fundamental power."

"Your Chakra Spiritual Body is being eroded and evolved..."

"Note: Snakes are dragons in transit, and dragons are snakes at their destination..."

What was fundamental power? Was it a power that already existed in the world? Could it be Natural Energy?

This was a riddle, yet not a particularly clever one.

Yuzuru's thoughts flashed through the intense pain. As his internal Chakra continued to be consumed, he found it increasingly difficult to maintain his original clarity.

After a while longer, he finally lost consciousness completely.

Yuzuru didn't know how long had passed when the sound of rain reached his ears. He jolted awake, only to find himself back in the original tree hollow.

"Phew, I made it."

This Dungeon experience was unusual. Both entering and leaving the Dungeon had been somewhat inexplicable.

The intense pain he had just experienced seemed to linger within Yuzuru's body. So, after waking up, he first checked his body. Only when he discovered he still had two hands and two feet, and hadn't undergone Snake Transformation after receiving the White Snake Sage's snake blood, did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The weather outside was overcast, making it impossible for him to accurately judge the time.

"Calm down. Let's sort out what happened at the end of the Dungeon."

"First, I transferred from Konohagakure to Ryūchi Cave... How large is the scope of a Dungeon? Is it not limited to Konohagakure?"

"The boundaries of the Dungeon are worth exploring."

"Second, the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave injected snake blood into me. I don't possess the aptitude to learn Sage Mode, and I can't even sense Natural Energy. Therefore, the White Snake Sage modified my body with snake blood..."

"Was this modification successful?"

"My appearance in reality hasn't changed much. Is it because I didn't defeat the White Snake Sage, so I couldn't gain Experience, and everything that happened in the Dungeon was automatically reset after leaving?"

Yuzuru checked the Dungeon's cooldown time and found it was the normal seven days, not double. This meant he hadn't died in the Dungeon, but rather the Dungeon's duration had simply ended.

"No, there was a specific system message. It shouldn't be a simple reset."

"The me within the Dungeon was certainly not my physical body. According to the system prompt, it seems to be called a 'Chakra Spiritual Body.' So, the White Snake Sage's blood caused changes to my Chakra Spiritual Body?"

"Extending this further, were all the enhancements I experienced within the Dungeon applied to this spiritual body?"

"Chakra is too mysterious. It at least possesses both tangible and intangible aspects. This is something that can't be figured out quickly... At least Orochimaru could achieve resurrection with Chakra."

Basic research on Chakra was not something Yuzuru could figure out in a short time. He temporarily abandoned that line of thought... At this moment, he just wanted to understand the changes in his own body.

"No need to overcomplicate things. Let's start with the superficial aspects. The White Snake Sage is on par with the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku; it's at least an ancient Sage that has lived for thousands of years."

"After receiving its Sage blood, my body underwent some kind of change. The most likely direction for this change is easy to guess... I can sense Natural Energy?"

Yuzuru calmed his emotions and immediately began to mobilize his senses, carefully feeling his surroundings. After a quarter of an hour, he finally sensed a special energy fluctuation around him. This energy permeated his skin and sank into his body.

"I can really feel it. Is this Natural Energy?"

Yuzuru hadn't been tormented by the snakes in Ryūchi Cave for nothing.

"Am I getting a preview of the Shinobi World's makeup and cosmetic versions?"

Yuzuru immediately thought of Sage Face Paint and Sage Mode upon sensing Natural Energy, but his excitement lasted only for a moment before he quickly calmed down.

Being able to sense and even utilize Natural Energy is still quite a ways off from being able to enter Sage Mode.

The matter is, of course, not that simple. Entering Sage Mode requires balancing physical energy, mental energy, and Natural Energy, which is a rather delicate task. Jiraiya trained for decades without fully mastering it, so there's no way Yuzuru could achieve something like that so easily.

Too little Natural Energy will prevent one from entering Sage Mode, while absorbing too much Natural Energy will lead to petrification or berserk transformation...

After carefully sensing the changes in his body again, Yuzuru finally understood what had happened to him.

He certainly couldn't enter Sage Mode. The changes in his body should more accurately be called Sage Transformation, Curse Mark Transformation, or perhaps a more precise term—Jugo Transformation.

Jugo is a natural Sage Body. According to his description, this is a special ability of the people in his village. Later, based on Orochimaru's research, he believed the source of this power lay in Ryūchi Cave...

Regardless of whether Orochimaru's research is accurate or not, Jugo at least possesses the ability to absorb Natural Energy anytime, anywhere. Excessive Natural Energy can even cause him to lose control and go berserk.

In a way, Yuzuru's current situation is similar to Jugo's. However, because it's an acquired modification, and it's a modification at the Chakra Spiritual Body level, it prevents his body from changing as drastically as Jugo's.

But perhaps because of this intermediary layer, Yuzuru's absorption of Natural Energy is controlled. He can interrupt the process at any time...

Yuzuru began to test how much Natural Energy he could absorb.