Ryūchi Cave

Chuan Yu finally reached the border of the Land of Stone with Karin after a day of travel.

This place looked quite interesting.

It was a rather small country.

Every building was constructed from one stone piled on top of another.

The stones had clearly been refined with some kind of ninjutsu, though.

From a distance, everything looked remarkably orderly.

It was nothing like the other countries.

The Land of Stone had always remained open.

There was no system of high-ranking officials in the country.

The villagers managed the country themselves.

So, over the years,

there had never been a war here.

The Land of Stone was not a place with any particular advantages, either.

The mountains were covered in stones and looked terribly desolate...

The two of them had traveled for a whole day.

They were not familiar with the Land of Stone.

As dusk fell,

Chuan Yu decided they would figure things out the next day.

So, after eating,

they found an inn nearby and settled in for the night.

Inside a room,

Chuan Yu and Karin sat in silence.

The air was unnervingly still.

Chuan Yu, who had no experience with women, coughed loudly twice.

Then he took out the clothes he had bought for Karin that day.

"Go take a bath and change into these."

"I also got you a hat..."

"For your safety..."

Karin accepted the clothes Chuan Yu handed her.

Her heart instantly warmed.

Aside from her mother, he was probably

the first man to treat her kindly.

Karin's cheeks turned red.

She looked up at Chuan Yu shyly.

Chuan Yu still didn't understand what she meant.

"You..."

"If you're going to stay here..."

"Then... then that's fine, too..."

After saying this, Karin's face grew even redder.

But her eyes suddenly filled with complicated emotions.

As she gazed at Chuan Yu, she began taking off her jacket.

"Stop!"

Only then did Chuan Yu realize what was going on.

Of course, taking a bath meant...

"I'll be right outside. Call me when you're done."

Chuan Yu's face burned as he turned and left the room.

In the hallway, he took a deep breath.

Unless he met the right person,

Chuan Yu wouldn't get involved.

That went for matters of the heart, too.

The strong didn't need women.

Drawing a sword demanded absolute speed.

Watching Chuan Yu walk away,

Karin didn't know why,

but she suddenly felt hollow and disappointed...

The next morning,

the two of them packed up and climbed the mountain behind the village, the one Karin remembered.

The residents here still lived in a primitive manner.

They dressed simply.

They wore no heavy makeup.

Their faces were weathered by years of hardship.

"Karin, sense the area..."

After they reached a hill on the mountain behind the village,

Chuan Yu used his Sharingan to see what seemed to be a powerful force of nature lingering in the air.

It had to be somewhere nearby.

"Okay."

She closed her eyes.

The Mind's Eye of the Kagura activated.

Everything within several kilometers came into Karin's awareness.

The source of the dense natural chakra flowed from the hill toward a nearby river.

A huge waterfall.

But after sensing the area,

Karin lost track of the direction entirely.

There were several branches beneath the waterfall.

The water flowed very slowly below the surface,

but the riverbed was clearly visible.

To put it simply,

if Chuan Yu jumped in, the water would barely reach his ankles.

How could they tell where Ryūchi Cave was in a place like this?

There were hills and sheer cliffs all around.

With no luck finding it,

Chuan Yu had no choice but to ask the residents.

After descending from the mountain behind the village,

they saw an old man lounging in a chair at the village entrance, basking in the sun.

His clothes looked far more luxurious than anyone else's.

Chuan Yu concluded that the old man must be the village chief.

"Sorry to bother you. Could I ask you something?"

The old man opened his bleary eyes.

He glanced at Chuan Yu and Karin, then turned away and went back to sleep.

Seeing his attitude, Chuan Yu was instantly filled with murderous intent.

"Who are you?"

Just then, a young man came over.

He looked like the old man's son.

"We're looking for Ryūchi Cave."

Chuan Yu stated their purpose plainly.

He didn't like beating around the bush.

It would only give the other side time to prepare.

Better to strike first.

The old man in the chair shot upright at Chuan Yu's words.

He scrutinized the two of them.

Then the old man suddenly gave them a strange smile.

"Then you're most welcome! It's been a long time since anyone came here!"

The smile gave Karin the creeps.

Chuan Yu also sensed that something was wrong.

The village residents had suddenly gathered around them.

More and more people came.

Their eyes were cold.

They looked as if they were watching prey.

Karin fearfully clung to Chuan Yu's arm.

"To find Ryūchi Cave, you must pass the Sage's test..."

"At the eighth watch, the moon reflected on the water will be perfectly round."

"That's when the Sage will come out to hunt for food."

"If you can keep up with him,"

"you'll reach Ryūchi Cave."

As soon as the old man finished speaking,

a skull fell from the kitchen cabinet behind him.

The old man crouched down and calmly picked it up.

"Just a monkey we ate."

Chuan Yu didn't believe him.

Judging by the size of the skull,

it had to have belonged to an adult.

"Karin, let's go."

Without paying the residents any further attention,

Chuan Yu led Karin back up the mountain.

Unbeknownst to them, after they left,

all the skulls piled inside the kitchen cabinet spilled out.

There were well over a hundred of them.

They found a shady spot,

and the two of them waited for nightfall.

The moon gradually climbed into the sky.

Darkness blanketed the night.

At the eighth watch,

the river below suddenly began flowing backward.

The moonlight reflected on the water was now perfectly round.

Suddenly, a huge white snake crawled out from the wall west of the waterfall.

Its long, slender body writhed.

Beneath the moonlight, its head looked more like a human's.

After climbing up and out of the waterfall, the white snake began searching for food.

Chuan Yu and Karin hurried after it.

The winding trail through the mountains was difficult to traverse.

After making a full circuit around the hill,

the white snake finally turned back.

The two hid to the left of the rocks beneath the waterfall.

The white snake didn't notice them.

As it returned to its cave,

a black hole suddenly appeared in the wall.

Chuan Yu poked his head out and peered inside carefully.

Just as the opening was about to close,

he precisely threw a specially made Kunai through it. The weapon lodged in the wall.

"Done..."

Chuan Yu took out the map and began studying it carefully.

According to Chuan Yu's memories from his previous life,

Orochimaru had been able to summon Manda during the Third Shinobi World War.

Yet he had told Chuan Yu that he had never been to Ryūchi Cave.

It seemed Orochimaru had his own agenda.

Aside from Manda,

Ryūchi Cave was home to three other special snakes.

Tagorihime.

Ichikishimahime.

Tagitsuhime.

These three snakes were the White Snake Sage's trusted aides in Ryūchi Cave.

They were in charge of maintaining order there.

The three of them stood apart as the cave's high-ranking officials.

"If I can get past those three beautiful snake women and reach the White Snake Sage directly,"

"I should be able to earn the White Snake Sage's initial approval..."

"Then things will be much easier..."

He pulled Karin close.

Flying Thunder God activated!

In a flash, the two of them vanished from where they stood.

At the same time,

a crowd of residents suddenly appeared beside the waterfall.

They opened their mouths wide, their faces twisted into grimaces.

Their clothes slid off their bodies.

After transforming,

they became one white snake after another.

"Now we'll make it in time to share the delicious feast later!"

The white snakes covering the ground hurried toward the snake cave, each trying to get there first.