I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 34

At the far end of the enormous plaza stood a stone chair, one far too huge for humans as well.

The armrests rose nearly ten meters high, while the seat itself stood roughly four to five meters off the ground. The part that should have been the backrest had been carved into the shape of a dragon's head, its jaws clamping a gigantic scroll bearing the words "Dragon Cave."

Uchiha Shingen stood below it. The velvet draped over the seat hung down to the ground right in front of him, while a massive white-scaled snake sat coiled atop the chair, its head resting against an armrest in a rather dignified pose.

It was the master of Dragon Cave—the White Snake Sage.

Too bad it wasn't Bai Suzhen. Otherwise, Shingen wouldn't have minded putting to use the pseudo Nine Apertures Exquisite Heart he had cultivated through years of tea-drinking and trying his hand at flirting.

Even if it was a snake, as long as it dared transform into a beautiful girl, he dared flirt with it.

Not for any particular reason. The more friends one had, the easier the road became.

By the way, the White Snake Sage smoked.

Gurgle, gurgle—

A rumbling sound came from the White Snake Sage's belly.

Just as Shingen wondered whether it was hungry, white smoke puffed from the White Snake Sage's nostrils.

Like a gale sweeping over the wilderness, it billowed far into the distance.

"Here to learn senjutsu?" The White Snake Sage shifted slightly, extending its head a little as it looked down at Shingen.

At first glance, the White Snake Sage seemed smaller than Manda.

Manda stood around eighteen meters tall when coiled up, while the White Snake Sage, seated on the chair, appeared to be only twelve or thirteen meters high.

However, that was only a tiny fraction of its body.

Its body encircled the entire stone chair, stretching outward until it merged with the earth itself, indistinguishable from the ground.

Together with the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku and the Slug Sage of the Wet Bone Forest, it was one of the strongest senjutsu practitioners in the current ninja world.

The White Snake Sage wore a black hat, topped with a large crystal ball, and a necklace around its neck.

That crystal ball was probably a tool the White Snake Sage used to observe the world.

Clearly, unlike the crude brutes in Dragon Cave, the White Snake Sage was a cultured snake. It knew how to use jutsu.

The Great Toad Sage also used a crystal ball to observe the world.

This was the same technique Sarutobi Hiruzen used to peep through a crystal ball. It was unlikely that Mount Myoboku had learned it from the Leaf Village; more importantly, the Leaf Village had no such "need."

Every technique in this world was born from an intense need.

Did Sarutobi Hiruzen, known as the "Professor," really need a crystal ball just to gather some material... no, to take a look at the village's peaceful splendor? Obviously, the need wasn't that intense.

But the three secret senjutsu lands were different.

Leaving aside the mysterious Slug Sage and that Great Toad who was several thousand years old and liable to fall asleep at the slightest disagreement, just look at the White Snake Sage. Its entire body had merged into the earth. If it didn't use a crystal ball, how else was it supposed to watch the world?

While Shingen was mulling this over, the White Snake Sage had already grown impatient.

Ever since this little runt arrived, he had said one sentence and then nothing.

What, did he think it was some old grandpa handing out cheat powers?

Even if it were, it should be an old grandma. The White Snake Sage was female.

Besides, this little brat had entered Dragon Cave for the first time without the slightest fear, acting so casually. It was supposed to be a "test," but wasn't he having a little too much fun? It seemed Dragon Cave's "appearance" needed some improvement. It could no longer frighten outsiders.

Thus, it asked somewhat unhappily, "Brat, do you know the rules of Dragon Cave?"

"Oh, I know this one." Shingen nodded. "One bite from the sage, and senjutsu's within reach."

"Heh..." The White Snake Sage found that somewhat amusing.

No descendant of Indra had ever come to Dragon Cave before. Sure enough, he was different from the other humans outside. That temperament really was Indra's bloodline—arrogant to the bone.

He was quite confident too, apparently believing he would definitely succeed.

But he was still just a brat.

Indra was a brat. His father, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, was a brat too. His grandmother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, was also a brat.

Whether they could beat it or not had nothing to do with it. The three sages had simply lived far too long; everyone looked like a little brat to them.

Besides, was it really so glorious for a young person to beat up an old lady who had lived for thousands of years?

By human standards, that seemed to be called young people lacking martial virtue.

"Then this old lady shall grant your wish." The White Snake Sage was somewhat interested. "The descendants of Indra should taste quite good."

It extended its body and opened its mouth, gesturing for a moment before realizing it was inconvenient.

"Come up and puncture yourself," it said. "You're too small. You're not easy to bite."

"Oh, please wait a moment." Shingen jumped onto the White Snake Sage's body, then climbed up to its mouth.

"Which fang should I use?" He glanced over them and asked, finding them all rather thick.

"Pick one yourself. Use whichever you think is suitable." The White Snake Sage lazily flicked its tongue before resting its head against the armrest again. "Tell me once you've chosen."

This position was more comfortable.

"Alright." Uchiha Shingen rolled up his sleeves, looked left and right, picked through them, and finally chose one he felt was suitable in thickness, angle, and sharpness.

He reached out and pressed against the fang. "Sage, I'm ready."

The White Snake Sage's mouth moved slightly, and the fang pierced Uchiha Shingen's skin.

In the next instant, natural energy so violent it could only be called berserk flooded into Uchiha Shingen's body.

Unlike the toads of Mount Myoboku, the great snakes had always forcefully fused natural energy with their bodies. As for the White Snake Sage, which had already become one with the earth, natural energy had long become an inseparable part of its body. Manipulating it was as effortless as moving its own limbs, requiring neither preparation nor auxiliary tools.

As natural energy entered his body, Uchiha Shingen's first sensation was as though he had returned to the night he first awakened his eyes. His mind suffered a tremendous shock, followed by a reaction from his body, as though he were on fire.

Whether in his previous life or this one, Uchiha Shingen's control over chakra had always been excellent. But if he had trained in the Formation of Eight Gates, he would probably have understood this feeling.

Natural energy was like an unleashed husky, frolicking wildly through his body.

Not daring to be careless, Uchiha Shingen sat cross-legged atop the White Snake Sage's body, swiftly gathering chakra to pursue the natural energy that had entered him.

This truly was not a pleasant experience.

The natural energy of Dragon Cave was just like the great snakes themselves, brimming with an "I love freedom" sort of spirit.

Once inside Uchiha Shingen's body, those energies spread out to the fullest, then began savoring the taste of freedom.

Over here, they rolled around. Over there, they started parkour.

Over here, they yanked at the bedsheets. Over there, they turned around and tried to fold the blankets.

They were completely out of sync.

It was exactly like Uchiha Shingen on his first day of university in his original life—his urge to run wild shot straight from the soles of his feet to his head, like Fahai going out to relieve himself, only to take off his pants and discover a group of snake demons bathing nearby.

But Uchiha Shingen was not Fahai. He firmly opposed racial discrimination.

In his original life, he had read plenty of smut; in this life, he had practiced Yang Release. Whether in knowledge or experience, he had accumulated enough. Although the berserk nature of natural energy entering his body still exceeded his expectations, he did not panic.

His accumulated foundation was enough to handle it.

Within his body, more and more condensed chakra gathered, forming an army of Xu Xians.

Wives! Husbands are here!

The Art of Form

Compared with Naruto Uzumaki's treatment at Mount Myoboku, Uchiha Shingen's treatment at Dragon Cave was far beyond merely ordinary.

There was simply too much to complain about.

However, Uchiha Shingen's preparations for cultivating the senjutsu inheritances of the three great sacred lands were probably more thorough than those of any other senjutsu novice.

Otherwise, after the Hannya Group claimed to have discovered Dragon Cave, he would not have changed his mind and immediately entered Dragon Cave to cultivate senjutsu once the claim was verified.

To put it simply, without Indra's reincarnation chakra, senjutsu was the best path for the Uchiha Clan to develop bodily energy.

Especially since Uchiha Shingen had spent more than a decade constantly stimulating his body's potential, his capacity to bear natural energy naturally surpassed that of many others.

Once Uchiha Shingen used a sufficient amount of chakra to "capture" the natural energy the White Snake Sage had injected into his body, the two rapidly began to merge.

This had already exceeded the requirements of Dragon Cave's traditional "test."

By tradition, a trial-taker only needed to withstand the natural energy—or rather, avoid being eroded and transformed from human into snake by the senjutsu energy refined by the White Snake Sage itself, bearing Dragon Cave's distinctive characteristics—to qualify to cultivate Dragon Cave's senjutsu.

Inside the cave, day and night were indistinguishable. As time passed, earth-shaking changes began occurring within Uchiha Shingen's body.

At some point, hundreds upon thousands of great snakes had gathered in the plaza. They all watched Uchiha Shingen, who sat cross-legged atop the White Snake Sage.

Food or companion—the answer would be clear once he awoke.

Without the White Snake Sage's permission, not a single great snake dared act rashly, even with another side dish before them, trapped in a genjutsu and unable to move.

The White Snake Sage had long since shed its lazy demeanor. It sensed the changes within Uchiha Shingen's body.

Those changes were beyond its expectations.

Logically speaking, without its guidance, a human who had never encountered senjutsu should not have been able to reach this stage.

Moreover, Uchiha Shingen's appearance had not changed in the slightest. He did not even have a trace of eyeshadow. This indicated that he had mastered the natural energy within his body perfectly—the most perfect of everyone who had entered Dragon Cave.

Erosion was no longer possible.

He would succeed completely as soon as he woke up. The White Snake Sage only needed to teach him how to actively draw in natural energy and how to use Dragon Cave's senjutsu.

It was certainly easy, but the White Snake Sage inexplicably felt somewhat empty.

The previous inheritors had not been like this. The foolish, ignorant appearances of those idiots had done much to satisfy the White Snake Sage's sense of accomplishment.

But that was all.

The advantage of living long was that unless the heavens collapsed and the earth split apart, nothing could truly startle one. No matter what happened, nothing could greatly shake one's emotions.

Suddenly, the White Snake Sage rested its head against the armrest once more.

At the same moment, Uchiha Shingen opened his eyes.

"You woke up quickly, descendant of Indra." The White Snake Sage took a drag from its pipe, slowly exhaling white smoke through its nostrils. "Now that you're awake, get down."

Uchiha Shingen nodded and jumped down.

"How do you feel now?" the White Snake Sage asked.

"Not bad." Uchiha Shingen sensed the changes in his body. "Coming here was the right choice."

"Very good. It seems you came prepared." Behind the White Snake Sage, the stone-carved dragon head opened its mouth, and the scroll fell out, unfurling before Uchiha Shingen.

"Now that you have entered Dragon Cave, before you can formally learn senjutsu, you must first become a contract holder," the White Snake Sage said. "Write down your name."

Without hesitation, Uchiha Shingen bit his finger and wrote his name on it.

The name before his was Orochimaru.

"Now make your designation. Among the great snakes present, when you use sufficient chakra, whom do you wish to prioritize as your combat partner?"

Uchiha Shingen turned around. One great snake after another lowered their heads to look at him.

Manda stood out conspicuously among them.

When Uchiha Shingen's gaze swept over him, Manda's heart skipped a beat.

[Hmph, knew he'd have his eye on me!]

Manda lowered his head and looked at the person he hated most, feeling deeply displeased, yet also finding it perfectly natural.

After all, he was the finest specimen in this cave. Hadn't that guy Orochimaru picked him at first glance too?

So he flicked out his tongue, putting on an especially fierce expression as he said to Uchiha Shingen, "Though I don't like being disturbed by too many people, if you sincerely beg me, I can still agree."

After smugly saying that, he remembered something else.

He might not be able to eat this little runt, but hadn't this little runt brought someone else along? That fool was still standing over there.

"Is that human over there prepared for me? Then I won't hold back."

"What's your name?" he suddenly heard Uchiha Shingen ask.

[Has this guy gone stupid? Didn't he recognize me at a glance earlier?]

Manda was puzzled.