At the same time.
The White Snake Sage, who had returned to Ryūchi Cave, was also considering how to respond next.
Deep within Ryūchi Cave.
Inside a temple.
The White Snake Sage dispersed her old-woman guise and turned back into her true white-snake form, lying across a stone chair.
Then, from who knew where, she took out a huge pipe, held it in her mouth, and smoked it now and then.
Wisps of smoke drifted from her mouth, like white mist. In no time at all, the entire temple looked like an illusion of clouds and fog.
Ichikishimahime and Tagitsuhime stood below. The White Snake Sage did not speak, so they did not dare speak either.
As a result, the temple was deathly quiet.
Only after a long while did the White Snake Sage take down her pipe and say unhurriedly, "Tell me, all of you. What exactly happened?"
Although she had answered the summons this time and gone to help Ichikishimahime and Tagitsuhime—and even the operation itself had been tacitly approved by her.
Otherwise, Garaga could not have acted together with them.
However, she still was not very clear on the course of events or the reason behind the matter.
After all, to her at first, this matter had merely been about some brat who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth intercepting a portion of the Natural Energy that should have entered their Ryūchi Cave.
She had thought that a few of her subordinates taking action would be enough to resolve it, and it was not worth her spending too much attention on.
But now, the matter had changed in an unexpected way. The enemy was no ordinary opponent, but a ninja who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, so she could not help taking it seriously.