"Just up ahead, Sage Chiba."
The Three Snake Princesses led the way, bringing Tetsuya into an even dimmer cave.
The natural energy in this cave, however, was even more abundant.
Deep inside the cave, Tetsuya saw a white-haired young man sitting cross-legged on the ground.
The surrounding natural energy streamed into his body, combining with his chakra to form an entirely new power.
This was how Ryūchi Cave practiced senjutsu, and that white-haired young man was none other than Orochimaru's assistant, Kabuto Yakushi.
He had been practicing senjutsu here for two years.
After Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan ended, he had followed Tetsuya's earlier advice and brought Kabuto to Ryūchi Cave to study senjutsu.
However, a few problems had cropped up after they arrived.
Because Tetsuya had given Orochimaru White Zetsu's body ahead of time for research, Orochimaru had once again become interested in senjutsu after obtaining a new body that perfectly suited his soul.
But his first experience learning senjutsu had left him traumatized, so he had not taken the White Snake Sage's trial again. Instead, embracing the spirit of scientific research, he began repeatedly summoning Giant Snake Summons from Ryūchi Cave for experiments.
After all, these giant snakes had lived in Ryūchi Cave for years, and their bodies were rich in natural energy. He wanted to experiment with that energy, combining it with his Cursed Seal and Jūgo's innate sage body to develop his own senjutsu.
Things had been fine at first, but as his research progressed, the White Snake Sage realized something was wrong.
After discovering that Orochimaru was behind it, she used the Reverse Summoning Technique to bring him to Ryūchi Cave.
What followed was a less-than-pleasant conversation between Orochimaru and the White Snake Sage, and the two came to blows.
Orochimaru, who was no longer the