"Please!" Tagitsuhime gestured for Hatake Ziyan to get on first.
Hatake Ziyan did not hesitate. His figure flickered, and he appeared atop Manda's head.
As for the arrogant, overbearing Manda, he had not uttered a single complaint from beginning to end, allowing Hatake Ziyan to stand on his head!
Manda was arrogant and overbearing, but he was no fool. Even Tagitsuhime, the leader of Ryūchi Cave's Three Divine Hime, treated Hatake Ziyan with the utmost respect. How could he dare throw a fit?
Once Tagitsuhime had flown onto his head as well, Manda swiftly slithered across the ground without saying a word.
"This is Manda? Orochimaru told me he was vicious, cruel, and bloodthirsty, but he seems perfectly well-behaved to me." Standing atop Manda's head, Hatake Ziyan deliberately addressed Tagitsuhime.
For a moment, Tagitsuhime had no idea how to answer. After all, what he had heard was true. Besides, was being bloodthirsty not perfectly normal for snakes? They were not the toads next door!
And how was she supposed to explain this? Tell him that he was too powerful for Manda to dare speak up?
"I'm not! I never was! That's not me! He's slandering me!" Manda immediately launched into a string of denials.
Hatake Ziyan smiled. "Oh? Is that so? Then I'll have to have a proper word with him the next time I see him! Honestly, that man..."
"Thank you, my lord!" From that moment on, Manda decided that Orochimaru was someone he could no longer afford to provoke. The next time Orochimaru summoned him, he could not demand sacrifices anymore!
This would leave Orochimaru puzzled for a long time afterward. His summoned beast had suddenly changed his temperament. Normally, Manda refused to fight for him without sacrifices, and even when given them, he merely went through the