At Uchiha Gen's words, the White Snake Sage's stooped figure stiffened slightly. The gentle smile in her eyes froze instantly, replaced by undisguised darkness.
"Are you not being a little too arrogant, guest?"
Leaning on her cane, the White Snake Sage slowly straightened, her hunched back unfolding bit by bit. Her aged, hoarse voice gradually grew drawn-out and icy.
"Though I may look old, I am hardly so frail that a breeze could knock me over."
The instant her words fell...
Rumble-!!
An utterly muffled boom suddenly erupted from deep underground!
The entire Ryūchi Cave abruptly shook violently. The hard rock walls on either side swayed wildly, loose stones tumbled down, and dense cracks instantly spread across the cavern walls.
The once-stable foundations now seemed to have been forcibly pried loose by tremendous strength. Unending rumbles surged up from underground in successive waves, making their eardrums tremble.
The bluestone floor beneath Uchiha Gen's feet cracked first. Fine fissures spread rapidly, intersecting and bursting open as layers of hard rock buckled and collapsed.
Within a few short breaths, the entire temple area broke apart completely. The ancient stone temple collapsed with a crash, sending fragments of masonry flying everywhere as billowing dust spread in all directions.
Amid the falling rocks and dust, a faint, pure white glow slowly rose from the depths of a pitch-black fissure.
The glow grew ever more brilliant. Then, in an instant, a terrifying, utterly chilling presence swept savagely through all of Ryūchi Cave!
Hum!
For a moment...
Heaven and earth trembled, and icy winds howled.
An enormous body large enough to blot out the entire cavern slowly ascended through the split ground, then reared upright with a thunderous crash!
That was the White Snake Sage...
The true body that had occupied Ryūchi Cave for thousands of