Chapter 543: The White Snake Sage’s Trial

Chapter 543: Chapter 543: The White Snake Sage’s Trial

Naruto clasped his hands behind his head and muttered, "Big Brother Kabuto is trying to scare us again! There are clearly buildings here. If people don’t live in them, then what else could?"

Kabuto smiled but said nothing more, heading straight toward the entrance of Ryuchi Cave.

Naruto followed him without a care in the world, asking, "Big Brother Kabuto, can you really learn senjutsu here? Is senjutsu hard to learn? Do you think I can learn it?"

Naruto’s incessant chatter behind him eased Kabuto’s nerves considerably.

In truth, Kabuto was nowhere near as calm as he appeared. When he saw the characters spelling out ’Ryuchi Cave,’ he had been even more nervous than Naruto. After all, he understood far better than the clueless Naruto what those characters represented.

Ryuchi Cave!

This was a forbidden place that even Orochimaru did not dare set foot in lightly!

Stepping onto the broad staircase, the three slowly made their way toward the entrance of Ryuchi Cave. Compared to the towering stone gateway, their figures were as insignificant as insects.

As they passed through the entrance, Naruto couldn’t help exclaiming, "What a huge gate!"

Hinata was equally astonished. Even as the eldest daughter of the Hyuga main family, she had never seen such a magnificent and imposing gateway. It hardly looked like a structure built for humans.

After passing through the gateway, the three traversed a long corridor and climbed hundreds of steps before finally arriving at a stone bed.

Reclining on the stone bed was an elderly woman dressed in a white robe.

With her eyes half-closed, she sized up Kabuto, Naruto, and Hinata before smiling.

"Lost souls, what brings you here?"

Kabuto stepped forward and bowed respectfully before asking, "May I ask if you are the White Snake Sage?"

The elderly woman on the stone bed smiled and nodded.

Naruto immediately approached the White Snake Sage, looking her up and down as he asked, "Granny, are you really a sage? Can you teach me senjutsu?"

The White Snake Sage narrowed her eyes and said, "If you wish to learn senjutsu, you must first pass a trial of mine."

Kabuto pulled Naruto back before politely asking the White Snake Sage, "May I ask what kind of trial it is?"

Although the White Snake Sage appeared to be a kindly old woman, Kabuto knew very well what her true form was.

She was a monster who had mastered senjutsu and lived for an unknown number of years. Naturally, Kabuto did not dare show her the slightest disrespect.

"Deep within Ryuchi Cave lives a giant snake named Garaga. It has an extremely violent temper and has been giving me no end of trouble. If you can help me remove the reverse scale from its body and make it behave itself, you will have passed my trial."

The White Snake Sage spoke slowly, her narrowed eyes repeatedly sweeping over Naruto, as though something hidden within him had captivated her.

Naruto curled his lips. "Isn’t it just defeating a snake? Doesn’t sound that hard to me!"

"Naruto, don’t talk nonsense!"

Kabuto wiped the cold sweat from his forehead before addressing the White Snake Sage.

"If even you find that snake troublesome, I’m afraid it would be difficult for us to handle it."

"Hehe..." The White Snake Sage chuckled. "If you wish to learn senjutsu, you must first pass this trial."

Kabuto did not have the courage to bargain with the White Snake Sage.

Moreover, even before entering Ryuchi Cave, he had anticipated that learning senjutsu would not be a smooth process. Nevertheless, the White Snake Sage’s trial had genuinely put him in a difficult position.

No one understood Manda’s attitude toward Orochimaru better than Kabuto.

If what the White Snake Sage said was true, and the giant snake named Garaga was troublesome enough to give even her a headache, then it was most likely a giant snake on the same level as Manda.

And dealing with such a creature was simply beyond a shinobi of Kabuto’s caliber.

At the very least, one would need strength comparable to Orochimaru’s to even risk attempting it.

Just as Kabuto was weighing whether to accept the White Snake Sage’s trial, Naruto had already asked her for directions to Garaga’s lair and was swaggering off.

In little Naruto’s eyes, how powerful could a snake that gave an old granny a headache possibly be? He had caught plenty of snakes and fish back in the village!

Seeing this, Hinata followed him without the slightest hesitation.

By the time Kabuto snapped out of his thoughts, Naruto and Hinata had already gone quite a distance.

He shook his head and sighed softly before hurrying after them.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that bringing the carefree Naruto into Ryuchi Cave might not have been such a good idea after all.

After Naruto and the others left the great hall, three graceful figures descended beside the White Snake Sage.

They were none other than the three beautiful snake attendants who served the White Snake Sage: Tagitsuhime, Ichikishimahime, and Tagorihime.

Tagitsuhime asked the White Snake Sage, "Why didn’t you let us test them outside Ryuchi Cave as we usually do?"

Watching Naruto’s departing figure, the White Snake Sage smiled.

"I never expected this child to find his way to me first."

Tagorihime asked curiously, "Is there something special about that child?"

The White Snake Sage replied, "You will understand in time."

Ichikishimahime was somewhat puzzled.

"If that child is someone special, then why did you send them after Garaga? If they go there like this, they’re certain to end up in Garaga’s stomach!"

The White Snake Sage merely smiled without answering...

...

After passing through one cavern after another, Naruto and the other two finally arrived inside an enormous rocky cavern.

"The cave Granny mentioned should be this one, right?"

As he spoke, Naruto ran over to the edge of the cavern and began overturning the rocks on the ground.

Hinata asked softly, "Naruto, why are you moving those rocks?"

"Haha, you didn’t know? Snakes love hiding under rocks like these! That’s how I always caught snakes back in the village."

After laughing proudly, Naruto added, "Hinata, don’t you have the Byakugan? Hurry up and help me look!"

Hinata quickly nodded and formed a hand seal.

"Byakugan!"

After activating her Byakugan, Hinata was just about to carefully examine the cavern when an unimaginably enormous mass of chakra suddenly entered her field of vision.

Her legs went weak from fright, and she collapsed onto the ground.

Naruto asked curiously, "Hinata, what’s wrong?"

Sitting on the ground, Hinata pointed behind Naruto and stammered, "Na... Naruto, be... behind you..."

Naruto reached back and touched the somewhat smooth rock wall behind him.

"What’s wrong? It’s just a wall! Look how scared you are! What’s so strange about a wall?"

Rumble, rumble...

No sooner had Naruto finished speaking than the smooth wall he was touching began to move in its entirety, causing the entire cavern to tremble along with it.

Immediately afterward, an enormous orange eye with a vertical slit pupil appeared right in front of Naruto.

Naruto’s mouth fell open in shock.

"Wh... what is that?!"