Chapter 153: The White Snake Sage Stirs! This Child's Talent Is Extraordinary!
To survive and continue fighting in this almost certain death situation, Tsukasa had few options.
Facing the evolved Wind Release: Wind Cutter—an A-rank Wind Release that had undergone transformation and almost ignored elemental weaknesses—his only countermeasure was to use his strongest Fire Release Chakra Mode.
He poured all his chakra into the Kusanagi Sword, compressing it continuously using the same method as his Kirin Arm technique, finally forming this blazing white sword as brilliant as the sun!
The highly concentrated fire-attribute chakra, channeled through the Kusanagi Sword, possessed the potential for sustained combat, giving this blade the powerful ability to cut through Wind Release: Wind Cutter.
This action was undoubtedly insane!
Because at this moment, Tsukasa was in Curse Mark form, and the chakra within his body and the natural energy from Ryūchi Cave—which was constantly transforming his body through the curse mark—were already in a state of mutual entanglement and conflict.
By extracting all his chakra in exchange for the power to break the deadlock, he was surrendering his entire body to the natural energy of Ryūchi Cave!
Even with his own chakra present, this natural energy had already forcibly altered his eyes and legs at the genetic level, and was subtly and continuously transforming his entire body.
One by one, serpentine abilities manifested within him—infrared sensing, scale protection, serpentine flexibility, black mamba-like speed, and many more abilities that Tsukasa had yet to discover.
The chakra within him was the final barrier preventing him from completely transforming from a human into a snake!
And now, Tsukasa had extracted it without hesitation!
Even Orochimaru would be utterly astonished by this!
But for Tsukasa, it meant nothing!
He wasn't afraid of death, so why would he fear becoming a snake?!
At this moment, falling from the sky and lying supine on the desert, Tsukasa was howling in agony, staring at the rain of wind blades descending from above. His left hand tightly gripped the dazzling white-bladed longsword.
He didn't even have the strength to get up and swing the sword!
He had given his all—now, he could only gamble with his life!
Tsukasa's eyes trembled slightly, his crimson serpent pupils fixed on the approaching wind blades.
His eyes were bloodshot, his face contorted with desperate fury, and he coughed blood as he gripped the hilt of the sword.
Then, with his last ounce of strength, he held the sword to his neck, aiming it at the curse mark's origin!
It was as if he were about to commit suicide!
The intense heat of the white-hot blade instantly burned through the outer skin, revealing the fine white scales beneath his neck.
Immediately afterward, Tsukasa roared at himself, threatening the very mark on his body:
"Now, immediately—"
"Curse Mark!"
"Give me power!!"
"Give me the power to slay my enemies, break this deadlock, and shoulder the future and my dreams!"
"Regardless of consequences, regardless of cost, at any price!"
"Even if I become a serpent!"
"That doesn't matter!"
"Did you hear me?! Give me everything you've got, NOW!!"
As Tsukasa's frenzied voice fell, the next moment—
From the origin of the curse mark, a ghostly green light suddenly shone!
The scales suddenly burst open, and a small white snake emerged.
The snake's mouth snapped open, and a black-haired, deathly pale figure ripped open the opening and struggled to crawl out.
Then Orochimaru's hoarse voice, filled with astonishment and disbelief, rang out:
"Tsukasa, what have you done?!"
Meanwhile...
In a temple deep within Ryūchi Cave, one of the three legendary sacred sites, a white-scaled serpent over a thousand years old sat coiled on a throne beneath a Buddha statue, its dense scales reflecting divine light.
This giant serpent wore a green cat's-eye stone on its chest, a purple obi adorned with horn-shaped ornaments, a red luminous orb on its head, and held a long pipe in its mouth. Its body resembled a bridge spanning a chasm, with two golden rings adorning its torso.
This was none other than the White Snake Sage, the master of Ryūchi Cave, revered throughout the world as a sage!
The White Snake Sage mostly slept, as everything happening in the shinobi world reached her ears, and the cacophony was utterly irritating.
But now, a clear, desperate roar from a young boy suddenly pierced her slumber, echoing in her consciousness:
"Give me power!"
"Did you hear me?! Give me everything you've got!"
The White Snake Sage abruptly opened her eyes, revealing a pair of dazzling golden serpent pupils.
Her gaze was filled with shock.
"Impossible!"
"How is this possible?!"
"Someone outside Ryūchi Cave has accessed Sage Mode?!"
Only the voice of a human who had touched upon Sage chakra could enter her dreams—this was the threshold she had set for her slumber.
Every human who had mastered aspects of Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode was a valuable piece on the board, worthy of her manipulation and investment.
But then, that voice...
The White Snake Sage suddenly raised her massive serpent head, her eyes piercing through the barriers of space, focusing her gaze on the outside world.
There lay Tsukasa, roaring in the desert of the Land of Wind.
Upon seeing the chaotic structure of this boy's body—
"Hissss!!"
The White Snake Sage gasped, a bead of sweat larger than a boulder sliding down her forehead.
Look at this! What an unprecedented sight!
She remembered Orochimaru saying that if you lived long enough, you'd see interesting things.
But now, what she saw wasn't merely interesting!
This was a divine prodigy descended from the heavens, something unprecedented in Ryūchi Cave's millennia-long history!
So brazenly accepting natural energy!
So fearlessly embracing the twisted evolution of his life form!
So boldly reaching out for power, seeking a further path—a path from serpent to dragon!
He was practically a mythological figure made manifest!
The moment the White Snake Sage saw Tsukasa, her golden serpent eyes shrank to pinpoints!
For thousands of years, the White Snake Sage had been accustomed to power-hungry seekers, but she had never seen a human so fanatical, so willing!
The natural energy within him didn't rampage out of control. Instead, it was subdued by the cells within him that constantly craved battle and evolution!
It bestowed upon him abilities surpassing those of ordinary humans, and forcibly sustained him through such extreme combat!
Now, it was almost ready to sacrifice its very essence to provide power for this boy.
But at this moment, the natural energy of Ryūchi Cave injected into this boy through the curse mark was too weak—completely insufficient to support his evolution beyond humanity.
And this boy possessed such talent!
This conviction that surpassed the will of all those who came to Ryūchi Cave seeking power!
This willingness to transcend humanity itself!
This was precisely the "Snake Becoming Dragon" that Ryūchi Cave had been searching for!
"Hisss! No, this boy has the potential to truly transform into a dragon and reach the pinnacle that no one in Ryūchi Cave has been able to reach for thousands of years!"
"We absolutely cannot let him die!!"
The White Snake Sage looked at the nearly dead Tsukasa and felt a surge of urgency. Her serpent body trembled violently, causing the entire Ryūchi Cave to shake!
She suddenly raised her massive serpent head and roughly tore off the green cat's eye stone hanging around her neck with her tail!
She opened her mouth and roared furiously into the temple:
"Tagitsuhime! Ichikishimahime! Tagorihime!"
"Where are those three girls?!"
"Quickly, quickly send the Sage Orb over there!"
End of Chapter 153
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