Immediately after, Ryou learned more from Yumiko regarding the issue of sacrificing to the Snake Sage.
The Sage Transformation of the Jugo Clan was the result of long-term absorption of the Senjutsu energy leaking from Ryūchi Cave.
Their settlement was adjacent to Ryūchi Cave, and the clan held an annual ceremony to sacrifice to the Snake Sage, which meant offering newborn children to the giant snakes in the cave.
However, with inbreeding, compounded by the debuff of occasional Sage Transformation rampages, the number of females in the Jugo Clan dwindled, and the clan's population plummeted.
This led the Jugo Clan to lower the quality of their offerings by several levels, using children, teenagers... and even children from outside the clan.
The Snake Sage did not express any dissatisfaction, so the Jugo Clan just muddled along like that.
The intended sacrifice this time was supposed to be Yumiko's child, Jugo, but Orochimaru appeared and took Jugo away.
Ryou frowned after hearing this, feeling more and more that Ryūchi Cave was not a holy land for sages, but a den of demons.
Ryou grabbed Yumiko by the head and asked him, "Yumiko, are you truly willing to send your own child to be fodder for the snake demons?"
Yumiko shook his head with a dull gaze, "No, it was I who informed Orochimaru that Jugo could perform a perfect Sage Transformation; I wanted him to take my child away."
"I once lost control and killed my wife. I feel terrible for Jugo, and I hope he can escape the miserable fate of our clan."
Yumiko was controlled by Ryou's illusion, so everything he said was his true feelings, with no possibility of falsehood.
Ryou nodded; he wasn't too far gone. This kind of person could recover if they just uninstalled Genshin Impact.
Playing a little less would make him normal!
Ryou immediately activated the White Zetsu cells within his body, beginning to consume the cells and the Sage enzymes in Yumiko's bodily fluids.
He also wanted to obtain the Sage Transformation.
Katsuyu and Candy watched Ryou's actions curiously, while Satori was on the side absorbing the negative energy of the Jugo Clan.
The Jugo Clan were homicidal and bloodthirsty when they rampaged, but once they recovered, they would fall into negative pessimism.
They all struggled to control the Sage Transformation rampages, and their own loved ones had once been hurt by them.
It was like living in a minefield; they had to be careful and cautious in everything they did.
Because of this immense repression, many people went mad, and such negative emotions were a feast for Satori.
Satori hadn't eaten well before, and having carried Ryou from the Land of Rain to Ryūchi Cave, it was already very hungry.
Soon, a pattern consisting of three tomoe appeared on the back of Ryou's neck, looking just like the pattern on the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan.
This was the Curse Mark, the core principle of which was to seal the Jugo Clan's cells and enzymes using the Curse Mark.
Sage enzymes were the key to the Jugo Clan's ability to autonomously absorb natural energy.
Ryou looked at the Curse Mark on the back of his neck with his third eye; it looked quite similar to Sasuke's Cursed Seal of Heaven.
Orochimaru's Curse Mark was developed based on Jugo's bodily fluids; by injecting Jugo's fluids into a Shinobi's body, he could allow them to perform the Sage Transformation.
However, without training, one could not control natural energy; Shinobi implanted with Jugo's fluids by Orochimaru would either rampage or turn into monsters.
Orochimaru matched the Sage enzymes in the Curse Mark according to the different physical constitutions of the human body.
For example, the ordinary Curse Marks for regular followers of Orochimaru, the advanced Curse Marks for the Sound Four, and Kimimaro's Cursed Seal of Earth.
There were also a very small number of people who could perfectly adapt to the Cursed Seal of Heaven, which contained the highest proportion of Sage enzymes.
For instance, Sasuke.
In the original work, Anko was also implanted with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, but her Curse Mark was a failure; she couldn't perform the Sage Transformation and could only sense Orochimaru.
The reason so few people adapted to Orochimaru's Cursed Seal of Heaven was that he added an extra ingredient to it: his own soul fragments.
The composition of the Cursed Seal of Heaven was Jugo's Sage enzymes + Orochimaru's soul fragments.
The Cursed Seal of Heaven was not used for combat, but specifically as a vessel for Orochimaru's reincarnation.
Once implanted with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, one was equivalent to being a reincarnation vessel for Orochimaru.
During the battle between Itachi and Sasuke, Itachi forced Orochimaru out of Sasuke's Curse Mark and sealed him away using the Sword of Totsuka.
Afterward, Sasuke's Curse Mark disappeared; although he could no longer perform the Sage Transformation, all the hidden dangers related to Orochimaru on his body were cleared.
Unable to perform Possession on Sasuke, Orochimaru instead resurrected from the Curse Mark on Anko.
Ryou's Curse Mark was a primitive one; it only contained Sage enzymes, without the influence of Orochimaru's chakra or soul fragments.
This was the most primitive Sage Transformation.
Ryou immediately released the Curse Mark.
As the Curse Mark was released, Ryou's neck was immediately covered with black flaming chakra patterns, as if he had a tattoo.
"Is this the power of the Sage Transformation?"
Ryou sensed the natural energy within his body; it was a type of extremely violent, negative natural energy.
After absorbing it, his mind was filled with thoughts of taking his family portrait to go block the bridge.
natural energy is energy from nature, and nature has many classifications.
The Senjutsu type of Ryūchi Cave belongs to the earth, specifically cold and dark caves.
The Sage Transformation is the Sage Transformation of Ryūchi Cave; the absorbed natural energy comes from the negative energy of the earth. Calling it a Sage Transformation is less accurate than calling it a Demon Transformation.
Ryou suppressed the killing intent in his mind and tested the power of the Sage Transformation.
After the first stage of the Sage Transformation, Ryou's physical attributes improved significantly, becoming about twice as strong as before.
However, the efficiency of absorbing natural energy was very low, the efficiency of converting natural energy into chakra was even lower, and this defective Sage chakra was full of negative buffs.
He was constantly on the verge of being eroded, and the side effects were immense.
Katsuyu said, "The Sage Transformation is only a rough application of Sage power; although it can autonomously absorb natural energy, the efficiency of converting natural energy into combat power is too low."
For example, if Ryou spent ten years robbing one million, but could only launder about ten thousand, he couldn't unleash the maximum power of natural energy.
The most intuitive example of natural energy is that Naruto could not lift the giant stone toad in his normal state, but after absorbing natural energy, his physical fitness increased exponentially.
He could lift the ten-thousand-ton stone toad with ease.
Ryou immediately deactivated the Curse Mark, not feeling particularly disappointed.
For one, the Sage enzymes in the Curse Mark on his neck were Yumiko's, not Jugo's; only Jugo's Sage enzymes were the most perfect Sage Transformation converter.
Jugo was the progenitor of the Sage Transformation.
Compared to Jugo, his father was merely a passerby.
His Sage enzymes had too low an efficiency for absorbing natural energy.
If Ryou wanted to strengthen his own Curse Mark, he would either have to capture Jugo and extract the Sage enzymes from his body, or purify the Sage enzymes of the Jugo Clan.
Secondly, if the Sage Transformation truly had the power of Senjutsu, then why would Ryou even need to enter Ryūchi Cave? He would have already succeeded in his training at the entrance.
The ceiling of Curse Mark Senjutsu was Mitsuki's Senjutsu; that was something Orochimaru only researched and developed after numerous experiments in Boruto.
Moreover, it was exclusive to Mitsuki.
At this stage, he should honestly seek out Senjutsu!
The Sage Transformation was just a crooked path.
"(. ＞ ︿ ＜ ) _ θ."
Candy and Satori were both speechless.