"Lord Orochimaru, long time no see!"
The figures of Tsuruga-hime, Ichikishima-hime, and Tagitsu-hime quietly appeared before Orochimaru and the Nine-Tails. Tagitsu-hime bowed gracefully to Orochimaru.
"By the command of the Great Sage, the three divine princesses of Ryuchi Cave have come to welcome Lord Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru stopped and scanned the three divine princesses before him, a cold smirk curving his lips.
"Welcome?"
"With the three divine princesses appearing simultaneously, it's unlikely you are here solely to greet me, is it?"
"Or is it that every time I visit Ryuchi Cave, I must be tested by the three divine princesses?"
Feeling the faint killing intent emanating from Orochimaru, Tagitsu-hime's heart skipped a beat.
Compared to his previous visit to Ryuchi Cave to sign a contract, Orochimaru now felt even more unfathomable. If before he had only intimidated her with his cold demeanor, now, Orochimaru's gaze alone made her feel an insurmountable sense of powerlessness from the depths of her heart.
"Lord Orochimaru, you misunderstand..."
Tagitsu-hime forced a smile, seizing the moment she looked up to conceal the panic in her eyes. She pointed a finger at the Nine-Tails, who stood beside Orochimaru with its chest puffed out and a divine sword in its hand.
"Lord Orochimaru is already the most intimate contracted partner of Ryuchi Cave and can naturally go to the depths of Ryuchi Cave to meet the Great Sage at any time."
"It's just your companion..."
A cold glint flashed in Orochimaru's eyes, and he nodded as if understanding.
"So that's how it is!"
"Does the Great Sage mean for me to enter alone to see her, and for the three divine princesses to conduct the trial of Ryuchi Cave on my companion?"
Tagitsu-hime nodded eagerly.
"Precisely!"
"Lord Orochimaru, please!"
"The Great Sage has been waiting in the temple for a long time!"
As she spoke, the three divine princesses stepped aside in unison, clearing the path for Orochimaru to enter the depths of Ryuchi Cave.
"Heh heh!"
"The rules of this sacred place are indeed strict!"
"Very well!"
Orochimaru chuckled and nodded to the Nine-Tails.
"Then I shall leave this to you!"
The Nine-Tails grinned carelessly.
"Go about your business!"
"It's just a test set by snakes wearing human skin; it won't trouble this old man!"
As soon as the Nine-Tails spoke, a flush of anger appeared on the faces of the three divine princesses.
Orochimaru shook his head with a laugh and no longer paid attention to the fox that had started to play. He gave it a cautionary glance, then brushed past the three divine princesses and walked directly towards the depths.
As Orochimaru's figure gradually vanished into the darkness, the cautious expressions on the faces of the three divine princesses disappeared. Instead, they looked at the Nine-Tails with sinister intent.
"Just a talking, fur-covered beast, daring to slander Ryuchi Cave in front of us sisters!"
"My dear sisters, how about I go first for this trial?"
Tagitsu-hime, born with a cruel and cunning nature, immediately revealed her true colors without Orochimaru's presence to suppress her.
However, the other two divine princesses did not comply with her wishes. They exchanged glances and spoke with coy smiles.
"Sister, these are the rules set by the Great Sage. I would like for you to go first, but if it angers the Great Sage, I fear I would have difficulty explaining."
Tagitsu-hime covered her mouth with her small hand, feigning an inability to help despite her desire to.
Her greedy eyes scanned Orochimaru's chakra-filled body repeatedly. Her scarlet snake tongue couldn't help but extend, licking her fingertips.
"Besides, we've always eaten humans. A fox, this kind of wild beast, is something I've never encountered before!"
"I'm only interested in the chakra within this fox. I won't fight you two for anything else!"
Ichikishima-hime also chimed in at the appropriate time.
Tagitsu-hime's expression shifted, but she did not dare to break the thousand-year-old rules of Ryuchi Cave in front of her elder sisters, relying on the White Snake Sage's favor.
Just as she was about to say something to ensure her sisters left her some flesh and blood, the Nine-Tails, who had been listening to their conversation, bristled.
"Insolent little brats, actually discussing how to divide the spoils in front of me!"
The Nine-Tails' eyes sharpened, and it roared furiously at the three divine princesses of Ryuchi Cave.
"The three of you, come at me together!"
As the Nine-Tails' challenge was issued, Tagitsu-hime's expression did not falter, but rather, joy bloomed on her face.
"Sisters, it's not me breaking the rules this time."
"Since the trial participant has proactively requested to increase the difficulty of the trial, I won't hold back!"
As Tagitsu-hime finished speaking, she ignored the displeased expressions of her two sisters and instantly vanished from her spot, transforming into a winding red serpent that lunged towards the Nine-Tails.
"Hmph!"
Three dissatisfied snorts sounded simultaneously.
Two came from the other two divine princesses of Ryuchi Cave, and one came from the Nine-Tails.
Facing fangs dripping with venom, the Nine-Tails let out a deafening roar, its body instantly swelling to a height nearly equivalent to the size of the space.
The divine sword in its hand elongated at its will. Holding the sword with both hands, it swung it powerfully behind it.
"Kyuubi Slash!"
Apart from the one time it was controlled by Uchiha Madara and fought with a sword while using Susanoo, the Nine-Tails had no real experience with sword fighting, so it simply gave its sword move a random name.
Whether it sounded good or not was secondary; its power was truly immense.
With the addition of its chakra, arguably the strongest in the ninja world, and its own strength, the already unstoppable Sky Blade carved out an image that was barely visible to the naked eye, cleaving the red serpent behind the Nine-Tails into two pieces with a single strike.
The residual power of the sword edge continued undiminished, cutting a trench nearly ten feet deep into the ground and extending with a rumbling sound beyond the line of sight.
Brute force!
This was the unreasonable power of the strongest Tailed Beast.
Not to mention Tagitsu-hime, who was now lying on the ground, spasming and groaning after being cut in half, the two divine princesses standing before the Nine-Tails, witnessing its sudden growth and the suffocating chakra fluctuations emanating from its body, felt their courage drain away.
Could such a chakra monster be a human's summoned beast?
"You..."
"You are not Orochimaru's summoned beast. What exactly are you, and what do you want in Ryuchi Cave?"
"You injured the divine princess responsible for your trial and broke the rules of Ryuchi Cave. The Great Sage will not let you off!"
Tagitsu-hime suppressed her urge to turn and flee, threatening and condemning the Nine-Tails with a show of bravado.
The Nine-Tails let out a cold, dismissive laugh. As a guardian of the Six Paths, it harbored no good feelings towards these snakes in Ryuchi Cave who fed on human flesh. Furthermore, after the three of them had discussed how to divide its body in front of it earlier, the Nine-Tails' killing intent had already reached its peak.
Although it had been by Orochimaru's side for a long time and was accustomed to disguising itself as an ordinary summoned beast, the Nine-Tails was still the Nine-Tails.
"That old White Snake?"
"Let's see if she can survive Orochimaru first!"
"Now, it's time for you to pay the price for your greedy desire to feast on me!"
The Nine-Tails stepped on the upper half of Tagitsu-hime's writhing body and its nine tails behind it grew wildly, instantly transforming into a massive orange-red chakra cage, isolating the area.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you immediately!"
"Once Orochimaru accomplishes what he wants, you will face your true end!"
The moment the cage formed, the two divine princesses tragically discovered that their connection to the abundant senjutsu energy of Ryuchi Cave had suddenly been severed.
The technique used by this fox was pure natural energy.
The divine princesses of Ryuchi Cave, who fought with senjutsu power, were imprisoned by natural energy. Was there anything more terrifying than this?
Perhaps even the White Snake Sage herself could not mobilize such a vast amount of natural energy in an instant!
However, the Nine-Tails paid no mind to their thoughts. The divine sword in its hand scraped across the ground, sparks flying, and with a piercing whistling sound, it slashed towards the two divine princesses.
"Kyuubi Sweep!"
The two divine princesses were instantly struck with terror.
Unable to absorb external natural energy, how could they survive the Nine-Tails' ferocious attacks with only the limited senjutsu chakra within their bodies?
Using senjutsu?
Don't be ridiculous. A mere inorganic reincarnation would likely not be qualified to run rampant before the Sky Blade. Not to mention that every attack launched by this fox contained terrifying natural energy.
Their senjutsu would probably collapse automatically under the impact of this powerful natural energy as soon as it was activated.
Having no choice, the two divine princesses, relying on their advantage of smaller size, unleashed their most proficient invisibility ability to evade.
Their invisibility ability was indeed powerful. A ninja without senjutsu would likely become deaf and blind in such a situation.
But unfortunately, their opponent today was the Nine-Tails, who was most adept at sensing good and evil...
Hide?
Where could they possibly hide?
For a moment, within the cage formed by the Nine-Tails' chakra, sword lights flashed, and buzzing sounds echoed.
The two divine princesses, like stray dogs, desperately fled from the all-conquering sharpness of the Sky Blade, utterly unable to fight back.
At the same time, in the temple deep within Ryuchi Cave, a battle was on the verge of erupting.