Chapter 46: Immortal Arts

Faced with the desperate situation of being surrounded by dozens of times more enemies on the battlefield, Uchiha Douhuan awakened his power driven by the sheer will to survive. His ocular jutsu, which allowed him to seize the single chance of survival in a nearly fatal predicament—Momentary—proved to be the ultimate cheat code when attempting to learn Sage Mode, a feat that usually required a fair share of luck!

Even if there was a ninety-nine percent probability of failure, as long as a mere possibility of success existed, Uchiha Douhuan’s chance of seizing that fraction of a possibility was one hundred percent!

"Achieving the most perfect Sage Mode right at the very beginning—your talent truly astonishes even someone of my age," the White Snake Sage remarked. "Now that you have mastered Sage Mode, all that remains is repetitive practice to accelerate the speed at which you condense senjutsu chakra."

The senjutsu chakra condensed by the tiny speck of natural energy injected by the White Snake Sage was quickly consumed, and Uchiha Douhuan accordingly exited Sage Mode.

"My sincere thanks for the White Snake Sage's bestowal," Uchiha Douhuan said with a smile, having accomplished the objective of his journey.

"No need for formalities. Ryuchi Cave fairly grants an opportunity to every predestined visitor who arrives. Being able to seize this opportunity is a testament to your own ability," the White Snake Sage stated. "Very well, I shall return to my slumber. If there are any other matters, you may seek out Tianxi and the others. Hopefully, by the time I next awaken, this world will have changed profoundly under your hands."

Given these words from the White Snake Sage, Uchiha Douhuan simply offered a slight bow and took his leave.

Upon stepping out of the White Snake Sage's cavern, the Three Snake Princesses, who had not yet departed, approached him.

"It appears that Mr. Douhuan has successfully passed the final trial," Tianxi Jinmyo smiled and said. "Please follow us. Since Mr. Douhuan has already mastered Sage Mode, certain senjutsu techniques of Ryuchi Cave can now be opened to you."

Uchiha Douhuan nodded and followed the three of them to the mouth of a cave.

"Inside here lies the accumulated research on senjutsu conducted by Ryuchi Cave over many years. If you wish to learn, Mr. Douhuan, you may freely select the scrolls and transcribe them," Tianxi Jinmyo said.

"Are there no instructors or anything of the sort?" Uchiha Douhuan raised an eyebrow slightly. However, seeing the three of them maintain their smiles without uttering a word, he understood. Unlike Mount Myoboku, which provided a comprehensive, hand-held senjutsu tutoring service from beginner to mastery once the trial was passed, Ryuchi Cave adopted a completely hands-off approach. You could pick whatever senjutsu you pleased; whether you could actually learn them was entirely your own concern.

Uchiha Douhuan entered the scripture-storage cave of Ryuchi Cave alone, casually took down a few scrolls, and unrolled them to read.

These senjutsu techniques were varied and diverse. After spending some time examining them, Uchiha Douhuan selected two specific arts. One was a supportive-type technique focused on enhancing the perception of natural energy fluctuations while in Sage Mode, thereby boosting his large-scale sensory range and effectively compensating for his lack of wide-area detection methods. The other two senjutsu arts included one unique to Ryuchi Cave, which utilized senjutsu chakra to guide and manipulate the natural energy of the planet for attacks—similar to Mount Myoboku's Frog Kata, and named the Spirit Snake Force.

As for the Ryuchi Cave senjutsu utilized by Yakushi Kabuto in the original timeline, as well as several other formidable senjutsu techniques, Uchiha Douhuan chose to pass on them. His combat system was already fully established; while these techniques were powerful, they either required cooperation with the snakes of Ryuchi Cave or necessitated partial bodily modifications. Uchiha Douhuan was not lacking in high-power ninjutsu. With senjutsu chakra already elevating his Lightning Release ninjutsu to an immense new tier of potency, learning those techniques would yield far more losses than gains. Conversely, arts that utilized natural energy to patch up his own shortcomings were what Uchiha Douhuan truly needed.

Having selected his senjutsu, Uchiha Douhuan canceled his Reverse Summoning and departed from Ryuchi Cave.

...

Meanwhile, at the Hatake ancestral residence.

Naruto had been staying at Kakashi's house for two days, and the two of them were gradually growing accustomed to one another.

If Naruto had still felt somewhat reserved when he first moved into the Hatake ancestral residence, after two days of getting along, his mischievous and playful nature began to stir once more. Driven by curiosity, the number one prank he currently wished to pull was finding a way to tear off Kakashi's face mask and take a good look at his true appearance.

To this end, taking advantage of the time Kakashi was out treating guests to a meal, Naruto had made thorough preparations.

Kakashi pushed open the door as usual and casually called out, "I'm back."

Greeting him was a large basin of water tipping over from above.

Such childish tricks naturally could not fool an elite jonin weathered by countless battles. If Kakashi hadn't been carrying packed takeout food in his hands, he wouldn't have minded playing along, but that was clearly out of the question now.

Kakashi sidestepped to dodge the falling basin of water and said with a helpless sigh, "Naruto, stop playing these boring games."

Just then, Naruto suddenly rushed out from the storage room beside the entryway, wielding a water gun and aiming straight at Kakashi. But before he even had the chance to pull the trigger, he was stunned to discover that Kakashi wasn't wearing his mask today, causing him to freeze in place on the spot.

"You... you... who are you!" Naruto pointed at Kakashi and demanded.

"Who else could I be?" Kakashi shot the kid an exasperated look. "Clean up the dirty floor yourself after we finish eating."

"Don't try to fool me! You can't possibly be Big Brother Kakashi!" Naruto continued to shout in protest. "Big Brother Kakashi doesn't even take off his mask when he takes a bath!"

With a dark expression, Kakashi landed a direct punch on Naruto's forehead. A kid this age acting up really needed a beating before he would behave.

A moment later, Naruto sat at the dining table quietly eating his meal with a large bump swelling on his head, though he still occasionally raised his gaze to look at Kakashi, who was lounging on the sofa flipping through an adult novel.

"Say, Big Brother Kakashi, why did you suddenly take off your mask?" Naruto asked.

"No particular reason. I just suddenly didn't feel like wearing it," Kakashi replied without raising his head.

"Finish eating, tidy up the entryway, and go to bed early. Your ninja academy should have a day off tomorrow, so I'll take you out to buy some things," Kakashi said.

"Okay!" Naruto replied, nodding while continuing to eat.

By the afternoon of the following day, the two of them—having slept in until the sun was high in the sky—complained to one another as they stepped outside. However, upon arriving at the village's commercial district, Kakashi acutely sensed that the atmosphere seemed somewhat amiss.

Without realizing it, the two of them had become the center of attention on the entire street. Yet almost everyone, upon catching sight of them, actively widened the distance between themselves and the pair, as if they were carrying some sort of filth.