"Boom!"
The boulder landed, and Orochimaru immediately shuddered, warily drawing his Kunai.
Shin'yu leisurely looked around, a smile on his lips, as if he had expected everything.
This was a small stalactite cave, dark and cramped, with pits all over the surrounding walls, and dense crystals on the ground providing the only light source.
"Buzz..."
Orochimaru's black hair fluttered as he condensed a rapidly rotating Chakra ball in his palm, and with a swirling airflow, slammed it hard against the Stone Gate beside him.
"Rasengan!"
With a "boom," blue light burst forth, and the Rasengan suddenly detonated, but the stone wall did not react at all. Instead, Orochimaru was blasted away by the powerful recoil.
Shin'yu lightly reached out and grabbed Orochimaru's collar with a precise touch, preventing him from crashing directly into the wall.
"Unlike the Genjutsu of the first Trial, everything before you is a genuine Sealing Barrier. With your current means, you cannot break it," he said calmly, letting his disciple swing back and forth like a swing, his arm remaining motionless.
As the impact gradually dissipated, Shin'yu released his grip, allowing his disciple to land on the ground.
"Sealing Technique?" Orochimaru regained his composure, bent down, picked up a multicolored crystal, and stared thoughtfully at its standard triangular pyramid shape.
He stepped to the wall and carefully observed it, discovering that the pits on the wall were not naturally formed. Although they varied in size and shape, the inner walls were smooth and flat, as if inlaid with invisible geometric shapes.
He glanced around and found a small triangular pit, inserting the triangular pyramid in his hand, the size and length just right.
"Oh? You're quite clever!"
A woman's voice suddenly appeared in the cave, and Orochimaru turned his head sharply, a petite white figure coming into view.
This woman was floating cross-legged in the air, her attire similar to Tagorihime, the white ribbons behind her fluttering without wind, her face lovely, and a pair of round almond eyes full of cunning.
"Let me introduce myself, I am Ichikishimahime, and this is the second Trial leading to Ryuchi Cave."
Orochimaru licked his lips, "If I defeat you, the Stone Gate will open, right?"
"Eh?" Ichikishimahime blinked, giggling, "Unfortunately, this Barrier is not my work. I am just an examiner. Defeating me won't help."
"That's a shame." Orochimaru shook his head and sighed softly.
"Oh, you look down on me." Ichikishimahime floated in front of Orochimaru, "Don't look at me like this, I am at least a Sage. If we really fight, you may not be my opponent."
"What about me?" Shin'yu asked with interest.
"You don't count." Ichikishimahime glanced at Shin'yu, and said calmly: "White Snake Sage told me to treat you as air, anyway, this mere Trial can't stop you."
Orochimaru picked up another crystal and said faintly, "If I'm not mistaken, I probably have to fill all the crystals into the wall in the correct positions to pass, right?"
"That's right, you are so smart."
Ichikishimahime tilted her head, shaking it, "You have to fill all the holes in this Stone Chamber before I let you go."
"All the holes."
Orochimaru pondered for a moment, and formed hand seals, "Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Poof poof poof poof!"
A burst of white smoke scattered, and Orochimaru created four Shadow Clones. From the sleeves of each Shadow Clone, several small snakes crawled out, slithering through the crystal piles, returning the crystals Orochimaru selected to his hand.
"How peculiar, I didn't expect you could control snakes?" Ichikishimahime said in surprise.
Orochimaru held a small snake in his palm, watching it hiss, and said softly, "These snakes are all raised by my own hand. I referred to the Aburame Clan of the Hidden Leaf Village's method of raising insects, and I have been feeding them with my own Chakra since they were young, so our minds are connected."
"Also, I don't like being disturbed while working." Orochimaru glanced at her sideways, "You keep talking to me, it will delay my progress."
Ichikishimahime sighed with regret, "How heartless."
Orochimaru immediately became focused, and the clones also began to act, filling the suitable crystals into the wall little by little.
Midway, Orochimaru encountered an "L" shaped hole, but he didn't have a crystal of this shape in his hand. He just pondered slightly, and then combined two rectangular crystals of the same width and stuffed them into the hole.
In addition, when encountering some crystals whose size exceeded the scale of the holes, he would not hesitate to break them directly, use a wind blade to cut them into suitable sizes, and then perfectly fill them in.
This scene made Ichikishimahime widen her eyes slightly.
You should know that this is the most difficult step in this Trial.
It is said to fill all the holes, but the size of the crystals and the holes are not corresponding one by one. There are always some strangely shaped holes that cannot be filled. No matter how hard the trial taker searches, they can't find a suitable crystal at all.
In the long search, the Will will be gradually worn away, and the Chakra will be swallowed like bone marrow being sucked.
But... Orochimaru seems to have directly skipped this step.
Soon, with the concerted efforts of the clones, Orochimaru filled all the holes in less than half an hour. As the last crystal was embedded in the pit, the entire Stone Chamber suddenly disappeared, and the surroundings returned to a mist.
Ichikishimahime sat on a large rock, her two slender legs dangling down, and asked curiously, "How did you guess that step?"
Orochimaru asked in confusion, "Which step?"
"Oh, the step of creating the shape yourself!"
"Oh, you mean that." Orochimaru said casually, "When facing seemingly solidified problems, you need to change your thinking and solve the problem from different angles. If there is no suitable path, you need to create one yourself. This is the basic quality of a researcher."
"You're amazing..." Ichikishimahime pouted, and finally glanced at Shin'yu, before gradually dissipating her figure.
"Okay, Master, we can go to the next level." Orochimaru turned to look at Shin'yu.
Suddenly, a wisp of cold wind crawled across his back. He instantly widened his eyes. Before he could turn his head, a head with a human face and a snake body silently approached the back of his neck and bit down.
"Puff!"
A burst of tingling pain came from his neck, Orochimaru's face twisted. Out of a Ninja's subconscious instinct, he immediately raised his hand to fight back, but was easily dodged by the opponent.
A graceful female figure appeared behind him at some point, her long neck contracted like a spirit snake, turning into a normal size.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Tagorihime, and I am responsible for the third Trial."
The woman touched her lips, her fangs retracted, her white scales disappeared, and that hideous snake face instantly turned into a beautiful woman's face, her voice soft.
Orochimaru pressed his neck tightly, reached into his waist bag, "This time, are we finally going to fight!"
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