Chapter 292: The Secret of Ryuchi Cave (Part 1)
Sasori, having made up his mind, released three puppets simultaneously, drawing gasps of surprise from the crowd.
"Look over there! He's controlling three puppets at once!"
"I remember him! He was in the First Joint Chunin Exam too!"
"Brother, you watched the first one? Awesome!"
"Hehehe, just my interest. This red-haired kid was chased all over the arena by a little girl last time! If you ask me, the level this time is much lower. The battle between the Crimson Fortress and the Yellow Flash—now that was spectacular!"
"Brother, tell us more!"
Obito looked at the three puppets of different shapes baring their fangs and claws opposite him, a drop of cold sweat rolling down his forehead.
Wait, didn't they say puppet masters can only control one at a time...?
"Ah! I know! This must be a Clone Jutsu or Transformation Jutsu! Pretty smart, trying to confuse me!"
Sasori only said one word: "Idiot!"
Then, the three puppets showed their prowess and charged forward.
Countless poison needles shot out. Obito dodged frantically, his scalp tingling at the sight of the purple-glinting hidden weapons.
No matter how Obito dodged left and right, he couldn't shake off the puppets' encirclement. He tried to release a few jutsu, but none hit. The drawback of wasting chakra on fireworks earlier was showing.
Very quickly, Obito got careless and didn't dodge.
He was directly captured and stuffed into the belly of the puppet "Black Ant."
Feeling the steel needles inside the puppet pressing against his neck, Obito didn't dare move another muscle.
"That boy... lost so quickly..."
"Seems to be the fastest loss so far. With that huge fireball earlier, I thought he was an expert."
Throughout the whole match, Sasori just stood there with his hand extended, not moving a single step. He literally beat Obito by just moving his fingers. After manipulating the puppet to toss out the constipated-looking Obito, Sasori silently walked off the duel platform.
On the high platform, Dana watched the whole thing. It seemed Obito, whose cheat codes hadn't arrived yet, was still lacking compared to Sasori, who had already begun to fulfill his talent.
Dana suddenly looked at the Third Kazekage, who was smiling kindly and gratified at Sasori, and felt a strange sense of temporal dislocation.
In the exit tunnel, Pakura, who had been waiting for a long time, hugged Sasori immediately. "Congratulations on the victory! Sasori!"
Sasori remained expressionless but blushed slightly, whispering, "Put me down quickly..."
Round after round of duels played out—some exciting, some dull. After all five rounds ended, 26 qualifiers were decided.
Ranking by number of qualifiers: Sunagakure 7, Kumogakure 6, Konoha 5, Iwagakure 4, Amegakure 3, Kirigakure only 1.
Dana noticed Yagura Karatachi's face was twisted with anger. The Mist's results were worse than the Rain Village! But who told them to be unlucky? The bizarre first round directly caused the Mist to have only one team enter the second round. It was said several good young ninjas didn't even get a chance to prove themselves, eliminated purely due to acclimatization issues.
However, it also showed that Hanzo the Salamander's three adopted children had some skills, as the entire team passed the second round, becoming one of the few teams to keep their original squad intact.
The Third Kazekage was also satisfied. With a large base of participants, Suna guaranteed the most qualifiers. It wasn't a waste of his shameless arrangements.
Dana encouraged his own contestants after the match and used Healing Talismans to treat two injured members. Suna wasn't Rain; without Cloud support, they couldn't provide full Healing Talisman coverage.
Tetsuo Okine asked, "Dana-sama, the second round was a duel. Any idea what the third round is? It won't be another duel, right?"
Dana said helplessly, "Suna is still keeping the third round secret, but I feel it shouldn't be a duel. adjust your condition and go back to rest. Tonight, we feast again!"
"Oh! Yeah!"
"Long live Dana-sama!"
Hiroto's face fell. Last time he was scammed badly! He almost had to wash dishes to pay the bill.
No, I have to find a chance to mention this to Dana. It's not a small amount!
My heart is bleeding. And Dana acts like he forgot. Hiroto felt so depressed.
I, the Cloud Village Branch of the Uzumaki Clan, have a small family and small business. A few more losses like this and I'll have to sell my house!
After discussion, the group decided to go back to the previous stone-slab barbecue restaurant. After all, few places could seat so many people, and the taste was indeed good last time.
Dana specifically asked someone to invite the three young ninjas from the Rain Village. He forgot last time, but brother villages should bond.
After all, major changes were likely coming to the ninja world, and the Rain Village's role would be no less important than in the last war.
This time they didn't run into people from other villages, so the atmosphere was livelier. Dana took the menu and ordered like setting off firecrackers. He missed tasting many things last time because he ran off halfway to catch White Zetsu.
Dishes were served one by one, and Dana occasionally sipped fruit juice.
After eating dozens of plates of meat, Dana felt something at his feet. Looking down, he saw a small green snake.
Startled, he realized this should be a snake from Ryuchi Cave. Dana lifted it onto his palm.
Hanzo Rain-Yori shouted, "Boss! Why did you serve a live snake?!"
The little snake seemed very happy to see Dana, wagging its head and tail. Then, a message was transmitted to Dana's mind through the summon contract connection.
"Summoning me to Ryuchi Cave?"
Dana was greatly surprised.
Since signing the Ryuchi Cave contract years ago, he had tried to reverse summon himself to visit several times, but was always rejected, told "the time is not yet right." Later, after obtaining the Shikkotsu Forest contract, the importance of the Ryuchi Cave contract plummeted. He already had Sage Mode, and Communication Snails handled messaging, so there was really no need for Ryuchi Cave.
After all, he wasn't like Orochimaru, needing summons for combat.
Even if he needed a combat summon, summoning a Katsuyu clone was better. He had seen Ryuchi Cave's giant snakes; Orochimaru's Manda was only good for scaring small fry.
This led to him barely using Ryuchi Cave summons in recent years, and he lost the habit of carrying eggs.
There are eggs on the table... Fine! Rules are rules.
Dana took an egg from the table and fed it to the little snake.
Hiroto asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm leaving for a bit. Should be back soon."
POOF!
Dana vanished in a puff of white smoke.
Hiroto froze for a long time, his face turning green.
The owner appeared at the perfect moment. "The cashier has diarrhea today. Ninja-sama, could we settle the bill first?"
Hiroto: "...I have medicine for diarrhea. Feed it to him first. No rush, we just started..."
Owner: "..."
With a blur of light and shadow, Dana arrived at the legendary Ryuchi Cave.
It appeared to be an underground space surrounded by thick fog.
Unlike the completely wild and natural cavern of Shikkotsu Forest, Ryuchi Cave showed signs of artificial construction.
Or rather, snake-made construction?
Looking at the gate labeled "Ryuchi Cave" in front of him, Dana pondered.
"There's actually a proper gate. Completely different from Shikkotsu Forest, which is just a weird giant cave. Do these snakes know how to build houses...?"
While he was wondering which way to go, the fog cleared. A girl floating in the air, surrounded by ribbons, flew up and hugged Dana's thick arm.