Right now, the most likely explanation was that the White Snake Sage had mistaken him for this generation's reincarnation of Indra… and then rejected the idea just as quickly.
Uchiha Gen was certain he was not Indra's reincarnation. Madara Uchiha was still alive somewhere in the shadows of the ninja world, clinging to life for the sake of the Rinnegan and the Infinite Tsukuyomi. As long as Madara still existed, that fate could not possibly belong to anyone else.
But Gen was carrying the character card of Madara in his youth.
That was probably the source of the mistake. The card let him display traces of the qualities that belonged to Indra's line, enough to confuse even the White Snake Sage for a brief moment. Still, after thinking it through, Gen decided it had nothing to do with what mattered right now.
Sarutobi Enjun got to his feet, rubbed his backside, and stared at the pavilion ahead.
"So that means we passed the White Snake Sage's test?"
"Probably." Gen shrugged. "Next we should find some stronger snakes and establish proper summoning ties."
Uzuki Ruri formed a hand seal and briefly checked her own chakra flow before saying, "The reverse summoning can be canceled on our own now. Why don't we split up? If anything dangerous happens, we can just dismiss the connection and leave Ryuchi Cave immediately."
"I've got no objections," Enjun said at once.
He still hadn't forgotten the humiliation of being chased around by that two-headed giant snake last time.
After a month of harsh training under Orochimaru, plus the occasional extra guidance from the Third Hokage, Enjun's strength had risen dramatically. Compared to the boy he'd been a month ago, he was almost a different person. At the very least, he was convinced that if he met that two-headed serpent again, he would be able to fight it head-on.
"All right," Gen said. "We split up here."
It would be faster this way. Ryuchi Cave was far too large for three people to search efficiently while sticking together.
The moment the words left his mouth, the three of them vanished in different directions.
***
Ryuchi Cave was astonishingly vast.
It was home to countless snakes, and the land itself possessed a strange ecological balance, one steeped in natural energy. Only a place like this could sustain monstrous summoning beasts on the level of Manda and Aoda—beings strong enough to step into battles between Kage-level fighters.
If he could, Gen would have liked to sign a contract with a creature on that level.
But ambition still had to bow to reality. Right now, if he crossed paths with something like Manda, he would be lucky just to avoid being swallowed whole. Forget making a contract with it.
So Gen kept his standards realistic.
Any snake strong enough, large enough, and intelligent enough was worth considering. As he moved deeper into the cave, he captured the ones that seemed useful, subdued them by force, then left behind his personal mark. Weaker snakes could be controlled almost immediately through the contract. Slightly stronger pythons, once they had been beaten down and recognized his strength, also became manageable.
What Gen truly wanted, however, was not ordinary snakes.
He didn't need a monster on Manda's level. He didn't even need one on Aoda's level. Something comparable to the giant snakes Orochimaru had used in the Forest of Death would already be enough.
Take that black-scaled serpent from before. He had forced it back to Ryuchi Cave within a minute, but only because he had relied on terrain, planning, and a favorable opening. In pure terms of battlefield value, that snake had still been extremely useful.
After all, summoning beasts were not meant to replace a ninja. Their abilities were limited, and on their own, most of them were too straightforward to deal with clever opponents who had a wide range of tricks. But when used as extensions of a ninja's own combat system, their value increased tremendously.
If a summoned beast could pin an enemy in place for even ten seconds, those ten seconds could decide a battle.
The problem was that truly capable giant snakes were much rarer. They each occupied their own territory, and the further you went, the more difficult they were to find.
Fortunately, this time, luck was with him.
After pushing aside a curtain of wild grass hanging over a rocky opening, Gen stepped into a hollow beside a pool.
A giant python lay coiled there, more than ten meters long. Its scales were pitch black, but blood-red spots marked its forehead and ran in broken patterns along its back. It rested lazily by the water, tongue flicking in and out, until it noticed him.
The moment it did, it rose.
Its eyes, each the size of a clenched fist, fixed on him with immediate hostility.
Gen's hand settled on the hilt of his ninja sword, and a grin slowly spread across his face.
"Well then…"
The serpent struck first.
Gen moved with it. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The fireball roared across the hollow, forcing the python back a step and giving him the space he needed. In the next instant, he closed the distance like a flash of steel.
"Uchiha Style Swordsmanship: One Slash, Two Cuts!"
He cut in with speed, blade gleaming.
The red-spotted black python was several times stronger in chakra than the black-scaled serpent from the Forest of Death. Its body was tougher, its strength more frightening, and its recovery even better. A direct hit from the Great Fireball only scorched it—it did not cripple it. Even wounded, it retained a frightening amount of fighting power.
But Gen had changed too.
With the young Madara character card equipped, his physical ability, chakra, and combat instincts had all risen. More importantly, with the Sharingan active, the python's movements no longer felt overwhelming. Its strength was immense, yes—but its technique was crude, almost primitive.
The snake lunged, tail whipping like a battering ram.
Gen slipped aside, the tomoe in his eyes rotating. Every twitch of muscle, every shift in its spine, every subtle tightening before an attack—he saw all of it. He dodged, deflected, and countered in a rhythm that felt almost effortless.
It was not that the snake was weak.
It was that in front of the Sharingan, its every movement was exposed.
Several minutes passed like that. Fire and steel carved their marks across the hollow. The pool churned with violent ripples. Broken stone and scorched earth spread in widening circles around them.
The red-spotted serpent tried to crush him with brute force. Gen refused to meet force with force. He used speed, timing, and footwork instead. When it reared up to bite, he cut along the angle of its jaw and slipped past. When it swept with its tail, he planted a foot on a rock outcrop, leaped over the strike, and drove the flat of his blade across a weak point behind its scales. When it coiled to trap him, he blasted it with another burst of fire and forced it to loosen its body before it could complete the bind.
Little by little, the wounds accumulated.
The python's scales were cracked in places. Blood ran in dark streaks over its body. Its breath came heavier and heavier. But Gen was careful. He was not fighting to kill. The injuries looked severe, but for a giant snake with this sort of vitality, they would heal in a matter of days.
More than ten minutes later, the battle was over.
Gen drew back, breathing a little harder now, then slowly sheathed his sword.
The red-spotted black python sprawled across the ground, exhausted and covered in cuts. It no longer had the strength to keep resisting. It glared at him with helpless fury, the sort of gaze that seemed to say: You won, I can't run, and you won't even finish it. What exactly do you want from me?
Gen looked down at it and smiled.
"So. Will you become my summoning beast?"
The giant snake flicked its tongue weakly.
"I… can… hiss… but… I want blood food… hiss…"
Its voice came haltingly, far rougher than human speech. This was no ordinary snake. It had already cultivated for over a century. It could speak, but unlike the toads of Mount Myoboku, the snakes of Ryuchi Cave were not accustomed to smooth human conversation. Its words came in fragments, threaded through with hissing breaths.
"How much?" Gen asked.
"Sheep… hiss… one sheep… or blood food of the same amount…"
The python struggled to explain, tongue flickering as though even speaking cost it effort.
Gen considered it for a moment, then nodded.
"Fine. I'll provide it after each battle. I might not always have time to prepare it in advance, but that way your food will be fresher, right?"
That was a perfectly acceptable price.
A sheep cost money, yes, but compared to the sort of absurd demands Manda made in the future, this was downright reasonable. In fact, the cost might not even equal a standard explosive tag. For a summoned beast with this much battlefield value, it was more than worth it.
The snake stared at him for a few long moments, then seemed to accept the terms.
"All right… hiss… then it's settled. My name… hiss… is Bloodstain."
"Good." Gen crouched slightly, meeting its eyes. "My name is Uchiha Gen."
Then he asked the question that mattered most.
"Bloodstain, do you know of any other snakes around here that are around your level?"
As a local, Bloodstain was infinitely more valuable than blindly wandering around Ryuchi Cave. If the snake was willing to guide him, his efficiency would rise immediately.
Bloodstain lifted its head a little, pain still obvious in the motion, but there was intelligence in its eyes now instead of pure hostility.
If this Uchiha wanted stronger snakes, then the cave had no shortage of stories to tell.
And that meant Gen's hunt in Ryuchi Cave was only beginning.