"Have you eaten people?"
"If I haven't, so what?"
White Snake Sage asked.
Linto's gaze, mixed with the fierce sun, fell together, meeting White Snake Sage's eyes.
"If you haven't eaten people, I can talk to you about Kumogakure's affairs."
"If you have…"
"Die."
"Heh—"
White Snake Sage let out a sneer.
The ground suddenly shattered, and a giant snake, no less slender than Manda and entirely red, swam up from the depths.
Great Snake · Garaga.
It was blind in one eye, and in its only remaining eye, hatred and mania for humans were written all over it.
"Garaga, go kill him. Your reward will be the same as Manda's."
"Don't order me!"
Garaga was different from Manda.
It didn't need a reward to kill people.
Because hunting humans was the greatest reward for Garaga.
Garaga slowly crawled out from the depths, its red scales gleaming with a steel-like luster under the sun. It opened its sharp fangs, and its two venomous teeth radiated a sinister chill.
"Roar—"
It's hard to imagine that this was the cry of a snake.
Rings of sound waves spread outward. In its furious roar, Garaga soared into the sky, blotting out the sun, like a true dragon flying in the heavens.
It looked down at Linto, opened its snake mouth, and sprayed venomous liquid, covering the sky and earth.
Garaga may be crazy, but it wasn't stupid.
It considered Manda useless, but Manda was still one of the best of the useless in Ryuuchi Cave.
Linto could blow up Manda's head in just a few minutes, which meant he had some ability.
So, as soon as Garaga made a move, it was with its strongest attack.
Once its venom touched someone, even just a drop, the enemy would solidify into stone under the effect of Senjutsu, and then be crushed by its tail!
Garaga raised its tail, locking its gaze on Linto. But in that instant of eye contact…
It felt that something was wrong.
In Linto's eyes, there was not only killing intent, but also a hint of an indescribable anticipation.
It was as if when eating a matcha cake, you discovered a small red strawberry in the filling.
This was natural.
Manda gave Linto 800 Soul Shards, and now here came another Garaga, no less powerful than Manda.
Probably another 800 points would be coming in.
An icy chill traveled from the tip of its tail to Garaga's forehead. Its heart skipped a beat for no reason, followed by endless anger—
"Who do you think you are!"
"Even White Snake, that old hag, wouldn't dare to look down on me like that!"
Garaga opened its mouth again, without any reservation. Grey-black venom sprayed out like an endless tsunami.
Its massive body moved even faster, attacking Linto!
Facing the venom and the falling Garaga, Linto still didn't take off the broken Greatsword from his back. He simply pulled Sasuke behind him and waved his hand gently. Natural energy stirred up a gust of wind, scattering the incoming venom.
But Garaga's venom also contained natural energy. A few drops still landed on Linto's hand.
"Fool! Turn into stone for me!"
Garaga roared, opening its sharp fangs, ready to bite the petrified Linto into pieces.
The next second, it saw Linto shake his hand.
The venom dripped off, and the palm of the hand that had been contaminated by the venom was still white and strong.
"How is this possible?!"
Garaga's so-called petrification was just Senjutsu energy adhering to and invading the human body, causing a petrification phenomenon similar to the toad oil of Mount Myōboku.
With Linto's physical body, he wouldn't be affected by this slight issue at all.
Linto calmly watched the approaching Garaga. Without having to ask, Garaga's bloody smell was so strong that it was sickening.
It seemed that it had eaten a lot of "snacks".
Linto raised his hand and pointed at the other party.
Star Platinum appeared.
On one side was Garaga, as big and heavy as a train, with every scale releasing killing intent.
On the other side was Linto, who wasn't even as tall as Garaga's sharp fangs.
The two were not even the same type of creatures.
White Snake Sage slightly raised its eyes.
The Blue Snake and Tsujigiri subconsciously held their breath.
"Will he win?"
A little snake that hadn't fully developed its mind, stared blankly at this scene and said softly:
"Go for it! Great Red Scale Brother!"
The eyes of the Snake Clan fell on Garaga. Infinite power surged from its body as it opened its mouth and bit down on Linto—
"Ora!"
Thud!
A dull sound.
Star Platinum threw a punch at Garaga's face.
A half-second pause.
It felt like a century had passed to the others.
Garaga's momentum was stopped by one punch… stopped!
A human, so easily and irresistibly, stopped Garaga's full-force attack.
Its massive body even floated up half a meter under the force of the punch.
And that was just the beginning.
Star Platinum took a deep breath, its pupils suddenly lit up:
"Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora!"
After a series of punches, Star Platinum abruptly turned around and returned behind Linto.
Garaga was "frozen" in the air like a still frame from an animation.
Crack.
Garaga's entire face caved in, and the sound of bones breaking echoed through Ryuuchi Cave. Starting from the point where the fist landed, a wave-like ripple appeared on Garaga's body.
The ripple surged backward from the snake's head. Wherever it passed, Garaga's body unnaturally tightened, its red scales shattered, and bursts of foul-smelling blood sprayed, and then everything went limp.
With a crash, Garaga, stripped of all its scales, fell heavily to the ground.
"You… I…"
Garaga's mind was blank.
It didn't understand what had happened. All its thoughts were cleared by the punch, and the only feeling left was just one word:
"Pain."
However, that pain ended quickly.
"Slain Great Snake · Garaga, gained 800 Soul Shards."
Blood and brain matter flowed all over the ground.
Linto's boots stepped into it. With each step, there was a faint patter, patter sound. The sound wasn't loud, but it sounded like the devil's whispers to the ears of the Snake Sages.
Linto returned to the edge of the collapsed cave and cast his gaze.
All the Snake Sages followed his gaze and looked back.
White Snake Sage was still leaning on her cushion, smiling and smoking:
"I'm a little older than you, so I'll be bold and call you little brother.
Little Brother Linto, look, you've destroyed my cave and killed two of my capable subordinates—counting the two snake priestesses from before, that's four."
"Shouldn't you be appeased now?"
"You can take Manda and Garaga's corpses back. If that's not enough, I don't have much else, but I've saved up quite a bit of gold and silver treasures in my long life. You can take some of those too."
"That way, you'll have both face and substance. Let's consider the grievances between us settled. How about it?"
White Snake Sage saw very clearly.
So-called humans were just a group of combative monkeys.
From the generation of the Sage of Six Paths, to the later Senju Hashirama, Uchiha Madara, and in recent years, Uchiha Itachi, and Linto.
Could they fight?
Of course, they could fight.
But what good was being able to fight?
What mattered in this world wasn't who could fight, but who could survive to the end.
Manda and Garaga had become increasingly disobedient to White Snake Sage's orders as they grew stronger. White Snake Sage borrowed Linto's hand to get rid of these subordinates.
It wasn't that it couldn't beat Linto, but that there was no need to fight.
In any case, with a ninja's lifespan—although Linto never admitted to being a ninja—it would only have to wait a few decades at most, and Linto would die. Then it could take back the Dragon Serpent Jewel.
White Snake Sage felt that it had given Linto enough face.
Linto nodded and said, "You are a smart person."
"You agree?" White Snake Sage asked.
"…But you haven't answered my question yet," Linto asked. "Have you eaten people?"
Eat people?
Of course, White Snake Sage had eaten people. Otherwise, what were the "snacks" that Manda asked for from her?
Beneath the cushion she was sitting on, there was a huge underground cave.
It was filled with all her snacks.
White Snake Sage stared at Linto. Coldness gradually appeared in her smiling eyes, and her body slowly swelled.
A pure white, extremely huge snake appeared.
It wore a purple silk headband, and a red luminous pearl was inlaid on its head. There were two golden rings on its tail, and every scale radiated the luster of jade.
An extremely rich natural energy and life aura were released.
White Snake Sage!
This was its true form!
White Snake Sage opened its mouth and said hoarsely: "I gave you face."
"I gave you money."
"I even gave you the lives of two great snakes."
White Snake Sage stared at Linto coldly: "You actually still dare to dream of killing me? I've lived since the Sage of Six Paths' era. Do you really think that killing a few tailed beasts is enough to kill me?!"
"Face?"
Linto said calmly: "Do I need a face from a person-eating beast?"
He raised his hand, his eyes sharp.
"Star Platinum—The World!"
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