— — — — — — —
"Thanks for the gift!"
The Snake Sage nodded at Renzo with satisfaction. "If you ever have any questions regarding your training, feel free to ask me anytime! Also, you may summon any of the great snakes of Ryuchi Cave whenever you need them—including the Three snake Princesses."
"If you ever find yourself in a life-threatening situation, you may even summon me! I will personally aid you!"
That was a huge promise!
This meant that the White Snake Sage had fully acknowledged Renzo, and the entirety of Ryuchi Cave was now willing to back him up!
Following this, the Snake Sage granted Renzo full summoning rights to Ryuchi Cave's contract scroll.
This essentially meant that Renzo could now allow others to sign any summoning contract with Ryuchi Cave without needing Orochimaru as an intermediary.
"Sorry about that, Uncle Snake! Looks like I just stole Ryuchi Cave from you! Hahaha!" Renzo chuckled inwardly.
He wondered how Orochimaru would react once he found out—probably not too pleased.
"Thank you, Snake Sage! But with my current strength, I doubt I'll find myself in danger too often."
"Of course, if you ever run out of tobacco, just send a snake to let me know, and I'll prepare some for you! As for the Princesses, they can visit me once a month, and I'll provide them with a batch of this meat regularly."
Renzo smiled as he made his promise.
He had indeed gained quite a bit from Ryuchi Cave this time, and with the Snake Sage and the others being so accommodating, he didn't mind offering a few small benefits to maintain a good relationship.
Who knew? He might need their help someday.
"Alright! You're very considerate!"
"Then I'm off!"
With that, Renzo activated the Flying Thunder God technique, connecting to the space-time coordinates he had left at home. It worked effortlessly.
Then, in a flash, he vanished from Ryuchi Cave, leaving the Snake Sage and the Snake Princesses staring at each other in surprise.
"That was Konoha's space-time ninjutsu, the Flying Thunder God, right?"
"This kid even managed to master that technique to such a degree?"
"Impressive!"
— — —
Upon returning home, Renzo dispelled the water clone he had left behind and absorbed its memories from the past few days.
"Kurenai stopped by a few times? Looks like I should go comfort her and spend some time with her."
"Oh man!"
"Too bad I'm still too young for that!"
"Speaking of which, why doesn't Hentai Renzo have this age problem in his world? It's really unfair."
Renzo shook his head with a smile and headed off to take a bath.
After all, he hadn't been able to bathe properly while at Ryuchi Cave.
Even though he had used cleansing spells on himself, it just wasn't the same as a proper bath.
It just didn't have the same feel.
Once he was done, he reached out to sense another clone and made his way toward his secret training base.
— — —
Kirigakure Battlefield
On this day, as the Mist Ninja launched yet another assault, Orochimaru was forced to summon Manda in preparation for a confrontation with the Mizukage.
Bang!
A cloud of smoke dispersed, revealing the massive form of Manda in front of Orochimaru.
Manda looked down at Orochimaru with impatience. "Orochimaru! What do you want this time? Let me make it clear—I demand proper compensation! Otherwise, I refuse to fight! And don't even think about offering me humans. I'm not interested in eating them anymore!"
"Oh?"
Orochimaru was visibly surprised. "What's this? Even you have changed your tastes, Manda?"
In the past, every time Manda was summoned to fight, he would demand an absurd number of human sacrifices in exchange.
This was one of the main reasons why Orochimaru preferred not to summon him too often—the cost was simply too high.
That said, Manda's strength was undeniable.
"Hmph!"
Manda flicked his tongue and replied, "That's because Ryuchi Cave has recently started providing a much superior kind of meat. It's not only highly nutritious—one pound of it is equivalent to a hundred pounds of regular meat—but it's also brimming with life energy! It's the best thing I've ever tasted!"
"The only downside is that it's limited in supply. That part annoys me!"
What Manda was referring to was actually the meat of Sea Kings.
He had only eaten it once but had instantly fallen in love with it. As the number one snake in Ryuchi Cave, second only to the Snake Sage and the Three Snake Princesses, he was naturally given a monthly share.
But it was far from enough.
After learning that this special meat came from Renzo and that he would be supplying it every month from now on, Manda no longer felt any resentment towards him.
"Oh? There's something that good? Mind giving me a little?" Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with excitement upon hearing this.
This was the perfect material for his experiments!
Eating it would be such a waste!
Orochimaru felt deeply pained by the thought.
"No way! Absolutely not! Don't even think about it! Not even a tiny bit! I barely have enough for myself!"
"Now, let's get to the point—why did you summon me this time? And what kind of hefty price are you willing to pay?"
Manda shook his head like a rattle drum, refusing outright, leaving Orochimaru feeling quite helpless.
"Fine."
Although it was a pity, he couldn't force Manda. He would just have to ask the other snakes of Ryuchi Cave later.
Then, his gaze shifted to Manda's still-unhealed injuries, especially the bright, unmistakable fist imprint on his head.
It was clearly fading, but still very noticeable.
Orochimaru twitched at the corner of his eye, trying to hold back his laughter as he asked, "Let's put that aside for now. Why don't we talk about those injuries of yours, Manda? Looks like you got your ass kicked? Let me guess—Renzo has already visited Ryuchi Cave, hasn't he?"
Manda: "…"
"Damn it! Why did you have to bring that up?! So what if he did? You never told me he was that strong! If I had known, I wouldn't have gotten beaten so badly!"
Manda roared in frustration, thoroughly embarrassed.
That beating had been absolutely brutal, especially the part where he got slammed around like a ragdoll.
It had been humiliating.
Even now, Tagitsuhime still laughed at him about it all the time.
"Tsk tsk!"
Orochimaru smirked. "Did I not warn you? Didn't I tell you to be polite to Renzo? He's not as tolerant as I am! He's not going to put up with your arrogance! More importantly, he's really strong! Looks like you really got wrecked this time!"
"By the way, that special meat you're talking about—don't tell me it's his compensation for beating you up?"
Orochimaru gave Manda a strange look, making the giant snake feel uncomfortable.
"Like hell it is!"
Manda grumbled, "I wish! At least then, it would have been a decent comfort! But no, he gave that meat to the Snake Sage and the Three Snake Princesses after mastering Sage Mode! I only get a monthly share because of my status!"
"Speaking of which, you and he seem to have a good relationship, right? How about we switch the sacrifices to that kind of meat instead? Let's just settle it like that!"
"If you don't agree, don't even think about getting my help! Hmph!"
Manda felt quite pleased with his own cleverness and gave himself a mental pat on the back.
This was a great idea!
"Alright. But I'll have to owe you this time. Also, I need you to fight for me tomorrow."
Orochimaru nodded without hesitation.
His trade relationship with Renzo was still in a good place.
And from the looks of it, Renzo had actually mastered Sage Mode in an incredibly short period of time.
That made their connection even more valuable!
Since Renzo was willing to provide that special meat to Ryuchi Cave every month, it probably wasn't a big deal to him. A long-term trade arrangement could easily be established.
For Orochimaru, this was actually an even better deal.
Using human sacrifices too often wasn't just troublesome—it also attracted unwanted attention from certain people.
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{ +80 advanced chapters are available at: patreon.com/_Coreal }