"It is starting to get misty. Which means I am very close." Kakoto said as he continued to walk.
Many hours have passed but he is still walking aimlessly hoping to find the way to that cave.
"What is this?" He said as he looked at the ground.
"Footprints? Wait. It can't be." He said as he looked at the footprints that were in front of him.
The footprint that he saw was not from the other people.
Those footprints that he was seeing were of his own.
He activated his one-tomoe Sharingan and looked around to see if there was any danger around him.
A few minutes passed but he was unable to find anything.
After confirming that there was nobody near him he continued his journey.
Not knowing that he was being watched by three women in the white shrine maiden outfits.
"Is that Light coming right in front of me?" He said as he started to several things that were producing bright lights not very far from the place he was at.
He started running towards the light source to find a castle-like building that was decorated with paper lamps.
A huge pillar that said Ryuchi Cave(Dragon Ground Cave) was displayed proudly near the entrance of the building.
"So this is the place." He said.
Then suddenly the entrance to the building opened and a woman in traditional Japanese clothing who was wearing heavy make-up appeared.
"I have been waiting for you. Welcome to the Ryuchi cave." She said.
Is it really the kind of place where a sage lived? Kakoto asked himself in the head but he didn't voice it out as it would appear rude.
"Before you take part in the sage's test there are a few preparations that I have to make. Can you enjoy the meals that I made while I go and prepare for the sage's test?" She asked as she showed a table full of delicious meals and drinks.
Just as Kakoto was about to go and enjoy the meal he suddenly remembered that the cave where he was at was the Ryuchi cave.
The cave where the snake sage lived.
Although he didn't think the snakes that lived in the cave would try to poison him he thought that there was a possibility that the current situation was a test.
He activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and saw that the delicious food and drinks that were on the table were just illusions.
In reality, it was a table filled with foods and drinks that were soaked in purple liquid.
He immediately realized that the purple liquid was poison.
"Hey. That food. Isn't poisoned right?" He asked as he looked at the woman who welcomed him while still not deactivating his Mangekyo Sharingan.
"What is the meaning of this?" He asked.
"You realized. Such a shame. I was hoping that you did not discover about the poisoned food and give yourself to temptations." She said.
Her human-like appearance started to morph into something that resembled a human-snake hybrid.
The castle-like building that he was in suddenly disappeared as the mist started to thicken again.
Human bones that are lying on the ground also appear like everything that he just experienced was just all an illusion.
"Just as I was hoping to eat the fresh chakra of a child," she said as she revealed a long fork-shaped tongue.
"You passed the test. We are only allowed to eat those who have failed our tests. Those who come to this place have given themselves up to madness in search of power. It's our job to cut out the weeds before they become rampant." She explained.
"Don't expect to pass the two other trials. Too many expectations lead to disappointment. Red-eye boy." She said as she disappeared into the mist.
"How did she disappear right in front of my eyes? I thought MS was supposed to be the pinnacle of precision-based dojutsu alongside the Hyuga eyes." Kakoto said.
"It seems like even the underling of the sage are not pushovers either." He said as he looked around.
Then he saw another woman who was wearing clothing that was similar to the woman he met a few moments ago floating around not very far from him.
He quickly ran towards the place where she was however she disappeared before he could reach her.
"Hehehe. I am here." The woman said as she appeared again near a pillar.
He ran toward the pillar and however, and before he could reach her she disappeared again.
This is not the same woman from before. This one has a thinner body and a younger face.
He thought in his mind as he slowly wandered around the place where the young woman disappeared.
Then suddenly a wall appeared near him.
He looked around and saw that he was now inside a confined space.
"How is that even possible? It was like the environment itself was being manipulated. Is this the power of the snake sage?" He said in shock.
His Mangekyo Sharingan is still activated so he was immediately able to figure out how he was trapped in this confined space using his left eye.
"Yeah. This is not an illusion." He said as he checked the wall to see whether or not it was just some sort of illusion like before.
"What is this? There are small holes in this wall." He said as he touched the
wall that appeared behind him.
"This is a puzzle." He said.
He then looked around to find numerous shiny stones lying on the ground.
"So I am supposed to put these rocks into the holes that are on the wall." He said as he picked up a shiny stone on the ground.
"Correct."
He heard a voice.
He looked back and saw the floating young woman looking directly at him.
"If you manage to fill all the holes that are on that wall with the stones that are inside this room I will let you go out of this place." She said.
"And all the stones you need are inside this room." She followed up.
"Is that so," Kakoto replied as he looked at her.
"You don't have to worry. After all, I won't eat you unless you fail your test." She said as talked to Kakoto while floating in the air.
The tone that she speaks. The heartbeat that I hear. The stable blue lines that I saw in her body(chakra).
I don't know why but it seems like she was telling the truth. Kakoto thought as he looked at her with his MS.
He was almost tricked by the first snake lady because he didn't activate his Mangekyo Sharingan.
However now that his MS is activated it is hard and nearly impossible to lie and trick him anymore.
-----------------------------------
A few hours have passed.
"You are boring. It doesn't even seem like you even need to think to complete the puzzle that I made. Most of the people that took this trial always got stuck at the last breakable stone part." The floating girl said to Kakoto who just finished the door puzzle.
"Is this good enough?" Kakoto asked the floating girl.
"You passed my trial. For such a small boy, you sure have no ounce of innocence or joy in your body." The floating girl said to Kakoto.
"You said you were honest while I was doing the puzzle right? Can you tell me how many trials I still need to pass to get the power of the sage?" He asked.
"One. But it is the hardest one among all the three trials." She said.
"You scared?" She asked while smiling.
If I show fear in this place I will get devoured by these monsters. Kakoto thought.
"No." He replied as the floating girl disappeared along with the wall and the place he was standing on started to get misty again.
He didn't need to activate his Sharingan again as he was using a Tomoe version of it the whole time.
He didn't want to activate the Mangekyo anymore because he was starting to feel the pain from using it in the first two trials.
He wanted to wait a few hours before activating it again as he wanted to rest his eyes.
"Huh." Then he sensed the presence of something behind him.
It was another woman.
However, unlike the first two women, this one appeared behind him.
Meaning that she was planning to do something to him.
He leapt forward.
Then immediately looked backward while still in the air and started to do some weird hand movements.
As a Uchiha who has no ninja training, he knew little to nothing about ninjutsu.
A part from one.
A jutsu that even an Uchiha member who had just learned how to read knew about.
A jutsu that Uchiha take pride in.
"Fire Style. Fireball jutsu." He said as he breathed out a small fireball that was sent towards the woman who appeared behind him.
"Success." He said.
It was not very fast and it was not very large.
In short, it was underwhelming for a fireball jutsu.
But he was satisfied. Why?
Because He had never used a real jutsu before.
Therefore this fireball jutsu is the very first jutsu that he used.
He was not even sure whether or not it was going to work but luckily he was able to pull it off.
He would have used his Mangekyo ability if he could however he still didn't figure out how the right eye fully works so he did not want to use it in this kind of situation.
Who knows what could happen to him if he gets hit by the recoil damage from the chakra explosion that his right eye caused when he tried to use it the last time?
He wanted to test the ability of the right eye before trying to use it in combat.
Of course, if it was a life-or-death situation it would have been different and he would have spam his ability as much as he could even if he lost his sight. But things were still not that dire.
However, as the fireball hit the woman she transformed into a mist that was blended back into the surroundings.
Kakoto looked around as he tried to look for her however he couldn't.
Then she appeared behind him again.
This time in the form of a humanoid snake with large teeth and yellow eyes.
"!" Kakoto tried to react to her ambush however he was not able to as she bit him in the neck.
"What did you do?" Kakoto asked in a calm voice as he slowly moved away.
"You don't have to worry human. I am called Tagitsuhime. And This is a part of my trial. This is a test to see whether or not you possess a pure heart." She said.
"Pure of heart? Why is someone who will eat me and devour my chakra trying to test whether or not my heart is pure." He asked in a mocking tone.
He did not want to become the enemy of the snake women however he was too appalled and shocked by their hypocritical trial.
"For a child that is willing to do anything to get sage's power, you sure have a lousy mouth." She said.
Then suddenly his head started to hurt.
"What is this? What did you do to me?" He said.
The pain was so intense that he fell to his knee for a second before fainting.
He opened his eyes again to see a man who was in a mask looking directly at him.
"You failed to save your family because you are weak." He said.
As an image of his father dying flashed before him.
"Even if you awakened your powers earlier you would still be unable to do anything to save them." The masked man continued.
The images of dead Uchiha members that he saw started to pop up in his mind.
"Even with the most powerful ability that a Uchiha member can possess you are still struggling. Just give up. Give up your power and end your miserable existence." The masked man said.
"Shut up," Kakoto yelled out.
"If I am weak I am just supposed to get stronger right?" He asked while looking directly at the masked man.
"Wait for me. I will come to kill you and destroy everything that you treasure in the future. Even if I had to give up my humanity." Kakoto said.
"I will show you the pain of losing everything you hold dear." He shouted.
That day Kakoto lost all the memories that he had of his family and his childhood.
The only thing that was left in his mind was about the two people that he wanted to kill.
The traitor of the Uchiha clan called Itachi Uchiha and the man with the scar on his chin.
The only thing that was left in his mind was about the two people that he wanted to kill.
The traitor of the Uchiha clan called Itachi Uchiha and the man with the scar on his chin.
He activated his left Mangekyo for a brief second and broke out of the illusion. "You possess a pure heart that is filled with vengeance and rage.
You passed the final trial." The snake woman who was looking directly at him said.
So that is what she means by a pure heart. Kakoto thought in his mind as he looked at the snake woman.
"I will take you to see the white snake sage." She said.
"Can I rest for a moment? I think I exhausted all my chakra." Kakoto said as he fell to the ground on his back.
He activated his one-tomoe Sharingan for many hours, activated his left Mangekyo Sharingan two times and used a fireball jutsu.
The chakra pool that he possesses is now empty and he is very tired.
He wanted to rest for a while and wait for his chakra to refill before meeting the snake sage.