Book One: The Rise of the Blue-Haired Devil.

      It had been about four years since I had left the village, leaving the integration of my ideas into the ordinariness of the village to Biakuren. He didn't hold me back much, realising where I was going and why. I needed the strength to stand up to the Shinobi God and there was only one place I could take it to its current limit. Yes, perhaps even that would not be enough to win, however I did not despair. My main goal for four years was self-improvement, a limit I hadn't managed to reach in such a short period of time. The hardest thing was Yumiko and Mito. They didn't want to let me go. It was something difficult for them. They were afraid... afraid of losing me again, and that's why they let me go, so that I could have at least a chance to win. Every month, I sent three letters by small snakes to the village. One was delivered to the mizukage to keep the head of the village informed that I hadn't died early. The other two were sent to the girls. Texting someone of the opposite sex was very unfamiliar, but as time went on, that feeling of discomfort and not understanding what I needed to write faded into the background. I became more straightforward with them, trying to hide almost nothing.       Four years in Riuchi's cave had not gone to waste. The snakes taught me a lot. My ice power had reached a new level during that time. For any ice technique, I needed to perform at worst one seal. My body had finally broken through the third level of ice power. I couldn't stay in this cover of power all the time like I had with the second stage, but my abilities were greatly expanding in this cover. I was on par with the speed of almost any snake in the cave, and they had really outstanding speed and flexibility. I don't know how many times Delta kicked my ass during this time, but I remember how after the first victory over her I rejoiced like a little child... Then I was teased by other snakes for another week because of this... I was offended and even ashamed... Yeah... I didn't think I would ever feel such a range of unpleasant emotions, but it was over quickly.       In addition to physical training, I was also making progress in learning the Hermit mode. I could now enter the Absolute Hermit Mode. This was what I called the state where my physical and spiritual component could rival the density of natural energy. Why was I able to reach this phenomenally global result so quickly? All thanks to Morgana, who kept me in standard Serpent Hermit mode at all times. My hearth was so used to this power that it compacted my chakra on its own. This allowed me to reach the pinnacle of this art rather quickly. The absolute mode of the Snake Hermit gave me unprecedented body protection in the form of white scales similar to the white scales that the White Snake had transplanted to me, even though my personal scales were less durable, however they were mine! That was far more concerning to me.       Aside from defence, the senjutsu pinnacle was pushing the physical parameters in my body to the limit, and I also couldn't use it yet without going to the third stage of my ice cover. Considering that I could stay in ice cover for about an hour at this point in time, eighteen minutes in Sage's Absolute Mode is pretty good at this point in time. So why not more? It was simple... no more was possible. The body wasn't ready for such a strain yet. The pain was dulled in Hermit mode, but the effects of using two such powerful coverings together put an incredible strain on all the muscles of the body. The price for greater strength became very high. Yes, by using the Absolute Hermit Mode every day I was gradually increasing my time in it, however it was very slow. In the past year, I was only able to increase my time by seven minutes, which made me very embarrassed, however I did not give up, continuing to develop my body to reach the development limit of a normal ninja. My appearance in Absolute Hermit Mode had changed greatly. The power could no longer be contained by my body, bursting out. The naked eye could see the black and white covering on the surface of my skin. Four horns grew on my head, but they were not simple. These horns were like echolocators, allowing me to navigate any space even without eyes. A snake's cornea appeared on my eyes. Its purpose I knew only in theory, although some of its properties were very well used in practice. The most important thing this cornea did was to give me a unique kind of vision that allowed me to not be afraid of brightness. I didn't care how dark or bright it was around me. I could see everything very clearly. Complementing this was an impressive defence against illusions. All the respected snakes of Riuchi Cave possessed such a cornea. I had once tried to use my illusion on Delta, but it just didn't work.       In addition to all of the above, the Sage Absolute Mode allowed me to use two special snake techniques. Inorganic Matter Technique... It's just something, not a technique. What does it do? It allows me to control an inanimate object, such as the earth, by feeding chakra into it. And it takes that control to a whole new level. No seals, just the user's desire and imagination, after which the object is almost instantly recreated in the real world. It's a very dangerous and powerful ninjutsu that eats just a wild amount of chakra, yet allows me to make the surrounding area my personal weapon. I don't know if the sharingan will react to such attacks, but any ninja unskilled in this technique is unlikely to be able to dodge or counter this snake jutsu in time. The second technique was also quite unusual, but no less useful. White Fury Technique... With this technique, I can release a ghostly dragon with a ball in its paw from its mouth. After a short flight, the dragon begins to curl around this ball. The ball then begins to emit light strong enough to blind the enemy and stun them with an unbearable vibrating sound, causing staggering pain. I, on the other hand, don't care about any of these effects. My snake cornea and white skin allowed me to protect myself from disorientation in space, but it's very difficult for my opponent to avoid all these effects. I would clearly have a few seconds to strike a decisive blow.       The snakes trained me to use their style of taijutsu. It's very slippery and agile. Constant flexible movements and sharp lunges were at the heart of this style. It also used small snakes for quick and unexpected attacks, but I refused to use this use of summoning techniques. I respected all the snakes in Ryuuchi and felt that summoning them for the sake of such attacks every time was foolish, so I used ice snakes instead of real snakes, the shape of which I could control with my high command of the ice element. I didn't use these attacks often, but they became part of my style on a regular basis due to the fact that they were unexpected. At medium range, it was quite convenient, but at close and long range, I was already using other ways of attacking. One would think that the real snakes were far more dangerous than their ice spears created by me, however, this was not the case. Yes, snakes possessed venom that could kill or paralyse the victim, but my snakes could do the same. Each bite of my snake injected liquid ice into the enemy's body. The enemy felt it immediately. His movements slowed down after the bite. The substance, spreading through the vessels, froze the blood passages behind it, which led to both slowing down and more serious consequences, especially if medical help was not rendered in time, but even this did not guarantee that the victim would not lose a limb. The consequences of liquid ice entering the ninja's circulatory system were too dangerous.       Also, under Morgana's guidance, I began trying to master plasma. Oh, in all my time in Riuchi I had never made any progress, but my schizophrenia insisted that I continue, believing that it was only a matter of time before I had a breakthrough in that direction. I trusted her, so I diligently continued my training. There was another interesting phenomenon related to senjutsu. It turned out that infusing only the physical component of chakra into strikes facilitated incredible breakthroughs in understanding taijutsu. Amazingly, my punch was now becoming a short-range and long-range attack as well. How? It was just something with something when it was discovered. By striking, the physical component goes beyond normal in hitting so hard that it causes an air wave, the shape of which in my case would get the appearance of a snake flying at the opponent at high speed. The attack is straightforward, so it should be used either on a stationary opponent, or on an opponent that can't dodge while in the air, for example. This attack used a lot of energy, so I decided to recognise it as my own personal technique, giving it the name "Snake Bite". I could now perform a series of such strikes, but such a succession of many such strikes would quickly exhaust my body. My mind has long since crossed the threshold of a normal person, but my body hasn't reached that peak yet, so I've been working like hell every day, exhausting my body to the point of exhaustion so that I can reach the limit before the battle with it... perhaps the last battle of my life... I don't wear weights anymore. It's pointless in the sense that I would have to spend a lot of chakra to switch on and off the fuin seals that make them up. In the past, not much chakra was required, but the amount of chakra relative to the weight grows on an exponential curve, making one aware of the unreasonableness of their use or the inadequacy of the weights themselves. However, the reality was more cruel than I thought... In a week's time, I would already have a battle with Madara Uchiha in the arena in Konoha. I had to leave Ryuuchi's cave as early as tomorrow just to make it. Now I was standing in front of the White Serpent, listening to his instructions before the deadly battle.       - ... I think I've said everything I wanted to say. - The Sage Snake pensively wheezed, looking at me.       - Thank you, Sage Sama. I am grateful for everything. Farewell. - I said with respect in my voice, about to begin folding a series of summoning seals. I had already said goodbye to Delta beforehand, so she watched me calmly. By the way, that snake had grown a lot over the years. Now she towered over me so that I had to tilt my head up to look her in the eyes during the dialogue.       - Wait-sss, Mi kun-sss. - White Snake spoke sharply, remembering something. I looked at him questioningly and he continued broadcasting in his hissing voice. - Here-sssss. - he added, handing me a flask on the tip of his tail.       - What is it? - I asked with interest, because I couldn't recognise the contents of the vial somehow. I couldn't smell the contents, and I couldn't tell the colour because of the painted vial.       - This is your last chance-sssss. If you are on the verge of life and death-sssss, drink this-sss. You will be able to fight for a while afterwards-sssss, but the consequences afterwards will be very unpleasant-sss. - explained the chief serpent in his wise voice.       - A last sip of hope then. - I hummed in understanding. - Thank you and goodbye again. - I added, tucking the vial away in the seal on my hand and using the summoning back technique.