There are plenty of snakes in Ryūchi Cave.
Time flies.
Eight months have passed since Jiang Mo began the training program newly arranged by Orochimaru.
Now, at thirteen years old, Chiyu stood on the coastline of the Land of Fire.
Orochimaru had assigned Chiyu a C-rank mission: to eliminate pirates who had landed on the Land of Fire's shore.
Around Chiyu, numerous headless corpses littered the ground—remnants of the pirates he had slain.
To Chiyu's surprise, among the pirates were several individuals who exhibited clear ninja combat techniques.
Logically, a C-rank mission such as this should not involve ninja adversaries.
Yet not far from Chiyu stood three figures—ninja clearly not affiliated with the pirates.
Their movements and hand seals unmistakably marked them as shinobi from a hidden village.
After careful consideration, Chiyu deduced these were enemy ninjas attempting to infiltrate the Land of Fire by hiding among the pirates.
The three ninjas regarded Chiyu warily, their expressions troubled.
In a short time, this young boy had eliminated all the pirates. Had the ninjas not stood on the fringes of the group, repeatedly interfering, they too might have been beheaded.
Realizing they could not match Chiyu, the leader whispered, "Retreat," and they prepared to flee.
Chiyu's lips curved into a cold, bloodthirsty smile. "I won't let you escape. You'll be my next accomplishment."
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!"
With a thunderous crack that tore the air itself, Chiyu became a streak of lightning, dashing toward the closest ninja.
A single slash—delivered with the back edge of his blade—cut deep into the opponent's flesh.
The struck ninja screamed miserably, collapsing to the ground like a broken puppet.
Chiyu's blade had shattered the ninja's spine with brutal precision.
Swiftly, Chiyu formed hand seals and took a deep breath, his chest swelling with focused chakra.
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Dance!"
From his mouth, Chiyu spat four fire dragons that surged forward simultaneously—attacking from above, below, left, and right—targeting a second ninja.
Reacting quickly, the second ninja formed seals and slammed his hands onto the ground.
"Water Release: Water Wall Formation!"
By infusing his chakra into the earth, he conjured a towering vertical wall of water.
The water wall blocked the fire dragons attacking from above and below, but failed to stop those coming from the left and right.
The two lateral fire dragons struck their target, causing an instant explosion.
The charred ninja was blasted outward, collapsing lifelessly to the earth.
Chiyu's gaze shifted to the last remaining ninja.
Already some distance away, the third ninja was fleeing at full speed.
Chiyu pointed his katana toward the fleeing figure; lightning crackled and roared along the blade's edge.
"Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning!"
A searing, lightning-fast slash surged from the katana, striking the ninja with precision almost too swift for the eye to follow.
The ninja's hair stood on end, his body convulsed violently, and white smoke began to rise from his form.
Chiyu halted the sword form before the electric charge could fatally overwhelm him.
The three ninjas were incapacitated, defeated by Chiyu's skill.
Gathering the unconscious ninjas, Chiyu formed hand seals once more and pressed his palms to the ground.
"Summoning Technique!"
A cloud of smoke erupted, dissipating to reveal a massive white snake before him.
The snake greeted him with cool indifference, "Chiyu-sama."
Chiyu pointed to the three ninjas on the ground. "White Snake, swallow them into your belly."
Upon hearing this, the white snake's tone brightened as it coiled around Chiyu like a flashy garment.
"Oh, Chiyu-sama, you're so kind! You knew I was hungry and sent me a feast—I love you so much!"
Chiyu rolled his eyes. The moment it sensed food, the snake's personality flipped instantly.
Just as the white snake opened its jaws to devour the three ninjas, Chiyu stopped it.
"These three are not for you to eat. I still need them. Just keep them inside you temporarily. Feel free to feast on the surrounding corpses."
The white snake's excitement quickly turned to anxiety. "What? Chiyu-sama, are you wasting my feelings? What's so good about eating dead bodies?"
Chiyu pulled the snake off himself. "Now you're picky? Are you going to do it or not? If you refuse, there are plenty of snakes in Ryūchi Cave who'll gladly take the job."
"Okay, okay, I'll do it. Isn't that enough? Summoning like this is tough on us, you know?"
Grumbling, the white snake began devouring the surrounding corpses with visible speed.
Chiyu watched in surprise as the snake's abdomen showed no sign of swelling despite consuming so many bodies.
Once all the corpses were gone, the snake turned to the three ninjas.
"I told you, don't actually eat these three!" Chiyu reminded it.
The white snake flicked its tongue at him in mock dissatisfaction. "Chiyu-sama, I have professional ethics, you know."
Opening its mouth again, the snake swallowed the three unconscious ninjas one by one.
This time, its belly swelled considerably.
Curious, Chiyu asked, "Why didn't your abdomen expand after eating those corpses?"
The white snake explained, "My gastric juices corrode flesh quickly. Those three are stored in a section of my body free of gastric acids."
Chiyu understood immediately. "I see. Then these three will be stored with you temporarily. I'll summon you again when needed."
A cloud of smoke enveloped the white snake, which then returned to Ryūchi Cave.
After tidying himself, Chiyu set off for Konoha.
---
In these eight months, Chiyu had taken on a C-rank mission from Orochimaru nearly every month.
Were it not for his genin rank, Orochimaru would have assigned him B-rank missions by now.
During this period, Chiyu's strength increased markedly day by day.
Having already mastered lightning chakra nature transformation and form manipulation, he now successfully mastered the form and nature transformation of fire chakra.
Not only had he mastered Uchiha clan fire-style ninjutsu, but he also completely refined the Summoning Technique and learned several of Orochimaru's secret jutsu.
Additionally, during rigorous training, Chiyu's Sharingan evolved to a two-tomoe form.
Yet his greatest improvement was not these techniques, but his chakra capacity.
Now, Chiyu's chakra levels rivaled those of Kakashi Hatake while using his Sharingan.
Chiyu was well aware this surge in chakra stemmed from his Thousand Hands clan physiology.
A Kakashi with Sharingan-level chakra capacity was at least on par with a special jōnin.