When the demon, under the guise of Black Zetsu, launched an indiscriminate assault on the ninja world, the Sage of Six Paths had intended to intervene.
However, just as he moved to act, a colossal white snake slithered toward him with deliberate slowness.
"White Snake Sage of Ryūchi?" The Sage of Six Paths narrowed his eyes. Two of the Three Great Sage Lands had already been destroyed—what was the White Snake doing here now?
Was she here to help?
Highly unlikely.
Chakra surged from his body as he assumed a ready stance. He was well-acquainted with the White Snake Sage's temperament: cold, erratic, and unlike the Toad Sage, who maintained close ties with humanity—or the Slug Sage, who preferred to remain detached from worldly affairs.
Under ordinary circumstances, he might've indulged in some idle chatter to probe her intentions. But now, time was of the essence. He couldn't afford to be delayed.
Choosing to ignore her entirely, the Sage of Six Paths attempted to bypass her path. But the White Snake had no intention of letting him go.
"Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, running away the moment you see me? Come now, I've got something I want to whisper in your ear," she cooed.
His face remained blank, but inwardly he was groaning. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Don't say creepy things like that! We're not close!
Ugly as ever, the Sage of Six Paths looked even grimmer now that she had blocked his way. The White Snake Sage, however, seemed utterly oblivious to social cues and pulled him aside for a casual chat as if nothing were wrong.
"I've got urgent business," the Sage said bluntly. "Really urgent. The fate of the ninja world is at stake. I don't have time for small talk. Another time, perhaps."
The White Snake Sage's tone shifted to match his seriousness.
"What a coincidence. I also have urgent business—deadly urgent. It concerns the survival of all the snakes of Ryūchi. So you and I? We need to talk."
His Rinnegan flared as realization dawned. Her words carried a dangerous undertone—she must've been coerced by you-know-who to block his way.
The White Snake Sage let that implication hang in the air, clearly trying to play both sides. But the Sage of Six Paths had no patience for such games. Without warning, the earth trembled violently as he unleashed Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack straight at her.
But the White Snake Sage was no pushover. The ground beneath them softened unnaturally, rising into a towering wall of non-Newtonian fluid to meet the strike head-on. The barrier shattered under the impact.
Thanks to that wall absorbing most of the force, the destructive power of Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack was now greatly diminished.
"White Snake, stand in my way again and I won't show mercy!" the Sage barked. "If the ninja world is destroyed because of this, can you shoulder that responsibility?"
"Ahahahaha…" The White Snake Sage cackled with the rasp of an ancient crone. "You old fool, have you forgotten something?"
"The 'ninja world' refers to the world of ninja, and ninja are humans. What does humanity's extinction have to do with me, a snake?"
"You fight to save your world. And I fight to save mine. We all carry our burdens—who's to say yours is nobler than mine?"
The Sage was stunned. "So you've submitted to the demon? What happened to your conscience? Your principles?"
She looked at him like he was an idiot.
"And what would you have me do? Stand at your side and fight the demon? Don't be ridiculous. What's in it for us snakes? In a world ruled by humans, will we ever be granted a nation of our own?"
To the other creatures of nature, there was little difference between humans and demons. Human morality applied only to humans. To them, everything else was food, material, or tool—be it a pet for emotional support or herbs for medicine.
As a non-human being, the White Snake Sage saw through humanity's nature. They were masters of self-deception and performative morality—always declaring themselves as the pinnacle of creation, constantly searching for excuses to rationalize their exploitation of other beings.
Yet when the tables turned—when it was a monster harming humans—suddenly it was "evil" and would "bring divine retribution."
Double standards, much?
In her thousand years of life, the White Snake Sage had read plenty of human fiction. Countless fantasy novels preached that slaughtering the innocent would bring retribution. Yet when humans chopped down forests, harvested rare plants, or skinned animals alive for food or spiritual cores, no one ever mentioned innocence or karma. It was all just "how the world works."
Even more absurd were the so-called saviors constantly proclaiming their desire to "save all living things"—but in their vocabulary, "all living things" conveniently excluded animals, insects, or anything non-human.
Now, with catastrophe looming, the White Snake Sage prioritized saving her own kind. Was that wrong?
Well, to some people, it certainly was. If she didn't prioritize saving humans, then she was the villain. A target of divine punishment.
As a snake, she had many grievances against humanity. But if the roles were reversed—if snakes ruled the world—she would treat other species exactly the same. She'd enslave all of creation, crush any intelligent species that might threaten snake supremacy, and wipe out all competitors without hesitation.
At the heart of it, the White Snake Sage wasn't really complaining about humanity's double standards—she was complaining that the snakes hadn't become the ruling species.
As for "divine will"? If there really were some celestial force capable of smiting the wicked, the first to suffer would be humans themselves. As the dominant species, they had the most to lose from any truly impartial judgment.
In the end, the White Snake Sage—despite herself—had managed to glimpse the danger of this so-called divine order.
The demon had once stolen a peek at the [Book of Apocalypse] and learned that the emergence of divine law was not necessarily a blessing. In worlds governed by such laws, history often took a strange, decaying turn—ancient civilizations were stronger, and as time passed, the world grew weaker until it eventually collapsed.
[Book of Apocalypse]: A mysterious artifact of unknown size, material, or color. It appears randomly across countless worlds in countless forms, vanishing and reappearing without pattern.
Wherever the [Book of Apocalypse] surfaces, the end of the world soon follows. Recorded apocalypse types include:
① Silent Apocalypse – All microscopic particles cease to move.
② Ideal Apocalypse – The fantasies of intelligent life begin to manifest in reality without any form of limitation or restraint.
③ Heaven's Will Apocalypse – █████ awakens its own consciousness and begins to incubate using the plane itself as its egg.
④ Collapse of Law Apocalypse – The fundamental constants of physics start fluctuating randomly at all times.
⑤ Time Loop Apocalypse – A fixed time period loops endlessly. With each loop, the span of that period gradually shrinks… until it vanishes entirely.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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