It was funny, Ryuko wasn’t officially even the Raikage yet and despite that the amount of people who seemed to know the secret was higher than you’d think. Nariko the previous Raikage obviously knew as did Shimiko the anbu commander. Then there was the Daimyo Oda Inuzuma and the Vestal that served him Megumi Yasuno who had to be informed but otherwise the only other person that should have known was her lady in waiting Sophie Brodeur.
And yet here the Priestess was standing at the mouth of a large cave system holding a letter in hand that had invited her to this location specifically because she was to become the next Raikage. Supposedly there was supposed to be a hidden monastery deep inside the cave system which they’d included a map to but she had her doubts suspecting it was some kind of elaborate trap.
Just to be safe she’d sent one of her retained Sister Washi in to scout the cave. If anyone could get in and out safely and avoid being ambushed it was the Sister who specialized in that kind of work. She wasn’t much for a fight but she was the perfect person to take with you for exploring a labyrinth since she was great at picking up hidden tripwires and pressure plates that almost anyone else would overlook.
The cave had come up clean from traps and the Monastery was exactly where the Map said it would be so Ryuko supposed she might as well go on in and see what was up. If nothing else she had to discover how the heck they’d found out about her upcoming coronation. Besides if there was even a small chance what they had written about in the letter was true there was no way she could afford to ignore them.
The offer on hand was simple enough. They’d calmed they would teach her the secrets to becoming the new Hydra sage. She’d never seen a Hydra in her life before and had relegated them to the stuff of ancient legends and mythology but she couldn’t completely discount their existence. Not after seeing other mythological stuff come to life like Dragons.
After the fight in the valley against Honiko, how much research had she done looking for a way to learn how to become a Sage herself in order to match the violent invader only to come up with the vaguest of leads. She’d discovered that Sages did exist but had no idea how to become one.
To have that information just dropped into her lap out of the blue felt like some kind of cosmic prank. It was like she could only discover what she was looking for when she wasn’t actively looking for it. With a long sigh she began to make her way into the cave ahead of her wondering what she might find inside.
The cave was warmer than she had expected and damp with a light mist that wasn’t even enough to make her clothes wet. Following its countless twists and turns towards her destination she realized why so few ventured inside anymore. Without the map that had been provided it would have been easy for her to get lost. If that happened she’d be lucky to ever see the light of day again. She’d already passed the skeletal remains of those who had been less fortunate. Gripping the handle of her sword tightly she vowed not to join their ranks today.
Arriving at the location marked on the map Ryuko was surprised at the sheer size of the place as narrow caverns gave way to a vast open expanse filled with artificial light from glowing crystals embedded in the walls and ceiling. It was like a little slice of paradise buried beneath the ground.
“Welcome Lady Ryuko, we’ve been expecting you.” said a voice that sounded rough with age. Looking to the source Ryuko spotted an Old man dressed in what could be charitably described as rags sitting on a boulder near the ententy way to the cavern.
“And you are?” asked Ryuko with her hand still the hilt of her sword. She was still leary about a potential ambush. The man chuckled as he saw this and made a gesture to show that his hands were empty and he had no intentions of attacking her.
“Ah how rude of me to forget to introduce myself. It’s been so long since I last spoke to someone that I nearly forgot. My true name is unpronounceable in this form. To you humans I am simply known as the old sage…” the old man said flashing a friendly smile. Ryuko’s eyes widened as she realized the implications of his words.
“Then you aren’t human are you old sage.” She said not so much a question as a statement. The Old man nodded in affirmation jumping down from the rock in a way nobody that looked like they were pushing ninety should be able to.
“Apologizes, if we started this conversation in my true form you would have almost assuredly attacked me out of sheer instinct.” He said his body vanished in a poof of smoke revealing a large monster with not one but three long snake like heads. He wasn't the largest summon Ryuko had ever seen by any means but at 20 meters he still towered over the petite woman.
“You’re right. If I hadn’t spoken to you in human form I would have gone all out the second I met you.” Ryuko admitted finally taking her hand off her sword. She was generally good at reading people’s intentions and something told her that this person, rather this creature had only good ones for her.
“You see, we Hyrda have a contract stretching back centuries with the Lords of this country. We work with the leader of the military in exchange for being allowed to stay in this safe haven. When your ninja village was formed our contract was transferred over from the general of the Inuzuma at the time to the Raikage. The reason you haven’t heard of us until now was that so few of the Raikage have the right skills to make proper use of us.” explained the Hydra before his form was enveloped in smoke once more as he returned to the giase of an old man.
“Right, the invitation said something about only being useful for Medics. That’d explain why the first and third Raikage Lady Calypso and Nariko never called upon you, but what about Lord Seigi?” asked Ryuko curiously.
“For that story you’d have to ask the man yourself. It’s… complicated” said the Old man looking away from her awkwardly. It seemed she wasn’t going to be getting any answers on that front today at least. Just a few days ago she would have replied about how Seigi had been dead for years now and how it didn’t seem likely she was going to bother trying to speak to an occultius in order to hold a seance with his spirit. That was until recent events told her otherwise. Given that Seigi might have signed the contract with them, she wouldn’t be surprised if they knew the full truth about him all along.
“Fine keep that secret but at least tell me how you knew about me becoming the next Raikage.” said Ryuko sternly. If the village had an information leak she needed to plug it and fast. She was going to be absolutely livid if she found out someone else other then Damian had managed to sneak a transceiver into one of the village’s most secure locations.
“Young Oda told us.” Admitted the Old man with a rye grin causing a lightbulb to go off in the priestess head as she clicked her tongue in annoyance. She was annoyed how even after agreeing to step aside the previous Daiymo was making trouble for her like this, but then again she was willing to forgive him this one time since it ultimately was benefiting her that he had done so.
Plus it was amusing to hear him be called young when he was practically a fossil himself. Just how ancient was the old sage anyhow? Some reptiles could live quite a long time so Ryuko wouldn’t be surprised if he was over a century or two himself not that she was going to say that to his face.
“In any case Lady Ryuko I will teach you the secrets to becoming a sage. That is if you’re still willing to learn them after what I have to show you next…” said the old sage mysteriously. There it was, Ryuko knew that there had to be some price to pay for getting this power. What would they demand from her? Depending on the costs she might have to think about leaving this stone unturned.
Gesturing for her to follow him the old man led her further into the cavern away from a small monastery they had likely built for hosting human guests to a side chamber that seemed like a sight straight out of hell itself. Rows upon rows of statues of people in various poses as if they had been frozen mid-movement. Some looked at peace but most looked terrified, several as if they were trying to run away from something.
“These are all that remain of those that have tried to gain the power of the sage and failed. The power of nature is a difficult one to grasp. One mistake and just like that you too could become stone.” said the old sage snapping his finger for dramatic effect.
Ryuko smirked and then let out a slight chuckle. If he thought this was enough to scare her off he had another thing coming. She’d seen so much shit during her short lifetime that something like this was hardly enough to send her packing. It was an interesting sight academically speaking. She wondered if this was where the myth of medusa had originated. A Hydra trying to teach sage mode and her students turning to stone would have been quite horrifying in its own right.
“I have a large power sleeping inside me. One that I will have to risk my life to fully unlock. If becoming a sage will make that process easier then what’s one more calculated roll of the dice?” she asked rhetorically. She had the power of her god on her side, She was sure she wouldn’t die, not before her trial to prove herself worth began at least. Once that started all bets were off.
“Heh, well said.” said the Old sage as he took a seat on the ground and gestured for Ryuko to sit beside him. The priestess joined him without complaint despite the fact she would get her pants dirty. This was no time to worry about being prim and proper. She might be a member of nobility but she was far from some spoiled brat that couldn't’ put up with having to rough it a bit.
She’d gone on plenty of missions with her teammates who weren't as well off financially as her and always insisted on getting the same treatment as them when it came to accommodations. If they slept in a tent then by Hakkin she was going to do the same. She had to be realistic since she couldn’t exactly expect to find a fancy hotel room in the middle of the woods or in this case a cave.
“If we’re going to work together then you need a proper name, old sage. How about Lerna?” She suggested pulling deep from the well of mythology causing the old man to blink at her in surprise. After all his long years he’d never met a human before who had been so willing to treat him like an equal, one willing to bother giving him a proper name.
"My, what an honor. Shall we begin?” said Lerna with a grin as he began to explain to Ryuko how she was to gather nature chakra. It was surprisingly simple really, all about being still and becoming one with nature in order for the energy to flow through you. The tricky part was maintaining the right balance so one didn’t turn into a statue. Well at least once you had the right balance it was easy to maintain, even in your sleep.
She’d be able to gather all the energy she wanted, up to the limit of what she could manage and keep it in storage inside herself until she truly needed to use it. She had to wonder what she’d look like to a sensor type having so much raw energy inside her. Between a stock full of Nature chakra and Rafaela not to mention her own pretty high vitality she might seem like some kind of monster.
That was fine, if becoming a monster was what it took for her to be able to defeat the likes of Honiko and those behind her lurking in the shadows then it was a small price to pay. Sometimes the only way to fight fire was with fire.
Meditating to be still and gather nature chakra came like second nature to the priestess. She’d been studying martial arts from a young age and had long since become a master that could put most black belts to shame. She even had a technique for battlefield meditation to expand one’s perception during a fight, compared to that not having to move was easy as pie as she could task part of her brain towards soaking up energy and parts to other things.
Ryuko hadn’t always had such stamina. For a long time she’d just been average but made up with it with superior control. Making every drop she had matter, stretching it out as much as possible to squeeze every last bit she could. Having pinpoint control was the only reason her overdrive where she had been able to combine various jutsu to boost herself had been able to function. Well before Rafaela had messed with her body by merging with her at least.
Her old overdrive couldn’t work anymore but she no longer needed it. The point was that with her subup control she was soon balancing large amounts of nature chakra as if she’d been born with the ability. She was making it look easy but the truth was it only seemed that way after the prestigious amount of work she had put in
Opening her eyes which she hadn’t even realized she had shut she grinned as purple marks appeared around her eyes making it look like she was crying. Normally turning sage mode on would make you look more like the animal that you were learning from due to slight imbalances between different energies but that didn’t seem to apply to this priestess. She was perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
“Well done that was faster than I expected. Since you survived I suppose I shall allow you to sign our summoning contract now.” said Lerna with a toothed grin. Ryuko ached an eyebrow wondering why they hadn’t had her sign it to begin with but then the sheer amount of statues spoke for itself. Why waste space on the paper? Once signed a name would remain on the contract in bold letters, only fading partly upon death but still remaining legible.
She couldn’t even begin to guess the amount of scrolls they would need if they were to include all those that tried their hand at learning sage mode and failed. No wonder so few people returned alive from the caves. She’d been suspecting bandits but it seemed they’d fallen victim to another curse entirely.
Biting her thumb Ryuko signed the offered contract with her own blood then gave Lerna a firm handshake. She was looking forward to working together with him from now on even if he wasn’t the one she’d be primarily calling upon in battle. No that roll would mainly be falling to Ghidorah and other younger Hydra that the Old sage would soon introduce to her.
“You should look after this for a while. I’m getting too old for this shit. You can decide who becomes the next Hydra sage or not.” complained Lerna as he handed Ryuko the contract scroll along with her summoning crystal which was proof of her having signed the contract.
“Sure I’ll keep this safe for now.” Agreed the priestess as she lightly spun the contract around and stowed it on her back. Good thing she had the Royal vault now that she could put it in, since it wasn’t the kind of thing you’d want to carry around casually while walking around the village all the time.
“You know I don’t feel all that different. I thought nature energy was supposed to boost physical stats like speed and strength…” said Ryuko as she gave the air a light punch. Nothing had changed from normal, she could easily punch harder by using the arhat fist or chakra enhanced strength.
“Usually you’d be right, but a Hydra sage uses it to harness the power of Dokuton instead.” explained Lerna who hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed at this revelation. Most people were so focused on raw power they didn’t realize that there were other avenues to becoming stronger.
“Ah so that’s why you need to be a medic to make the most use of it.” replied Ryuko with a knowing look in her eyes. She’d heard about Dokuton before even if she’d never met a member of the Doku clan. It was a special release that allowed the user to produce poison with chakra but they needed to know how to make the poison in the first place. Without that they wouldn’t get anywhere with the release.
“Excellent.” exclaimed the Priestess in excitement. She already would have all the raw power she would ever need once she harnessed Rafaela. If anything this was the perfect complement to that since once her armor was active she couldn’t take offensive actions if she wanted to keep it up which wouldn’t be a problem if she’d already poisoned someone.
Lerna blinked at her reaction, It seemed this girl was just going to keep surprising him at every turn. He was looking forward to where she was going to go from here but she wasn’t done defying expectations just yet.
“Please, Teach me.” asked Ryuko instead of leaving like the old sage had expected she would once her sage training was complete. He’d already provided a scroll that would give her all she needed to know about Poison jutsu so the fact she was asking for more training meant she was diligent about improvement.
“With pleasure." said Lerna who despite his complaint about being too old was more than happy to show her the ropes. And thus on this day the first Hydra sage in over a decade was anointed.
-exit-
(Learning Hydra Sage mode)[/color]
And yet here the Priestess was standing at the mouth of a large cave system holding a letter in hand that had invited her to this location specifically because she was to become the next Raikage. Supposedly there was supposed to be a hidden monastery deep inside the cave system which they’d included a map to but she had her doubts suspecting it was some kind of elaborate trap.
Just to be safe she’d sent one of her retained Sister Washi in to scout the cave. If anyone could get in and out safely and avoid being ambushed it was the Sister who specialized in that kind of work. She wasn’t much for a fight but she was the perfect person to take with you for exploring a labyrinth since she was great at picking up hidden tripwires and pressure plates that almost anyone else would overlook.
The cave had come up clean from traps and the Monastery was exactly where the Map said it would be so Ryuko supposed she might as well go on in and see what was up. If nothing else she had to discover how the heck they’d found out about her upcoming coronation. Besides if there was even a small chance what they had written about in the letter was true there was no way she could afford to ignore them.
The offer on hand was simple enough. They’d calmed they would teach her the secrets to becoming the new Hydra sage. She’d never seen a Hydra in her life before and had relegated them to the stuff of ancient legends and mythology but she couldn’t completely discount their existence. Not after seeing other mythological stuff come to life like Dragons.
After the fight in the valley against Honiko, how much research had she done looking for a way to learn how to become a Sage herself in order to match the violent invader only to come up with the vaguest of leads. She’d discovered that Sages did exist but had no idea how to become one.
To have that information just dropped into her lap out of the blue felt like some kind of cosmic prank. It was like she could only discover what she was looking for when she wasn’t actively looking for it. With a long sigh she began to make her way into the cave ahead of her wondering what she might find inside.
The cave was warmer than she had expected and damp with a light mist that wasn’t even enough to make her clothes wet. Following its countless twists and turns towards her destination she realized why so few ventured inside anymore. Without the map that had been provided it would have been easy for her to get lost. If that happened she’d be lucky to ever see the light of day again. She’d already passed the skeletal remains of those who had been less fortunate. Gripping the handle of her sword tightly she vowed not to join their ranks today.
Arriving at the location marked on the map Ryuko was surprised at the sheer size of the place as narrow caverns gave way to a vast open expanse filled with artificial light from glowing crystals embedded in the walls and ceiling. It was like a little slice of paradise buried beneath the ground.
“Welcome Lady Ryuko, we’ve been expecting you.” said a voice that sounded rough with age. Looking to the source Ryuko spotted an Old man dressed in what could be charitably described as rags sitting on a boulder near the ententy way to the cavern.
“And you are?” asked Ryuko with her hand still the hilt of her sword. She was still leary about a potential ambush. The man chuckled as he saw this and made a gesture to show that his hands were empty and he had no intentions of attacking her.
“Ah how rude of me to forget to introduce myself. It’s been so long since I last spoke to someone that I nearly forgot. My true name is unpronounceable in this form. To you humans I am simply known as the old sage…” the old man said flashing a friendly smile. Ryuko’s eyes widened as she realized the implications of his words.
“Then you aren’t human are you old sage.” She said not so much a question as a statement. The Old man nodded in affirmation jumping down from the rock in a way nobody that looked like they were pushing ninety should be able to.
“Apologizes, if we started this conversation in my true form you would have almost assuredly attacked me out of sheer instinct.” He said his body vanished in a poof of smoke revealing a large monster with not one but three long snake like heads. He wasn't the largest summon Ryuko had ever seen by any means but at 20 meters he still towered over the petite woman.
“You’re right. If I hadn’t spoken to you in human form I would have gone all out the second I met you.” Ryuko admitted finally taking her hand off her sword. She was generally good at reading people’s intentions and something told her that this person, rather this creature had only good ones for her.
“You see, we Hyrda have a contract stretching back centuries with the Lords of this country. We work with the leader of the military in exchange for being allowed to stay in this safe haven. When your ninja village was formed our contract was transferred over from the general of the Inuzuma at the time to the Raikage. The reason you haven’t heard of us until now was that so few of the Raikage have the right skills to make proper use of us.” explained the Hydra before his form was enveloped in smoke once more as he returned to the giase of an old man.
“Right, the invitation said something about only being useful for Medics. That’d explain why the first and third Raikage Lady Calypso and Nariko never called upon you, but what about Lord Seigi?” asked Ryuko curiously.
“For that story you’d have to ask the man yourself. It’s… complicated” said the Old man looking away from her awkwardly. It seemed she wasn’t going to be getting any answers on that front today at least. Just a few days ago she would have replied about how Seigi had been dead for years now and how it didn’t seem likely she was going to bother trying to speak to an occultius in order to hold a seance with his spirit. That was until recent events told her otherwise. Given that Seigi might have signed the contract with them, she wouldn’t be surprised if they knew the full truth about him all along.
“Fine keep that secret but at least tell me how you knew about me becoming the next Raikage.” said Ryuko sternly. If the village had an information leak she needed to plug it and fast. She was going to be absolutely livid if she found out someone else other then Damian had managed to sneak a transceiver into one of the village’s most secure locations.
“Young Oda told us.” Admitted the Old man with a rye grin causing a lightbulb to go off in the priestess head as she clicked her tongue in annoyance. She was annoyed how even after agreeing to step aside the previous Daiymo was making trouble for her like this, but then again she was willing to forgive him this one time since it ultimately was benefiting her that he had done so.
Plus it was amusing to hear him be called young when he was practically a fossil himself. Just how ancient was the old sage anyhow? Some reptiles could live quite a long time so Ryuko wouldn’t be surprised if he was over a century or two himself not that she was going to say that to his face.
“In any case Lady Ryuko I will teach you the secrets to becoming a sage. That is if you’re still willing to learn them after what I have to show you next…” said the old sage mysteriously. There it was, Ryuko knew that there had to be some price to pay for getting this power. What would they demand from her? Depending on the costs she might have to think about leaving this stone unturned.
Gesturing for her to follow him the old man led her further into the cavern away from a small monastery they had likely built for hosting human guests to a side chamber that seemed like a sight straight out of hell itself. Rows upon rows of statues of people in various poses as if they had been frozen mid-movement. Some looked at peace but most looked terrified, several as if they were trying to run away from something.
“These are all that remain of those that have tried to gain the power of the sage and failed. The power of nature is a difficult one to grasp. One mistake and just like that you too could become stone.” said the old sage snapping his finger for dramatic effect.
Ryuko smirked and then let out a slight chuckle. If he thought this was enough to scare her off he had another thing coming. She’d seen so much shit during her short lifetime that something like this was hardly enough to send her packing. It was an interesting sight academically speaking. She wondered if this was where the myth of medusa had originated. A Hydra trying to teach sage mode and her students turning to stone would have been quite horrifying in its own right.
“I have a large power sleeping inside me. One that I will have to risk my life to fully unlock. If becoming a sage will make that process easier then what’s one more calculated roll of the dice?” she asked rhetorically. She had the power of her god on her side, She was sure she wouldn’t die, not before her trial to prove herself worth began at least. Once that started all bets were off.
“Heh, well said.” said the Old sage as he took a seat on the ground and gestured for Ryuko to sit beside him. The priestess joined him without complaint despite the fact she would get her pants dirty. This was no time to worry about being prim and proper. She might be a member of nobility but she was far from some spoiled brat that couldn't’ put up with having to rough it a bit.
She’d gone on plenty of missions with her teammates who weren't as well off financially as her and always insisted on getting the same treatment as them when it came to accommodations. If they slept in a tent then by Hakkin she was going to do the same. She had to be realistic since she couldn’t exactly expect to find a fancy hotel room in the middle of the woods or in this case a cave.
“If we’re going to work together then you need a proper name, old sage. How about Lerna?” She suggested pulling deep from the well of mythology causing the old man to blink at her in surprise. After all his long years he’d never met a human before who had been so willing to treat him like an equal, one willing to bother giving him a proper name.
"My, what an honor. Shall we begin?” said Lerna with a grin as he began to explain to Ryuko how she was to gather nature chakra. It was surprisingly simple really, all about being still and becoming one with nature in order for the energy to flow through you. The tricky part was maintaining the right balance so one didn’t turn into a statue. Well at least once you had the right balance it was easy to maintain, even in your sleep.
She’d be able to gather all the energy she wanted, up to the limit of what she could manage and keep it in storage inside herself until she truly needed to use it. She had to wonder what she’d look like to a sensor type having so much raw energy inside her. Between a stock full of Nature chakra and Rafaela not to mention her own pretty high vitality she might seem like some kind of monster.
That was fine, if becoming a monster was what it took for her to be able to defeat the likes of Honiko and those behind her lurking in the shadows then it was a small price to pay. Sometimes the only way to fight fire was with fire.
Meditating to be still and gather nature chakra came like second nature to the priestess. She’d been studying martial arts from a young age and had long since become a master that could put most black belts to shame. She even had a technique for battlefield meditation to expand one’s perception during a fight, compared to that not having to move was easy as pie as she could task part of her brain towards soaking up energy and parts to other things.
Ryuko hadn’t always had such stamina. For a long time she’d just been average but made up with it with superior control. Making every drop she had matter, stretching it out as much as possible to squeeze every last bit she could. Having pinpoint control was the only reason her overdrive where she had been able to combine various jutsu to boost herself had been able to function. Well before Rafaela had messed with her body by merging with her at least.
Her old overdrive couldn’t work anymore but she no longer needed it. The point was that with her subup control she was soon balancing large amounts of nature chakra as if she’d been born with the ability. She was making it look easy but the truth was it only seemed that way after the prestigious amount of work she had put in
Opening her eyes which she hadn’t even realized she had shut she grinned as purple marks appeared around her eyes making it look like she was crying. Normally turning sage mode on would make you look more like the animal that you were learning from due to slight imbalances between different energies but that didn’t seem to apply to this priestess. She was perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
“Well done that was faster than I expected. Since you survived I suppose I shall allow you to sign our summoning contract now.” said Lerna with a toothed grin. Ryuko ached an eyebrow wondering why they hadn’t had her sign it to begin with but then the sheer amount of statues spoke for itself. Why waste space on the paper? Once signed a name would remain on the contract in bold letters, only fading partly upon death but still remaining legible.
She couldn’t even begin to guess the amount of scrolls they would need if they were to include all those that tried their hand at learning sage mode and failed. No wonder so few people returned alive from the caves. She’d been suspecting bandits but it seemed they’d fallen victim to another curse entirely.
Biting her thumb Ryuko signed the offered contract with her own blood then gave Lerna a firm handshake. She was looking forward to working together with him from now on even if he wasn’t the one she’d be primarily calling upon in battle. No that roll would mainly be falling to Ghidorah and other younger Hydra that the Old sage would soon introduce to her.
“You should look after this for a while. I’m getting too old for this shit. You can decide who becomes the next Hydra sage or not.” complained Lerna as he handed Ryuko the contract scroll along with her summoning crystal which was proof of her having signed the contract.
“Sure I’ll keep this safe for now.” Agreed the priestess as she lightly spun the contract around and stowed it on her back. Good thing she had the Royal vault now that she could put it in, since it wasn’t the kind of thing you’d want to carry around casually while walking around the village all the time.
“You know I don’t feel all that different. I thought nature energy was supposed to boost physical stats like speed and strength…” said Ryuko as she gave the air a light punch. Nothing had changed from normal, she could easily punch harder by using the arhat fist or chakra enhanced strength.
“Usually you’d be right, but a Hydra sage uses it to harness the power of Dokuton instead.” explained Lerna who hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed at this revelation. Most people were so focused on raw power they didn’t realize that there were other avenues to becoming stronger.
“Ah so that’s why you need to be a medic to make the most use of it.” replied Ryuko with a knowing look in her eyes. She’d heard about Dokuton before even if she’d never met a member of the Doku clan. It was a special release that allowed the user to produce poison with chakra but they needed to know how to make the poison in the first place. Without that they wouldn’t get anywhere with the release.
“Excellent.” exclaimed the Priestess in excitement. She already would have all the raw power she would ever need once she harnessed Rafaela. If anything this was the perfect complement to that since once her armor was active she couldn’t take offensive actions if she wanted to keep it up which wouldn’t be a problem if she’d already poisoned someone.
Lerna blinked at her reaction, It seemed this girl was just going to keep surprising him at every turn. He was looking forward to where she was going to go from here but she wasn’t done defying expectations just yet.
“Please, Teach me.” asked Ryuko instead of leaving like the old sage had expected she would once her sage training was complete. He’d already provided a scroll that would give her all she needed to know about Poison jutsu so the fact she was asking for more training meant she was diligent about improvement.
“With pleasure." said Lerna who despite his complaint about being too old was more than happy to show her the ropes. And thus on this day the first Hydra sage in over a decade was anointed.
-exit-
(Learning Hydra Sage mode)[/color]
