Slowly halting his flight, Orochimaru gazed at the four small islands floating on the sea below, a hint of nostalgia appearing in his eyes.
"Do these islands resemble the Land of Sea?"
"Heh..."
Recalling the human experiments he had conducted in this small country in his memories, Orochimaru suddenly felt a desire to go down and see for himself.
"Setting up a laboratory here, the me in my memories must have discovered something unusual about this place, right?"
"I'm a little curious!"
Concealing his presence, Orochimaru lowered his altitude and hovered over a sea island in the eastern part of the Land of Sea.
The residents of the Land of Sea below did not notice the uninvited guest in the sky. They were kneeling piously before an altar by the sea, their heads bowed in prayer.
A glint of interest appeared in Orochimaru's eyes.
"Oh?"
"Are they performing a sacrifice?"
"Does the Land of Sea, like the Land of Hot Water, also have a faith similar to that of an evil god?"
Orochimaru watched with amusement for a while, then slowly expanded his perception outwards.
The Dragon Cave Sage Art chakra was already adept at sensing, and coupled with the nascent Void power within Orochimaru, he instantly understood everything below.
From the inner thoughts of the kneeling civilians of the Land of Sea to any unusual fluctuations of power emanating from the surrounding seas.
Everything, in great detail, was clearly presented within Orochimaru's perception.
"Great Sea God! Please protect your devout followers!"
"The waters of the Land of Water are too dangerous, and your followers have no strength to go there and catch more seafood."
"Please show your divine power and let there be more fish and shrimp in the seas near the Land of Sea!"
Prayers like these reached Orochimaru's senses, causing his lips to twitch.
"If my perception is not mistaken, the Sea God that these fishermen worship is likely no simple being!"
Amidst the abundant water-attribute chakra, there were traces of fire and earth attribute powers imperceptible to ordinary people.
The fire attribute floated on the surface of the sea, combining with the water-attribute chakra to form a faint mist on the water. This mist was extremely peculiar; it did not mix with ordinary water vapor-formed mist but drifted independently above the water, forming a contiguous expanse around the islands of the Land of Sea, stretching far away.
With Orochimaru's current sensory abilities, he could not immediately ascertain its end. Looking at the direction the mist extended, it seemed to connect from the coast of the Land of Sea all the way to the Land of Water.
Even more miraculously, when Orochimaru's perception approached these mists, he felt a faint illusion of his mental energy being scorched.
"Mist with corrosive properties?"
Orochimaru murmured to himself and then followed the source of the mist with his perception.
In the deep, dark seabed, above a crevice emitting a surge of potent life energy, a massive, milky-white creature suddenly entered Orochimaru's perception.
The creature resembled a large, shaggy sea slug, with two pairs of tentacles on its head and numerous fluffy appendages waving around it like tendrils.
Even more wondrous was the six milky-white, slippery long tails growing from its posterior.
"Six-Tails Tailed Beast?"
Orochimaru's eyebrows rose, and a flicker of surprise and delight flashed in his eyes.
"While I've always known that the two Tailed Beasts of Kirigakure were temporarily in a free state, I never expected to encounter you here!"
"The water and earth chakra attributes transforming into Lava Style..."
"What an unexpected joy!"
Orochimaru sighed inwardly and, without disturbing the futile efforts of the fishermen of the Land of Sea, dove down along the direction of his perception towards the Six-Tails Tailed Beast.
"Sage Art – Dragon Transformation!"
With a faint dragon's roar, Orochimaru's body, which had entered the seawater, instantly transformed into a white flood dragon. His tail, already exhibiting characteristics of a dragon-like creature, swung, and his body meandered downwards towards the seabed.
At the crevice on the seabed, which was continuously emitting powerful life energy, the Six-Tails Tailed Beast was constantly secreting its potent corrosive acid into the crevice.
It could feel that within this crevice existed a being of great importance to it.
Perhaps, it was a female sea slug!
The powerful life energy emanating from that body was so attractive to the Six-Tails that it overshadowed its perception of everything else around it.
The flood dragon that Orochimaru had transformed into stopped behind the Six-Tails Tailed Beast. Looking at the Tailed Beast, which seemed completely oblivious to his arrival, Orochimaru's eyes held a peculiar expression.
"This guy is trying to use its slime to corrode its way into that barrier?"
"Inside that..."
Orochimaru released his perception and drilled into the crevice being corroded by the Tailed Beast.
"Heave ho, heave ho!"
A group of small slugs, chanting in unison, were wriggling their bodies and using the Sage Art chakra within them to repair the wounds inflicted by the Tailed Beast's corrosion.
However, their bodies were too small compared to the enormous Tailed Beast.
And their numbers were not many. Even with their utmost effort, they could only maintain the crevice from expanding further.
"What is this..."
"Slugs from the Great Toad Mountain?"
Orochimaru was surprised. The wisp of spirit that had entered the crevice was immediately withdrawn by him.
Looking at the crevice emitting strong life energy, and then at the Tailed Beast diligently trying to widen the crevice, Orochimaru's expression became even more peculiar.
"So this is a barrier set up by the Great Toad Sage of the Great Toad Mountain. No wonder there's such a powerful life energy fluctuation."
"This guy, it couldn't have taken a liking to the Great Toad Sage, could it?"
"However..."
The flood dragon that Orochimaru had transformed into shook its head, a thoughtful expression on its face:
"It's not entirely strange."
"The Great Toad Sage's true form is, after all, a giant slug!"
Orochimaru chuckled inwardly. He glanced at the Tailed Beast diligently pursuing its happiness and then transformed his body into a stream of light, plunging into the crevice.
...
"Little slugs, hello!"
Orochimaru appeared on the moist ground of the Great Toad Mountain, greeting the group of small slugs busy repairing the crevice with a smile.
"Huh? Someone's come in?"
"Ah! It seems to be a friend of Lady Tsunade, the one called Sannin, Lord Orochimaru!"
"It really is Lord Orochimaru!"
"Lord Orochimaru, how did you find the entrance to the Great Toad Mountain?"
"You know, Lady Tsunade only managed to come here by using a scroll left by the Uzumaki clan!"
Upon recognizing Orochimaru, a group of small slugs immediately abandoned their work and struggled to wriggle towards him.
Orochimaru found it amusing. With a casual wave of his hand, he sent a ball of Sage Art chakra, completing the repair work on the crevice for these slugs.
Ignoring the Six-Tails Tailed Beast, which had suddenly become agitated outside the crevice, Orochimaru bent down and picked up a soft, squishy little slug from the ground.
He rubbed her small head, then turned and walked towards the center of the Great Toad Mountain.
"I stumbled upon the Six-Tails outside while passing by. I originally just wanted to see what it was doing, but I didn't expect to discover your existence."
"Wow! Then Lord Orochimaru is truly lucky!"
The little slug nudged Orochimaru's face with her tentacle, her voice soft and sweet.
"Yes! I also feel quite lucky!"
"Then... could you please lead me to meet the Great Sage?"
The little slug happily shook her tentacles and agreed crisply.
"Of course!"
"The Great Sage will surely be very happy to know that Lord Orochimaru could reach the Great Toad Mountain on his own!"