White Snake Sage.

Tendo and the three girls were moving through numerous corridors in Ryuchi Cave, passing many other inhabitants along the way. He met Manda, who wanted to fight him as soon as he saw him but the girls convinced him not to, at least until he meets the White Snake Sage. Garaga, who was a giant red snake that was going to be betrayed by his summoner in the future, was looking at him with keen interest as his heat signature seemed...off to him.

A short while later, the group arrived at a large wall of mist covering an entrance to another room. The three girls then looked at each other and looked back at him, all with serious expressions on their faces. Tendo understood immediately what they meant and shook his head, signaling that he was ready to enter. The girls then took him inside the mist and almost immediately after, they arrived inside a massive room filled with an innumerable amount of pillars and a large red throne in the middle of it. On that throne, was the White Snake Sage whose body was so massive that it managed to wrap itself around every pillar in the room and she still had a large amount of her body left for free movement.

The sage was looking at Tendo with eyes filled with interest as soon as he walked into the room. She sensed that he had a bit of the Power of the White Snake within him and that an abundant amount of natural energy was inside of him. She also sensed the evil, destructive nature of his chakra and was slightly impressed when she realized how much chakra he had for a boy his age. One thing she knew for sure though is that this boy wasn't human, not one bit. The three girls walked up to her throne and bowed slightly, telling her that Tendo had just passed the trial.

White Snake Sage: "Tendo Senju? My snakes tell me that you're a wanted man in the Land Of Fire, a missing-nin to be exact. Killing the Clan Head of the Hyuga and stealing extremely vital information from the village huh? You even have some of my power within you. You remind of Orochimaru when he first came here to train. I assume you're here for the same thing?"

Tendo: "I'm finally in the bingo book huh? I have to check it out as it must be noteworthy if even a sage of your standing knows about it. But yes, I am here for training. I want to learn everything you can teach me about jutsu in general. And I'm prepared to spend the time learning it."

White Snake Sage: "Hmmm..I like what you're saying boy but you should be a sage already. You already have a large amount of Sage chakra within you."

Tendo: "Sage? I may have enough Sage chakra to become one but I don't know where to direct that chakra to enable the transformation. Or maybe I don't have enough Sage chakra, I don't know exactly how it works. But, that's why im here."

White Snake Sage: "Interesting, you're not a sage yet? Even now natural energy flows into your body, bolstering it, transforming it. Boy, are you aiming to just become a normal sage or...something else?"

Tendo: "I'm aiming to become like you, a White Snake Sage. I don't want it to become something that is available to me for a short time, I will change my entire being to suit its power. Then, I will go beyond that."

The White Snake Sage was extremely surprised since no one, other than the snakes that lived there had ever expressed ideas about becoming a sage like her. Every shinobi that went there either failed to become a sage or just unlocked the timed transformation and left because that was their limit. She was skeptical of this boy's potential but when she heard that he said something beyond her, she was interested in what he meant. There was only one type of creature that he could be talking about.

White Snake Sage: "Beyond me boy? That could only mean you're talking about a dragon. The closest snakes to reach that transformation are Manda and me. Even then, I'm not even sure if it's possible to get there because of how long we've been stuck at this level."

Tendo: "I am. Train me and you will see. If I fail, you are free to eat me and that will be the end of this farce."

White Snake Sage: "Hmm...alright, I'll take your bet. But first, I want to see exactly how strong you are. I want you to fight Manda, Garaga, and Aoda together. That is a trial befitting of your request. When will you begin?"

Tendo: "Not now, as I still have something to do before I devote myself to this training. I will be back in a few days."

The sage nodded in approval and closed her eyes in deep thought as she was still pondering on everything she just heard. The three girls were standing aside with shock on their faces after the conversation they just heard. They never imagined that this boy would want to become one of them, a sage no less. Tendo already mapped the way he came from so he left the room without the girls and soon after exited Ryuchi Cave. His last target before taking this training would be Kimimaro as his Kekkei Genkai would be extremely useful offensively and even more in the defense department.

Tendo had at most a week before the search for sasuke began so he didnt waste any more time and flickered off into the distance, moving towards the Land Of Fire swiftly so that he could find the squad that would be sent after him. On his way there, as he jumped pass a random tree, he noticed a figure standing there wearing a long black robe littered with red clouds and around his head was something resembling a venus fly trap. Tendo stopped immediately and turned around to face the man with an eager smile on his face.

'Zetsu.'