Because Orochimaru's true body had indeed been devoured by Sasuke and still lurked within him, he would probably only emerge on the day of the decisive battle with Itachi Uchiha. But before then, Orochimaru had left behind quite a few contingencies.
The snake Moriyue received was one of them.
Although Orochimaru had successfully hidden himself within Sasuke, he had suppressed his life force and presence to the utmost in order to avoid exposing his identity. Ordinary people would never notice anything unusual.
Back to the matter at hand: this snake's sudden appearance had not been part of Moriyue's plans, but the information it brought was quite thought-provoking.
"Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode, summoning coordinates."
The snake's message was brief. There were ways to reach sage lands like Mount Myōboku or Ryūchi Cave, but leaving aside whether one could even find the way on foot, the time wasted traveling could be spent doing many other things.
There was another, more opportunistic method. Jiraiya had once saved a toad facing off against a giant snake, and later formed a contract with it. Yet this ninjutsu prodigy had reverse-summoned himself to Mount Myōboku, beginning his friendship with the two sages, Fukasaku and Shima.
"Orochimaru wants me to reverse-summon myself to Ryūchi Cave? By contracting with this little snake?"
"But I don't want to go to Ryūchi Cave right now. It'd be great if I could go to Shikkotsu Forest instead..."
Though the unexpected little surprise caught him off guard, he did not particularly want to visit Ryūchi Cave. At least for now, Shikkotsu Forest would be much more useful to him.
But then he reconsidered. There was no good alternative at the moment, and returning to Konoha might not be appropriate. The Three Great Sage Lands knew a little about one another, so perhaps