The things Orochimaru had Gojo Yoru buy were camping supplies.
Backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, water flasks, cooking tools, and so on...
Only two items had nothing to do with camping: Storage Scrolls and Ration Pills.
Gojo Yoru still had plenty of those at home, so there was no need to buy more.
After buying all the equipment, Gojo Yoru took Uzumaki Kushina to buy cameras—two of them, one for each of them.
Although digital products were extremely expensive in this era, the cost meant nothing to Gojo Yoru.
Not to mention the rewards he had earned from missions lately, which only had to be split with the village and Orochimaru. With no other two teammates taking their shares, he earned far more than other Genin.
The Gojo Family's inheritance alone was enough for Gojo Yoru to squander for many years.
By the time they finished buying cameras, it was already dinner time.
"Yoru, we're leaving the village for a mission tomorrow. Be careful, and take lots of photos."
"What, no group photo?"
"Not dressed like this. I don't want to take a picture with you."
After dinner at Gojo Yoru's home, Uzumaki Kushina eagerly rushed back to tinker with her new toy.
After seeing Uzumaki Kushina off, Gojo Yoru took the camping equipment down to the basement and packed it away with Storage Scrolls, compressing a large number of items into a single backpack.
As he organized everything, Gojo Yoru could not help complaining inwardly, I clearly awakened a Space-Time Bloodline, yet I don't even have a personal storage space. That's seriously embarrassing.
I wonder if the principle behind Storage Scrolls can be applied to the body's Chakra points, transforming them into a storage dimension? Other people can't do it because they don't have Space-Time Power within them, nor can they draw Space-Time Power into their bodies. But not only am I not lacking Space-Time Power, I also have the Uzumaki Clan's Scroll of Sealing to help me.
The more Gojo Yoru thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
Because this was practically an alternative version of the Yin Seal.
But for now, Gojo Yoru only dared to think about it.
After putting all the Storage Scrolls into his backpack, Gojo Yoru rummaged through a box and soon pulled out two white wristbands.
These two wristbands were also a type of Storage Scroll, generally used to store Shuriken and Kunai.
Gojo Yoru used them to store his Chakra Blade and camera instead.
Once he was done, Gojo Yoru carried his backpack out of the basement, took a bath, and went to sleep.
The next day, at 8:50 in the morning.
Gojo Yoru arrived at the village entrance ten minutes early with his backpack on his back, waiting for Orochimaru.
Orochimaru did not keep him waiting long, quickly appearing with a Body Flicker.
"Teacher Orochimaru."
"Lord Orochimaru!"
Gojo Yoru immediately bowed. The two Chunin stationed at the village entrance did the same.
As the Third Hokage's most prized disciple, Orochimaru inspired just as much admiration now as he would fear in the future.
When the two Chunin heard how Gojo Yoru addressed Orochimaru, the way they looked at him instantly changed.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Orochimaru nodded to Gojo Yoru, then took out two stamped permits to leave the village and handed them to the Chunin. "Sorry for the trouble."
"Not at all. Please wait a moment, Lord Orochimaru." The two Chunin were flattered and quickly verified the documents before letting them through.
After ten years in this world, Gojo Yoru was leaving the village openly for the first time.
Seeing that Orochimaru had not used Body Flicker to travel and had appeared alone earlier, Gojo Yoru finally could not help asking, "Teacher Orochimaru, what mission are we carrying out?"
"An S-Rank mission."
"Huh?"
Gojo Yoru stared blankly at Orochimaru, feeling as though he had misheard him.
Orochimaru was very satisfied with Gojo Yoru's expression and repeated with an amused smile, "An S-Rank mission. Are you afraid?"
Coming back to his senses, Gojo Yoru's lips curved upward as he deliberately bragged, "No. Geniuses are meant to do what ordinary people cannot."
Gojo Yoru did not believe Orochimaru would take him to his death.
If they truly encountered danger, the worst case was exposing his Space-Time Bloodline.
During their time together, Gojo Yoru had come to acknowledge Orochimaru as he was at this point in time, and he had mentally prepared himself for Orochimaru to learn his secret.
Orochimaru, who had yet to go dark and develop the Cursed Seal of Heaven, would only be happy to learn that Gojo Yoru possessed a Space-Time Bloodline.
Orochimaru respected others' privacy greatly and knew Gojo Yoru liked to hide his abilities. Even now, he had never asked how Gojo Yoru concealed his Chakra presence when using the Phantom Body Flicker Technique.
Naturally, Orochimaru had no idea where Gojo Yoru's confidence came from.
Seeing no fear on Gojo Yoru's face, he smiled and explained, "Your courage is commendable, but this S-Rank mission is rather special. It's an intelligence-gathering mission."
"Intelligence gathering? We're collecting information?"
"Yes. Prepare to camp in the wild for a long time. This will be an agonizing wait."
"Understood."
Gojo Yoru soon discovered why Orochimaru called it an agonizing wait.
Over the next half month, Orochimaru led Gojo Yoru through uninhabited places such as forests, snow-covered mountains, and deserts.
Gojo Yoru excelled in cultural studies, so even without looking at a map, he knew which countries Orochimaru had taken him to.
The forest lay at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rivers, the snow mountains were in the Land of Iron, and the desert was in the Land of Wind.
The key was that Orochimaru brought Gojo Yoru to those places not to do anything, but to... wait.
Sometimes they waited for a day, sometimes two or three days, before going somewhere and retrieving a scroll.
As for what was inside the scrolls, Gojo Yoru did not know, and Orochimaru did not show him.
During this period, Gojo Yoru's only role was cooking for Orochimaru.
Someone with Uzumaki Naruto's personality would have lost patience long ago.
But Gojo Yoru was extremely patient with solitude. He spent every day training to pass the time and never complained.
Obedient children received rewards.
That evening, Orochimaru watched Gojo Yoru boil water for his bath and suddenly asked, "Did Sa and Mio leave you a Summoning Scroll?"
With his back to Orochimaru, Gojo Yoru's breathing immediately caught.
Steadying his emotions as quickly as possible, Gojo Yoru turned to look at Orochimaru and shook his head. "A scroll for Summoned Beasts? No, they didn't."
Orochimaru asked with a smile, "Then do you dislike snakes?"
"Of course not. I think snakes are really cool creatures." Gojo Yoru shook his head repeatedly.
"In that case, make a contract with Ryūchi Cave, just like I did."
Orochimaru bit his finger and formed hand seals, summoning a Giant Snake.
The Giant Snake spat out an enormous scroll, which landed before Orochimaru.
Orochimaru opened the scroll and said to Gojo Yoru, "Use your blood to write your name on the scroll. Then you'll be able to use the Summoning Technique to summon the snakes of Ryūchi Cave to assist you in battle."
"Yes, Teacher Orochimaru."
Gojo Yoru no longer hid the delight in his heart, his face full of excitement.
He had finally gotten the Ryūchi Cave scroll!
As long as he formed a contract with Ryūchi Cave, once he had enough chakra, Gojo Yoru could cultivate Ryūchi Cave's Sage Arts and transform his chakra into space-time Sage Art chakra.
Space-Time Chakra formed by fusing three types of energy was already powerful enough. He could not imagine what kind of boost he would receive after adding Nature Energy!
Before you continue