After two days of trekking, Orochimaru and Rengoku's clone finally arrived in the Land of Rivers.
They quickly joined up with Jiyan and the others.
Rengoku and Orochimaru came to the barrier at the bottom of the cliff from before.
Orochimaru looked at the barrier a few times, "Such an ancient barrier technique."
"It's actually being sustained by natural energy."
Rengoku also stepped forward to take a closer look, and in just a moment he had already analyzed the barrier completely.
"Let's handle the main business first."
Rengoku said this, then led Orochimaru inside.
After passing through the barrier and looking down, the ancient ruins came into view.
The two came to the edge of the cliff, below was at least several hundred meters deep.
"Let's go! Next step!", Rengoku knew that there was nothing dangerous in these ruins.
Orochimaru, besides trusting Rengoku, was also bold thanks to his skill.
Both of them leapt down together, diving toward the ruins shrouded in mist.
With gravity accelerating them, after more than ten seconds they neared the ground.
Orochimaru made several hand seals.
Wind Style, Raging Whirl!
He immediately blew out a small tornado, the great wind current carrying his body.
Orochimaru cut across in an arc, landing gracefully on the ground.
Rengoku, like a diver, dropped straight into a shadow on the ground.
He emerged from the shadow, making hand seals.
Fire Style, Ghost Lantern!
Around Rengoku, fist-sized fireballs appeared one by one, lighting up the surroundings brightly.
Orochimaru surveyed the area.
"This kind of architectural style, it must be at least a thousand years old."
Rengoku shrugged, "Exactly how many years, I don't know, but it should be quite a long time."
Orochimaru stuck out his tongue to sense, "The air here is very dry, so there shouldn't be any living creatures, otherwise it wouldn't be preserved this well."
"Where did you say the Gelel ore was?"
Orochimaru sighed once, then immediately returned to the matter at hand.
"Look for something like an altar, three pillars joined together in the middle, from there we can proceed."
Orochimaru nodded slightly, stretched out his hand, and countless snakes slithered out from his sleeve.
Hissing sounds echoed as they poured into the darkness.
Since they'd already reached this point, Rengoku wasn't in any rush and just let Orochimaru search.
"Your eye technique is not simple," Orochimaru said with a deep tone.
Rengoku had previously said he could see all sorts of futures.
If he were just a Uchiha, it would make sense if he could see things in Konoha.
But this was the Land of Rivers, it didn't add up.
Rengoku chuckled, "I never said it was my own future I was seeing."
"Oh?", Orochimaru showed a curious look.
Rengoku raised a finger and traced a circle in the air, "In every world, there are always some especially important people."
"These special people often lead the development of an entire era."
"In the past, Madara and Hashirama were like that."
"They had many titles, 'Child of Destiny,' 'Chosen One,' 'Prophesied Child,' and so on."
"This place will be discovered, centuries later, by the descendants of one such Child of Destiny after it became ruins."
Orochimaru's eyes reflected thought, "There really are so-called Children of Destiny?"
Rengoku wagged his left index finger, "There were before, but not anymore."
"If there are now, it can only be us."
Orochimaru licked his face with his tongue, clearly pleased with Rengoku's answer.
"Not bad. It can only be us."
By this time, some snakes had already slithered back.
"Found it, let's go," Orochimaru called out, and he and Rengoku quickly went deeper into the ruins.
Before long they arrived at a deep pit at the bottom.
From the layout, it looked like an altar, but after so many years, its appearance was no longer clear.
"Is it here?", Orochimaru looked at Rengoku.
Rengoku thought for a moment. Although he didn't know the exact mechanism, he knew the real Gelel ore was beneath.
"Follow me!"
Rengoku leapt up, and in midair his Susanoo appeared.
With a loud boom, one punch smashed into the ground, instantly opening up a huge hole.
Without hesitation Rengoku jumped in, and Orochimaru followed.
Again they fell for more than ten seconds, and again Orochimaru used a Wind Style to cancel the fall, so the two landed safely.
They walked forward.
Beneath was a sealed stone chamber. Rengoku looked around, the walls were covered with ancient murals.
Time had worn them, the colors faded, but they seemed to record the ancient empire and the terrifying power of the Gelel Stone.
In the end, the empire was destroyed because of it.
Just another story, but Rengoku and Orochimaru had no interest.
Rengoku immediately checked the array on the ground; this was the key to the ore vein.
If they acted recklessly, it could trigger a space-time explosion.
Orochimaru, himself an expert in arrays, said, "The Gelel vein you mentioned should be right above us, but this formation here is only barely holding together."
Rengoku nodded slightly, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
"I'll set up a new sealing technique to neutralize this formation."
"Then we can extract the Gelel ore."
Orochimaru's interest rose, "You even innovated on Kushina and Miroku's sealing techniques, didn't you?"
Rengoku quickly formed seals with both hands, palms overlapping, and from his body flew out enormous seals into the air.
More and more appeared, until they filled the whole space.
His hand signs shifted, and the seals changed with them.
"Orochimaru, break the dome!", Rengoku barked.
Orochimaru waved his hand, countless wind blades slicing out, cutting the dome into a net, which collapsed down.
A heavy mist of water drifted down from above.
He stretched out his hand and under the wind's guidance, the mist gathered into thin streams.
Orochimaru licked it off his tongue.
At once, he felt a surge of life energy enter his body.
"This is the legendary Water of Life!"
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed, his whole body visibly trembling with excitement.
The dome continued to crumble, revealing the massive Gelel vein within.
The Gelel vein was a mineral that glowed faintly.
The glowing liquid inside the ore was the life-energy-filled Water of Life.
At the source of the vein, the Water of Life had accumulated into a floating pool in midair.
Rengoku knew this was the work of the formation here, but now the ground was trembling, the formation was unstable.
He spread his hands, and the seals in the air suddenly expanded outward.
Within their range, both the water waves and the shaking stopped.
Orochimaru's eyes showed amazement, "This sealing technique is something you developed?"
Rengoku's expression stayed calm, "Just a little trick. I've stopped the collapse of the seal for now, but it won't last long. Hurry."
Orochimaru nodded, forming hand seals, showing an astonishing mastery of ninjutsu control.
Still Wind Style, Danzo liked to puff his cheeks to blow.
Orochimaru only breathed out lightly, a breeze turning into a vortex, drawing the Water of Life down below.
He opened a storage scroll with a huge water character written on it.
The Water of Life streamed endlessly into the scroll.
Once one was full, Orochimaru pulled out another.
Repeating again and again, until after filling eight scrolls, the Water of Life floating above was drained away.
"Wait a moment."
Just as Rengoku was about to release the sealing technique, Orochimaru pointed at the ores, "These stones that once contained the Water of Life can't be left behind either."
"Even though we already have enough Water of Life, these ores are extremely rare in the outside world."
Rengoku gave a helpless laugh, "You really want to dig three feet into the ground, huh?"
Orochimaru replied seriously, "If necessary."
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