"So this is it... the power of Uchiha Yue," one of them breathed, peering into the shimmering air. "The power that, single-handedly, nearly reduced Konoha to ashes."
"The rumors don't lie," the second replied. "They say he's already comparable to the First Hokage. Looking at this... I'm beginning to believe it. To confront an entire village and send it fleeing... Such a feat truly is something only gods can do."
Two shinobi froze at the edge of the dead zone. The space before them distorted, as if the world were being viewed through a thick, cloudy glass. They were scouts from Sunagakure.
News of the upheaval in Konoha—the death of the Hokage and its finest fighters—spread across the world like wildfire. The Kage of the other great villages smelled blood. Konoha, once the undisputed hegemon, receiving the most lucrative missions and the lion's share of rewards, was now weak and vulnerable. Predators began to converge, eager to snatch a piece.
But before pounced on a wounded lion, he needed to understand the beast that had inflicted the wound. And if the opportunity presented itself, lure that beast to his side. A warrior betrayed and heartbroken by his own village could become an invaluable ally.
Their village, Suna, would take the place of Leaf Village. It would become the new strongest, a bastion of power and prosperity. The thought of an endless stream of missions, fame, and fortune brought a faint smile to the jounin leading the squad.
He created a shadow clone and sent it forward with a silent gesture. The duplicate took a few steps deeper into the distorted zone and silently burst like a soap bubble. Not a single scrap of information, not a single memory, returned to the original. The chakra had been completely absorbed.
The second attempt was more cautious. The new clone froze at the very edge. Feeling the power draining from him, he managed to dissipate himself, passing on the last of his sensations to his master.
"The information is confirmed," concluded the jounin, the squad leader. "This place is draining chakra."
He stepped to the edge and carefully plunged his hand into the haze. He felt the chakra begin to slowly but inexorably drain from his body. However, the speed was slow. He estimated that he could run from here to Konoha in a single breath. The risk seemed acceptable.
The order from the Kazekage Rasa surfaced in his memory. The jounin considered it for a moment. Find Uchiha Yue. Offer him a new home. If they can win over a warrior equal to the shinobi gods, their village will gain unimaginable power. The daimyo will shower them with gold, and missions will flow like water. And then the Fourth Kazekage will no longer have to humiliate himself by panning for gold dust in the desert to replenish his meager coffers.
This dream was worth the slight risk. Besides, if anything went wrong, he could always retreat. The absorption rate at the boundary was negligible.
Giving brief orders to the remaining genin and chunin, he resolutely stepped over the line and took off, racing deeper into the dead zone. According to the reports, Uchiha Yue should be at its very heart.
He just had to get there…
He didn't know that the zone's power grew exponentially the closer it got to the center. At the boundary, its touch was light, but deeper, it became a suffocating grip.
He also didn't know that this anomaly absorbed more than just chakra. It sucked out life itself: heat, bioelectric impulses, the chemical energy of cells. All living things became food for Uchiha Yue's power. The informants, hesitant to enter themselves, reported only the tip of the iceberg. And whoever peered into the abyss could never return and tell of it.
Meanwhile, in Konoha, a new, far more favorable version of events was being born. Could the village leadership admit to the villagers that their legendary hero, the invincible Sannin Jiraiya, had entered the enemy's domain without even seeing their face? That he had fled, nearly dying, and returned only thanks to the self-sacrifice of his men?
No, such a truth was poison.
And Konoha, desperate for a hero, wove a new legend. Jiraiya, the great hermit, had clashed with Uchiha Yue in a fierce battle. They fought for three hundred rounds, shaking the earth. And in the end, the invincible Jiraiya was defeated, losing only a tiny bit.
This version was far more dignified. It lifted morale. The Third Hokage had fallen at Yue's hand, but Jiraiya had survived! Which means the enemy isn't omnipotent. It means he can be defeated!
"Lord Jiraiya survived!"
"So this monster can be defeated after all!"
"Damn, I'd give my life to see a battle like that!"
This white lie became a balm for Konoha's wounds. If not for the Sannin's grave condition, the streets would have been filled with celebrations.
And no one—not even the common people, not even the majority of shinobi—could have guessed that their hero hadn't even seen the shadow of his enemy. That he had fled without looking back, and if not for the loyal ninja who shielded him, all that remained of Jiraiya would have been a cooling corpse.
Only the dead knew the truth. And as long as Jiraiya himself and a few initiates remained silent, no one would have been able to uncover the truth.
And what about Uchiha Yue? Firstly, he would never explain anything to those he considered the walking dead.
And secondly… he had no idea about it.