Orochimaru tried everything, even physical isolation. He bought up any materials that could serve as a barrier: from industrial metals to precious ones, from the rarest alloys to the purest minerals. All for one goal: to find something capable of containing Uchiha Yue's "sphere of dead silence," his all-consuming emptiness.
But time was woefully short. Orochimaru had never succeeded. He wasn't even sure if a substance capable of resisting this power existed in nature, and he could only blindly consider options. The lion's share of the funds Nagato had allocated to him vanished in this desperate search.
"Besides, I had too little time," Orochimaru said, a serpentine hiss in his voice. "I only began my research seven days ago. Leader, you're rushing things too fast. What can you create from scratch in a measly week?"
"Yes, I was impatient," Nagato replied hoarsely after listening.
He sighed helplessly. It wasn't impatience—it was a lack of choice. They had only a year left. No, less than that. A year was the time by which Yue's power would cover the entire planet, not just nine-tenths of its surface.
With each passing day, the world would become more hostile. The ecosystem would collapse, eighty percent of humanity would perish, and the pitiful remnants of survivors would huddle in the last bastions of life, dying in the icy grip of eternal winter.
And the most terrifying thing was that Uchiha Yue wasn't a blind natural disaster, but a sentient being. He could move. When the world was on the brink of destruction, he would only need to take a few steps to sever the last thread of life. The end of everything.
From the moment the first cell was born in the primordial ocean, from the day ancient organisms crawled onto dry land, to the current fragile dawn of civilization—this entire grand community called "life," which had existed for billions of years, would crumble into nothingness.
Everything would become emptiness. Everything would return to oneness.
Everything would become nothing but food for the cultivation of a single being, beyond all imagination. There was no time.
Of course, they had the invincible Uchiha Madara. At worst, they could hide in Kamui's dimension and wait until Uchiha Yue died of old age. Then he, Nagato, would become the god of a new world... the god of silence and emptiness.
However, beyond his deep-seated distrust of the man who called himself Madara, Nagato was plagued by another doubt. Yue was alive. He was not a walking corpse or a mindless technique. He was a being capable of learning, evolving, and, most dangerously, possessing curiosity.
How reliable was Kamui's dimension? Would it truly save them? Nothing stopped Yue from exploring the world around him. What if one day he became intrigued by the nature of this Kamui? What if he followed them there?
Then they would be trapped. Beasts in a cage with no escape.
Nagato refused to accept such a future, steeped in hopelessness, under any circumstances.
Orochimaru left dejected. The urgency in Nagato's voice now weighed heavily on him. He instantly grasped the depth of his leader's fears, and they became his own. Orochimaru was still young, he had mastered the techniques of eternal life, and he had no intention of dying, crushed like an ant by the onslaught of Yue's all-consuming power. In the face of such absolute catastrophe, his so-called immortality seemed a ridiculous farce.
What use was the ability to be reborn anywhere in the world if the world itself ceased to exist? Where would he be resurrected if Yue simply destroyed the planet?
"Danzo... Master, how blind were you to allow this monster to gain power! If only Danzo had died earlier and left the Uchiha clan untouched…"
"And you, Lord Second… Why did you ever raise that monster!"
Returning to base, Orochimaru shook his head gloomily. Every time he thought of Danzo, he seethed with rage. He wanted to go back in time, personally strangle the old bastard, and trumpet to the world the true threat the Uchiha clan posed.
No, not so they would be attacked. But so that everyone would recognize the horror hidden within them and never, under any circumstances, dare provoke them. Let them continue to serve peacefully in the Konoha police force.
If the world knew the Uchiha were capable of producing such a monster as Yue, anyone who dared touch them would incur the wrath of all the great nations. After such a precedent, the Uchiha clan, in the eyes of the world, transformed from an elite family with a rare dōjutsu into a scattering of unstable bombs, ready to explode at the slightest spark and take down all living things.
"Luckily, there are only two left in the clan now: Yue and Sasuke... Oh, and there's Madara, but he doesn't count anymore..."
Orochimaru breathed a sigh of relief. If one Uchiha was so terrifying, what would happen if they faced an entire clan of such creatures? Who knows what kind of power might awaken within them on the brink of death.
And although he still desired the Sharingan, Orochimaru had no intention of touching Uchiha Sasuke. Unlike that old bastard Madara, who had long ago awakened his Mangekyō, Sasuke hadn't yet.
Who knows what kind of monster he'll create if he corners the boy? The world can't withstand another apocalypse.
"If only I'd known earlier how amazing their blood is..."
Orochimaru shook his head again. Before Yue appeared, who would have thought the Sharingan held the potential to destroy the world? If only he'd gotten his hands on even a drop of Uchiha blood back then...
No, though. No "ifs." Even if he returned to the past knowing the truth, he wouldn't dare touch any of them. Ignorance is one thing, but to risk it with full knowledge of the consequences? Was he tired of life?
Thinking about this, Orochimaru began preparing the ritual. The lines of an ominous seal appeared on the floor.
"The wisdom of one man is limited... It's time to summon a genius from the past."
He folded his hands in the correct order.
"Rise again, Second Hokage. And save this damned world."