This thought made Orochimaru act. He immediately folded the seals of the Summoning Technique, intending to summon Manda and clarify the situation.
However, something went wrong this time. Orochimaru felt a dead void where there should have been a connection with his snakes.
None of the calls worked.
This… This can't be happening!
"What's going on?"
Orochimaru folded the seals again, but there was only silence in response. And then, looking at the gigantic shadow that obscured the sky, he finally realized that trouble had befallen in the Ryuchi cave.
"Orochimaru, let's go!" Tobirama Senju shouted as he ran up.
Without hesitating for a second, they left the Realm of Dead Silence, moving to the top of a distant mountain.
Uchiha Yue... your hour has come!
A voice familiar to Orochimaru rang out, but now it boomed with superhuman power. A hurricane arose and thunder rumbled. The ground shook, splitting apart. Trees, rocks, and entire layers of earth soared into the air, swept away by the unstoppable movement of the Sage of the White Snake. He crushed the mountains that stood in his way without slowing down.
The peak where Orochimaru and Tobirama had taken refuge shook under their feet.
"Sage White Snake... there's no doubt about it, it's his voice!" Orochimaru covered his ears to escape the deafening roar. —But what the hell happened in Ryuchi?" Where did he get this monstrous power from?
His heart was frozen with perplexity.
But no matter how the elements raged outside, no matter how the world approached its destruction, the Kingdom of Dead Silence remained unshakable, immersed in absolute peace. Even the vibrations of the earth, reaching its borders, disappeared without a trace. Neither the hurricane nor the thunderous roar could shake this place. It seemed that even if the whole world turned to dust, the Realm of Dead Silence would remain unscathed.
And so it was. Earthquakes, wind, and sound waves are just forms of energy. And the Kingdom absorbed them completely, turning them into a force for its master.
The crash!
In the blink of an eye, a giant serpent with eight heads and eight tails, like a monster from ancient myths, coiled around the Realm of Dead Silence.
"Become a dragon! Become a god! Today is the day of my triumph!" — the thought beat in the snake's mind.
He's going to win. Undoubtedly, he will win. Uchiha Yue is still a youngster who has not had time to gain full strength. And he, the Sage of the White Snake, had reached the absolute peak of power, the highest point in his entire thousand-year life. He will never be as strong as he is now, neither in the past nor in the future.
Once he devours Uchiha Yue, takes possession of those eyes, and he will surpass even his current self, become a supreme being.
It's not the same as with Ootsutsuki Kaguya. Her absorption also promised unimaginable power, but the one that appeared in the Shinobi world was an incredible creature. He couldn't even scratch her. Attacking Kagyu would be suicide.
But Uchiha Yue is another matter. He is a baby, a god who has not yet become strong. Now is the perfect moment to challenge fate itself.
"The pitiful old hermit toad is still waiting for his prophecy,— thought the snake. —You fool. And I put everything on the line and struck first."
Meanwhile, in the center of the Realm of Dead Silence, Uchiha Yue lay quietly inside his Susanoo, with his eyes closed. He was honing a ninjutsu capable of sealing space-time itself. This was his main limitation: he was almost powerless against those who possessed such techniques. As long as there was even a drop of chakra left in their bodies, they could escape.
His power was still too young. It has not yet been like a black hole, whose colossal mass distorts the very fabric of space-time by its mere existence. He was far from that level. Too little time had passed since the battle against Isshiki, and his space suppression technique was still imperfect.
Suddenly, Yue abruptly opened his eyes.
His scarlet pupils stared expressionlessly into the distance. To outsiders, the Realm of Deathly Silence was an impenetrable darkness, absorbing light and sound. But for Yue, all the information contained in the absorbed light was available. He saw everything.
— Eight heads, eight tails… Yamata no Orochi? "I'm sorry," he muttered. "No... it must be Sage White Snake." Where did this old man get such power from?
At a glance, he appreciated the enormous amount of energy contained in the snake's body. Yes, he had too little time to develop. His current strength was enough to crush a Kage-level Shinobi with a single blow, but it was still difficult for him against true masters who surpassed this rank.
It's only been a little over twenty days. Some Shinobi honed their skills all their lives, but Yue, in these twenty days, surpassed them so much that he could probably kill them with one move.
At this very moment, the White Snake Sage's huge body had already closed the ring.
With boundless greed, he gazed at the darkness spread out before him. Even with his enormously increased strength, he couldn't make out Yue's figure, only vaguely sensing his colossal presence. When the light disappears, how can eyes that perceive only its reflection see anything in absolute darkness?
—Shhh... come to me, Uchiha Yue... become a part of me!" "Stop it!" he hissed, and his laughter, devoid of mirth, swept over the ravaged land.