Hell was left behind, but its echo caught up with the fugitives.
— THE ROAR!
A dragon's roar broke the silence. A gigantic snake head burst out of the barrier of the Realm of Silence, breaking countless chains. It was a last, desperate dash.
—The monster… Izanagi!
With that cry of despair, Sage White Snake's last spark of hope sank into the abyss.
Orochimaru struggled to his feet, listening to the fading voice from the sky.
"Failure… Even the mighty Sage White Serpent had fallen… That's right, The Second One is sama..."
His gaze darted to where his teacher had just been. The void stretched ahead. Senju Tobirama's silhouette faded away, turning into a wavering haze, a handful of trembling particles of light. If it weren't for the vague outlines that barely resembled a human figure, Orochimaru would never have guessed that this was all that remained of the Second Hokage.
The body created by the technique of Unclean Resurrection and pushed to the limit finally failed and disintegrated into dust.
Inside the Realm of Silence.
Senju Tobirama's consciousness was fading away on earth from pure nothingness.
"So this is... Uchiha Yue's true power... truly... monstrous… Fortunately, Orochimaru will be able to summon me again. As long as he's okay..."
He tried to move his arm, but his body of dust and decay wouldn't obey. In this gloomy world where the light had almost disappeared, Tobirama did not notice how the very power he was trying to activate had turned to dust.
His physical form was gone. Is he really going back to the Pure Lands?
"No... no way... why am I still here...?"
Suddenly, his field of vision expanded dramatically. The invisible became apparent. His body... it could move again, albeit with incredible difficulty.
—What... what is this?"
In the distance, Orochimaru, who was about to run, froze in place. He glared at the spot where the Other One had disappeared. Something that became a little brighter and clearer slowly soared above the ground.
— This is…
"My soul!!!
Senju Tobirama's face twisted in shock. For the first time in his life, he felt her so clearly—his own soul. But in the next moment, an icy terror gripped his heart. Being in this state, he felt himself getting weaker. Incredibly slowly, he raised his ghostly hand and saw that it was becoming transparent.
"This thing... does it consume souls as well?!"!
Panic gripped him. He, Senju Tobirama, couldn't really die! Not now! He had to return so that Orochimaru could become Hokage and revive Konoha! He had to finish developing a sealing technique capable of restraining Uchiha Yue! Anyone could have died, but not him! He did not dare to allow the complete destruction of both body and soul!
"The soul... the soul of the Second-sama... that means..."
Orochimaru got it too. Despair gripped him. There was nothing he could do. To go there is certain death.
Fortunately for Tobirama, his worst fears did not come true. His soul did not disappear instantly, but only began to slowly fade away, attracted by an unknown force. He was returning to the Pure Lands. The gravitational force of the afterlife was stronger than the grip of the Kingdom of Silence. At least for now. Uchiha Yue had not yet reached the level where he could absorb souls instantly.
Tobirama could only thank his luck. Thank you for the fact that there is a Pure Land in this world — an unshakable haven for souls. Otherwise, he would have just stayed here, slowly dissolving into the enemy's power. Thank you for the fact that Yue, just like at the beginning of his journey, when he needed to kill to absorb the life force, was now slowly drawing out the energy of the spirit.
Otherwise, even the attraction of the Pure Lands would not be enough.
Seeing that the soul of the Second Hokage had disappeared, Orochimaru rushed away. He must return immediately and try to summon it again. If the Second-sama dies completely, his dream of becoming Hokage will crumble to dust.
And the Sage White Snake was broken. His gigantic body sprawled limply on the ground, incapable even of death throes. The flow of natural energy that he had so greedily absorbed had dried up. Countless chains bound his flesh, draining away the last remnants of his strength.
He looked at Uchiha Yue with a look that mixed impotence, regret, and pure despair.
Just a little more. So damn close!
His guess was correct: Yue was converting other types of energy into the power of his eyes. It was only necessary to kill him twice in a short period of time, without allowing him to convert enough energy for Izanagi. And then this pair of eyes would become his!
He was one step away from triumph. But this step proved to be an insurmountable chasm.
The loss of energy was already making him delirious. He could not soberly assess the situation and ask a simple question: if everything was so simple, would Uchiha Yue have allowed himself to be killed so easily? What if his energy conversion rate is actually unimaginably high?
To go blind one second, and to see again the next... no, Sage White Snake didn't even dare to think about it. He rejected such a terrifying, hopeless future to the depths of his soul.
But reality, as it often happens, turned out to be much more cruel. Uchiha Yue could resurrect indefinitely. He no longer cared about the so-called death. He might have been worried at first, but after being killed countless times by Ootsutsuki Ishiki, he realized that death was nothing.
—Heh... Sage White Snake." You're really strong…
Uchiha Yue looked at the defeated enemy with cold indifference and slowly rose into the sky. Susanoo flashed around him again, and the previously destroyed ring of energy concentration formed again. The sage rendered him an invaluable service: in addition to his own colossal power, he drew a huge amount of natural energy from the planet and fed it all to Yue.
Now, even without the ring, the range of his power was greater than before. And with him…
The Realm of Silence expanded dramatically again, completely absorbing the remains of the Sage of the White Snake. Orochimaru was lucky that he managed to escape.
"Survive... I have to... survive..."
"Damn body, move, move!" The Sage White Snake roared in his fading consciousness. His mental voice became weaker and weaker, more hopeless, and finally there was a note of pleading in it.…