—Trouble! The sage... he's dead!
The messenger, a breathless figure in an Anbu mask, brought news that made Jiraiya and Tsunade's faces turn to stone.
—Dead?" Jiraiya's voice cracked. He fixed the messenger with an incredulous look. Impossible! Had they just breathed a sigh of relief, deciding that the threat in the face of Uchiha Yue had finally been eliminated, and now they were being told that this indestructible master had fallen?
Some kind of bad dream.
"What wise man?" Speak more clearly!
Tsunade, unlike him, remained icily calm. She coldly clarified the details—perhaps it was about someone else.
However, Anbu's explanation made her stagger. There wasn't enough air. He was indeed defeated.
The hermit they had pinned all their hopes on, whose strength seemed absolute, was defeated so quickly?
It was akin to falling from a peak into an abyss. One moment they were standing at the peak of triumph, seeing the long—awaited victory, and the next they were already flying into the abyss of despair. No sooner had one messenger brought the news of Uchiha Yue's imminent end, than another reported the death of the one who was supposed to ensure this end.
Who can take such a blow?
The feeling of being given hope first and then being ruthlessly ripped out of one's hands was maddening.
Aren't the Sennins omnipotent? The hermit, who had lived for countless centuries and appeared in the world of Shinobi for the first time in history, had to act with certainty. How could he lose?
Jiraiya was crushed. He stubbornly rejected the idea that if the sages were truly invincible, the Great Hermit Toad would have come to incinerate Uchiha Yue himself, and would not have been looking for him, Jiraiya, with a prophecy about the end of the world. After all, it was not just about a crisis, but about the threat of total annihilation. If it were possible to kill such a monster, who would let it walk the earth?
Wasn't it because they were inactive that it was impossible to defeat him?
"Or are we all in genjutsu?"
The serene confidence disappeared from the faces of Tsunade and Jiraiya. They were replaced by a heavy, gloomy silence.
Why did he lose? If he didn't have absolute confidence, why did he get involved in the fight in the first place? Was it suicide?
They didn't know that the White Snake Sage had absolute confidence. It's just... things didn't go according to plan.
"I'm going to Mount Myoboku,— Jiraiya finally said, and without waiting for an answer, he left the Hokage's office.
"Little Jiraiya, why are you here?" Shima asked, looking at his worried face.
"I know why you're here,— Fukasaku interjected. "If you're talking about those monstrous fluctuations in power, then yes. It was the Sage of the White Snake from the Ryuchi Cave.
"So it really was a hermit?" There was a desperate note in Jiraiya's voice. "What's wrong with him?" Was he really unable to defeat Uchiha Yue?
Fukasaku shook his head heavily, and there was bitterness in his voice. — The Ryuchi Cave has been destroyed. The Sage of the White Snake combined all the power of his abode in an inconceivable way, absorbed a huge amount of natural energy and ... lost.
The words of the Great Hermit Toad echoed in his mind.
The Sage of the White Snake is dead. The Ryuchi Cave has been wiped off the face of the earth.
Although toads disliked snakes, the three great holy lands had been supporting each other for centuries. Minor frictions did not affect the ancient alliance. Now one of them is gone. Completely. Fukasaka felt a dull sense of powerlessness at the thought. If Ryuchi has fallen, how long will their Myoboku Mountain last?
How could such a monster appear in this world? An incarnate natural disaster capable of trampling sacred lands that were considered inviolable.
But the worst part was that the Great Hermit Toad was silent. No new prophecies, no visions about Uchiha Yue's fate. Perhaps if he had more time, he would be able to discern a new thread in the pattern of the future.
But there was no more time.
— Lost… He really lost… This world... can it still be saved? Jiraiya backed away, lowering his head.
He swore to Orochimaru that he would find a way. But as the days passed, there was no solution. Or rather, it was naive and desperate. He and Tsunade flattered themselves with the thought that Yue's Will of Fire was still smoldering in his heart, and his actions were only the result of a force out of control. It was all the fault of the cursed Danzo, whose thirst for power over the Uchiha clan drove the young man to madness.
It seemed to them that all they had to do was stand in front of Yue, reach out to the remnants of his soul, and he would realize his mistakes. He will repent and atone for the devastated village and the murdered Hokage by ripping open his stomach, as White Fang once did.
Those who do not carry the Will of Fire within themselves will never understand its greatness. But Hiruzen and the others had made a mistake, allowing someone like Danzo to do his dark deeds. If it had been him, Jiraiya, he would have killed the old schemer before he poisoned the village with his poison.
It's easy, of course, to reason when Danzo is already dead. If he were alive, Jiraiya probably wouldn't have dared to touch him. After all, Konoha needed this "darkness"... at least, that's what they always told him.
What difference does it make now? Even if there was still something of the boy they knew in Yue's heart, how could they get to him? They couldn't even get close to him.
— There is hope! It has to be! Shima jumped onto Jiraiya's shoulder, trying to encourage him. "Little Jiraiya, keep looking for the Child from the Prophecy!" I believe his appearance will save our world!
But will the Child from the Prophecy help when the very path of fate is distorted beyond recognition? The original pattern was irrevocably ruined by the hand of someone who fancied himself the arbiter of fate, but instead of salvation brought only death.