Time passed, but nothing happened. In the oppressive silence, broken only by the howling of the wind, anxiety grew.
It shouldn't be like this.
The plan was simple: if Uchiha Yue was dead, the anomalous zone he had created would disappear. Hiruzen and the others will return victorious. But there was not the slightest movement, no sign, no change. The colossal energy they had invested in this mission had sunk into the abyss without producing any result. How is this possible?
Impossible.
A few more agonizing minutes passed. The red-hot waves of air continued to roll in from that direction, the fierce wind howled, and the area of dead silence, ominous and unshakable, continued to spread. There was still no sign of Sarutobi Hiruzen and his squad.
— Failure… How could we fail? Not happening…
Jiraiya sank limply to the ground. He stared into the darkness before him, and his mind refused to accept reality. Heaven only knew how he had been waiting for this moment. He had replayed this scene in his head so many times: Yue's prostrate body, which he would mock. He will resurrect him with the help of Edo Tensei to enjoy the agony of the enemy, who will discover the whole truth about their plan. He would make him suffer in endless agony of despair.
Jiraiya dreamed of creating a jutsu that would return the feeling of pain to the resurrected body. He would chop off Uchiha Yue's manhood, chop him into bloody mincemeat, and force him to devour himself. He would cut him into thousands of pieces... all because of that damn Uchiha! Because of him, Jiraiya lost the most precious thing. Uchiha Itachi and Shimura Danzo, these two idiots, of course, are also disgusting, but at least they were Konoha's people, not like that freak Yue…
He had planned everything so brilliantly, waited so long... and everything had collapsed?
Why is it failing again?!
"It looks like they didn't even get to him," Tsunade's voice, unlike Jiraiya's, sounded like cold analysis, not despair. "We underestimated his power. That means we'll need more chakra. And the technology is more advanced.
Her logic was impeccable. The zone showed no activity — only rapid growth at the beginning, and now a stable, slow expansion. This could only mean one thing: Sarutobi Hiruzen and his companions had fallen along the way, never reaching their destination. After all, if they had run into Yue, he would certainly have reacted, wouldn't he? Any action he took would have affected the anomaly's behavior by giving them a signal. But there were no signals.
"Come on." Let's go back to the village and apply Edo Tensei. Then everything will be clear.
Although Tsunade said this, deep down they were both sure that the squad had died without encountering the enemy. The idea that they could have met Yue, but there was not a drop of the Will of Fire in his heart, that he did not care about the village, seemed blasphemous to them. They have long convinced themselves that Uchiha Yue is the bearer of the Will of Fire and is secretly devoted to Konoha.
They will certainly seize his power! That was their blind faith.
That's why Hiruzen's guess was correct: if he hadn't survived, Tsunade and the others would have continued to send people to their deaths trying to "reach out" to Yue. And they would eventually attribute the failure to summon souls to the fact that they were absorbed into the zone along the way, never realizing that their plan had failed at the very last, crucial step.
After returning to Konoha, they performed the ritual without delay. The result was depressing: it was not possible to summon Shimura Danzo and Uchiha Itachi. But it wasn't a complete failure. At least Sarutobi Hiruzen is back.
The eyes in the ritual coffin slowly opened. Hiruzen's gaze was filled with immense, universal weariness. He looked at the students frozen in front of him and mentally breathed a sigh of relief. "Danzo, Itachi... thank you. Your strength helped me survive."
He was on the verge of oblivion.
The next moment, the old man's face distorted. He realized that he couldn't feel his body below his neck—he could only blink and speak. But before he could utter a word, his body crumbled to dust, leaving behind a lifeless shell of dirt and ashes. Only his head rested on this fragile pedestal, like a terrible trophy.
—Teacher!
Jiraiya and Tsunade rushed forward in horror. The failure to summon Danzo and Itachi had already thrown them into confusion, but what happened to the successfully resurrected Hiruzen was beyond comprehension.
Did Edo Tensei's technique fail? Impossible. Or else…
— Uchiha Yue's strength has increased so much that he has learned to absorb souls. Danzo and Itachi died there forever.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's head, resting on his crumbling body, spoke, and there was a chilling weariness in his voice. He wasn't going to tell them how he had consumed Danzo and Itachi to save himself. The past is dead. The main thing is that he's alive.
—What?" Devour souls?!
The teacher's words came out of the blue. So that's the thing! It wasn't the technique that failed — Shimura Danzo and Uchiha Itachi were completely destroyed, body and soul. Edo Tensei is powerless without a soul.
"What a monster… To consume souls… Those eyes… Those eyes!
Jiraiya clenched his fists, looking at the eerie remains of the teacher. Greed for Uchiha Yue's eyes flared up in his soul with renewed vigor, but now it was mixed with primal fear. If earlier death in that zone left a chance for a return, now it meant final and complete oblivion.
If only Konoha could get this power…
—Teacher, your body..." Tsunade whispered, unable to look away. — There's only one head left. Is everything else... consumed?
"My body is gone..." Hiruzen breathed bitterly, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he turned his heavy gaze back on them.
"Jiraiya, Tsunade, drop your guesses. Didn't you think that we died on the way without meeting him? Have you decided that we just disappeared into the darkness?..