Jiraiya sighed heavily, trying to stop shaking. A day has passed since Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others went to the Region of Dead Silence — to certain death. Their plan was ridiculously simple and arrogant: to find Uchiha Yue, appeal to his "Will of Fire," force him to repent and commit suicide. Now, they were faced with the deafening truth: there was no hint of this very Will in Yue's heart.
He didn't even care about the title of Hokage. And what now?
What could Konoha do against such a man? Their entire strategy was based on a single, as it turned out, false assumption. They had no other plans.
Back in the day when Yue awakened the Mangekye Sharingan, his might was enough to single-handedly crush the village. He's only gotten stronger since then. Their only hope was a flaw in his strength—a certain weakness that hampered his movements.
But what did this knowledge give them? Is it possible to defeat a hurricane by knowing which way it is blowing? They say the Shinobi war is an intelligence war. But against absolute strength, any information is useless.
Cornered, they decided to take a desperate step: to seek help from other villages. There's almost no time left. The Daimyo gave them a month, but more than half of the time had already been spent on pointless preparations for the march to the Region of Dead Silence.
In fact, the whole Country of Fire had a month left. According to gloomy forecasts, in three months from the moment of Yue's awakening, less than a third of their homeland will remain. It will be virtually wiped off the face of the earth, leaving only pathetic patches on the outskirts. Konoha will have to run away, leaving behind everything she has ever known.
Broken by this prospect, the elders of Konoha abandoned the idea of defeating Uchiha Yue alone. Perhaps, only by combining the power and wisdom of the entire Shinobi world, they will be able to stop him.
But will their call for alliance succeed? Will other villages listen to them?
The existing alliance was a fiction created to divert the eyes of the wise men from Mount Myoboku in exchange for the secrets of senjutsu. Contracts are strong only when the parties intend to comply with them. That pact was an empty formality from the very beginning. If the great villages really needed an alliance, they would have concluded it long ago — without Konoha's participation. And although Konoha could have joined later, enduring ridicule and making concessions, her own pride and the intrigues of Iwagakure buried this idea.
—Ha ha ha! Ridiculous! Are these people from Konoha completely crazy?
In Kumogakura, Raikage Hey was laughing, pounding his fist on the table. The letter in his hand seemed like the most ridiculous joke he had ever read in his life. In it, Konoha, admitting the failure of her mission, begged to convene a Council of Five Kages. Uchiha Yue, the letter said, turned out to be a monster without honor and the Will of Fire, whose power is irresistible.
Hey crumpled up the parchment and threw it into the basket.
He thought they had some kind of clever plan. But it turned out to be pure madness. To hunt a man to a pulp, cut out his clan, and then expect that a couple of pompous words about "duty to the village" will force him to commit suicide?
What a mockery.
"Escort the envoy from Konoha out!"
—But we…
— We have our own plan!
In Iwagakura, two Shinobi were already dragging a messenger from Konoha to the exit.
— no! Mr. Tsuchikage, you can't! The messenger shouted desperately, struggling. — Uchiha Yue is invincible! You can't beat him alone! Only by joining forces will we save the Shinobi world!
He was willing to die on the spot if only Onoki would agree. But his life was worthless. He was thrown out of the gates of the Tsuchikage residence like a stray dog.
Failure.
Iwagakura was not impressed by Konoha's failure. And there was a reason. If they had reported that they had thrown all their forces at Yue, neutralized his territory and fell after three hundred rounds of fierce battle, that would have been a different conversation. This would prove that the enemy is indeed invincible.
But what did Konoha do?
They spent all their strength to get to him, and instead of fighting, they tried to beat him to death with some kind of "Will of Fire." Are they sane? Although the letter did not contain all the details, Onoki perfectly understood the essence of this surreal nonsense.
On the same day, Konoha's envoys were ignominiously kicked out of other villages. Konoha's failure was so absurd that it was impossible to learn a single useful lesson from it.