He could not help recalling the intelligence he had recently received: Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead, and Konoha had been destroyed.
When he first received the news, Orochimaru had not believed it at all. Unfortunately, after verifying it through multiple sources, he discovered that Konoha had indeed suffered a great calamity. He had heard that if they had not fled quickly, they would have been almost completely wiped out. Unfortunately, Orochimaru had been busy these past few days and could not spare the time. Now that he had finally become free, Nagato had dragged him here to listen to his nonsense about the world being destroyed.
Orochimaru felt a trace of irritation.
"No, I'm not joking, Zetsu."
Nagato shook his head and looked at Black Zetsu, who stood to one side.
Black Zetsu nodded, stepped forward, and took out a map displaying an image like the rings of a tree.
"You should all know about what recently happened in Konoha, right?"
Black Zetsu pinned the map to the blackboard beside him and asked.
Everyone nodded. As one of the strongest villages in the Ninja World, Konoha could not possibly keep such a major incident hidden. The major powers throughout the Ninja World had already learned of it.
"Then there is no problem. You should also know about the culprit who nearly destroyed Konoha—the monster. Look at this map, here..."
Black Zetsu nodded and began explaining. At first, Orochimaru and the others did not take it seriously. Orochimaru even reminded Black Zetsu of Uchiha Yue's name. But as Black Zetsu continued his explanation, their expressions gradually turned grave.
Orochimaru in particular stepped forward and stared fixedly at the map, asking whether it was real. After receiving an affirmative answer, his expression immediately darkened. During this process, Nagato also spoke up to explain Uchiha Yue's strength. When they learned that Uchiha Yue had fought Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, to a standstill with nothing but a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan—and that Nagato had even been slightly inferior in the end—they fell completely silent.
Nagato did not mention that he had been instantly defeated in a single move. It would have damaged his prestige too much.
"This ability cannot possibly have no upper limit. How could there be an ability in this world without limits? If such a thing existed, it would not be human—it would be a god. Perhaps Uchiha Yue will stop after absorbing energy for a while."
Orochimaru stepped forward, pinching his chin as he spoke with a grave expression. His speculation aligned with common sense. However, this world's nature was fundamentally counterintuitive; what intuition deemed true might not actually be true. Orochimaru naturally understood this as well, so he did not speak with certainty.
"Do you dare gamble on that, Orochimaru? And even if there is a limit, so what? Once Uchiha Yue's field covers forty to fifty percent of the world, this world will be more or less beyond saving. Even if it does not reach that point, once Uchiha Yue's field covers one-third—or even one-fifth—of this planet, it will be an unbearable catastrophe for the life in this world."
"You must understand, Uchiha Yue is a person—a living person who can move. Once he starts moving, he will become a moving calamity. And looking at him now, does he seem like someone who will stop growing?"
Black Zetsu spoke helplessly. Orochimaru immediately fell silent. Indeed, he did not dare gamble. Rather than betting that Uchiha Yue had limits, it would be better to find a way to kill him. But that monster was not weak; he could even defeat Nagato. How were they supposed to fight him?
Just imagining such a future filled Orochimaru with despair. No—if Uchiha Yue had merely been powerful, Orochimaru would not have felt so hopeless. No matter how strong someone was, he was still human, and there would always be a way to kill him. But the problem was that Uchiha Yue was surrounded by an Energy Absorption Field of enormous range, one that perfectly countered ninjas like them. After crossing such a vast distance to reach Uchiha Yue, how much Chakra would they have left in their bodies?
Uchiha Yue could probably slap them to death with ease.
Troublesome—far too troublesome. Orochimaru felt incomparably stumped.
If Uchiha Yue truly could grow without limit, or if, as Black Zetsu had said, he possessed the power to cover half the planet, then it would truly be the end of the world. Even Orochimaru would have no way to survive in such a world.
"Damn it, how could this happen? I only just developed the Reincarnation Technique. I still have such a long lifespan, so many ninjutsu I have yet to learn, and I have not yet developed a true, perfected resurrection technique. How can the world already be about to end?!"
At that thought, boundless sorrow and despair rose within Orochimaru, and his expression darkened.
"Shimura Danzō, you bastard! Why did you have to provoke the Uchiha Clan? Why did you have to attack the Uchiha Clan? Well, now look what happened! You got yourself killed and dragged innocent people like us down with you!"
Kakuzu's face was pale as he collapsed to the ground in despair, clutching his chest. He felt like he was about to die of anger. The current outcome had come about merely because Shimura Danzō wanted to wipe out the Uchiha Clan. That was all. Because of something like that, he had to be buried alongside Shimura Danzō. Kakuzu felt incomparably miserable and despairing.
He did not understand what was wrong with this world. Money—his money! There was still so much money in this world that he had not earned, and now the world was about to be destroyed. If he died, what would happen to all that money?
Uchiha Obito did not reveal his and Uchiha Itachi's actions. After all, if he did, would the blame for the world's destruction not fall onto his head?
Although he had indeed participated in the plan, Uchiha Itachi had invited him. He was not the mastermind. Besides, if the other members of the Akatsuki Organization learned about it, it could easily affect their internal unity.
Fine, in truth, the main reason was that the other ninjas might gang up on him and vent their resentment on him, making him the center of attention. That could expose his identity and affect the plan.
Fortunately, everyone who had participated that day, aside from him, was dead, so he did not need to worry about anyone learning what they had done.
"A way, a way... Other than killing Uchiha Yue, all we can do is pray that Uchiha Yue's power has limits—that he will not keep absorbing energy to grow, and that he will stop after reaching a certain point."
Orochimaru frowned and thought continuously. Yet aside from that, he could think of no other way. His Reincarnation Technique was useless against a Living Calamity like Uchiha Yue, even if he had hidden spare bodies all across the Ninja World.
Once Uchiha Yue covered the entire planet, he would truly be dead.
Before you continue