Jiraiya's Near Miss

"This is the power of Uchiha Yue, the one who nearly wiped out all of Konoha single-handedly? So magnificent, so overwhelming... No wonder some say Uchiha Yue is already a match for the God of Shinobi of old!"

"Xi, to stand alone against all of Konoha and force them to flee—such strength could only be defeated by the legendary God of Shinobi!"

At the edge of the Dead Silence Domain, two ninjas stood, gazing at the blurred expanse that seemed wrapped in a layer of frosted glass, speaking to each other.

These two were ninjas from other villages. Upon learning of the monumental upheaval in Konoha—the Hokage dead, a massive number of the village's elite ninjas slain—greed had stirred in the hearts of the Kage of the other great villages. They wanted to take advantage of Konoha's weakness and tear a hefty chunk of flesh from its mouth.

After all, as the strongest ninja village, Konoha held the most mission shares and the highest rewards. How could that not tempt others?

But before carving meat from Konoha, they needed to understand the situation of the culprit who had brought Konoha to such ruin. If necessary, they could recruit this powerful figure, whose heart had been thoroughly wounded by Konoha, into their own village.

Then their village could replace Konoha as the new, strongest village, securing countless mission shares and working until their legs gave out. This was every ninja's dream. The thought of endless missions and inexhaustible bounties could make even the most worthless ninja hum with delight.

These two ninjas were from Sunagakure—one jonin, one chunin, and a few genin.

Then the jonin split off a Shadow Clone and sent it into the Dead Silence Domain, pressing deeper and deeper. When it reached a certain distance, it vanished like a bubble, and because its Chakra had been completely absorbed, not even a shred of memory returned.

Seeing this, they sent another Shadow Clone to test. This time, the clone merely stood at the edge, and just before it was about to dissipate, it quickly fled the Dead Silence Domain, then disbanded, returning its memories.

"Just as the reports said—this domain does indeed have the ability to absorb Chakra."

The leading jonin spoke after sorting through the clone's memories, staring at the Dead Silence Domain. Then he stepped forward and placed his hand inside. He immediately felt his Chakra begin to drain uncontrollably, though the rate was not fast. He estimated that at this consumption speed, he could run from here all the way to Konoha. It didn't seem like a major problem.

Recalling Lord Rasa's orders, he thought it over and decided to enter this domain to search for Uchiha Yue. If he could find him, perhaps he could recruit Uchiha Yue into Sunagakure. Then, with a super-strong figure rivaling the legendary God of Shinobi guarding their village, they would surely gain the Daimyo's favor, securing more funding and a steady stream of mission requests.

Then their Kage wouldn't have to toil away panning for gold in the desert just to fill the village's coffers.

He sank into the most beautiful fantasies. Compared to such a bright future, a little risk meant nothing. Besides, at this absorption rate, if anything felt wrong, he could easily retreat unscathed.

With that thought, after giving his orders, he stepped into the Dead Silence Domain and began sprinting wildly. If the intelligence was correct, Uchiha Yue should be at the center of this domain.

If only... if only he could reach that place...

What he didn't know, however, was that the eerie force draining Chakra from his body increased in intensity the deeper he went. At the edge, the pull was weakest—anyone could escape. Moreover, he was unaware that this domain absorbed not only Chakra but also other energies from living beings: heat, bioelectricity, even the chemical energy generated in real-time within the body—all of it fell within Uchiha Yue's absorption range.

Before arriving, they had some understanding of this domain, but only a limited one. Those who had passed on the information only mentioned that the domain absorbed Chakra. As for other energies, unless one personally entered, it was impossible to detect—but if one did enter, would they survive to tell the tale?

As for Lord Jiraiya's condition, since some had seen him return at the time, Konoha had spun a different story. Naturally, they couldn't tell the villagers, "Our invincible Lord Jiraiya entered Uchiha Yue's domain, didn't even see the man, touched nothing, and turned himself into this wreck."

How could they say that? So they polished it: Lord Jiraiya had been beaten into this state by Uchiha Yue. The invincible Lord Jiraiya had fought Uchiha Yue for three hundred rounds, ultimately unable to prevail, and was defeated.

That was better. Such a story was far preferable to "he did nothing and just turned himself into a cripple." Besides, if the villagers of Konoha learned the truth, wouldn't it crush morale? Remember, the Hokage had been killed outright by Uchiha Yue, yet Jiraiya had survived—wasn't that something to rally behind?

It was cause for celebration! If it weren't for the fact that Jiraiya was now a cripple, making celebration inappropriate, the villagers of Konoha would have been cheering in the streets.

Lord Jiraiya survived!

Uchiha Yue is not invincible!!!

Xi! We will definitely defeat that monster!!!

Damn it, if only I could have witnessed such a battle—I'd die happy!

I should have gone to see Lord Jiraiya's heroic form back then!

With such embellishments, the villagers of Konoha, and even some ninjas, had no idea that their revered Lord Jiraiya, the invincible strongman, had fled in panic without even laying eyes on Uchiha Yue. If not for the desperate sacrifice of those Konoha ninjas, Jiraiya would now be nothing but a corpse.

As for the truth? The ninjas who accompanied Jiraiya were all dead. As long as Jiraiya himself didn't expose it, and the few who knew kept quiet, who could ever guess what really happened?

And Uchiha Yue? For one, he would never bother explaining anything to people he already considered dead. For another, he didn't even know...