All she knew were the words of others. But there are matters in which you can't trust anyone until you see the truth with your own eyes. Trifles can be taken at face value, but not when the fate of the world is at stake. How can one accept the end without exhausting every last option?
Despite the reports of the Great Toad Sage and Orochimaru's assurances, the White Snake Sage clung to a glimmer of hope. What if this was a mistake? What if Uchiha Yue was nothing more than a bogeyman, incapable of destroying the world?
Soon, the snake she had sent returned from the ruins of Konoha. The news it brought shattered her feeble hope. The mysterious realm was indeed expanding, and anyone who crossed its border felt their life force inexorably draining from their body.
All the hopes of the White Snake Sage were dashed.
"Ssss... it's... a monster!"
She gazed despairingly at the sky of Ryūchi Cave, and it seemed as if a new Otsutsuki Kaguya was being born before her eyes. No, this one was worse. More terrifying. Kaguya, at least, was a predator, not a plague. She reaps the harvest, giving the world time to recover, rather than sucking it dry in one fell swoop.
And what about Uchiha Yue? If allowed to grow, this monster will drain the planet to its very core.
Concentrating her age-old wisdom, reaching into the very essence of the world, she felt it. A terrifying, sucking void. The planet's natural energy... was ebbing. Before, this decline had been a barely noticeable trickle, but now it was turning into an inexorable whirlpool, with Uchiha Yue at its center.
And only now, knowing the name of the culprit, did she comprehend the full depth of the catastrophe.
"How... how is this possible?! My time isn't over yet! Why must I die?! I don't agree to this dream! Such a monster has no right to exist! I will find a way to rip out his heart!"
Her voice trembled with primal terror. Black Zetsu had believed that Yue's power would only cover a third of the planet, but she, the Sage, saw further. According to her calculations, even if Uchiha Yue stopped evolving, it wouldn't take him even a hundred years to drain all the natural energy of the world. Every last drop.
And that meant the end. The end for the Holy Lands. The end for the sages.
Her eternal life, her strength, her very being—everything was built on the fusion of her own chakra with the energy of nature. Without this nourishment, her immortal body, which had lived for thousands of years, would turn to dust in a matter of moments. Centuries would become dust.
She didn't want to die! Unlike that old toad, she had countless years left, not a measly hundred!
"Sss, that old toad is a fool! Wait for the monster to reach its full strength? Madness! People like him should be strangled in their cradle! While there's still a chance!"
Her features contorted, becoming a mask of primal fury. When an immortal being faces the threat of nonexistence, their mind descends into chaos. Right now, the Yue domain barely covered the ruins of Konoha. But in a little while, the monster will devour the entire Land of Fire! Then it will be impossible to get to it.
"Sss... Uchiha Yue!" she hissed, her voice echoing throughout the cave. "I, the Sage of the White Snake, will gather all my power and reduce you to ashes!" And then I'll swallow you, tear out your eyes and... hee-hee-hee... then I'll b-b-become a god! Ha-ha-ha! YES!
A flame of greed flared in her eyes. To defeat Yue, to transplant his eyes into herself, to possess this all-consuming power... She would become a supreme being. She would become... a Dragon!
At the thought of this glorious future, she couldn't help but burst into a mad, gurgling laugh. And how could a snake use human eyes? Nonsense! The Uchiha's power always found a host. If a crow could master the Sharingan, then she, a great ss-sage, could certainly do it.
The Ryuchi Cave shook. The White Snake Sage began to absorb the streams of natural energy—carelessly, ravenously, burning her own life force for a power capable of challenging a god. Even if it caused irreparable harm to her body. What did it matter? Once she had his eyes, once she became a dragon, any wounds would heal. The loss of a few years of life is a paltry price for eternity.
Her laughter grew into a triumphant roar, echoing off the stone vaults.
"Hee-hee-hee... I, the Sage White Snake, will b-b-become a divine dragon! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"