Later that night.
Moon over the treetops, by a wild river—the murmuring water lulled Sunagakure's Scorch Release user Pakura back to consciousness.
In her haze, she realized she'd been saved… no—"saved" wasn't quite right. Captured was closer to the mark.
"That Uchiha… strong like a monster. So it was he who captured—or rescued—me… and those Kiri shinobi, did he take care of them?"
As her head cleared, Pakura began to assess.
With reason restored, a little analysis answered a lot.
She had to face it, bitterly: her village had betrayed her.
She'd bled for the village, took point in every charge, covered every retreat, made great contributions—yet all of it, like a joke, was casually discarded.
Her mind went numb; she wanted to stop thinking.
It hurt—so much it made even Obito's pain look small.
How did it come to this? What had she done so wrong that the village treated her with such contempt?
That was when she heard Uchiha Yorin's voice: "Since you're awake, drop the act. Sit up."
"…"
Pakura pushed herself up and looked at him, eyes complicated.
Yorin figured she was weighing whether to say "thank you," but in the end, she didn't.
He, on the other hand, had no such scruples.
He did what he wanted.
Like now, when he wanted to use the cheesiest webnovel line: "You're the most qualified one of the lot."
Pakura: "?"
As before, she didn't get his bit. After a beat, she spoke:
"Why did you save me?"
"If I said 'love at first sight,' would you believe it?"
Her eyes said: no.
"Alright, alright," Yorin said. "You're Kage-class. Dying like that would be a waste. If Suna doesn't want you, I do. How about it, Pakura?"
He held a hand out to her. "You've already guessed it—Suna threw you away. They sold you to Kiri.
Funny, isn't it?
Village alliances and wars are driven by interests. One person's life is nothing.
If Kiri truly wants peace with Suna, whether you live or die, they'll make peace; and if they do kill you, they'll be fighting again soon enough.
Even a child knows this. Suna's leaders can't pretend they don't—yet they still dumped you without hesitation."
"—Enough! From this moment on, Suna has nothing to do with me!"
Pakura snapped, cutting him off. "As for your invitation—do you want me to join Konoha? The Uchiha?"
"Not at all," Yorin said. "You don't need to join Konoha. You only need to join me."
"Ahem." Hearing Yorin lower his voice, adding 100% more velvet, Tsunade suddenly "caught" a cough on the side—hard. Anyone would think she'd come down with something.
Pakura saw it and drew the obvious conclusion: these two are a thing.
Fine—none of her business. She wasn't in the mood for gossip. "Join you?"
"Mm, mm." Yorin nodded. "I've set up shop in Amegakure—short on hands. If you're willing, you can put down roots there."
As he spoke, he pulled an Akatsuki cloak from a sealing scroll.
"Of course, if you refuse, that's fine too. Walk away now, and I hope next time we meet, we won't be enemies."
"You'd really let me go?" Pakura eyed him skeptically, not quite buying the kindness.
"Ah, put that way, it is a shame. Tradition says: after the hero saves the beauty, she has no way to repay such kindness… except with herself."
That earned another coughing fit from Tsunade.
Pakura glanced at one, then the other, and smiled in relief.
Without Uchiha Yorin, she'd likely have died, nameless, in Kiri's ambush.
What a lousy life.
Since it's already this bad, she might as well gamble. It couldn't get that much worse.
"So." With a half-joking tone, she said to Yorin: "I'm nothing special—please teach me."
Tsunade coughed like she really did have the flu.
…
And so, Pakura accepted Uchiha Yorin's recruitment and became part of Akatsuki.
Nagato, hearing this, would be pleased.
With Pakura as a start, Yorin would go on to recruit more elites, growing Akatsuki big and strong, building glory anew—Yahiko in heaven would surely be comforted.
As for whether Akatsuki would follow Nagato or Yorin then… does it matter?
Not particularly.
Yorin was already the de facto Second Leader. Yahiko in heaven would approve of that too.
Better to hand the reins to a madman like Yorin than a zealot like Nagato.
Probably.
…
"Good—welcome aboard." Uchiha Yorin clasped Pakura's delicate hand and shook it, then turned to the side—toward Mei Terumi, still "playing dead."
"Now—your turn, Mei Terumi."
Mei swallowed.
"Still pretending?"
She opened her eyes—and immediately started crying.
"Crying counts against the clock."
So Mei curled in on herself, gaze firm and unyielding, swallowed once more, and said:
"Guh—kill me."
A beat later she added: "I will not betray Kirigakure."
Yorin: "Then… why not ask me nicely? Maybe I'll get soft and let you go."
Mei's eyes brightened. "Really?" Clearly, she wasn't yet the calm, seasoned woman she would be ten years later.
Yorin: "Of course not. First day on the job? You have two options.
"One: surrender, swear fealty to me, and become Akatsuki's dog.
"Two: refuse, I use Sharingan to brainwash you, and you still become Akatsuki's dog.
"Choose."
Mei Terumi: "…"
Pakura: "~"
Tsunade: "Tch."
Under Pakura's amused, schadenfreude-soaked gaze, Mei drew a deep breath. "In that case, I have only one choice—to swear fealty to you."
She snapped her Kiri headband in two with a crack, then said to Yorin:
"Hahaha." Yorin's bright, Uchiha-style laugh rang out. He nodded, very pleased.
"So Kiri is entertaining after all~"