When Yorin said that, Mikoto couldn't help rolling her eyes. She plucked Sasuke straight out of his arms.
Seriously, how is "girls like me too much" a problem? Of course, if it were Fugaku that girls flocked to, that'd be a different story. Women and double standards—match made in heaven.
"If you're done, go work," Mikoto said, just a bit annoyed. "Don't you still have things to do?"
"Hold up, hold up, I won't get in the way of your little girls' hangout."
Yorin hadn't come for Mikoto or Sasuke anyway—his target was Kushina.
Before leaving the village, there was something he wanted to ask his sister-in-law.
"Huh? The place the Uzumaki clan used to seal some super dangerous enemy?"
When Uchiha Yorin asked, Kushina just stared at him, completely blank. "How the heck would I know something like that?"
"I see…" Her answer disappointed him a little.
These past days, he'd been digging through records on one hand and searching in person on the other, with the full machine of the Secret Police backing him—and still hadn't found any trace of his charming little ancestor.
Just where had the Uzumaki sealed Uchiha Hikari back then?
He'd combed the ruins of Uzushiogakure several times and come up empty. He'd asked the village elders, combed the Uchiha clan archives—no leads. With nowhere else to go, he'd turned to Kushina.
And she didn't know either.
Which, thinking about it, made sense. The Uzumaki clan got wiped out when she was still young. She'd never had time to learn any of the clan's deepest secrets before everything was burned to the ground.
"So that line of clues is broken… Well, not completely."
In truth, Uchiha Yorin still had one very promising source for information on his overpowered ancestor: Zetsu.
A walking treasure vault, that guy—quite literally, a treasure buried in the earth.
He'd been slithering around since the era of Indra and Asura, and had seen plenty of secrets drown in the river of time.
Sure, most of the time he was laser-focused on the Uchiha and didn't care about anything else, but what Yorin wanted to know was a key Uchiha incident.
Back then, his little ancestor had nearly unified the world using broken-level eye techniques.
The Uchiha of that era all basically had Mangekyō, all had Susanoo and Tsukuyomi spam—several orders of magnitude stronger than the current crop.
Even a 1000-year-old mother-con like Black Zetsu had to remember that period vividly.
If Yorin went and pressed him, there was a high chance he'd learn where Uchiha Hikari had been sealed.
The problem was: Black Zetsu wasn't exactly easy to push around.
Previously, their "happy cooperation" had been based on the banner of "unify the shinobi world to gather the Tailed Beasts and revive Mom."
Now that the world was basically unified and Yorin clearly had no urgent interest in catching Tailed Beasts, Zetsu was pissed.
You played me?!
I ran errands for you everywhere, and now you're ghosting me?!
Yorin, of course, wasn't about to just break ties with him. He told Zetsu:
"We're not not reviving Kaguya—we're reviving her later, slowly, in an orderly, planned manner.
Look at me, I'm at best a baby tier Sage-level right now. What are you in such a rush for? Once I've levelled up to full Six Paths mode, then we unseal her. That's just common sense."
He thought he was being very reasonable.
Zetsu? Absolutely not. He wanted to scream, "You're jerking me around, you bastard?!"
But Yorin's next line made him seize up completely:
"Be honest, man. You want me to marry your mom that badly?"
Zetsu: "What the actual—"
He clammed up.
Of course, being quiet didn't mean he was okay with it. The mood between them cooled, and their "partnership" went on pause.
Under those circumstances, if Yorin went back to ask for favors, there's no way Black Zetsu would agree.
"So what do I do…?"
In the end, he still had to lean on Zetsu.
Realistically, Zetsu didn't have any better horse to bet on.
Obito was dead. Was he supposed to sit around and wait for Sasuke to grow up?
But now the Uchiha clan's relationship with the village was great, and Sasuke was Yorin's beloved godson. However you looked at it, he wasn't going to turn into another lunatic trying to destroy the system.
The Rinnegan vessel was prepped, but Tailed Beasts and Infinite Tsukuyomi were still leagues away. In that situation, Zetsu could only keep relying on Yorin.
…
"Here's the thing."
After yet another round of arguments, shouting, bargaining—and more shouting—what followed was anger, frustration, and finally resignation.
Once again, in the face of an Uchiha, Black Zetsu found himself on the losing side and eventually coughed up the intel Yorin wanted.
"Triple-layered seals, designed to scramble space, time, and direction sense. Truly worthy of the legendary Uzumaki clan. No wonder nobody can find it."
On hearing that, Yorin sighed. Zetsu just snorted.
"Give it up already," Zetsu said. "You want to use Uchiha Nameless's power to conquer the world? To rival Mother?
Impossible.
Forget how powerful she is—even she is a problem. She was raised as a weapon by the Uchiha, then sealed away. Her heart is full of resentment and hatred for the world, shinobi, and humanity. There's no way she'd ever cooperate with you, Uchiha Yorin."
He stared intently at Yorin's face, hoping to see some flash of anger or disappointment.
Instead, Yorin looked… delighted. Excited, even. Which only made Zetsu want to swear out loud when Yorin said:
"Sounds just like your mom, honestly."
He sized up Uchiha Hikari with that one line. And Zetsu's expression froze. "You realize, after hearing you say that, I already know what you're about to—"
"Let me guess…" Yorin paused theatrically, staring at him.
Zetsu really hoped he wouldn't say it.
"Yep, exactly what you're thinking." Yorin's lips curled into a wicked grin. "I'm going to marry that girl."
Zetsu: "…"
He held it in. Held it in again. Finally failed and blurted:
"Dude. Seriously?"
…
Once again, Uchiha Yorin scored a flawless win against Black Zetsu.
Faced with that kind of declaration, Zetsu simply ran out of the will and strength to argue.
He could only let out a long, miserable sigh. "Whatever. Do what you want." Then, like some emotionless terminal, he dumped out all the secrets he knew that Yorin wanted.
Not just the stuff about that "lovely little ancestor," but also Sky Ninja's base locations, hidden treasure caches, and even a list of mineral-rich deposits—gold, high-grade iron, coal. Everything.
Yorin was thrilled. He'd just discovered a whole new use for Black Zetsu.
A creature that could move at high speed underground across vast distances was the ultimate geologist and mining survey unit.
Maybe after Kaguya was revived, he could spare Zetsu's life—make him work off his sins in the mines.
Of course, none of that mattered unless he could handle Kaguya herself.
"All right, then. Thanks, Zetsu. When I marry Lady Kaguya, I'll have you officiate."
Zetsu: "Heh."
"Oh, right," Yorin added. "Did you track down that guy?"
"…"
"Kaguya—Kaguy— I mean, Hidan—"
"If you mean Orochimaru's friend Orochimaru's friend…" Zetsu grumbled, "that creep Amado is in the Land of Water."
He sounded extremely unwilling to share even that much.
"Perfect, that settles it. Thanks, bro."
Yorin clapped his hands lightly. "Once I marry Kaguya, we'll set it up so you call me 'Dad' and I call you 'Big Bro.'"
Zetsu: "…"
…
With that, the final missing piece fell into place and Yorin's itinerary was set.
First stop: the Land of Water. He had to rendezvous with Akatsuki there and stage a dramatically choreographed "Uchiha Yorin vs Akatsuki Leader Rinyo" battle. That'd calm the Daimyō down, remind them Konoha wasn't just cashing checks and doing nothing.
After that, Orochimaru was in Water Country too. He should check in on his other good boy, Yakushi Kabuto.
Then came the Chimera Technique. If Zetsu wasn't lying, Hiruko—was in the Land of Water as well.
Could he try recruiting him into Akatsuki?
Probably not. That twisted mind didn't match Yorin's vision for the organization.
So the plan was: kill him first, then bring him back with Edo Tensei.
Orochimaru had been working on that technique for ages; surely he had something usable by now.
Or maybe that "Living Corpse Reincarnation" was just a side-product of Edo Tensei research?
Thinking that the last time he'd seen Orochimaru the guy was still a man, and this time he'd probably show up as a full-blown snake lady (…ish), Yorin had very complicated feelings.
"All right, decided. I'm grabbing Jiraiya-sensei to sacrifice to Orochimaru."
He cheerfully plotted. "Then I'll go poke the creep about inherited bloodlines and Chimera Technique.
After that, we hit Land of the Sky and deal with their flying fortress. Then we head back to the old Uzumaki lands and unseal Hikari.
Plan secured."
…
With all his objectives listed and sorted, Uchiha Yorin pointed north. "All right. Pakura, Tsunade—let's move."
"Mm."
"Yeah, let's go."
One on each side, the two big sisters flanked him, pinning him neatly between them. The former was just happy to be there; the latter had quietly made up her mind.
On this trip, Tsunade was determined to finally take Uchiha Yorin down—for good.