Word of Uchiha Yorin's little team leaving Konoha spread quickly, carried by every nosy agent and watcher who happened to catch a glimpse — and of course it was passed along.
Officially, Yorin claimed he was heading for the Land of Water to "confront that guy called Rinyo." But given his ridiculous war record, nobody dared treat that casually.
No one dared actually move on him. They didn't even dare tail him.
It wasn't that they cherished their subordinates' lives — they just knew Yorin's temperament: if he sensed someone tracking him, he'd absolutely make an example out of them. The cost-benefit just wasn't worth it.
So all they could do was order embedded agents in each country: if Yorin shows up, report. Otherwise: act normal. Do not provoke him.
Under that kind of careful, nervous atmosphere, Uchiha Yorin strolled along with two beautiful women on his arms, glued to him every day, looking for all the world like he was on a romantic honeymoon as they leisurely headed toward the Land of Water.
The various daimyo were about ready to die of anxiety, sending one urgent message after another telling him to hurry. But they were the ones panicking — Uchiha Yorin sure wasn't.
So things moved a little slower. So what? Akatsuki was killing their noble peers and parasites, not his relatives. Why would he feel bad?
"Just treat it as vacation," he told fiancée #1 and fiancée #2. "Only shame is, Land of Water doesn't have any nice golden beaches where we can do swimsuits-and-sand play."
"If you want that," Pakura — Konoha-warehouse — replied lightly, "we can do it when we head to the Land of Wind."
If she could, she also wanted to show up in a cute summer outfit and crank his affection a few more points.
Yorin's affection for her was already sky-high, but when a girl is in love, when is "high enough" ever really enough?
Tsunade said, "Mm-hmm, it's a deal then."
Just from that, you could tell she was already imagining herself in a light beach outfit, with Yorin roaring like a wild beast and tackling her into the sand. Hehehehehe…
Uchiha Yorin: "Perfect. Next step: depart for the Land of Water."
"Ohhhhh!"
So they happily boarded a ship to the Land of Water, made a proper, official landing at Kirigakure, did the usual diplomatic visit and state-level courtesy rounds, and then, once night fell, quietly slipped into the lowest levels of the Mizukage building — into Akatsuki's secret base, the hideout of "Ninshū," to meet with the others.
…
"Ninshū" was really just Akatsuki under a fresh coat of paint. Besides the core Akatsuki members — Nagato, Konan, and Mei — there were now some of Kiri's elite jōnin and chūnin who had been drawn into the cause… though they didn't actually know that Ninshū was Akatsuki, nor did they know about this particular base.
They'd have to pass more tests, more observation, prove their loyalty again and again before they'd be truly brought inside.
…
"I actually have a simpler way to solve the loyalty problem," Orochimaru said with a soft chuckle at the meeting.
"You know," he went on, "recently I found a very interesting child. That child can naturally absorb free-floating nature energy~
If I just dissect it a bit, I can make that power work for me~"
Ah. The Cursed Seal system. Looks like Orochimaru had already worked it out this early.
Yorin was impressed, sure — but more than that, what really got to him was the way Orochimaru was talking.
More than once Yorin had to hold back the urge to snap, "Why do you sound more and more like a woman when you talk, Orochimaru?"
He swallowed it, of course.
He was very, very grateful he'd scooped up a drifting, half-lost Jiraiya on his way into Kiri.
With Jiraiya there to soak aggro for him, he could relax a little, and talk to Orochimaru with a relatively normal face and mood.
"What we want," Yorin said, "are people who genuinely believe in what we're doing — not cheap 'loyalty' won by tricking them or scrambling their minds."
He looked at Orochimaru. "So don't go down that route. Instead of that, focus on cloning."
"Even if you say that, I can't do much without enough research material," Orochimaru replied lightly. "Uchiha genes are relatively easy to obtain, but Senju genes are a lot harder."
Tsunade: "What are you looking at me for? Believe it or not, I'll punch you through the wall."
Where Yorin was perfectly happy to roll up his sleeve and give blood, Tsunade absolutely was not. And once she found out Orochimaru had dug up her grandfather's grave, she was even less willing.
"Can't you just use the Second's genes?" Yorin suggested.
Given the sheer volume of atrocities in his ledger, digging up Tobirama's grave was a much easier sell than Hashirama's. At most, Tsunade would huff twice and drop it.
"Honestly, it's not ideal," came a gruff voice.
Everyone turned. The one who'd been sitting silent in the corner, aura completely out of sync with the room like he was literally pretending to be dead… was not pretending — he was dead.
Senju Tobirama.
One of Orochimaru's biggest breakthroughs of late was this exact figure seated at the meeting, making everyone peek at him more than once.
His eyes were pure black, faint cracks ran over his body. He didn't look like a zombie or anything, but even the densest shinobi could tell he was not alive.
Orochimaru's Edo Tensei had worked. He'd actually resurrected Tobirama and turned him into a 007 researcher-slave.
After one taste, Orochimaru knew: Tobirama was way too useful.
He deeply regretted not learning Edo Tensei earlier. If he'd had this man helping him back then, would he have ended up where he was now?
"Thanks to the Second's help, many of my projects have progressed rapidly… Of course, the Senju–Uchiha genome fusion, tracing back to the Sage's bloodline, still needs more work," Orochimaru said, smiling.
The Second just snorted, full of prickly tsundere energy.
From a scientist's point of view, he had to admit Orochimaru was a genius.
From a Hokage's point of view, though, it was a tragedy — how did someone this brilliant not become Hokage? And how had that useless Sarutobi chosen NOT to name him as successor? What a waste of all his investment.
Then came the matter of Uchiha Yorin.
Once Tobirama found out this ridiculously talented Orochimaru was now working for Yorin, he was stunned.
This is what the current Uchiha generation looked like?
He'd single-handedly untied the knot between Uchiha and Konoha, completely defused the looming clan crisis. Worse, he'd snatched Tsunade using a "revive the Senju clan" banner, in the process pumping Uchiha full of political capital.
Absolutely unforgivable.
If only this Edo Tensei body had free action, Tobirama was sure he'd have sprinted back to Konoha already, announced his return, and challenged Yorin to a three-hundred-round death match, to beat that "inherently evil little Uchiha brat" into the ground.
As it was, the chance had come to him.
He hadn't gone to Konoha. Instead, Yorin had come to Kirigakure.
Seeing his granddaughter clinging to Yorin's arm like a lovestruck idiot, Tobirama's heart practically burst from rage.
If he could beat him, he'd have charged already.
"Little Uchiha brats are evil from birth…"
His eyes were full of resentment as he glared at Yorin. If looks could kill, Yorin would've been torn into a thousand pieces by now.
"Was it you who proposed the idea of merging Senju and Uchiha genes?"
Yorin: "Yeah."
"Was it you who proposed the Senju–Uchiha marriage alliance?"
Yorin: "Yeah."
"Was it you who pushed this whole 'revive the Senju clan' plan while funneling massive political resources into the Uchiha?"
Yorin: "Yeah."
"And dragging me out of the Pure Land with Edo Tensei to work as Orochimaru's lab assistant — that was your idea too?"
Yorin: "Also yeah. And it's not just that—I also led Konoha's shinobi to win the Fourth Great Ninja War with minimal losses, united the Five Great Villages to pool resources, and I'm preparing to establish a shinobi-run state under the banner of Uzushio's restoration. All to train more talent so we can eventually conquer the world."
"…"
Hearing that, the Second Hokage's vicious glare slowly melted into something else. The corners of his mouth tugged upward into a satisfied grin.
"Good," he said. "Seeing you this shameless, I can finally relax."
Jiraiya: "…No, listen—"
Watching Tobirama do a 180 and suddenly look pleased with Yorin — even more pleased than Nagato — Jiraiya nearly blurted out loud.
Off to the side, Orochimaru covered his mouth to hide his snickering. "Heheh."
The other Akatsuki members looked completely unsurprised, like they'd all seen this coming.
And Jiraiya suddenly had a thought flash through his head:
"My moral standards are too high; I really can't fit in with you degenerates."
"…We can talk about recruiting new members later," Minato finally cut in. Watching Yorin ramble on, even he was getting restless. "What's your plan for the Land of Water?"
"Oh? So you don't want to slaughter all the nobles there?" Yorin teased, grinning.
Minato flushed a bit.
After wiping out the entire Ichijō clan, things hadn't gone the way he'd quietly hoped.
Without the Ichijō lords in power, the Ichijō territory hadn't become some peaceful utopia. Instead, more ambitious sharks rushed in under all kinds of banners.
Some claimed to be Ichijō bastards — and now legit heirs.
Some monks wanted to found a "pure land" — mostly as a branding exercise for fundraising. Shinto priests, shrine maidens, same story.
Other nobles simply wanted the land, and were eager to launch a small war to swallow it.
And then, of course, came the usual bandits, raiders, and thugs flooding in.
These people had no program, no governance skills, no ideals — just violence, slaughter, and looting.
One "successful" annihilation had not turned Ichijō lands into paradise; it had stripped away all order and nearly turned it into true wasteland.
In the end, Nagato's biggest humiliation was that the ones who finally stopped the chaos… were the very nobles he'd despised.
The Water Daimyō deployed troops, crushed all the uprisings by force, and restored order.
He hadn't done it to help the people — he'd done it to stabilize his territory. But the outcome still proved Yorin's line:
The worst order is still better than no order at all.
Nagato's experiment had failed again. As much as it burned, he had to admit: Yorin was closer to the real answer than he was.
At Yorin's teasing, he just closed his eyes and refused to argue.
Once he'd confirmed Nagato had backed down yet again, Yorin smiled.
"Then let's have a real fight, Nagato."
"A fight…?"
"Yeah. A real one-on-one. Just you and me."
That made Nagato's eyes light up.
You have no idea how long he'd been waiting to punch this Uchiha.
Of course, after a moment's excitement, Nagato realized the obvious — this wasn't just a spar. It was a performance.
Yorin wanted him to play the great villain Rinyo, then get "righteously defeated" by Yorin in front of Land of Water. Peace, stability, political theater all in one shot.
Initially, that would've been the end of it. But then Yorin said something that made Nagato's heart leap.
"No need to act," Yorin said. "Let's make it a real fight. It's been a while since we went all out against each other, hasn't it?"
Nagato was thrilled — but still cautious.
"If we do that, what do we tell the Land of Water?"
Yorin just flicked his hand. "What's there to explain? We don't have to. Don't worry about it — I have a plan. Just fight me. Win or lose, I'll make it work."
Nagato: "In that case, I've got no complaints."
He couldn't suppress his grin anymore. Finally, he'd found a chance to give Yorin a proper beating.
"Good, good. You youngsters should fight it out. I approve!" Tobirama said, giving a thumbs-up. He looked even more excited than Nagato.
~~~
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