"Uchiha Yorin, how did you…?"
"Flying Thunder God, Flying Thunder God."
Yorin shrugged.
"You couldn't have gone after other tailed beasts? That cat right there? She's mine. She's got my mark on her."
"Y-you… so that's what this is…"
Hiruko was Konoha-born. Of course he knew how broken the Flying Thunder God was. He instantly realized he'd screwed up and lost his judgment.
He'd heard the rumors that Uchiha Yorin was a gigantic womanizer, but he'd always treated it as a joke, never something to analyze seriously.
To him—someone obsessed with power and immortality—women, love, sex… were all meaningless. After turning himself into this neither-man-nor-ghost thing with the Chimera Technique, he couldn't understand what went on in a harem guy's head at all.
"…What do you mean, you put a mark on me?!"
While Hiruko was grinding his teeth, Yugito had already exploded.
"Uchiha Yorin, you bastard—"
"—Pipe down, kitty."
Before she could really start yelling, Yorin cut her off with a sharper voice than hers.
"The adults are talking. Women should shut it for a minute. You embarrassed yourself this badly—just wait till I get you home and deal with you."
At that, both Hiruko and Yugito fell silent.
Not because they were cowed, but because they genuinely could not process this guy's train of thought.
Whatever. After a few seconds of stunned quiet, they both basically decided to stick to their original plan and face off.
The odds of winning weren't great, but if they didn't fight, the odds dropped to zero.
Yugito: "Who's your woman?!"
Hiruko: "You think you've already won?!"
The two of them chimed in, one after another, sounding for a second like some kind of weird tag-team alliance yelling at Yorin.
Yorin: "…"
Hiruko: "…"
Yugito: "…"
After a tiny sigh, Yorin gave up trying to parse any of that.
"Whatever. Fine. Hey you—come here. One-on-one. Let me kill you and we'll call this settled."
Hiruko actually laughed in anger.
"You really look down on me, huh?"
He snarled.
"So confident you can win?! You just wanna show off in front of your girlfriend, don't you? You damn bastard!"
"—Who's his girlfriend?!"
Yugito shouted, but to Hiruko it just sounded like more tsundere nonsense from a girl.
Love talk meant nothing to him. He didn't get it, didn't care.
He just raised his hand, revealing the hollow in his palm, ready to unleash his Dark Release and devour any ninjutsu thrown at him.
It was a good trick—something close to a signature move. Shame for him Yorin had no intention of using ninjutsu in the first place.
Sure, jutsu are powerful. But once he'd donned his Tengu Armor Susanoo and kicked on Lightning Body Flicker, what exactly was Hiruko going to do against that?
Against someone like Hiruko, there was no need to pull out the perfect Sage Susanoo. Better to keep some chakra in reserve—for teaching Yugito a lesson later.
In the very next instant, Hiruko regretted not running.
Watching Yorin ride lightning at people on TV, it hadn't seemed that bad. Terrifying, yes, but distant. Hiruko had been able to admit Yorin was stronger, while still thinking:
If I put in the effort, get serious, maybe I can hold my own for a bit—like Kakashi does. At least go fifty-fifty for a while.
But now, facing Yorin head-on, he understood just how wrong he'd been.
Directly facing Uchiha Yorin, the pressure was a hundred times heavier than what came through a screen.
Under that pressure, Hiruko's brain just… buzzed out. He didn't even manage a proper counter. One moment his vision was full of a blade wrapped in roaring lightning—
And the next, his field of view opened… oddly wide.
Then he realized:
His head had been cut off.
"…So he was serious."
In that instant of clarity, Hiruko suddenly got it.
Yorin's contempt, the way he'd barely even acknowledged him, the lazy mockery—it had all been justified.
Because Uchiha Yorin really could kill him casually.
Just one exchange. The man once hailed as a terrifying genius, was nothing more than a corpse at Yorin's feet.
In the brief flicker of his life flashing before his eyes, Hiruko realized something else.
His deepest regret wasn't "not working harder on Chimera Technique" or "not perfecting it to rule the world."
What he regretted most…
was betraying his friends.
Memories of being alongside Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade rose up—clear as day. That had been the happiest, most meaningful time of his life. The idea of "friends" had shone brightest then.
And then he'd destroyed it all. Jealousy, self-loathing, shame that he was "just a normal jōnin" next to the Legendary Sannin… all of it had curdled into something twisted and ugly.
They were legends. I was nobody. How could I possibly be their equal? Their friend?
So he'd chased strength. Strength. More strength.
"I remember now… At the very beginning, I just wanted to catch up to them… When did I start wanting… something else?"
With that unanswered question echoing in his mind, Hiruko closed his eyes forever.
Just like that, in a single exchange, the fight between Uchiha Yorin and Hiruko was over. Watching this, Yugito felt a cold shock run through her.
He'd gotten stronger again.
Once she admitted that, the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki felt a heavy discouragement sink into her bones.
She hadn't forgotten the humiliation of how he'd crushed her and Kumogakure. Even if things were "peaceful" now, even if they were happily making money together, the cat had never let go of revenge.
She'd wanted to train, grow stronger, and one day surpass him—make that arrogant, unstoppable Uchiha kneel at her feet and lick her boots.
Just imagining it made her want to laugh like a queen.
But that dream shattered along with Hiruko's head.
She'd tasted a bitter realization:
Is Uchiha Yorin really… unbeatable?
Was her only path to "beat him" to marry the bastard and then take it out on his son, spanking the kid's butt every day?
And then she imagined that kid would be hers too and… it got complicated and depressing.
While she was tangled up in those thoughts, Yorin stepped forward and sliced through her ropes. As for the barrier holding her in place—well, that wasn't exactly his specialty. The cat could handle that herself.
Freed from the ropes but still stuck in the barrier, Yugito stumbled and almost fell.
A cute girl in that kind of state obviously required help.
Yorin reached out automatically. Yugito gritted her teeth and forced herself to steady without taking his hand.
"How about a proper hug at least?" he asked. "Hey, kitty—no welcome-back hug?"
Yugito Nii: "…"
"I did save you, you know. That makes me your savior. And it was me who rescued your precious Two-Tails, too."
"…That guy, Hiruko, was a Konoha rogue, wasn't he?" she muttered.
"You said it yourself—rogue," Yorin replied. "If they count, then Gold and Silver Brothers are Kumogakure's rogues too."
Since every major village had skeletons in their closet, they'd all quietly agreed not to play the "rogue ninja guilt by association" game too seriously.
Yugito had only tossed that out because she felt mortified and cornered, and needed to push back somehow. When Yorin flipped it on her, she wilted like a cat that had been mid-hiss and got sprayed with water.
"…So?" he asked, watching her. "What now?"
She was convinced—once again—that he was a deeply evil man. Nothing delighted him more than seeing a proud girl hesitate helplessly in front of him with no way out.
"No way I let him see me crack," Yugito thought, lips pressed tight.
So in the end, she very unwillingly opened her arms and accepted his warm embrace.
Yorin smiled, genuinely pleased.
No matter how spiky a cat acted, their heart was always soft. And though she kept telling herself she hated it, Yugito had to admit:
His arms were infuriatingly comfortable.
Warm, solid, and safe.
She collapsed against him by the campfire in that mountain cave, body still weak, a weird fizzy feeling under her skin. His hands were absolutely not behaving—touching here, brushing there—and all she could manage in response were lazy little grumbles, not the furious smack-down she'd imagined.
No matter how tough and stubborn, a cat is still a woman. She had moments of fear and confusion too—especially now, after nearly being dissected and having her bijū ripped out.
Her ambition, her pride, everything she'd built up had almost vanished with her life.
In that state, she needed a broad back and a strong chest to lean on.
Tomorrow morning, she'd probably want to strangle her past self for melting in his arms. She knew that. She knew she'd wake up, remember last night, and die of embarrassment.
But right now, lying there, Yugito felt… happy.
Soft and warm, the curvy, dangerous catgirl rested against him, letting herself be held under the flickering firelight, claws folded away for once.
"You know, don't you?" Yorin said softly. "This era is ending. The next one is coming. Villages will change. The shinobi world will unify. Eventually, Kumo will run out of days.
But I promise you—while Kumogakure as a village will fade, the fate of shinobi will be rewritten. Everyone will have a chance at happiness. A long, peaceful era is right in front of us."
"…Are you telling the truth?" she murmured, voice drifting like it came from far away.
"I've no reason to lie to you about this," he said.
"…Ah. I see."
She sighed, then shifted, turning fully so her back leaned against his chest.
"What will the future look like, I wonder?" she whispered. "Can I really trust you…?"
"Of course," Yorin said. "So give me everything. Trust me. Be a luxury cat, okay?"
"…Don't really want to."
Yugito answered with the standard feline response.
Then she curled up tighter in his arms and didn't come out.