And so, in the Uchiha clan's reception room, Yorin sat across from the Third Old Man.
Tsunade, dressed up like a proper yamato nadeshiko in the fitted qipao Yorin bought her, poured tea for both him and Hiruzen.
Because their mindsets were completely different, their states of mind were too.
Hiruzen had a bitter, helpless smile on his face.
Uchiha Yorin was completely relaxed.
Just from that, you could tell exactly where each man stood.
Right now, Konoha was Yorin's Konoha. It was the Third who'd come to ask him for something, not the other way around.
If Hiruzen were still in office, sure, he could posture all he wanted—"Come here and kneel, I want to ask you a favor." But he'd already stepped down.
And after wave after wave of reforms, Hiruzen's actual power and prestige had gotten lower and lower. In this situation, even if Yorin didn't give him a shred of respect and just called him "old man" to his face, Hiruzen wouldn't be able to do much about it.
The annoying part was: even like this, Hiruzen couldn't just give up.
Because even in the Sarutobi clan, aside from a handful of reformists and shameless types, most of the younger and middle generations were still very "awkward" in their stance toward Yorin.
As in: yes, we lost; yes, we want to change paths and work with the Uchiha now.
But—you guys should show some goodwill first. You take the initiative to reel us in so that we can back down. That way we can save face both inside and outside the clan.
That sort of twisted mentality came partly from arrogance, and partly from decades of demonizing the Uchiha.
The real question was: had any of these monkeys ever considered the possibility that Uchiha Yorin… might not even want to take the Sarutobi clan along anymore?
"Times change, Third."
After sipping some of the tea Tsunade had brewed—which didn't taste like much and honestly wasn't very good—Uchiha Yorin said this to Hiruzen:
"If two years ago, the Sarutobi clan had treated the Uchiha this kindly, the Uchiha would've been overjoyed. Your clan would've become our closest allies. And even if I had to be the one to make the first move and throw you a rope to win you over, that wouldn't have been impossible.
If it were a year ago, and the Sarutobi clan had said they wanted to put the past behind us and move forward together, we would've been willing to forgive and move on. You might not have been our top allies, but with the Sarutobi's size, you at least would've gotten the same treatment as the Hyūga.
But this is Year 53 of Konoha, Third. Three years have gone by.
The Uchiha are at their peak, leading the entire shinobi world forward.
We've got more volunteers lining up to be our 'friends'—no, our vassal clans—than we know what to do with.
And now you show up saying, 'We were wrong before, let's put our grudges aside and work together'—
Oh, but first, you say, you should make a show of courting us?
Don't you think that's a little too late?
And frankly, way too presumptuous?
If I went along with that, what would our loyal allies—those families that backed the Uchiha early and have cooperated with us from the start—think?!"
Yorin's voice rang out, firm and sharp, every word hitting home.
Hearing this, Hiruzen could only force a pained smile.
Of course he understood Yorin was right. If Yorin really did this for their sake, he'd provoke dissatisfaction from his allies and subordinates.
And yes, with Yorin's current prestige, he could lend some of that capital to bail the Sarutobi out.
But the real question was: why on earth should he?
It's not like the Sarutobi had some unbelievably cute girl they could offer to marry into Yorin's line as a political prize.
All they had on that side were lady-monkeys. Even if they were down, Yorin sure as hell wouldn't be.
Political marriage for world peace he could swallow. But the prerequisite was: the girl had to be pretty.
What, were they going to have Asuma marry Kurenai and then send Kurenai to "serve" Yorin? That'd turn into some cursed NTR fanfic in no time.
…
So faced with Yorin's questions, Hiruzen really had nothing to say.
"Is there really no room at all? No way to compromise?" Hiruzen tried anyway. "We could each take a step back—"
"You set your conditions, then talk about mutual concessions. In the end, the only one actually backing off is me."
Yorin cut through the old man's little ploy without mercy, then added:
"So the real issue isn't me. It isn't even the Uchiha clan."
For all that he made fun of Hiruzen, Yorin still afforded him some respect. The guy had been the Third Hokage, after all.
Seeing how miserable he looked, Yorin pointed him toward an actual path:
"The problem lies within the Sarutobi themselves. If your clan keeps clinging to the idea that you're owed something by Konoha, or even that Konoha somehow 'belongs' to the Sarutobi, then sooner or later the Sarutobi will decline—maybe to something even worse.
If you want to change that, the key isn't me. It's all of you.
Third, if you really care about the Sarutobi, what you should be doing right now isn't trying to tug at my sympathy. You should go back and talk sense into them. Tell them to wise up and face reality."
At that, Hiruzen's already-bitter smile grew even more twisted.
"Enough. If there's nothing else, I won't be seeing you out."
Yorin's tone softened a bit at the end, but the meaning was clear.
Hiruzen still had more he wanted to say—things like, "If you're this harsh on the village, how will others see you? As the leader of the ninja world, your heart should be broader…"
But that kind of talk was easy to say from the sidelines, and right now, it would only come off as pressuring Yorin.
If he pushed too hard, Yorin would absolutely push back even harder. With how proud he was, he'd probably go out of his way to make life difficult for them. Then the Sarutobi clan really would lose their last bit of maneuvering room.
"…I understand."
After a brief silence, Hiruzen let out a long sigh.
"I'll do what I can to persuade them. But I'll need time."
"I'm not in a rush," Yorin said. Seeing the softened attitude, his voice gentled as well. "But you know as well as I do: the longer you wait, the weaker the Sarutobi will become—and the less leverage you'll have when you finally come back to talk."
"…I know. I'll be as fast as I can."
By the end of their conversation, Sarutobi Hiruzen's posture was practically humble.
Yorin thought he looked more hunched than ever, his back bent, his figure lonely and small. He looked… pitiful, even.
Of course, Yorin wasn't about to pity him.
You didn't get to be "The Professor" for nothing. Yorin was sure that if Hiruzen were the one sitting here today, he wouldn't show any mercy to the Uchiha either.
"Man, the old guy really is…"
Once Hiruzen had left, Tsunade's mutter drifted to Yorin's ears.
"What's wrong, feel sorry for him?" Yorin asked.
"Not really." Tsunade snorted. "The old man's a good person most of the time, but sometimes he gets way too senile. It's infuriating—enough to make you want to drop dead from rage.
And as harsh as it sounds, the Sarutobi clan going from one of Konoha's top three to what they are now? They did that to themselves."
"If you can see it that way, that's good."
Yorin smiled. "If you'd actually started pleading with me on his behalf, even I wouldn't have known what to do."
"Mm… but if I had pleaded for him… No, forget it. Pretend I didn't say anything."
Tsunade cut herself off halfway.
Faced with Yorin's curious look, she smiled and explained:
"Don't look at me like that.
A good woman doesn't ask that kind of question. I'm not going to put you on the spot, Yorin."
Yorin was genuinely surprised.
Most of the time she came off as loud, careless, a bit of a brute. He hadn't expected her to say something this… considerate.
His opinion of her went up a notch.
His affection too.
Because yeah: some girls are really, truly adorable. And some girls, no matter what they do, just aren't.
It sounds like nonsense, but it's actually one of those quietly profound truths.
If he didn't have more guests to receive that day, Yorin might've just pushed Tsunade down right then and there.
As it was, he could only steal a brief, warm moment with her before moving on to his next batch of visitors.
The Hyūga returned the earlier visit. Then came other clans: the Ino–Shika–Chō trio, the Aburame and Inuzuka, plus some minor clans that never showed up in the original story but definitely existed in Konoha's registry.
And of course, lots of civilian shinobi too. Many of them were now division heads or mid-level officials. Thanks to Yorin's reforms, Konoha's civil service had expanded and formalized; there were more posts and more paths upward.
When people get promoted, get better pay, and see better lives, they remember who made that possible.
So they all came bearing gifts and smiles, eager to offer respect and maybe a bit of "networking."
Refusing them outright would chill their hearts. But Yorin wasn't going to become corrupt either—no one got promoted just because they brought a nice box of sweets.
Still, if two people had similar ability, similar records, and were competing for the same slot… well…
Let's just say other factors might be considered.
All told, the second day of the New Year ended in a blur of meetings, handshakes, formalities—and Tsunade still did not get what she'd been waiting for.
That night, everyone could see how exhausted Yorin was, so for once they didn't drag him into a full-on "battle." There was no all-night marathon; just quiet cuddling and a warm sleep.
So while Tsunade was frustrated, she couldn't really argue. She just had to accept it—for now.
~~~
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