And just like that, the whole Land of Snow affair wrapped up with a nice neat bow.
"…Did it really wrap up neatly, though?" Yugito couldn't help muttering beside Yorin.
"That daimyo, Kazahana Sōsetsu, was practically scared half to death by you. And Kazahana Dotō… why did you make him do that on camera? That's just mean."
…
Right now, the kitty was bundled up like a walking futon and still looked annoyed. Like pretty much every feline on earth, Yugito hated the Land of Snow and sincerely believed this kind of frozen wasteland was not meant for human habitation.
In cold weather, the correct thing for a cat to do is curl up by a warm brazier, bask in the heat, and look perfectly content.
And if, at that moment, her boyfriend were to come over and gently stroke her hair, Yugito would gladly let out a "meow," shove him over, and happily try to make a few little kittens on the spot.
…
Yorin said, "You treat good people and bad people differently. Whatever else, I didn't kill Kazahana Sōsetsu. The surveillance and soft house arrest are temporary.
Give it some time—once the world situation shifts, he'll be able to regain his freedom and start a new life under a new identity…
Of course, that's assuming he accepts this new reality in the first place."
"You really think he will…?"
"—Of course. I'm absolutely certain."
"…Fine, forget I asked. But it's true, I guess. Now the Land of Snow is basically yours. How many little countries is that for you now?"
Yugito half-joked, "Land of Whirlpools, then Land of Rain, and now Land of Snow.
You're not satisfied just controlling shinobi villages anymore—you're going straight for whole countries now."
"Ame no Kuni, I only set a few ground rules. And everyone knows that the new Land of Whirlpools is basically just one village, Uzushiogakure.
As for the Land of Snow… maybe only a frozen wasteland like this will let us fully unleash our ambitions."
Uchiha Yorin had big plans for the Land of Snow.
He wasn't just going to build the best research complex in the world there—staffed by Orochimaru, Second Hokage Tobirama, the Kazahana brothers and other geniuses working themselves to death for him.
He also wanted to run a massive social experiment in the Land of Snow.
This remote, impoverished, closed-off corner of the world would become the first testing ground for Uchiha Yorin's social reforms.
Administrators, civil servants, and cadres trained by Ninshū from all over the world would come here to gain experience—preparing them for managing and reforming the world after Yorin conquers it.
For the world, and for most of the people of the Land of Snow, this was a good thing. For the nobles of the Land of Snow, it was a catastrophe.
As more and more Ninshū cadres arrived, noble estates and land would be taken piece by piece. The nobles would be "processed" according to their reputations and their attitudes.
Most nobles would be just… removed, without mercy. Even the very few who hadn't done much evil and had decent reputations would be quietly hit with genjutsu conditioning—turning them into sincere admirers of the new regime and new institutions.
A brand-new modern administrative government slowly took shape amid the blizzards.
Urban neighborhood committees and police stations. Rural village councils and postal routes… everything was being built step by step, in an orderly way.
Education, healthcare, sanitation, public services… and of course the Land of Snow's specialty: fishing and seafood processing—were all being created from scratch, one system at a time.
The Land of Snow had a small population, but some of the richest fishing grounds in the entire ninja world.
Fishing and canned seafood processing were the two core industries Yorin planned for this micro-country.
Small ships turn faster. Yorin was confident that as long as they locked down these two sectors and pushed goods out through Konoha Transport's logistics network, the Land of Snow could live quite comfortably.
Maybe, in the future, they could even develop tourism—ski resorts and ice-and-snow sightseeing.
Of course, that would have to wait until the world was at peace and a new order had taken root.
By then, various locally flavored tourism industries would pop up, and the world would truly enter an age of peace.
Naturally, there was still one giant prerequisite: they had to defeat the invading Ōtsutsuki clan.
That would inevitably be an apocalyptic war.
If they lost, the entire world would be grasped in the Ōtsutsuki's hand and refined in an instant.
If they won, Uchiha Yorin would level up again, and his prestige would blaze like the sun.
What "so-called God of Shinobi Senju Hashirama," what "Hokage," what "Daimyō of the Land of Fire"? Add all those guys together and they wouldn't be worth half of Yorin-sama's spear.
Uchiha Yorin thought, "Just imagining it is kind of exciting, huh."
With that happy thought, Yorin stayed a few more days in the Land of Snow. Only once everything was firmly on track did he leave, satisfied. In the time that followed, he still checked the reports from the Land of Snow every day.
To almost everyone else, the Land of Snow was once again just an empty white blot on the map—a frozen, useless backwater. But to Uchiha Yorin, it had become a new place where hope was fermenting.
…
In the spring of Year 53 of Konoha, Uchiha Yorin returned to the village. And this time, instead of heading straight back out, he stayed put.
In the daytime, he helped the Hokage a bit with paperwork, but mostly he trained on the practice fields—trying to push his three-tomoe Sharingan toward six tomoe or even nine.
At night, he happily went home to "spend time" with his five fiancées… wait, was it five? Or seven? Or maybe a few more?
…Whatever. The exact number wasn't that important.
…
And so, Uchiha Yorin stayed in Konoha, without going off on any new campaigns. Everyone, consciously or not, let out a breath of relief. After all, every time that guy went out, it was a major incident—either flattening a great nation, or wiping out a small one. People couldn't take too many of those.
Better to let the big boss sit quietly in Konoha.
He liked women, didn't he? Fine—send women to him. Even if he wanted the daimyo's wife, the daimyo would gladly present his daughter along with her… not that Yorin would accept.
The world suddenly felt calm, as if entering a long era of prosperity and peace.
Of course, even idiots knew it was an illusion.
As Konoha's power grew, the entire world was sliding toward an era under Uchiha rule.
People could tell themselves all they wanted that "Uchiha Yorin is just another Hashirama." But was he really?
They all knew the answer.
If he truly were Hashirama, they wouldn't be nearly this anxious.
Yorin's raw strength might still be a bit below Hashirama's, but his intellect—especially his methods—far surpassed the legendary God of Shinobi.
Many would honestly rather have another Hashirama than an Uchiha Yorin.
…
How long could this quiet stage last?
Most hoped it would be as long as possible. But everyone knew that was impossible.
Everyone guessed that Uchiha Yorin was planning something.
Whether for "saving the world" or "conquering the world"—and those two phrases often meant the same thing.
And indeed, that was the case.
Down in Anbu HQ beneath the Hokage Building, Yorin was thinking, We really should build a newer, bigger mega–Hokage Tower as Konoha's administrative center—and Anbu ought to get some floors in it too, while consolidating all the intel and documents he'd received recently, hoping to pull out something useful.
In other words:
Bijū.
Even though he was still a step away from the Six Paths tier, Uchiha Yorin had already started preparing to round up the tailed beasts.
The reason was simple: rounding them up was profitable.
His system might be buggy and insist on tagging him "Senju clan" for some reason, but the power it offered as mission rewards was real.
Every tailed-beast-related mission gave him big stat gains…
Oh, right—when he took down the Land of Snow and Kazahana Dotō, the system did toss him a versus mission.
It's just that Dotō's strength was too low, so the reward was pretty underwhelming.
Ice Release wasn't very meaningful for Yorin now, and +1 to Stamina barely moved the needle at this point.
Bijū were different: each one guaranteed at least +2 free stat points, plus a huge boost in chakra.
And collecting all nine tailed beasts unlocked a special achievement quest: [Ten-Tails Assembled], which would give him 5 free stat points in one go—not to mention a portion of the Ten-Tails' chakra.
Why had Madara been called a Six Paths-tier monster?
Because he became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, of course.
Yorin wasn't going to get the full Ten-Tails package and instantly hit Six Paths, but even 20% of the Ten-Tails' chakra, plus all those stat points, would be insane.
With that plus his current growth rate, he'd be only half a step away from Six Paths level.
Yorin thought, "I'll do a few more high-tier missions, climb up to Six Paths, and while I'm at it, finish collecting the tailed beasts so I can release Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Then I'll beat her down and make her my hard-working asset.
Once that's done, I'll have all the firepower I need to fight the Ōtsutsuki clan.
At that point, it'll be just about time to conquer the world and found the Shinobi Empire.
Just thinking about it is kind of thrilling, isn't it?"