Uchiha Yorin: "I see, I see. So the reward changes depending on which clan you win over."
He thought it through.
For the Uchiha it's the Sharingan, Mangekyō, and all kinds of eye techniques. For the Hyūga it'd be Byakugan, Gentle Fist, maybe even the Tenseigan.
Ino–Shika–Chō? Respectively: bottomless stomach, pineapple hair, and terminal romantic brain. Inuzuka equals dogs, Aburame equals kikaichū, and Sarutobi… should be the bō staff, right? …No idea if clans outside Konoha would work too—like the Uzumaki's massive chakra, or Kimimaro's bone growth. As for Ice, Scorch, Boil, Magnet Release—great if I can get them, but biting off too much means chewing none of it. I'd much rather the system just give me attribute points.
With that thought, Yorin's mind cleared; his future suddenly looked bright, and he couldn't help flashing a clean-cut pretty-boy smile.
"Why are you smiling?"
Walking beside him, Uchiha Elder Uchiha Yakumi asked with a peculiar tone.
As Fugaku's aide, Uchiha Yakumi was a textbook Uchiha: arrogant, proud, nose in the air—but overflowing with clan loyalty, treating Uchiha interests as paramount.
He didn't love some of Yorin's antics, but he still regarded Yorin as an important part of the clan—even its future.
When he heard about the Hidden Cloud ambush, Yakumi got anxious. When he heard Yorin had awakened three tomoe, he got even more anxious. Without waiting for Fugaku to say a word, he volunteered to bring Yorin to the Hokage Tower to meet the Fourth. Also present—unable to rest easy about his "student's student"—was Hiruzen Sarutobi, lingering at the Tower to lend a hand.
[Emergency Quest · Gain the Hokage's Recognition: After the Senju declined, the Hokage's seat shifted to the Sarutobi. This is temporary—an act of necessity.
One day, the Hokage's seat will return to its true owner.
Until then, building a good relationship with the Hokage and earning his recognition is necessary.
Reward: Chakra Increase]
Once the corpses sealed in the scroll were laid out, both the Fourth and the Third fell silent.
Honestly, they were inclined to believe Uchiha Yorin.
Beyond the direct evidence of the bodies, both Anbu and Root had reported a lot of suspicious movement in the Cloud—proof they harbored ill intent toward Konoha.
Of course, so did Stone, Mist, and Sand. None of them wished Konoha well.
The Land of Fire sits dead center on the continent—geographically awkward. When it's strong, it strikes out on all sides and "all nations pay tribute." When it's weak, it gets hammered from all directions and "all nations trample in."
It occupies the fattest, most exposed land on the map; if the other four great villages don't take turns "serving" you, you'll never learn how sinister human hearts can be.
…
The first two Great Ninja Wars were manageable—they at least kept the enemy at the border. The Third? That one broke Konoha's spirit.
Say as much or as little as you like—Konoha was the loser of the Third War. It just didn't lose as miserably or as much.
Why do you think the Third old codger suddenly abdicated? Because you own the loss.
He got lucky Jiraiya took a good student. The Yellow Flash gave the old man some face back; otherwise it wouldn't have been a simple abdication—he'd have been performing the "traditional art" of seppuku for the crowd.
…
It hadn't been long since the Third War ended. Konoha fought Cloud, then Stone, then Mist—three villages in a row—until it hit the wall and couldn't swing anymore. So when the others probed, Konoha mostly chose to swallow it.
If the Second were still around, he'd be shouting, "What the hell—how did Konoha become this?!"
Too bad he's dead. And with him died the Senju clan's lovely dream of peace and stability.
How naïve, that Hashirama.
As someone who's been around the block, Yorin had his own read on the ninja world's development.
Before Konoha, wars were clan-on-clan; folks call it the Warring States, but to Yorin it felt more like the Spring and Autumn period.
With the Five Great Villages founded and clans bundled together, history fast-forwarded to the real Warring States.
Wars got bigger as villages formed. The Five Great Nations fielded ever more ninja—more numbers, better quality, more mobilizable men and materiel—and war grew more brutal and bloody.
By the usual logic, after the Warring States should come unification—one strong power bringing peace and stability.
But… it didn't.
Hashirama could have flattened the ninja world. Instead he got drunk on the "peace, balance, and village system" he created—so much so he broke with his dearest friend, Madara, over it.
In the end, reality proved Hashirama's path was wrong. Tailed Beast deterrence theory was worthless.
At bottom, a tailed beast isn't a gravitational-wave emitter—there's no guaranteed mutual destruction.
So villages treated tailed beasts as doomsday weapons to be thrown into battle when needed, not as a deterrent fleet-in-being.
By comparison, Madara's plan for conquest actually had a shot. If he and Hashirama had joined forces, who could oppose them?
Granted, with his temperament and skill set, a unified ninja world might have fallen apart later from poor governance and popular wrath.
But even a brief empire would beat clinging to hopes pinned on other people.
Once the idea of unification gets planted, future generations will work toward it.
Someday the ninja world will have a new future—rather than this endless slog in war and chaos, everyone anxious and lost.
…
After roasting the First in his heart, Uchiha Yorin put on a gentle smile and served the Third Old Fossil and Fourth Young One a string of "correct nonsense."
Boiled down, it read: "Will of Fire, Will of Fire, Will of Fire. For the Will of Fire, I'm willing to forgo pursuing the Cloud's responsibility. All for the Will of Fire, dattebayo!"
As he spoke, Yorin kept crafting his image and persona.
Naruto's hot-blooded blond mode wasn't his thing—nor did he want it.
He went for the deeply devoted type: voice firm and low, highlighting how he "bears humiliation and carries the burden forward."
Yorin had no idea what the Will of Fire actually was; he doubted the Third and Fourth knew either.
Didn't matter. The Hokage doesn't need you to understand—only to believe fervently. Offer your youth—and your children and grandchildren—to the Will of Fire. In the end, it's just a slogan.
That slogan could be the Will of Fire, or "for the Emperor."
The name doesn't matter. Most ninja haven't read much and still think highly of themselves—gaslighting folks like that is child's play.
Health-supplement hucksters in later times would grin ear to ear if they saw the ninja world.
Take Sarutobi Hiruzen, for instance.
Hiruzen in particular.
After Yorin's deep, devoted spiel about the Will of Fire, the Third lit up like an underground operative hearing the passphrase—one step shy of blurting, "He's one of us!" His favorability toward Yorin shot up.
Yorin found it hilarious.
The Will of Fire was something the Hokage used to hustle others—hustle long enough and the Third started believing it himself.
To Yorin, that smacked of early-onset senility.
If the Fourth doesn't die, fine.
But if he goes young like in the original plot, the Third can forget about "returning to the mountain." He should start looking into a nursing home and getting that dementia treated—that'd be more useful than anything.
"—No!"
Right then Elder Yakumi spoke up: "We can't just let this slide—otherwise where does that leave the Uchiha clan's face?!"