"Right—so I talked Orochimaru into joining our Amegakure raid team."
The very next day, Uchiha Yorin went back to the Hokage's office and laid things out for Minato again:
"Once Orochimaru leaves, you can use the chance to hit his secret lab. There will definitely be hard evidence tying him and Danzō together."
"You've done a lot," Minato said, grateful. "As expected of you, Yorin-san—managing to win over someone like Orochimaru-sama… By the way, do you know what he's actually researching?"
"Stuff Konoha wouldn't allow—forbidden techniques," Yorin said, giving a can't-be-wrong answer without revealing the punchline. "The question is how forbidden. Then again, Flying Thunder God counts as a forbidden technique too, right?
"If it's only something on FTG's level, we wouldn't need to hide it that hard, would we?"
"…That's true."
And that was the end of the Orochimaru–Danzō talk.
Minato's eyes flashed—already thinking about mustering his elite and raiding Orochimaru's "lakefront manor."
He didn't have many troops in Anbu, and Anbu was riddled with Danzō's people. In a real fight, would Anbu follow Danzō—or the Hokage? Hard to say.
But that didn't mean Minato lacked a base.
His base wasn't Anbu, and certainly not the Police Force—it was the shinobi army.
During the Third Great Ninja War, the Yellow Flash commanded a whole front, racking up popular support and winning over a lot of Konoha jōnin.
Everyone knows Konoha advertises "democracy," but in practice everyone is the people and only the jōnin are the nobles. When a Hokage is chosen, only jōnin vote.
Without that bedrock of military merit and jōnin support, Minato's Fourth Hokage seat would wobble.
After he took office, the Konoha army coalesced into a Fourth faction under him—mainly small clans and commoner shinobi.
Those guys would die for Minato.
To put it bluntly, if Konoha fought a civil war, the Sarutobi and Anbu would likely side with the Third, while Minato's "war-merit faction" would, with beast-like resolve, hurl shuriken at the old man.
Minato had decided: once Orochimaru left, he'd send the army in and send every secret lab to the sky.
…
"Hey, hold up."
Uchiha Yorin hooked an arm around Minato's neck.
"Give it a little time before moving, okay? Otherwise I'll have a hard time explaining things to Orochimaru—and you don't want him crashing the party midway with a brood of Ryūchi Cave serpents."
Minato: "Mm. Stay in touch—I'll tell you before we move. If possible…"
"If possible—capture Orochimaru, right?"
"If possible… and if not, then forget it."
Relax. Not possible.
Yorin thought it through.
Letting Orochimaru slip might ding Minato's trust a little. That's fine—just a few points.
If they didn't let him go, Minato would be more grateful—but where was Yorin going to find another tech genius to keep building his capital empire?
"Then I'll leave it in your hands."
"OK."
…
So—settled pleasantly. Ame raid plan: clear. Akatsuki raid plan: clear. Orochimaru base raid plan: also clear.
But perhaps you noticed something:
Someone got left out.
Obito.
Both Uchiha Yorin and Minato tacitly skipped him.
Not because they forgot—because they chose to.
Yes, the Legendary Sannin are strong—very strong—absurdly strong.
In Konoha Year 50, Akatsuki is still cocooning; the Six Paths of Pain aren't fully assembled; Six Paths Madara isn't revived; Obito's still green; Kaguya's still sealed. The Sannin trio are practically the strongest in the world.
If they took the field against Obito, even a "mad lover" with a power-up would still get kneeled by the Sannin.
But that would defeat the point.
As Nagato is Jiraiya's karma, Obito is Minato's karma.
Master and disciple. Once a vessel of hope, given care and love. When the disciple strays and slides toward inhumanity, it's the master's duty to do the grim work—if necessary—to clean house.
He wouldn't ask Jiraiya to fell Obito.
He would do it himself.
And before that, he'd try everything to bring Obito back.
If nothing else worked—
Then, may you pass on to bliss.
Flying Thunder God Slash.
…
With that, everything was in place.
Uchiha Yorin appeared once more at the Uchiha training grounds.
Same as before: physical drills, shuriken throws, Manipulating Kunai, Body Flicker… except now his hands were riding lightning—
Ox—Rabbit—Monkey—Lightning Release: Raikiri!
Different from Kakashi's and Sasuke's. Yorin's Lightning Release glowed violet-red—eerie and frightening. What didn't change was its speed and power.
Terrifying violet-red bolts gathered in his palm, hardening and sharpening his hand into a blade that could slice iron like mud.
As a "second protagonist's" signature, Chidori scores high in fame and power—and more importantly, it has a variant—
Yorin drew his waist blade with the hand wreathed in Chidori; the violet-red current crawled along the steel—
Chidori Blade, a Chidori variant!
He admired the lightning-clad blade for a moment, then drew another chakra-metal sword and flooded it with Fire chakra.
Now his twin blades bore two natures—Lightning and Fire—letting him adapt smoothly to different foes.
No one had used this combo yet… He could name them separately, but in a ninja world where chūni naming is a national sport, why not give the move a brand-new name?
Lightning, fire, swords—then call it:
Ninjutsu: Thunder–Fire Sword!
Uchiha Yorin: "Er—maybe not…"