Orochimaru: "Should we give up on her? With the three of us, we can hit Amegakure without her."
Orochimaru had run out of patience.
Beyond his impatience with the Tsunade search, there was another reason: Minato.
These days, Yorin and Minato were exchanging letters daily. On every note, Minato wrote: "Brother, let's move!"
And Yorin always answered: "No."
Minato saw it as Yorin's caution—otherwise he'd have already mobilized the army and blown Orochimaru's secret base to the moon.
But only Orochimaru knew the real reason: they hadn't secured Amegakure yet.
If Konoha struck first while Ame was still untouched, things would get awkward fast.
For Konoha, it would turn an ally into a traitor. For Orochimaru, with no fallback in Ame, he'd lose his base of operations. Either way, a headache.
Still, they couldn't drag this out forever.
Who knew how strong Yorin's sway over Minato really was? Who knew how long he could stall him?
Even the Sannin, who grew up together, were split now.
And Minato and Yorin hadn't even known each other that long—their bond was essentially mutual interest. Their Naruto–Sasuke stand-in had the taste of pre-packaged food.
"Well…"
Truth be told, Jiraiya's faith was flagging too. Unlike Orochimaru, he still wanted to try saving the plan.
So he turned to Uchiha Yorin. He didn't speak, but Yorin understood the look: "Brother, this was your plan—now that it's wobbling, you got a fix?"
Uchiha Yorin: "No problem!"
In fact, he was already thinking it through.
And the result?
Pretty good.
While mulling Konoha's economic shift, new 'specialty' lines, major reforms and swallowing the Land of Fire whole, he also came up with a neat way to fish Tsunade out.
Unlike the confident Orochimaru and Jiraiya, Yorin was very wary of Nagato and the Six Paths of Pain—treating them as the early-game boss.
Everyone knows a team with a healer is a different beast than one without.
The Sannin hadn't fought together in ages, but the chemistry was there.
If they coordinated properly—getting more than 1+1=2 out of it—and with the Flame Claw of Konoha, Uchiha Yorin, flanking, then even if they couldn't beat the Six Paths, a 50–50 fight and orderly retreat should be fine.
Play it like Kakashi-level performance, then return to Konoha and use it as the pretext to raise a larger expeditionary force.
Yorin's plan: while Akatsuki is still growing, break them—best case, fold them in. And use it as the excuse to go after Danzō.
As Yorin saw it, Danzō's sins already filled a ledger. As he'd said before, you can't execute a man twice.
…
"So your method is…?" Jiraiya asked. "If it's classified, pretend I didn't ask."
Uchiha Yorin: "Relax—classified isn't that cheap."
He formed seals, summoned—and biu biu biu—a handful of Hakki all showed up wearing work jackets, denim, and hard hats.
They were ninja cats—long allied to the Uchiha. But unlike upright "official" ninja cats, these looked like grizzled foremen. The lead cat spoke up:
"What's the job this time, Boss?"
Yorin didn't answer directly. He first introduced his crew to his two teammates:
"This is Foreman Ban—master of project orchestration, gets raw materials at 20% off and throws in extra. This is Lathe-maru, a level-7 lathe master. Clamp-maru, the fabled level-8 fitter. Weld-chan, level-6 professional welder. And this is Mawmaw."
Jiraiya: "Mawmaw—what's her specialty? Electrician?"
Both he and Orochimaru were intrigued by the summoned cat construction crew. Orochimaru wondered if his Ryūchi brood could be wrangled into taking certification exams; Jiraiya couldn't help asking.
The answer surprised him.
Yorin: "No—Mawmaw handles tea service and ballet. Her role is morale—cheer squad—also known as 'general affairs.'"
Mawmaw: "Meow—Boss, honestly, must you reveal everything?"
Outed by Yorin, Mawmaw actually looked shy, swaying side to side—while Lathe-maru and Clamp-maru were practically drooling.
Yorin clapped: "Alright, enough. Here's the job—can you do it? It needs to be fast, but quality must be high."
He handed a blueprint to Foreman Ban as he spoke. Ban was the crew chief—and the senior most "engineer cat."
Ban glanced at the drawing, then at Yorin. Then at the drawing, then back at Yorin: "Boss… this seems a bit… improper, doesn't it?"
Uchiha Yorin: "That's right." He admitted openly. "It's gambling gear. The culture of porn–gambling–drugs is like a flood beast, corrupting the youth. If there were any other way, I wouldn't resort to this."
When he said "porn–gambling–drugs," Jiraiya's face went peculiar.
If Tsunade's vice is gambling, then his must be the "porn," right?
Orochimaru's expression remained flat. He makes health supplements. Sure, some of the ingredients come from snake venom, but that's hardly "drugs"… right?
Uchiha Yorin: "Anyway—get it done. Commission at double the usual rate—deal?"
Foreman Ban: "But… are you sure this is a last resort, and you won't use it to hurt people later?"
Uchiha Yorin: "Of course I'm sure. I'm going to conquer the world on the righteous path, not run a mob. What would I need pachinko for?"
Yes—Yorin wanted to build the legendary pachinko machine—a soul-hooking contraption 65,535 levels beyond the ninja world's primitive gambling.
No matter how cautious she was, Tsunade would fall for this pit.
Just imagining her hooked on pachinko, owing him a mountain of cash, begging him for extensions, filled Yorin with joy. He beamed and promised:
"Ke-ke-ke! Don't worry, Foreman Ban—one and done and I'll quit! Ke-ke-ke! Do it well and I'll make sure you're well paid—ke-ke-ke-ke-ke…"
Foreman Ban: "…"
Foreman Ban: "…Fine. Just don't put my name on it and we're square."