Even if the chances are low, if a person doesn't have dreams, what's the difference between them and a salted fish?
Right now, Kumo was only a single step away from being completely finished. If they didn't handle things properly, Konoha's shinobi really would start killing people.
In fact, there were already quite a few shinobi knocking on Uchiha Yorin's window in the middle of the night, whispering, "Why don't we just kill all the Kumo nin?"
Some were from Konoha. Some were from Kiri, of course.
As Mizukage, Terumi Mei couldn't say it outright, but she'd "hint" to her subordinates to bring such proposals up in front of Yorin.
Yorin rejected every suggestion without hesitation—but after the rumors reached Kumo's people, they still couldn't help feeling deeply uneasy.
Since they didn't dare resent Konoha directly, they ended up hating Kiri instead.
And to be fair, Kiri was a more obvious lightning rod for hatred.
After all, Yorin's Konoha army had fought them head-on—proper battlefield clashes where, even if you lost, you could accept it. Meanwhile Kiri had pulled off a sneak attack and backstabbed their home, so naturally they attracted more spite.
Because of that, when Uchiha Yorin appeared in front of Kumo's shinobi with Terumi Mei holding one arm… Yugito, Samui, and Mabui's faces all went ugly. Yugito in particular nearly slammed the table and shouted, "Goddamn Uchiha!" right there.
By comparison, Temari—holding Yorin's other arm—didn't draw as much open hostility.
Even so, anyone paying attention could see what Yorin was doing.
A Konoha-born Uchiha, left arm around the Mizukage, right arm around the future Kazekage, showing up to a "matchmaking meeting" with Kumo's kunoichi.
Wasn't that basically a snapshot of the current world order? A romantic battlefield version of bloc politics?
Think this wasn't intentional?
Of course it was. If we're talking about closeness, the one holding his other arm should've been Pakura, not Temari.
Temari had barely existed in the Konoha army up to this point.
Yorin knew perfectly well she'd come with ulterior motives; with Rasa's "everything for the village" mindset, even if Yorin just straight-up ravished Temari, it would still be "politically acceptable." But instead, he'd treated Temari with formal courtesy and hadn't made any moves on her.
In the previous campaigns, Temari had been assigned as a diplomatic envoy and basically hadn't fought at all. If she'd been marching with Suna's forces and died in action, that would be that—war is war. But now she'd come with Konoha's army. If she died here, that'd be impossible to explain.
So yes, Yorin did this on purpose. It was a diplomatic smackdown of Kumo, and at the same time a display of his "options" on the romantic front.
You don't want to pursue me? That's fine—other people will.
If they still wanted to come in acting like, "I might graciously give you a chance to chase me," then they could forget it. They'd end up just watching him flirt with women from other villages, while Konoha turned its back on Kumo and happily deepened ties elsewhere—until Kumo became nothing more than a historical footnote.
Uchiha Yorin said lightly, "Sorry, sorry."
He spoke with zero sincerity: "Traffic was a nightmare on the way over, so I'm a bit late. Hope no one minds."
"Not at all."
Yugito answered through clenched teeth, the words completely at odds with her tone.
Yorin just laughed: "Hahaha, good, good. If no one minds, then all the better.
"Come on, everyone," he said, every bit the host despite being technically from Konoha. "Since everyone's here… serve the food. Let's eat while we talk about Kumo's future and the peace of the shinobi world."
…
While Yorin strutted in with two pretty girls on his arms and quietly angered the other three, Konoha's ANBU were being extremely careful in the kitchen—checking everything, then personally doing the cooking.
They weren't about to make the rookie mistake of letting Kumo's own cooks prepare food for their dear Commander Uchiha.
The original Kumo chefs could only stand aside, seething, watching a bunch of outsiders juggle their pots, pans, knives, and woks.
For proud chefs, this was spiritually equivalent to "your wife getting grabbed right in front of you."
…
"This tastes pretty good."
"So this is that famous Kumo specialty?"
"Who knew. It's actually kind of great."
Yorin cheerfully sampled Kumo's specialties.
He had to admit, Kumo did have a few good things—especially the lamb. Tender, juicy, and somehow both nourishing and invigorating, it made him want to eat a few more bites.
With Yorin leading the mood, Temari and Terumi Mei ate happily as well. Especially Terumi Mei, who kept sneaking little provocative glances at the three Kumo kunoichi opposite them, making them simmer in silent frustration.
"So."
After a few minutes of eating, Yorin finally set his chopsticks down and spoke:
"Under these circumstances… don't you all feel incredibly frustrated? Angry?
"But for a lot of people, this is already way too lenient toward Kumo.
"They think Kumo shouldn't even be allowed at the table, never mind sharing a meal.
"At the end of the day, just a few days ago, we were still enemies. Hatred doesn't evaporate that quickly.
"I'm the one choosing to give Kumo a chance.
"In this situation, what Kumo ought to be doing is not playing clever tricks behind my back to piss me off, but cooperating wholeheartedly, and with gratitude. Is that really such a hard concept to grasp?!"
…
Hearing that, the Kumo nin all wore various shades of complicated expression—resentment, defeat, a mix of both. Yugito, especially, nearly slammed the table and shouted something unprintable.
But in the end, she held it in.
"Yes. We understand."
"Kumo will reflect deeply on our mistakes."
At the key moment, it was still clever, black-skinned Mabui who knew how to read the room. She leaned in closer to Yorin, voice soft, helping smooth things over:
"From now on, Kumo will stand on the side of peace. We'll be Konoha's ally… and we'll also become another source of strength for Yorin-sama."
She sounded reasonably sincere.
"There are people in Kumo who know which way the wind blows," Yorin said, genuinely amused.
He knew full well Mabui might be the hardest of the three to truly win over—right now she was just buying time—but he still gave her the step she needed.
"Relax. As long as Kumo genuinely changes, Konoha will treat you with tolerance.
"Even if you lot have been cruel, slippery, backstabbing bastards… at the end of the day, you're still part of this world, still part of the shinobi community."
The Kumo shinobi visibly relaxed, even if they still looked a bit sour.
"That's right," Mabui smiled. "I believe under Yorin-sama's leadership, our Kumo will turn over a new Konoha, become new people, and contribute to a new shinobi world and a new shinobi religion~"
She said it nicely enough; Yorin didn't relax because of it.
Words were cheap. Come talk again after she becomes Raikage someday.
"Yes."
As if sensing Yorin's true intention, the Fourth Raikage nodded and added his endorsement:
"Kumo has no more ambitions of conquest. From here on out, our goal is only to support Konoha, and support the new shinobi order."
"If you're really thinking that way, that would be ideal."
"…Even if we weren't," Killer B muttered, "it wouldn't matter. Kumo's completely lost the ability to compete now."
"That's true." Samui sighed. "So all we can do now is test whether the 'harem route' still works, Yorin-sama."
With that mature, almost excessive figure and that deadpan, cool beauty, Samui's appeal was no less than Tsunade's.
Her personality was a little cold, sure—but that only added to the interest in "melting" her.
…
Everyone had given their stance—some heartfelt, some hollow.
During all this, Terumi Mei and Temari also spoke up, each declaring their willingness to stand behind a Konoha-centered order led by Uchiha Yorin.
Temari's words didn't carry much weight politically, but Yorin trusted that Rasa would make the "correct" choices.
Which left all the pressure on Yugito.
As a perfect jinchūriki, an unbeatable upper-rank shinobi, Nii Yugito sat there with her lips pressed tight, clearly unwilling. The A-B combo were going crazy inside. They wanted to shout, "How many points of tsundere do you even have?!"
In the end, though, Yugito caved.
Almost too quietly to hear, she murmured to Yorin:
"…Let's do as you said.
"I… I also think the shinobi order and world peace sound pretty good."
But Yorin didn't let her off that easily.
"Really? I don't believe you. Unless you prove it to me."
As he spoke, he gave Temari a gentle push. The Suna princess, not entirely happy about it, still got up and vacated the seat next to him.
Yorin patted the chair, still warm from Temari, and said to Yugito:
"Come sit here. Next to me."
Blue veins popped on Yugito's forehead. Fortunately, Samui and Mabui were on either side of her—each grabbed one arm, holding her in place to keep her from tackling Yorin and getting knocked out with a single punch.
"Let me go! That bastard—I'm taking him down with me!!"
Her words were fierce, her struggling dramatic—but in reality, she wasn't really trying.
If a perfect jinchūriki truly wanted to break free, there's no way two ordinary jōnin could hold her down.
Yorin certainly had no intention of letting her off with just some empty words.
"I've always preferred quieter women," he remarked lightly.
Then his Sharingan spun to life. His strange gold-and-silver eyes locked onto Yugito.
Seeing this, everyone around them tensed, thinking he was about to do something drastic. Several nearly rushed over to stop him.
But what followed wasn't what they feared.
Yorin simply put Yugito under a light genjutsu—nothing more.
Strictly speaking, a perfect jinchūriki's resistance to illusion should be extremely high. Yorin didn't have a Mangekyō; he hadn't taken any special private lessons from Madara.
But he still pulled it off.
Not because his genjutsu was overwhelming—but because Yugito herself let it happen.
After all, if she really meant to fight, there's no way two regular jōnin could've held her in place. This was tsundere theater, not true defiance.
…
Yugito's eyes flickered once, then cleared. She blinked rapidly, as if still in a daze from the illusion, and fell silent, sitting there looking unusually well-behaved.
"Well then, we'll leave it here for today."
Yorin said that, then stood up and left—with Temari and Terumi Mei following alongside him. The people of Kumo were left sitting across the table, staring at one another in stunned silence.
After a while, they all turned toward Yugito.
"Um… Yugito-sama," Samui asked carefully,
"what kind of genjutsu did Uchiha Yorin just use on you? Are you all right?"
Yugito's face flushed bright red.
She didn't say a word.