"On Kumo's side, they've basically accepted reality. At least while you're still alive, they probably won't try rebelling again."
On the way back from the Kumo guest house, Terumi Mei spoke to Uchiha Yorin.
"That just leaves Iwa. Onoki can't support this alone. Most likely he'll choose peace.
And once that happens, the Fourth Shinobi War will be over. Another victory for Konoha."
She sighed.
"After this war, you'll probably be like the First Hokage—your name alone will shake the entire shinobi world. As long as you're alive, the world will stay at peace. You've basically created an entire era by yourself, Yorin-kun."
"Yeah, yeah, Yorin-sama is just amazing. I'm so in awe of you~"
The brain-rotted fangirl line came from the other side—Temari.
She was a strategist too, but her actual combat strength was way behind everyone else's. With no chance to shine, the only thing she could do was lean into this "admiring kouhai" act and try to farm a bit of Yorin's favor.
Yorin: "The First, huh?"
"What I want to be is not another Senju Hashirama.
Once the economies and the politics of the Five Great Villages are deeply bound together, they'll stop being separate in any meaningful way.
Then we'll see genuine, lasting peace."
"That's very true."
"Well, even if you say that…"
Terumi Mei, now tied into Konoha's economic system, was inclined to believe him. Temari, who still hadn't tasted what capital could really do, was less convinced—her first instinct was that Uchiha Yorin was just talking big.
Whether they believed him or not, Yorin didn't argue and didn't act particularly satisfied. He just chuckled, pulled both girls closer, and slid into the black luxury car to head back to the hotel.
His mind had already moved past Kumo.
Kumo no longer had the qualifications to be Uchiha's enemy.
With the situation in the Fourth Shinobi War now clear and the internal shinobi conflicts nearing their end, as tensions between villages began to cool, Konoha was about to face a different kind of challenge.
…
At the same time.
While Yorin was going home to face Tsunade's resentful stare, on the Konoha vs. Iwa front line, Hiruzen and Minato—and the senior jōnin of that front—received the spectacularly good news.
Everyone was happy. Extremely happy. The kind of happy that makes you want to jab your own temple because you don't know what else to do with yourself.
Then, once they'd metaphorically stabbed their temples, the more brooding, politically literate types fell silent and started frowning.
"Uchiha Yorin really is something. First Kiri, now Kumo—he's knocked over two Great Villages back-to-back.
Aside from the First Hokage, there's never been a Hokage whose military merits could compare, has there?"
The Third Hokage had personally overseen the Third Great War. He knew very well how brutal and miserable a true shinobi war was.
If it had been him, Konoha might still have won—but it would've been the kind of victory that came only after years of mud-slogging, soul-crushing attrition, with corpses piled like mountains. Put next to Yorin's clean, overwhelming single-stroke win, the contrast was brutal.
The former is like World War I trench warfare—pure torment for both sides. It's no wonder so many shinobi turned into deranged lunatics afterward.
The latter is blitzkrieg—victory in an instant, with minimal losses. The enemy can complain all they want; at least for your own people, it feels good.
Of the fifteen thousand shinobi under Yorin, fewer than a thousand became casualties, and only a few hundred actually died. On the Kiri side, Terumi Mei had been a bit too eager and lost more people than she should have during the strike on Kumo's village, but even then casualties stayed under a thousand.
Compared to the Second and Third Great Wars, where whole family registries were wiped out overnight, this was nothing short of miraculous.
"That's Yorin-kun for you. He always has a way."
Minato was genuinely thrilled by the news.
By contrast, the Third looked torn.
"At this point, Yorin's military merits might be too great, Minato."
"…Yeah."
Minato's joy dimmed a little. He nodded, acknowledging the point—but before Hiruzen could get another word out, he said:
"It's true. As things stand, Yorin-kun might be more suited to being Hokage than I am."
That one line nearly made the old man choke.
Do you seriously not have any sense of pride or ambition?
Can't you see that Uchiha Yorin's prestige has already soared past yours, way into the distance? You don't feel even a little threatened?!
…
Under Minato's command, the Konoha–Suna alliance had already pressed Iwa hard. The fighting had moved from the buffer states—Grass, River, even Rain—to inside Land of Earth itself.
Onoki's Dust Release truly was god-tier, but it was useless against a speed-type freak like Minato.
In canon, Obito used Kamui to dodge Dust Release. Here, Minato dodged it with Hiraishin all the same.
No matter how devastating Dust Release was, if it didn't hit, it didn't matter.
Aside from Onoki, Iwa just… didn't have much. Konoha, meanwhile, still had Jiraiya and the old man himself to hold the line.
So the pattern was simple: Minato went one-on-one with Onoki, while Hiruzen and Jiraiya led the Konoha forces and smashed Iwa's army again and again. Honestly, the only reason Iwa hadn't surrendered already was sheer HP bar—of all five Great Villages, they had the largest ninja headcount, and they were using that toughness to hang on.
If Yorin's campaign hadn't existed to compare with, everyone would've been pretty satisfied with Minato's performance.
But with Yorin around… things looked a little different.
Konoha reigning supreme is only natural. But it's not enough just to win—you have to win cleanly, win with style, win with rhythm.
In that sense, Minato had room to learn from Yorin.
"I understand what you mean, Third."
Minato said truthfully, "Honestly, if Yorin really wanted to be Hokage, I'd hand the position over any time."
He was so sincere that Hiruzen knew he wasn't just being polite. If Yorin ever sat him down and said, "I want the hat," Minato would absolutely step aside.
In fact, even if Yorin didn't talk to him first, Minato already had half a mind to retire. Just… not quite yet.
Then he added something that almost made the old man laugh out of sheer anger:
"But Yorin-kun's ambitions lie elsewhere."
There was genuine regret in his voice.
"Yorin-kun's goal is much bigger than any of ours. A single village, a single Hokage's chair—that means nothing to him; it can't hold him.
So, Third, you really don't need to worry about that.
Yorin-kun won't betray me, and I have no reason to betray him."
Once again, looking at Minato as he said that so seriously, Hiruzen couldn't help a heartfelt sigh.
Being young really is nice.
Back then, he and Danzo had been like that too—completely trusting each other.
It was just that…
"Just that… I'm not entirely sure Uchiha Yorin truly can do what he intends," Hiruzen said in the end.
"Rebuilding the shinobi order is a grand ideal, but the daimyo will never want to see that happen.
If I haven't misjudged things, I suspect they've already begun to move."
At that, Minato's smile slowly faded.
~~~
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