And so, having gotten a firm hold on the glasses lady's weak spot, Uchiha Yorin began living a happy, carefree life.
Every time he wrapped a mission and dragged himself back exhausted, he'd drop a donation at the orphanage—then enjoy Nono's full "service." If he wanted a JK outfit, she wore a JK outfit; if he wanted a uniform, she wore a uniform. Life was bliss.
Of course, there were some headaches.
Every date, Nono would ask:
"Uchiha Yorin, have you forgotten your grand vow to kill Shimura Danzō?"
Up to now Yorin could only mumble, "Soon, soon." At least this time he could say, openly, "It really is soon."
He didn't tell Nono the specifics. But as said before, Yakushi Nono is a very smart woman.
She didn't need details; a glance at his face and eyes told her whether he was fobbing her off to freeload, or whether he actually had confidence now.
Confirming he'd truly made progress, Nono was delighted. She reflexively wanted to ask exactly what, but when the words reached her lips they turned into praise:
"I knew you were the best~"
Saying so, she happily dove into his arms: "Because Yorin-san is my hero~" Her smile grew more dangerous as she spoke, like a predator mid-hunt.
Yorin suddenly felt it wasn't him "gaslighting" the glasses lady—it was the glasses lady manipulating him.
A little scary. He even felt she might be more frightening than Uchiha Obito.
But since he was the hero, he couldn't back down here!
"I'm a man who'll become Hokage! How could I quit now? Whether it's a JK uniform or a black-stocking—let the storm come harder!!!"
…
Thus the next day, Uchiha Yorin did not see Konoha at four in the morning.
…
Five a.m. isn't bad either, honestly.
At least when Yorin reached the training grounds, only a handful of hard-grinding Uchiha were there.
Including Shisui.
Yorin really wanted to gripe, "Shisui, you're already a prodigy and you're still grinding this hard—how's anyone else catching up?"
What's that? I grind harder than Shisui? Then never mind.
Seeing Yorin, Shisui happily came over to greet him.
The other guys who frequented the Uchiha youth center drifted over too, exchanging hellos and a few words with Yorin one by one.
Yorin returned the friendliness—and used the classic leader trick of "remembering names." He called each clansman by name and tossed out a line about their recent doings, giving them the sense that "Yorin-nii is paying attention to me," which massively boosted their goodwill.
Sure, a few years from now these bros are destined to be soloed by Itachi. But for now, get your face known. When winter comes, there'll be more folks to drape a coat over Yorin's shoulders.
After greetings, they got to training. Yorin and Shisui sparred while chatting about the day before.
"I told the clan head yesterday," Shisui said. "He said he'll find a way to track Obito.
He also approves of you using this to draw the Uchiha and the Hokage closer."
During the spar, Yorin deliberately let Shisui's Sharingan hard-lock him for a few seconds, pulling him into Shisui's genjutsu to discuss things—achieving the effect of openly plotting in broad daylight under everyone's noses.
Uchiha Yorin: "Mm, sounds good—but be careful. Obito's strong; don't waste people's lives."
"I told the clan head that too, but…"
Given Uchiha pride, they might not heed even the clan head's warning.
Yesterday's deadweight is today's Kage-level; how many elders and youths will accept that? If they can't find him, fine; if they do, they'll likely jump him to "measure" Obito's ability.
And that "measurement" may end with them on their knees. Best case, they run; dying isn't the worst.
What's worrisome is Obito's chūni talk riling them up to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan and return to Konoha as sleepers.
"It probably won't be that unlucky," Yorin thought. "Obito should be eyeing the Mist right now. The Land of Water's off on its own; most folks don't go there for nothing. We should be fine, right?"
"And also… the clan head said, if you have time, you should go see him," Shisui added.
"Got it."
Shisui had said it clearly, but cautious-to-a-fault Fugaku would still want to hear it from Yorin himself.
Conveniently, Yorin planned to farm his "civil-war god" achievement anyway; he'd go have a bout with Fugaku and see what the clan head's Mangekyō could do.
…
"Alright, that's that—let's continue."
"Right."
With that, Shisui released the genjutsu.
They'd talked a while in the illusion, but only a blink had passed outside; the others training nearby didn't notice a thing—some even thought Yorin had instantly reversed Shisui's illusion.
"Has Yorin's genjutsu gotten that strong?"
Of course not. Yorin's genjutsu has always lagged; even with three tomoe, he's a bit behind the average Uchiha. But no matter—the system quests can fix it.
So long as the "Senju Revival System" stays as clueless as before, bumping Yorin's [Illusion] stat past 10 will be easy.
Before that, he'll stick to taijutsu.
As for ninjutsu, his chakra stat—[Stamina]—has hit a startling 11, so he can use some jutsu now.
But with [Ninjutsu] and [Seals] both only 5, big flashy techniques are still a stretch.
Like Hashirama—one Wood Release and bam-bam-bam, cracking the earth—Yorin could only bite his nails and pretend he wasn't jealous.
But now things are different.
Low [Seals] and [Ninjutsu] are mainly from too little practice.
Too little practice mainly came from low [Stamina].
With low [Stamina], faster seals and cleaner ninjutsu didn't mean much—it was better to grind taijutsu.
Yorin's earlier choice of fighting style had been perfectly reasonable.
But now his [Stamina] is super strong.
He got up at five; the glasses lady barely crawled out of bed at noon. In that case, it makes perfect sense to grind hand-seal speed and pull some powerful jutsu from the clan archive to learn.
You can't rely on deep-blue stat points for everything—you've got to put in the work yourself.
~~~
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