"Even if you put it that way…"
Hearing Uchiha Yorin's pitch, Namikaze Minato actually looked tempted.
What are ninja busting their butts on missions for every day?
Money.
Why do the great villages launch ninja wars?
Money.
Mobilizing ninja armies, burning through explosive tags, tools, ration pills—what is all that?
Money.
If Minato wants to make Konoha great again—wants everyone to live well—what does he need most?
Money.
Strip Naruto of its flashy coat—"Will of Fire," "this is my ninja way," Asura vs. Indra fates, village vendettas, clan grudges—what's underneath it all?
Still freaking money.
In Yorin's view, Naruto and Earth are the same at the core: every problem orbits "money."
Uchiha Yorin: "Pfft—can't—haha…"
Minato: "???"
For some reason the Uchiha across from him started laughing, leaving Minato baffled.
Then he remembered—Yorin's an Uchiha—and let it go.
Once he did, Minato had to admit: Yorin's pitch was exaggerated, but… it had a point.
Peeling off a slice of high-value missions for the Uchiha had warmed relations and, yes, steadied his Hokage seat.
Clan Head Fugaku knew how to play the game. Beyond promising that, in any future war, the Uchiha would fully cooperate, he also arranged for a batch of Uchiha to join Anbu under Minato's command.
But courting the Uchiha wasn't all upside.
There are only so many missions in Konoha. If the Uchiha eat a bigger share, someone else eats less.
In the past few days, several factions had voiced displeasure to Minato—some slamming desks, others sniffling about empty pantries and no firewood, claiming they'd have to sell Hinata to pay debts if this kept up.
Most outrageous of all: that old coot Danzō.
Seeing the Fourth favor the Uchiha drove him madder by the minute until he finally barged into the Hokage's office and had a blazing row. He left a snarled, "Minato, you'll regret this!" then glared in silence long enough to leave Minato at a total loss.
Minato: "Huh?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Er, Minato."
Watching the greenhorn fumble, the Third—who'd seen it all—offered, "This is where you say, 'Danzō, I am the Hokage.' That'll make him happy."
Minato: "Really?" He looked at Danzō like he was a masochist weirdo.
Shimura Danzō: "Absolutely not!"
…
Long story short: that's the state of play.
Reform faces resistance—and plenty of it.
Konoha isn't Minato's one-man show.
If Uzushiogakure still existed, Minato—the illustrious son-in-law—might at least have in-laws backing him.
But the noble Uzumaki have been refugees for decades.
Push reform too hard against entrenched interests, and even a Hokage winds up with eight kunai in his back—ruled a suicide.
"That's where things stand. If you can put more concrete benefits on the table, great. Without clear upside, asking me to divert our already thin funds into an entertainment company is… tough.
If the Uchiha deliver more results, that's another story."
Reform is hard, but Minato didn't want to quit halfway. And after a few days of tests—and failures—he'd concluded the Uchiha's goodwill was rare and real.
His "test" target had been another dōjutsu-famed clan: the Hyūga.
Unlike the Uchiha's proactive stance, the Hyūga met the Hokage's olive branch with the classic three-step scumbag play:
Don't initiate, don't refuse, don't take responsibility. Try to freeload and teach the youngster a lesson: don't be so young.
Luckily, Minato didn't fall for it; otherwise he'd already be "suicided" with eight kunai in his back, and Kushina might be a widow.
…
Yorin: "So, the village—no, Minato—what do you want me to do?"
Minato's subtext was crystal clear to Yorin.
Squeezing ninja cats to sell papers doesn't net tens of millions in three days. His entertainment empire won't rise overnight. That "funding" ask wasn't about media—it was a short-term risk play to bag quick cash.
So rather than "show results," the smarter move was "show Uchiha sincerity."
Minato lowered his voice. "There's a mission in the Land of Rain—high risk, good payoff. If you're willing, you can take a shot."
Yorin thought for a few seconds, then nodded and took the mission scroll. "Then I'll give it a try."
Minato: "Mm. Try."
Yorin: "Try, try."
Shisui: "Try?"
Yorin: "Try."
Itachi: "Try?"
Yorin: "Sure, try."
[Quest: Outshine the Uchiha complete. Reward: Yang Release nature transformation; major chakra increase (Stamina +2).]
Never mind the Weasel is only six—he's still a bona fide Uchiha prodigy, isn't he?
And just like that, Yorin's biggest weak stat—Stamina 5—became Stamina 9.
Still no match for human-tailed-beast chakra monsters, but he wouldn't flame out in three minutes anymore.
Now, about the Land of Rain.
It's a high-difficulty dungeon—a shallow pond crawling with snapping turtles. The old guard boasts Hanzo of the Salamander, "demi-god"; the young guard has Akatsuki still in its growth phase; and Chūnibyō Uchiha Obito in full swing.
Even after pounding Shisui and Itachi and bagging +4 Stamina, Yorin—now elite-jōnin tier—would be a fool to charge in alone.
Good thing Shisui had time. Yorin roped him in—duo queue, happily.
Shisui's great: strong, loyal, and best of all, extremely fast at running away.
If they ran into, say, Six Paths Pain, manic Obito, or Hanzo himself—one Shinra Tensei, one Kamui, or one giant salamander chomp—Shisui could whisk them out in a blink.
…
"The objective is intel recon in the Land of Rain… and escorting a shipment of goods?"
Glancing over the scroll, Shisui muttered, "Things there are worse than in the Land of Fire. Why would a caravan go there to do business?"
"Because the rougher the seas, the pricier the fish," Yorin said calmly. "The tougher the deal, the bigger the profit if you pull it off."
"I see. Those bandits are really hateful," Shisui sighed.
"That's where you're wrong," Yorin said.
"If there are no mice, who keeps cats? Our own bandits are hateful; other people's bandits are different—they're our bread and butter, our rice and grain."
Shisui opened his mouth, ready to roast Yorin.
After a moment's thought, he decided to say nothing at all—and just smiled.