"For my eyes, to stop me, for Konoha."
"The Sannin are no longer the Sannin they once were. Has the bond between you finally come to an end?"
After hearing Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya state their respective purposes, Uchiha Yue smiled. At the same time, he brutally suppressed the Nine-Tailed Fox within Kushina Uzumaki, yet still did not extract it from her body. Clearly, Uchiha Yue was hesitating as well. After all, extracting the Nine-Tailed Fox from Kushina Uzumaki would mean truly killing her, truly severing the bond that had accumulated over so many years.
If he had been facing someone as unscrupulous as the Third Hokage, Uchiha Yue would not have needed to hesitate at all. He could simply have killed the Third Hokage. But when facing Kushina Uzumaki, Minato Namikaze, and those struggling painfully between their bonds and Konoha, even in Dark Asura mode, Uchiha Yue was still unwilling to truly take that step. That irreversible step—the step that would leave him regretting and lamenting it in secret for the rest of his life.
Seeing that Uchiha Yue had not truly extracted the Nine-Tailed Fox, but had merely suppressed it inside Kushina Uzumaki, Minato Namikaze shifted his gaze to the Sannin as well. At that moment, Minato Namikaze had clearly noticed Uchiha Yue's hesitation. Moreover, if Kushina Uzumaki remained in her Nine-Tailed Fox state, she might suffer a backlash from the beast. On the other hand, Minato Namikaze could finally relax somewhat, thinking that the trouble concerning the Nine-Tailed Fox was finally over.
Then, when Uchiha Yue smiled and quietly spoke of the Sannin's current circumstances, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade all fell silent.
After several seconds of silence, a gleam suddenly flashed through Orochimaru's eyes. He no longer faced Uchiha Yue, but turned instead toward Jiraiya and Tsunade.