Yin Jie and Obito

That was to say, as long as Yin Jie did not join the police force, he would become Orochimaru's disciple from then on and could be considered part of the Hokage faction.

It all depended on how the Uchiha Clan viewed it—whether they dared to take that gamble!

Of course, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not know that Orochimaru's desire to become a jonin instructor this time had his good buddy Danzo Shimura involved behind the scenes.

Although he knew Orochimaru had recently been conducting some potentially "dangerous" experiments and had begun cooperating with Danzo to some extent, it was all tacitly approved by him, the Third Hokage.

But Orochimaru had been raised and personally taught by him since childhood. He understood the temperament of his prized disciple and trusted him as well.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi was destined to miscalculate this time.

Even if Yin Jie became Orochimaru's disciple as he wished and joined the Hokage faction, he would not actually have much to do with the Hokage himself, and would ultimately become a member of Danzo's Root.

After all, the Hokage was not the only one who counted as part of the Hokage faction.

Danzo Shimura's Root was also a force within the Hokage faction!

The room fell silent for a moment.

Tsunade watched Yin Jie with great interest, wanting to see what choice he would make.

But in the next instant, the corner of her lips curled slightly, because she saw that Yin Jie's previously wandering gaze had become resolute.

"Teacher Orochimaru!"

Having made his decision, Yin Jie stood and respectfully bowed to Orochimaru.

This was the result of careful consideration. Becoming Orochimaru's disciple at this point in time came with far too many benefits.

Orochimaru might not have been a good person, but he was undoubtedly a good teacher.

Besides, Orochimaru had not yet "gone dark." He was still one of the Three Sannin, a hero of the Hidden Leaf Village, Hiruzen Sarutobi's most favored disciple, and a strong contender for the position of Fourth Hokage.

As Orochimaru's disciple, Yin Jie would also have obtained an entry ticket to the Hokage's seat, giving him the possibility of reclaiming the position of Hokage for the Uchiha Clan in the future.

More importantly, Orochimaru was currently the greatest scientist in the shinobi world, and that was what Yin Jie valued most.

After all, he had no siblings whatsoever. For him, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan...

"Yin Jie..."

Uchiha Yasashiro and Uchiha Fugaku had not yet fully sorted through all the twists and turns involved when they saw Yin Jie agree, and they could not help but hesitate.

Originally, the two had planned to stall for time and reply to Orochimaru only after consulting the clan head Uchiha Xuan and the elder Uchiha Zong.

Yet unexpectedly, Yin Jie had made his own choice first.

Thus, the two instinctively spoke up at the same time, only to find that they did not know what to say.

So they fell silent again. After all, they knew that Yin Jie was actually very mature in his thinking. Since he had already made his decision, they respected his wishes.

And that was also the intention of clan head Uchiha Xuan and elder Uchiha Zong.

"Very good!"

Orochimaru smiled in satisfaction.

But perhaps due to his personality, his laughter was exceedingly cold, and his voice hissed like a snake flicking its tongue.

"Then gather promptly at nine tomorrow morning, three kilometers east-southeast of the village!"

"Let's go, Tsunade!"

After tossing out those words, Orochimaru took his leave with Tsunade and departed from Yin Jie's home.

Not long after Tsunade and Orochimaru left, Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto also said their farewells. They still needed to find Fugaku's uncle, the Uchiha Clan head Uchiha Xuan, and inform him of this matter without delay.

As for elder Uchiha Zong, Yasashiro or Yin Jie, who were from the same branch, would personally go inform him.

Early the next morning.

After getting dressed, putting on his forehead protector, and packing everything he needed into his ninja tool pouch, Yin Jie left home with Uchiha Yasashiro.

Uchiha Yasashiro was heading to work at the Hidden Leaf Police Force, while Yin Jie was heading east-southeast of the Hidden Leaf Village to find Teacher Orochimaru, whom he had acknowledged just last night.

According to Orochimaru, although the area he gave was broad, someone would come meet Yin Jie as soon as he arrived there.

At that thought, Yin Jie's eyes flickered slightly.

It seemed that right after the Second Shinobi World War ended, Orochimaru had already begun closely cooperating with Danzo Shimura. Yin Jie knew that Root's base was in that direction, and that Orochimaru would join Root in the near future, becoming its second-in-command beneath Danzo.

Therefore, the place Orochimaru had told him to go was likely one of Root's laboratories.

After parting with Uchiha Yasashiro at the entrance to the clan grounds and walking only a few steps, Yin Jie ran into a boy at the corner of the street. The boy wore orange goggles and was running so hard that he was panting, drenched in sweat.

Seeing this, Yin Jie unconsciously slowed his pace. He recognized the boy.

Uchiha's number-one badass, the shinobi world's ultimate simp, Uchiha Obito...

Of course, that referred to the future Uchiha Obito who wanted to create a world with Rin in it.

When Uchiha Obito saw Yin Jie, his expression clearly froze as well.

Yin Jie had returned to the Uchiha Clan nearly two years ago, so Uchiha Obito, who was two years younger than him, naturally knew him.

However, they were merely ordinary clansmen. Yin Jie simply was not fond of Uchiha Obito, even if this was the young version of Obito before he went dark.

"Yin Jie... bro?"

"Were you late too?"

Uchiha Obito's tone was hesitant and uncertain. In his impression, Yin Jie had always been an outstanding student at the Ninja Academy.

Whenever his grandmother lectured him about studying hard, the example she used most often was Uchiha Yin Jie from Yasashiro's family—absolutely the kind of kid every parent wished they had.

"Obito!"

Yin Jie smiled at Uchiha Obito somewhat helplessly, then lightly tapped the gleaming Hidden Leaf forehead protector on his brow. "What do you mean, late too? I'm already a genin!"

Silence...

Uchiha Obito was silenced on the spot by Yin Jie's words.

Only then did his not-so-spacious brain register that what Yin Jie wore on his forehead was none other than a Hidden Leaf Village shinobi forehead protector!

Then came Uchiha Obito's shrill cry of utter disbelief!

"W-what???"