The members of the Uchiha Clan were delighted. The elites of the Police Force frequently toasted Jiraiya, their faces no longer carrying their usual sharp edge.
Shisui couldn't see the scene, but he kept smiling.
Just hearing the boisterous shouts of his clansmen made him very happy.
To Shisui, this was his greatest reward—finally seeing the family and the Village living in harmony.
Obito looked at Shisui's empty eye sockets with some sympathy: "Shisui, this sacrifice of yours is just too great!"
Hearing that the Uchiha were holding a banquet, Kushina, Kakashi, and the others also came along to crash the party for food and drinks.
They later learned that Shisui had performed great service in the Anbu, and the Village had no more rewards left to give, so Jiraiya unilaterally decided to take Shisui as his apprentice.
For the Uchiha, the symbolic significance of this reward outweighed the political; it proved that the Hokage's faction finally viewed them as their own.
Obito didn't know how much merit Shisui had earned, but without eyes, he wouldn't be able to see the path to the future.
Obito shouted to Kakashi: "Kakashi, let's each chip in one eye so Shisui can regain his sight."
"Get lost!"
"Kakashi, how can you be so selfish? Shisui sacrificed his eyes for the Village this time."
Obito's clamor drew the attention of the Police Force high-ranking officials led by Fugaku, who glanced at Kakashi.
They had originally intended to discuss returning the Sharingan with Kakashi today, or having him marry into the Uchiha and change his surname.
But given the current harmonious atmosphere, it was better not to say anything that might hurt feelings.
They would save it for another day.
Fugaku looked at Mikoto and asked quietly, "How many Sharingan does the clan still have in reserve?"
Mikoto said, "There are 40 left. 10 are three tomoe, and the rest are all two-tomoe or one-tomoe."
To be honest, having only 20 pairs of Sharingan in reserve for such a massive family was a bit low, considering the Uchiha Clan was a large Shinobi Clan of over a thousand people.
But the Sharingan was different from the Byakugan. While the Byakugan could be awakened by anyone with Hyuga blood, the Sharingan depended on talent and personality.
In the current Uchiha Clan, how many of those thousand clansmen could actually awaken the Sharingan?
In the original work, after the Uchiha massacre, Danzo and Obito divided all the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan between them.
Danzo had 10 Sharingan on his arm, plus one Mangekyo on his eye, totaling 11 Sharingan.
These were automatically scavenged by Danzo's Root from the Uchiha compound after the night of the massacre.
Obito's source of Sharingan was the Police Force, which was filled with Uchiha elites.
It wasn't just Itachi who carried out the Uchiha massacre; Obito did as well. Itachi was responsible for slaughtering the Uchiha civilians, while Obito handled the elites of the Police Force.
Obito scavenged an entire wall of them, about 100 eyes, which proved that roughly 50 people in the Uchiha Police Force had awakened the Sharingan.
Uchiha Shinobi were all elites, but in terms of pure numbers, they couldn't compare to the Senju and Hyuga.
The Senju Clan had excellent physical energy, many Medical Shinobi, and were very prolific.
As for the Hyuga, in a way, there was nothing wrong with them claiming to be the number one clan in Konoha, because every Hyuga possessed the Byakugan.
Even those from branch lines could awaken the Byakugan by chance, such as the character from Itachi Shinden—Kohinata Mukai.
With Uchiha ancestry in his lineage, his left eye could awaken the Byakugan. Despite being from a branch line, his talent was higher than the main line. In the novel, it took Shisui using his Mangekyo Sharingan in combination with Itachi to take Mukai down.
Then there's Uzumaki Himawari from Boruto. Even with branch lineage, she can awaken the Byakugan whenever she gets excited. With one Gentle Fist strike, she managed to knock out both Naruto and the Nine-Tails.
As long as a Hyuga has the Byakugan, they are guaranteed to be at least a Chunin. The Hyuga Clan is the family with the most Shinobi, and their comprehensive strength is number one in Konoha.
Returning to the main topic, the Uchiha Clan's reserved Sharingan were kept just in case a Shinobi in the clan lost their eyes for some reason.
They were also used to reward Uchiha Shinobi who had made great contributions to the family.
For example, the two-tomoe Sharingan Obito received earlier was because he had performed the great service of exposing Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan, so the people of the Police Force rewarded Obito with a Sharingan.
Now, the Uchiha Clan wanted to reward Shisui. Why reward him?
Naturally, it was because of Shisui's current merits.
They didn't know exactly what Shisui had done, but it was certainly a great feat.
The most delightful thing was Shisui becoming Jiraiya's disciple, which made the Uchiha Clan ecstatic.
In fact, the practical significance was not at all weaker than the political significance.
Because of Mount Myōboku behind Jiraiya.
Jiraiya's Shinobi style didn't actually match Shisui's. Shisui was a Genjutsu-type Shinobi, specializing in the combination of Genjutsu and Ninjutsu.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, specialized in Ninjutsu coordinated with Summoning Toads; he was not proficient in Genjutsu.
In terms of Ninjutsu, he didn't have much to teach Shisui either.
Although Shisui was young, his Ninjutsu style was already set. Besides, the Uchiha family had a room full of copied Ninjutsu, enough for Shisui to learn.
What the Uchiha family valued was Mount Myōboku behind Jiraiya, one of the Three Great Sage Regions.
Jiraiya was not a commoner; his family was one that passed down the Mount Myōboku summoning scroll. The contractors listed on the Mount Myōboku summoning scroll before Jiraiya...
Were either Jiraiya's ancestors or his ancestors' masters.
The summoning scrolls of Orochimaru and Tsunade were the same; they were all family inheritances.
Their stories have real-life prototypes from the household-name Japanese Shinobi-themed tale, "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya."
In the novel, Jiraiya is the son of a powerful clan who learns Toad Sage Arts and can summon giant frogs to fight.
Jiraiya falls in love with Tsunade, who is proficient in Slug Arts, and the two join forces to fight their arch-enemy Orochimaru, who uses snakes as weapons.
The Shinobi profession relies heavily on family inheritance; Duy's Eight Gates was also a family inheritance.
In the original work, almost no one could make a name for themselves without relying on family or a master's legacy.
Even Kabuto inherited Orochimaru's legacy.
In the Shinobi World, if you don't have a family, don't have a master's legacy, and your ancestors weren't impressive, trying to make a name for yourself is just a pipe dream.
In Japan, the tradition of following in one's father's footsteps is very strong.
If your father is an adult film actor, then you're in luck.
Jiraiya is 38 this year and will be 40 in two years.
The children of Sakumo and Duy, who are his peers, are already old enough to fight.
Anyone with eyes could see that Jiraiya was going to be single for life, and the Mount Myōboku summoning scroll would be passed down to Jiraiya's disciples.
Minato, or now Shisui.
The Uchiha Clan was the shrewdest of all. Shisui hadn't even signed a contract with the toads of Mount Myōboku yet, and the Uchiha family was already thinking about having Shisui seize Jiraiya's legacy!
In this way, the Uchiha family would possess a Sage Region inheritance and could get their hands on Senjutsu.
All along, the Uchiha's greatest regret was the lack of a Senjutsu inheritance, whereas the Senju Clan, with their Shikkotsu Forest inheritance, could always stay one step ahead of the Uchiha.
No matter how powerful the Uchiha Clan was on the battlefield, the Senju Clan could always summon the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest for reinforcements and rapid healing.
Meanwhile, the Uchiha Clan could only summon a bunch of little cats that could do nothing but hiss.