I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Will Surely Treat the Uchiha Clan Well

Seeing the look in Uchiha Fugaku's eyes, Hiruzen Sarutobi hurriedly said, embarrassed, "Since it was a reward from the ranking system, I'll warn Orochimaru. I absolutely won't let him leak the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan to anyone else."

"But, Lord Hokage, the Sharingan is known as the greatest Kekkei Genkai. If someone else obtained it and harbored ill intentions toward the Uchiha Clan..." Fugaku explained. Unlike the Hyuga Clan, the Uchiha Clan did not go to such extremes to protect its Kekkei Genkai. If an outsider obtained the Sharingan and harbored ill intentions toward the Uchiha Clan, the consequences would be unimaginable.

After all, unlike the Byakugan, the Sharingan was plug-and-play. Lord Madara had demonstrated that once.

Uchiha Fugaku clearly wanted to say more, but when he thought of the Lord Hokage's attitude, he could only hope the Lord Hokage would keep his promise.

Still, there was no need to worry too much. The Third Hokage was old, after all, which made the next Hokage's attitude toward the Uchiha especially important.

Compared with Orochimaru, who belonged to the Hokage's faction, Fugaku had higher hopes for Minato Namikaze, a civilian Shinobi who had gradually made a name for himself in this war. Fugaku knew Minato Namikaze quite well, and his wife Mikoto was close friends with Minato's girlfriend Kushina.

Rather than listen to the village's "hawks" and pursue the unrealistic idea of choosing an Uchiha Hokage, it was better to invest early and help choose a Hokage friendly to the Uchiha Clan.

At that point, even Fugaku began to admire his own choice. Once the Third stepped down, Minato would surely need to build his own team as Hokage. When the time came, Fugaku could use that connection to join the Hokage's faction.

To be fair, Uchiha Fugaku's plan was a good one, except that he had not anticipated the Fourth Hokage dying young. If the Fourth Hokage had lived a little longer, the Uchiha Clan might really have integrated into Konoha. That was assuming a certain Fifth-and-a-Half Hokage did not do anything unexpected "for the village."

[At that moment, the screen continued showing Shisui's exploits,

The scene shifted to when Shisui was in his teens. Shisui and Itachi were planning to rescue someone being pursued by the Anbu. While training, they rescued a Shinobi who was also in the Anbu, only to find themselves surrounded by three Chunin.

"Why are the Anbu hunting Shisui and Itachi?" Fugaku saw his precious son appear on the screen in such a situation. No one could have accepted that.

After all, how could two children possibly defeat experienced Anbu, especially ones at Chunin level?

Hiruzen Sarutobi also grew serious when he saw the Anbu on the screen. All the Great Shinobi Villages were watching. What would the other villages think when they saw the Anbu hunting the head of the Uchiha Clan?

"Danzo must have done this behind my back. I definitely didn't order it," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, throwing Danzo under the bus without hesitation. Danzo had done plenty of dirty work anyway, so one more thing would not matter.

He was the Lord Hokage. How could he have a stain like that on his record?

If Danzo heard Hiruzen Sarutobi say that, he would surely demand, "Do you think I would have done it without your tacit approval?"

[At that moment, faced with questions from two Anbu, Uchiha Itachi said,

"I'm Uchiha Itachi, and I'm willing to fight alongside Shisui." After that, Itachi and Shisui each picked an opponent, and a fierce battle began.

Although Uchiha Shisui was still young, he was no less experienced in battle. Facing a Chunin wielding two blades, he showed no sign of panic, retreating as he struck back with the short sword in his hand.

Suddenly, a Shinobi with a greatsword barged in from the side and swung at Shisui. Shisui dodged with a backflip, and the greatsword struck the stream, carving a trail through the water.

Shisui did not simply keep dodging. He flickered behind the greatsword-wielding Shinobi and kicked him. The Shinobi slowly touched his neck and said,

"Your friend's opponent is a particularly ruthless kunoichi among the Anbu. If you don't stop her soon, your friend will die. Surrender."

But Shisui had complete faith in Itachi and shouted,

"Don't underestimate the Uchiha! Besides, that kid's outstanding!"

Outside the screen, Itachi could not help feeling embarrassed to hear Shisui praise him like that. Shisui was someone he deeply respected. Unlike his father, Shisui often encouraged him, so Itachi spent a lot of time with him.

[Having failed to persuade Uchiha Shisui, the two stopped wasting words and attacked him from either side. Little did they know that the Sharingan saw every move they made.

"Itachi's about to finish, so I'd better wrap things up quickly too." Then Shisui drove them both back with a slash.

He rapidly formed Hand Seals and said, "Body Flicker Technique."

As soon as he spoke, ninja clones appeared around Shisui, surrounding the two opponents. They quickly gathered back-to-back.

"Shadow Clones? If they're afterimages, I should be able to use my sensory abilities to find the real one quickly."

But the other said, "Huh? Something's wrong. I can't find the real one." No sooner had he spoken than one of the Shadow Clones attacked him.

After he dodged the blow, the Shadow Clone behind him attacked as well. The surrounding Shadow Clones launched a relentless assault on him together.

The greatsword-wielding Shinobi slapped one hand against the ground, sending the nearby Shadow Clones flying and gaining a moment's respite.

But the surrounding Shadow Clones seemed not to have moved at all, each still standing in its original position. Yet every one of them also seemed solid, and their attacks hit hard.

"My Shadow Clones have no physical form, but at the same time, you could say every one of them is real." Shisui appeared behind them, his Ninja Blade already aimed at their backs.

Clearly, Shisui had shown mercy and had not killed the two Konoha Shinobi. In the end, after a Jonin monitoring the exercise spotted them, the three hurried away.

"A-amazing," Obito Uchiha said, watching Shisui trade blows with Chunin while still in his teens. At his current age, Obito could not even beat Mushroom Head.