Chapter 20

About four or five Alabastas could match the Ninja World's land area.

But in the Pirate World, all the land combined amounted to more than a hundred Alabastas, not to mention that boundless sea.

"More or less."

Xunjing nodded. "The Ninja World wasn't born this small. It used to be much larger."

"At least, the places inhabited by living things were originally far bigger."

"It was mainly affected by the God Tree."

"The God Tree? What's that?"

Mikoto looked utterly confused.

"Nothing."

Xunjing stopped himself in time and shook his head. "You don't need to know that yet. When the time comes, I'll naturally tell you."

Mikoto wasn't his mother. Knowing too much would do her no good, nor would it mean anything.

"Alright."

Mikoto did not press further. She merely quietly committed the name to memory, waiting for the day Xunjing could give her an answer.

"Alright, let's go in. It's too cold outside. Don't catch a cold."

After standing around for a while, Xunjing took Mikoto back into the training room.

He taught her to continue practicing the Life-Nourishing Art.

He himself also began his post-meal cultivation.

Xunjing scheduled his daily Life-Nourishing Art practice for after each of his three meals.

That was when it was most efficient.

Meanwhile, after listening to Xunjing, Uchiha Mikoto basically had her Shadow Clone go to school and check in for her during the day. Her real body went straight to the Pirate World to train alongside Xunjing.

Her strength and physical fitness visibly soared.

She trained with tremendous enthusiasm every day.

As a result, her favorability toward Xunjing also shot up, easily breaking ninety and still inching toward one hundred.

Over in Konoha, in the Ninja World.

After Uchiha Chisato finalized the clan's reform plan with Xunjing, she immediately convened a full clan assembly.

She organized everything she had discussed with Xunjing and released it first under her own name.

Why?

Because Xunjing was still too young.

If they said outright that it was Xunjing's idea, probably more than half the clan would refuse to accept it or agree to it.

That was just how people were.

After explaining all the reform arrangements, Uchiha Chisato swept her gaze across the crowd and asked coldly, "If anyone has objections, speak now. Don't wait until it's finalized to start causing trouble—when that happens, don't blame me for showing no mercy."

The moment her words fell.

Uchiha Chisato released all the pressure she had been suppressing.

The Mangekyo Sharingan in her left eye opened as well.

Boom—

Terrifying pressure, combined with astonishing ocular power, crashed down upon everyone like a mountain.

Everyone present instantly felt their bodies grow heavy. They could not even raise their heads, and breathing became difficult.

Their Sharingan shut off automatically.

Gasp!

Everyone—especially the older elders—drew sharp breaths, and the way they looked at Uchiha Chisato changed.

"Lady Chisato, you... your body has recovered? Your ocular power has returned to its peak as well?"

The Third Elder's face was full of disbelief, and even his voice trembled.

The others were equally stunned, their hearts churning violently. Impossible!

They had never heard that the ocular power of the Mangekyo Sharingan could be restored.

—The ocular power mentioned here referred to its upper limit.

When people said Mangekyo ocular power could not be restored, they were also referring to that upper limit.

Each use of the Mangekyo depleted the eyes, gradually lowering the upper limit of one's ocular power.

Put simply, it was damage.

The eyeballs and the meridians around them simply could not bear the burden of Mangekyo ocular power. Every use inflicted nearly irreversible damage on both the eyes and the meridians.

Thus, the amount of ocular power the eyes could hold grew smaller and smaller.

The ocular power the meridians could transmit also grew weaker and weaker.

That was what caused the Mangekyo Sharingan to gradually go blind, until its ocular power was completely exhausted.

Uchiha Chisato nodded expressionlessly, her gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"I recently made a breakthrough in my research. Combined with Medical Ninjutsu, I developed a medicinal solution that can nourish the eyes and their meridians."

"This stuff can repair the Mangekyo's depletion."

"It also nourishes and strengthens the eyes and meridians of everyone in the clan."

"From now on, it will be placed in the reformed Merit Pavilion, where everyone can exchange contributions for it."

"As long as you have contributed to the clan, anyone can redeem it."

"Now, give me your answer—do you agree to the reform plan or not?"

Over the past few years, her health had worsened and her strength had declined severely. Her authority within the clan had long since diminished, especially among the younger generation.

Revealing her restored body and ocular power this time was meant to intimidate everyone, suppress opposition, and reclaim her prestige.

Only by securing this step could the reforms that followed have any chance.

At the same time, she was using this opportunity to make Hiruzen Sarutobi's group see clearly—Uchiha Chisato was back. They had better put away their petty schemes, or else they should not blame her for showing no mercy.

"This..."

The Uchiha ninja present exchanged glances.

The Second Elder spoke first. "I agree. I believe that with Lady Chisato leading us, these reforms will surely bring good results to the Uchiha."

Put bluntly, what he agreed with was not those provisions, but his trust in Uchiha Chisato herself.

Her abilities were beyond question.

If not for her back then, the Uchiha might have long since destroyed themselves through internal conflict.

At the time, clan members had gone mad, snatching other people's Sharingan to use as revival coins. It had been utterly deranged.

If Lady Chisato had not created Izanami and then suppressed the situation with absolute strength, the Uchiha might truly have been exterminated.

The Third Elder spoke right after him. "In principle, I approve of the Merit Pavilion reforms."

"However, shouldn't we reconsider the adjustments to the Police Force?"

"You want to select elites from it and form a separate Elite Police Force, with concentrated training and regular assessments. I have no objection to that."

"This model is somewhat like the Anbu, and it would indeed benefit the Uchiha by improving their strength."

"It would also free those elites from all the miscellaneous Police Force duties."

"But opening Police Force positions to the public and allowing civilian ninja and ninja from other clans to join—"

Uchiha Chisato coldly swept her gaze over the crowd, her tone leaving no room for discussion.

"For this, I'm even willing to hand the captain's position over to outsiders. Do you think I'm doing that for nothing?"

"Who told you the Police Force was Uchiha territory?"

"It belongs to **!"

"When the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, dumped the Police Force on us, was he really trying to appease us? He was planting mines for us!"

"What I intend to dismantle now are those very explosives."

"Do you really think the Uchiha gain anything by meddling in villagers' brawls, domestic disputes, and all that other crap?"

"Are you blind to how the villagers have treated us these past years?"

"When the village was first founded, we at least had several allied clans."

"What about now?"

"Search your consciences. What clan is still willing to get close to us?"

"Don't give me that nonsense about 'the Uchiha don't need allies'!"

"Don't you want someone from our clan to become Hokage?"

"Without the villagers' support and the approval of the other ninja clans, why would the Hokage position ever fall to us?"

"Even if we seized it by force, do you think you could hold onto it securely?"

"No matter how strong the Uchiha are, can we withstand the entire village?"

The Third Elder's group went red, then pale, but they could not utter a single word in rebuttal.

Uchiha Chisato pressed on step by step.

"The Police Force reforms are non-negotiable."

"All those trivial, offensive jobs will be handed over to civilian ninja and members of small clans."

"The captain's position will be given away directly, specifically to manage those miscellaneous duties."

"From now on, we will only act as judges and handle matters that truly carry weight."

"Any other questions?"

Everyone below—including the Third Elder—shook their heads like rattles.

It truly was a good thing.

It achieved several goals at once.

The Third Elder was obedient now and fell completely silent.