“Good, child!”
Uchiha Hiyaku patted Chinatsu’s little head, feeling very pleased with his recent words.
The elder had always been satisfied with Chinatsu, both in terms of his talent and his attitude towards the clan.
“Alright, now let’s move on to the next matter.”
The elder’s gaze suddenly turned towards the lower part of the room, where Uchiha Ryōichi, Uchiha En, and Uchiha Honoka, whose presence had been weak, stood.
Tonight’s matter was not just about giving ‘Yukijo’ to Chinatsu.
“As expected, tonight’s events won’t end so quickly.”
Chinatsu understood upon hearing this. He knew that such a serious atmosphere couldn’t be simply about awarding him a gift.
Although, ‘Yukijo’, as a legacy of the main lineage, held extraordinary significance and wasn’t merely an ordinary gift.
The elder looked at Uchiha Ryōichi, Uchiha En, and Uchiha Honoka, asking the little boy, “Child, are you curious why Ryōichi and the others are here?”
“Hm.”
Chinatsu nodded. He really didn’t understand.
Uchiha Ryōichi, a member of the Leaf Village’s guard force, he had only seen him once at the gate. It was only today that he learned he was also the father of Uchiha En and Uchiha Honoka.
As for Uchiha En and Uchiha Honoka, the siblings, after a month of being together, he was somewhat familiar with them.
The siblings were twins, born on March 20th of the Year 36 of the Leaf, a little over a year older than Chinatsu, they were already five years old. Previously, the training class members had celebrated their birthday together.
Uchiha En, the older sister, had fair skin and shoulder-length black hair. She was very cute but didn’t talk much.
She had a gentle personality but could also keep her mischievous younger brother in line.
However, what truly left the deepest impression on Chinatsu was the way she would always look at him with her dark, clear eyes.
If it wasn’t an illusion, Chinatsu felt that the girl must have been captivated by his charm and become his little fan.
The girl’s mischievous younger brother, Uchiha Honoka, had black hair and black eyes. He was also alright-looking, above average for an Uchiha.
He had a somewhat malicious personality. In the training class, he was the one who liked to lead the mockery of Uchiha Obito for being a lagging behind.
However, his nemesis was his sister. He listened to her words. Under her influence, he also admired Chinatsu greatly.
This admiration, even among the trainees who were generally drawn to Chinatsu’s displayed talent and strength, was very prominent.
However, based on Chinatsu’s impression, their ninja talents weren’t outstanding. They were considered normal for the Uchiha branch family.
Especially Uchiha Honoka, even though he loved to make fun of Uchiha Obito for being a lagging behind, his overall physical abilities were only slightly better than Obito’s, and he had only managed to successfully extract chakra towards the end of the training.
Although his performance was indeed better than Uchiha Obito, Obito was the only one in the entire training class, besides Chinatsu, who was not yet five years old.
If they were the same age, Uchiha Obito’s results would definitely be stronger than Uchiha Honoka, even surpassing most of the others in the training class.
So, overall, they were just ordinary Uchiha clan members, Chinatsu really couldn’t guess why they were here.
But soon, he understood.
Uchiha Hiyaku slowly spoke, “This is a clan tradition. When a direct descendant of the main lineage officially receives ninja education, they will select several children of the same age from the branch family to be close attendants, to train together from a young age and grow up together.”
From two months ago when they decided to let Chinatsu enroll this year, Uchiha Hiyaku and the others had been preparing for today.
While Chinatsu was training every day and learning various knowledge, Uchiha Kenta was investigating the information of the clan children who would be enrolling in the same year, and then, based on the children’s performance during training with Chinatsu, they would make the final selection.
In the end, they chose Uchiha En and Uchiha Honoka. Although they didn’t have the best talent, their attitude was the most close to Chinatsu, which was the key to their selection.
“Attendants!?”
Chinatsu was a little taken aback. He hadn’t thought about it at all.
However, considering the current world background and his current identity, it seemed understandable.
Moreover, thinking about the Uchiha clan’s system of main lineage and its practice of selecting branch family children as close attendants, Chinatsu understood it even more.
The main lineage, especially one that didn’t possess the Sharingan, needed to engage in the art of management, win over hearts and minds, and cultivate their own close personal forces from a young age.
These companions who grew up alongside the main lineage descendants, undoubtedly, would become the most trustworthy helpers in the future.
As Chinatsu pondered the purpose of the Uchiha main lineage’s ‘selection of attendants’, Uchiha Hiyaku officially issued an invitation to Uchiha En and Uchiha Honoka, “En, Honoka, are you willing to pledge your loyalty to my son, forever follow by his side, fight together for the glory of the clan, and never betray!”
………………