Chapter 714: Changes in the Situation in One Year

On April 1st, the Ninja Academy started as usual.

However, this time, the start of the school year was a bit different.

Because this year, the Ninja Academy reform officially began to be implemented.

From this year onwards, the Ninja Academy’s six-year system became history, transforming into a four-year elementary school plus a three-year middle school.

However, the rule of early graduation was still retained.

As long as one possesses sufficient skill, even if they only attend school for two months, they can directly apply for graduation and become a Ninja.

However, due to the current elementary and middle school system, to graduate in one go and become a Ninja, one has to take two graduation exams, which is slightly more troublesome than before.

“Now, please welcome our esteemed Hokage-sama to the stage to deliver an important speech. Please give a warm round of applause for Lord Fourth!”

At the opening ceremony, the host announced with a magnetic and solemn voice.

Clap, clap, clap!!

Thunderous applause immediately erupted in the venue, like waves, one after another, lasting endlessly. Teachers and students clapped enthusiastically, with the teachers even more excited than the students.

When the Hokage election was held, they all voted for Muzuki.

Seeing Muzuki deliver a speech at the Ninja Academy as the Hokage, they felt a sense of honor.

In such a warm atmosphere, Muzuki slowly rose, smiling, and walked steadily towards the podium, greeting everyone below.

“All students are the school’s most precious asset, and also Konoha’s future flowers…”

Muzuki did not spend a lot of time giving a lengthy speech; he only said some brief words of blessing and then led the students to look forward to the future.

After all, this was not a pre-war mobilization.

Moreover, with the prestige of his Hokage identity, coupled with his reputation at the Ninja Academy, even a few brief words were enough to stir the students’ emotions.

“I must study harder in the future and contribute to Konoha like Lord Fourth!” The students below were filled with enthusiasm.

Yamato, among the crowd, was also infected, wishing he could immediately apply for early graduation and become a Ninja.

However, this was not a spur-of-the-moment decision; he had not planned to finish his second year, not even his first semester.

The main reason was the immense pressure his other disciples put on Yamato.

While he was still in school, Obito had already served as a Jonin squad leader, and his team consisted of Chunin. Even as a temporary captain, it showed that Muzuki recognized Obito’s abilities.

Yamato was anxious because he couldn’t catch up in strength, and the gap in other areas was also widening significantly.

“Yamato, are you graduating this year?” Hyuga Oriko asked Yamato.

Yamato had not hidden his desire for early graduation and had previously discussed it with his friends.

“Barring any surprises, it will be in the next few weeks,” Yamato nodded and replied.

If he hadn’t wanted to spend a little more time with his friends and there were no ongoing wars, he would have graduated at the end of his first year.

“Keep up the good work after graduation. If it’s you, perhaps you can become a great Ninja,” Hyuga Oriko encouraged.

She didn’t find anything unusual about Yamato graduating early.

Because Yamato was truly too strong, so strong that even the school teachers would exclaim that they had never seen a student so powerful in their lives.

Even Asuma, a newly promoted Jonin, nearly lost against Yamato in their battle.

This level of challenge was too much of a leap. Back then, Obito and his peers were considered excellent for defeating Genin in special holiday training, and Yamato, who nearly defeated a Jonin, naturally became famous in one battle.

They would find it strange if Yamato didn’t graduate early. With the strength to contend with a Jonin, not graduating to become a formal Ninja and contribute to Konoha, but staying as a junior student at the Ninja Academy.

“Oriko, if you keep working hard, you can definitely become an excellent Ninja too,” Yamato also smiled and encouraged Hyuga Oriko.

“Mm!” Hyuga Oriko clenched her small fists and nodded heavily.

“Next, please welcome our esteemed Principal to the stage to deliver a speech. Let’s welcome our Principal Sarutobi with applause.”

After Muzuki finished speaking, the host came back on stage and said a few words, then invited Hiruzen Sarutobi to speak.

Since the middle school department was newly established and had few students, it was not separated from the elementary school, only adding some new departments. Therefore, no separate middle school principal was appointed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi happily walked onto the podium to deliver his speech; he quite enjoyed such occasions.

“It’s finally officially started. I’m really looking forward to the performance of the Ninja Academy graduates a few years from now,” Minato Namikaze, sitting next to Muzuki, smiled at the students in the venue, his face full of anticipation.

The reform was proposed by Muzuki, and the plan was also customized by Muzuki, but most of the execution was done by Minato Namikaze, who had a high degree of involvement.

Minato Namikaze was very much looking forward to what kind of fruit this tree, which he had diligently watered and fertilized, would bear.

Besides hoping for Konoha’s prosperity as a Konoha Ninja, Minato Namikaze also wanted to prove his and Muzuki’s abilities.

The Ninja Academy had not undergone significant changes since its establishment by the Second Hokage. Their major reform upon taking office was met with criticism from some Ninja, such as Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu among the higher-ups.

If the Ninja Academy reform succeeded, those Ninja who believed they were too young to govern the Village well would have to shut up, as this was a political achievement that would benefit generations.

“You won’t be disappointed,” Muzuki said with a faint smile.

This was a reform he made based on the system of his previous life combined with the teaching experience of the Hokage world. Even if the effect was not as good as expected, it could not be worse than the original.

“I am confident; I just want to see that day come sooner.”

As the specific implementer of the plan, Minato Namikaze’s understanding of the Ninja Academy reform was second only to Muzuki’s, and he had ample confidence in this reform.

Thinking that his children would receive a better education than he did, Minato Namikaze’s smile deepened.

This was the original intention of Konoha’s founding, and also their will of fire.

…

Due to the significant intelligence efforts deployed by the three Great Ninja Villages in the Land of Rain, coupled with the Shinobi Sect not deliberately concealing anything.

The cooperation between Konoha and the Shinobi Sect on puppet prosthetics was quickly learned by the already allied three Great Ninja Villages.

Iwagakure and the others allied because of the Shinobi Sect and Konoha. Hearing that these two forces were cooperating, they instantly couldn’t remain calm.

They quickly gathered more intelligence and then held a meeting for discussion.

Fortunately, after meticulous analysis of the intelligence, it was basically confirmed that this was just an ordinary win-win cooperation between the Shinobi Sect and Konoha.

The Shinobi Sect gained money and technology, and Konoha gained prosthetics, allowing disabled Ninja to become usable combat forces again.

However, because of this matter, Kumogakure and Iwagakure expressed their doubts to Sunagakure: why didn’t Sunagakure engage in such a good thing, as puppetry was Sunagakure’s specialty?

Rasa was very embarrassed and felt he had lost face, but this indeed inspired Rasa.

If the Shinobi Sect could create puppet prosthetics, there was no reason why Sunagakure, with its many excellent puppeteers, couldn’t.

So, relying on the power of the Shinobi Alliance, Rasa acquired a puppet prosthetic manufactured by the Shinobi Sect, gathered Sunagakure’s puppeteers, and had them decipher the technology within.

Iwagakure and Kumogakure were also quite interested in prosthetic technology, as every Village had its share of disabled Ninja.

Years of war and high-threat missions meant that Ninja couldn’t always return alive and safe. Being able to survive at the cost of physical disability was already relatively fortunate; more Ninja were directly killed in action.

Thus, the three Great Ninja Villages deepened their alliance. Kumogakure and Iwagakure provided funding, and Sunagakure provided technology, secretly establishing a research institute dedicated to studying prosthetics.

In fact, for Iwagakure and Kumogakure, directly purchasing finished prosthetics from the Shinobi Sect would be more cost-effective.

But they were unwilling to give money to the Shinobi Sect, so even if it cost more money, they chose to spend money on research rather than buying finished products from the Shinobi Sect.

While the three Great Ninja Villages were undertaking various actions, they also gathered information about Konoha’s Ninja Academy reform, but none of them immediately followed suit with their own reforms.

Just as Hidden Mist Village tried to strengthen itself with the Bloody Mist policy, other Great Ninja Villages had also more or less reformed their Ninja training.

However, either there were side effects like Hidden Mist, or the improvement was not significant, resulting in little change in the strength of graduates after much effort.

Therefore, the current Great Ninja Villages are not enthusiastic about education reform, generally believing that the current education system is already sufficiently complete, and changes might be superfluous.

Furthermore, Konoha’s Ninja Academy reform was quite drastic, so the three Great Ninja Villages were even more hesitant to follow suit. If problems arose from the reform, it would be no small matter.

Hence, the three Great Ninja Villages were quite happy watching Konoha’s reform, just waiting for Konoha to fail and become a laughingstock.

Six years changed to seven, and it was divided into two parts. If problems arose, the impact would definitely not be small.

Not paying too much attention to the Ninja Academy reform, the three Great Ninja Villages further strengthened their cooperation, dispatching Ninja to infiltrate the Shinobi Sect and gather intelligence on Sōsuke.

However, the two important tasks of infiltrating the Shinobi Sect and gathering intelligence on Sōsuke made no progress, while the research institute quickly yielded results.

With a finished product as a reference, the research institute produced a phased result in half a year, successfully transplanting their manufactured puppet prosthetic onto a disabled Ninja, with no side effects.

For the three Great Ninja Villages, this was exciting news.

Next, as long as there was another breakthrough in the Chakra circulatory system of the puppet prosthetic, the research would be considered a complete success.

Even this phased result was not without value; it could be sold to wealthy disabled individuals among ordinary people.

However, for the three Great Ninja Villages, the greatest significance of this achievement was not in selling for money, but in solidifying their cooperation.

It’s worth noting that just a year or two ago, these three Ninja Villages were still at war with each other.

Even though they were forced into cooperation due to the pressure from the Shinobi Sect and Konoha, there were still many Ninja within the Villages who had objections to this.

Especially when the cooperation had not yet yielded positive benefits, the opposition within the Villages grew even stronger.

Enduring disgust and cooperating with enemies with deep-seated grudges, only to gain no benefits, what kind of situation was this?

With benefits, it’s easy to talk. Most Ninja wars are also due to interests.

As long as the interests are sufficient, enemies can also become friends.

However, what the three Great Ninja Villages did not expect was that the final crucial step was not so easy to take.

After achieving phased results, the Sunagakure puppeteers at the research institute worked hard for another six months but still failed to produce a puppet prosthetic like the Shinobi Sect’s.

The research at the institute temporarily hit a bottleneck, and the Sosuke Assassination Squad was even worse off, having achieved no practically significant results since its establishment.

Throughout the entire year, they failed to gather any sufficiently valuable intelligence. No matter how they assessed it, the final result was always assassination failure, even if the Kazekage, Tsuchikage, and Raikage attempted the assassination together.

“Can we only watch the Shinobi Sect rise under Sōsuke’s leadership?” Ōnoki sat in the Tsuchikage’s office chair, looking troubled.

If it weren’t for the threat of Konoha and Hidden Mist, he estimated that the alliance of the three Great Ninja Villages would not last.

Sōsuke and the Shinobi Sect were important factors in their ability to unite.

Failing to successfully kill Sōsuke, failing to curb the Shinobi Sect’s development, coupled with internal conflicts within the Villages, a breakup was almost inevitable.

Ōnoki rubbed his brow. The only thing that made him happy in the past year was becoming a grandfather.

Kitsuchi’s wife had given birth to a daughter, named Kurotsuchi.

Ōnoki had high hopes for this granddaughter, hoping she could inherit his mantle and prevent Dust Release from being lost.

Dust Release, such a complex Ninjutsu, is extremely difficult to learn even with a teacher. If there are only materials, the possibility of mastering it is even more remote.

Ōnoki planned to take Kurotsuchi by his side and personally teach her when she was a little older, so that Kitsuchi wouldn’t make her too honest.

As a Kage, he wanted his subordinates to be honest, but he didn’t want his successor to be honest.

Being too honest in the tasks a leader needs to do would have negative effects.

As if to add insult to injury, just as various conflicts arose within the alliance of the three Great Ninja Villages, the Shinobi Sect had another technological breakthrough, and it was a breakthrough in Ninjutsu scrolls.

When the intelligence reached the Sosuke Assassination Squad base, the general captain and deputy general captain were alarmed and immediately reported it, then held a meeting to discuss.

This was a technology on a different level than puppet prosthetics.

What are Ninjutsu scrolls? They are, literally, scrolls that can be used as Ninjutsu.

Some directly seal Ninjutsu into the scroll, while others are talismans made with special craftsmanship, such as explosive tags.

Even a newly graduated Genin could understand the impact of a breakthrough in this technology.

Ninja tools are also one of the components of a Ninja’s strength, and can even be a specialty of a Jonin.

And Ninjutsu scrolls are undoubtedly considered high-level Ninja tools. If there is a breakthrough in this technology, it benefits all Ninja of the entire force and can enhance the overall military strength of a force.

PS: Actually, in Shippuden, Ninjutsu could already be stored and released using scrolls; it wasn’t just in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.

Jiraiya could seal Amaterasu into a scroll, and Shikamaru, who had no Water Release Chakra Nature Transformation according to the official data book, used a scroll to release Water Release during his battle with Kakuzu and Hidan.

So I think it’s possible that the technology wasn’t perfect at that time, production was troublesome, and the low output and high price meant fewer people used it, but the scientific Ninja tools already had their prototypes.