The Kage's Disciples

A few days later, the Ninja Academy became lively again, and this time everyone's enthusiasm far exceeded any previous time, because two Kage would be coming to take on apprentices.

The news that the third and fourth generations were accepting disciples at the same time caused even many students who were a year away from graduating to apply for early graduation.

After all, Yichen's rules for accepting disciples are clear; if you can't become Yichen's disciple this year, you definitely won't have the chance next year.

Faced with this situation, Yichen and Ōnoki discussed it and convened a meeting of the village's Jonin.

Yichen proposed that each Jonin who mentors a Quasi-Jonin within four years would receive an S-rank mission. Moreover, there is no limit to the number of such S-rank mission.

The proposal immediately piqued the interest of many Jonin. S-rank mission were incredibly rare, and while the rewards were plentiful, the additional benefits were even more important. Many village Ninjutsu and secret treasures required ninjas to have an S-rank mission record to exchange for.

Appointments to some positions also require ninjas to have a certain number of S-rank mission records.

Four years to train a Quasi-Jonin may seem like a long time, but it's safer. Ninjas face high risks when carrying out S-rank mission. Although ninjas are not afraid of death, no one will accept a mission they know will result in certain death.

Many Jonin have never actually carried out S-rank mission.

To boost everyone's enthusiasm, Yichen directly added S-rank mission records to the Guiding Jonin who had previously met the standards.

For example, Ikura completed three S-rank mission; as for Yichen himself, he completed nine.

The Team One Yichen consists of three members: Tomoko, Kajiyamari, and Kawakita; the Team Two consists of three members: Matsutani Shinya, Ogura Saki, and Takuya; all six of them are already Jonin.

Uchiyama Takuhiro of Team Four was already Quasi-Jonin during the Chunin Ninja Exams a year ago.

In the past year, Yoshimura Kazumasa of Team Three and Kanako of Team Four have both become Quasi-Jonin.

Kanako benefited greatly from Konan's inspiration to become a near-Kage, and although she hadn't yet mastered Paper Style Jutsu like a bloodline limit, she became Quasi-Jonin.

Yoshimura Kazumasa, on the other hand, received strong support from the village for developing Hand Seals. He learned many Ninjutsu for free, gained experience from various different Ninjutsu, and completed his transformation.

Currently, among Yichen's disciples, only Katsuya and Suda Himezuki from Team Three, and Kawazoe Yura from Team Four, have not yet become Quasi-Jonin.

However, Yichen is a Shadow and Ikura are an Advisor, so S-rank mission are not very useful to them.

However, this action still attracted the attention of most of the Jonin.

After Yichen distributed the list and detailed introductions of this year's graduates to the Jonin, those students with good talent immediately became the objects of everyone's scramble.

"Ahem, this top student named Deidara has already been reserved by the Third Lord. As for the others, it depends on your abilities who can be accepted as disciples."

"Those who are interested, fill out a form, and you can go to the Ninja Academy tomorrow to talk to the students you're interested in and give them the form. As for who they ultimately choose, no one should interfere; it's entirely up to them."

"However, there is one condition: you must accept disciples in groups of three; you cannot accept just one."

"Yes," the many Jonin responded in unison.

The next day, the Ninja Academy was unusually lively, with Jonin, whom they rarely saw before, flocking to the Ninja Academy to express their desire to take on disciples.

Although most of the disciples favored by these Jonin were duplicates, a statistical analysis still shows that there were more than fifty students who were considered promising.

Considering that most Jonin might only have one or two students choose them, they would need to recruit one or two more to complete a three-person team. Therefore, at least a hundred people in this year's class will be Jonin as disciples by Jonin.

Although more than half of them will not be valued, they can grow under the guidance of Jonin, and their future will be much better.

After the Jonin selecting their disciples, Yichen and Ōnoki began selecting disciples again.

It was relatively easy for Ōnoki to Deidara Ōnoki his disciple. The other two were mainly there to assist Deidara.

Therefore, Ōnoki chose a Taijutsu Ninja and a Sword Technique Ninja. The two close-combat ninjas, combined with Deidara, a powerful ranged attacker, were a perfect match.

However, Yichen's idea of taking on apprentices is rather unusual. Under normal circumstances, Yichen does not consider the issue of cooperation. After all, the team will only last for about two years. After two years, the team will disband and everyone will go their separate ways, so cooperation is not a concern.

Yichen continued with the original method, mainly selecting students with their own unique characteristics.

The other two students Yichen chose were Uzumaki Riori from the Regular Class and Ishizawa Kiyoshi, who was also from the Regular Class.

Yichen is now the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki is also the Tsuchikage. Their identities are different now, so they can't use a Transformation Jutsu to secretly observe each other like before.

Yichen delivered his speech directly as the Tsuchikage.

Wearing Tsuchikage cloak and Tsuchikage's hat, Yichen addressed the graduates below the stage. "Hello everyone, I am your Fourth Earth Shadow."

"I'm here today for two things. First, to chat with you all. In a few days, you'll graduate and leave the Ninja Academy, this safe haven, to face the cruel Ninja World."

"Outside, the teachers at the Ninja Academy will no longer be able to help you. From now on, you will need to exchange contribution points to learn Ninjutsu. You will no longer have time to play. From now on, your lives will revolve around all sorts of dangerous missions."

"At that time, you will feel despair and loneliness, but as the Tsuchikage, I want to tell you that you still have someone to rely on. Your reliance is the village's Chunin, Jonin, and Elite Jonin, and me, the Tsuchikage. Your reliance is the entire Iwagakure."

"Although we Iwa ninja are not as strong Konoha right now, we are united. We have internal competition but no infighting. We share the same goal and are of one mind."

"You are still very weak now, but don't be discouraged, don't slack off in your training, one day you will grow stronger. Just like me, I am an orphan, just like you, I graduated from the Ninja Academy, and step by step I have come to where I am today, now I am the village's Kage, and I am your support."

"Therefore, I believe that now, the village and I are your support; in the future, you will become the village's support."

Yichen's words initially weighed heavily on the children, but later they all became invigorated, as if no hardship could stop them from moving forward.

Ōnoki didn't speak; he listened quietly from the side. Seeing Yichen's performance, he was very pleased. This was what a qualified Tsuchikage should do.

After everyone calmed down a bit, Yichen continued, "Now let's talk about the second matter. I'm sure you all know about it. The Third Lord and I are going to take on a few disciples."

Hearing this, everyone below was excited, except for the students who received invitations from other Jonin yesterday. They had been told that neither the Third nor the Fourth Hokage would compete with those Jonin today.

So yesterday, these students chose to Guiding Jonin with a mixture of regret and joy.

After everyone's discussion subsided, Yichen spoke again, "However, even if you weren't chosen by us, don't be disappointed or feel inferior. The disciples I choose are never the most talented; they are those whose talents have been buried for various reasons."

"They are all the most beneficial to the village; they are the ones I believe will enhance the village's overall strength once they grow up."

"For example, the three people that everyone discussed the most recently: Matsutani Shinya, Ogura Saki, Takuya."

"Takuya created his own Movement Technique that can enhance the combat power of close-combat ninjas. Ogura Saki has also developed Wind Release Ninjutsu, and she's even trying to develop a new Kekkei Genkai for the village. As for Matsutani Shinya, whom you all treat as a joke, well... right, he keeps a very powerful Ninja Cat for the village."

"Hahahaha..." All the students were amused by Yichen's last few words.

"Alright, let's ask the Third Lord to announce his chosen disciples first." Yichen finished speaking and gave his seat to Ōnoki.

Ōnoki stepped forward and read out the names of the three, including Deidara. Since most of the students in the Advanced Class had already been selected, the other two of Ōnoki's three disciples were from the Regular Class.

Hearing Deidara's name as the top student didn't elicit any reaction from anyone, but when the names of the other two were mentioned, everyone cast envious glances.

The three of them got up one after another and came up behind Ōnoki.

Then came Yichen: "Atsumi Akino, Uzumaki Riori, Ishinose Kiyoshi."

Every time Yichen called out a name, everyone had to search for a while because the three of them were too ordinary in the Ninja Academy. At least Uzumaki Riori had the name Uzumaki, so she was somewhat famous, but apart from their classmates, almost no one knew the other two.

After the three of them arrived behind Yichen, even the Advanced Class Jonin envious glances at them.

In truth, all three of them were completely bewildered, utterly unable to understand what aspects of them Yichen valued.

Uzumaki Riori is indeed from the Uzumaki Clan, but unlike Sokai Uchiha, the Uzumaki Clan in Iwagakure is not a single member; there are quite a few members in the Uzumaki Clan.

Uzumaki Riori doesn't have the Uzumaki Yumi. Apart from Chakra level far exceeding that of her peers, which makes her resemble a ninja of the Uzumaki Clan, she is nothing like one of them. In particular, she has absolutely no talent in Sealing Jutsu.

Neither Uzumaki Riori herself nor her elders from the Uzumaki Clan expected Yichen to choose her; they were completely unprepared.

Atsumi Akino felt like she was dreaming. She never imagined that Yichen would choose her, because whether it was Ninjutsu talent or Taijutsu talent, he was at the bottom of the class—I should emphasize, at the bottom of the Regular Class.

As for Genjutsu Talent and Medical Ninjutsu talent, she had absolutely none of them. She had already planned what industry she would pursue after graduation, but becoming a ninja was definitely out of the question.

She didn't dare stand up when she heard her own name, and even wondered if there was someone else with the same name among this year's graduates.

On the contrary, Ishinose Kiyoshi performed better. Uzumaki Riori's only strength was Taijutsu, which did not match Yichen, but Ishinose Kiyoshi was good at Water Release.

Although he, being of commoner origin, had not learned Water Release Ninjutsu, he had already mastered Water Release Transformation. He had hoped to gain Yichen's favor. Although this felt like a dream, it was much better than the other two.

Yichen looked at Ōnoki's three disciples, then at his own disciples, nodded in satisfaction, and then announced the dismissal.