Team Seven

The fact that Yichen was going to take on a disciple was known even to the exchange students from River Ninja Village and Kirigakure.

They were all very curious about how Yichen selected his disciples.

Everyone knows that there are two things about Yichen that are common knowledge throughout the entire Ninja World.

First, he is cunning and treacherous, truly deserving of the title "Fox of Stone." Second, his methods of taking on disciples are unpredictable, always going against the grain.

With the rise of Kawakita and Tomoko, the abilities of the Yichen Sect disciples are now recognized throughout the Ninja World.

In the recently concluded Ninja World War, the names of Matsutani Shinya, Suda Himezuki, Uchiyama Takuhiro, and Uzumaki Riori also spread throughout the Ninja World.

They all share the same identity: Earth Shadow's disciple.

The rise of these individuals further enhanced Yichen's reputation for being skilled at teaching disciples.

In addition, Ogura Saki, whose Flame Release is known to some of the higher-ups in Great Ninja Village, Kawazoe Yura, who is suspected of developing a way to block the Byakugan seal.

There's also Sokai Uchiha, whose existence is known only to the Konoha High-ranking officials.

Yichen's reputation as a master teacher has long surpassed that of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi.

After all, the three disciples that Hiruzen Sarutobi in were quite talented.

Unlike Yichen's disciples, most of whom were students in the Regular Class, many of whom were at the bottom of their Regular Class.

Therefore, in many people's eyes, Yichen's skill level is higher than that of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

To the surprise of the students at the Iwagakure Ninja Academy, the exchange students from Kirigakure were even more superstitious about Yichen's ability to teach disciples than they were.

Because there was a rumor in Kirigakure that their Fifth Mizukage became a quasi-Kage under the guidance of Yichen.

Just like before, before Yichen disciples, the Jonin who wanted to Jonin disciples all took the students they valued before Yichen could.

Then Yichen took the remaining list and began to study it.

"Huh? Bai? Why wasn't Bai chosen?" Yichen was somewhat surprised when he saw Advanced Class.

Haku has great talent, unlike Sokai just a weirdo. Logically speaking, his reputation as a genius should have attracted the attention of other Jonin.

Yichen flipped through Bai's file with a puzzled look.

"Hmm? Is he hiding his true abilities?" Yichen wondered.

According to the records, Haku's grades were not good; he ranked near the bottom of the Advanced Class in both Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. Only his theoretical grades were decent.

Furthermore, Haku did not show any interest in technical ninja skills such as sealing or medical techniques.

Looking at it this way, Bai does indeed appear quite Mu Qi.

But Yichen quickly realized that Bai probably hadn't learned any Ninjutsu other than Ice Release. And Ice Release wasn't allowed to be used openly in the village.

Even the teachers at the Ninja Academy might not know that Haku possesses the Ice Release Bloodline Limit.

Ōnoki and Kitsuchi valued Kekkei Genkai highly, so their guidance to Haku focused on cultivating his Ice Release Bloodline Limit.

"Haku, Yuki Haku." Yichen had a headache. In this life, the Mist ninja Yuki Clan had not all died out. Yuki Koru was still in Iwagakure a few days ago.

Most importantly, when Obito Uchiha destroyed the Yuki Clan in this lifetime, he did it not as the Mizukage, but as an invader.

The Yuki Clan was not ostracized by the commoners and ninjas of Kirigakure.

This should have a significant impact on Bai's choice of stance.

Yichen didn't want to give up on Bai, such a genius. After raising him for so many years, he simply couldn't accept the idea of him returning Yichen.

But how can we make Haku feel a sense of belonging to Iwagakure?

Bonds? Yichen doesn't need to do that. Bai, who grew up in the Ōnoki family, is very close to Ōnoki, Kitsuchi, Purple Lightning, and others.

She gets along well with Deidara, Uzumaki Riori, Kurotsuchi, and Neji, and has deep bonds with them all.

At the Ninja Academy in Iwagakure, Haku also had many classmates with whom he got along very well.

Thanks to his good looks, Bai also has quite a few female classmates with whom he gets along well.

"This is a headache. I originally thought that Kirigakure would wipe out the entire Yuki clan like in the original story, so I never bothered to rethink my thinking."

"But there are still some adult ninjas in the Yuki Clan alive. Isn't it a bit too late to brainwash them now?"

"Forget it, I'll just accept him as a disciple for now, and then I can brainwash him slowly when I have time."

Afterwards, Yichen continued to skim through the files provided by the graduating class teachers of the Ninja Academy.

This year's graduating class has significantly more students than previous years.

This was because this was the first year that Iwagakure) began recruiting.

The number of people is double that of before.

Moreover, some of this year's graduates were trainees for the Guardian Ninja, whom the Iwagakure had promised to cultivate.

For example, the file that Yichen is holding now is a girl's file. This girl is one of the many prospective Guardian Ninja selected by the Daimyo.

"Fujii Kusaka," Yichen murmured the name softly.

Judging from the files, there's something rather strange about this little girl named Fujii Kusaka.

Her Chakra nature is Fire Release, a fact she determined herself.

As reserve Guardian Ninja selected by the daimyo, they received better treatment than regular students. The daimyo not only covered all their expenses in Iwagakure, but also occasionally provided them with subsidies.

In addition, Fujii Kusaka herself came from a minor noble family in the Land of Earth, and her family was quite well-off.

So Fujii Kusaka bought Chakra Paper with her own money and tested her chakra attributes early on.

Fujii Kusaka's attribute is solely Fire Release.

Because she knew her Chakra nature in advance, she had been practicing Nature Transformation for a long time.

Finally, in the year leading up to graduation, he mastered the Nature Transformation of Fire Release and successfully unleashed his first C-rank Ninjutsu, Great Fireball Jutsu.

This kind of talent is already quite good; a student like this would definitely be chosen by someone else before Yichen even gets to select disciples.

However, there's a problem with Fujii Kusaka's Great Fireball Jutsu; its Ninjutsu is surprisingly weak.

This does not refer to the size of the Great Fireball, but rather the damage value of Great Fireball of the same size.

Even the worst result of someone else's Great Fireball hitting a person is burns.

In most cases, a ninja hit by Great Fireball will quickly become a charred corpse.

However, after Fujii Kusaka's Great Fireball hits someone, it's like being blown by a warm breeze.

Being hit by her Great Fireball felt like being under Genjutsu; it was scary, but I was completely unharmed.

Therefore, although Fujii Kusaka seems to have excellent Ninjutsu talent, she has never been noticed by any Jonin.

All the Jonin who were attracted by her talent gave up after testing the power of her Great Fireball.

After careful consideration, Yichen decided to add this disciple to the shortlist.

However, Fujii Kusaka was chosen by the daimyo as a prospective Guardian Ninja, Yichen would have to consult the daimyo before accepting her as a disciple.

So Yichen wrote a letter directly to the daimyo, explaining that he had considered taking Fujii Kusaka as his disciple when selecting disciples.

It also indicated that if Fujii Kusaka was ultimately chosen.

So after Team Seven disbands, Fujii Kusaka will still serve as a Guardian Ninja for the daimyo. I will not leave Fujii Kusaka in Iwagakure.

After having the Anbu delivered to the Anbu base, Yichen continued selecting disciples. He believed the Daimyo wouldn't refuse this request.

The Anbu base has Heavenly Transfer Technique that allows them to communicate directly with the capital. They can send messages to the Daimyo without going to the capital; they can communicate directly through the Heavenly Transfer Technique.

After a long time, Yichen took a fancy to a girl named Kamizuru Tsuruhime.

"A child from the Kamizuru Clan?" After hesitating for a while, Yichen still included this student in the shortlist.

The Kamizuru Clan is an insect-controlling ninja clan from Iwagakure).

Insect Control Ninja are different from normal ninjas; most of their strength lies in controlling insects.

However, insects are very weak at the beginning, and they need to undergo repeated mutations to grow stronger.

The more mutations the insect undergoes, the more abilities it gains, and the stronger the ninja becomes.

This ability of insects to mutate can be passed down from generation to generation.

To put it another way, if the insects of the first generation of the insect-controlling clan had ten abilities.

The second generation of ninjas started with ten abilities. If this generation of ninjas had worked hard, the insects would have gained three more abilities.

The insects that the third-generation ninja obtained initially possessed thirteen different abilities.

Therefore, this family's strength is growing stronger and stronger.

However, things took an unexpected turn. During the Second Shinobi World War, the Kamizuru Clan was almost wiped out by the Aburame Clan.

The bees that had been a family tradition for countless years are gone.

Then the family fell into decline.

Even if all the adult ninjas in other clans die out, their descendants can quickly become powerful as long as they learn the Ninjutsu collected by the clan.

However, the Kamizuru Clan is different. Their bees, bred over countless generations, are gone. The bees they breed again are not much different from ordinary bees and have almost no fighting power.

Yichen chose this child named Kamizuru Tsuruhime because of a record in the file.

The bees of Kamizuru Tsuruhime are smaller than normal bees.

Yichen found this very interesting; the strength of the Kamizuru Clan was mostly in their bees.

In the past, ninjas of the Kamizuru Clan would choose to increase the individual strength of bees, so the bees were relatively large.

However, Yichen felt that the insects used by the Insect Control Ninja should be smaller.

Their small size allows them to reproduce faster and be more easily renewed when cultivated with Chakra.

Being small has another advantage: it can carry more. With more people, there's a greater chance of mutation.

After all, for Insect Control Ninja, the number of insects with the most powerful abilities is the most crucial factor.

Yichen believes that sacrificing other aspects for this feature is worthwhile.

Yichen felt that this girl named Kamizuru Tsuruhime was a talented person who was able to break free from the established ideas of her predecessors and take this new path.

However, the Jonin of Iwagakure were all aware of the situation of the Kamizuru Clan.

So even though Kamizuru Tsuruhime's grades were actually quite good, she still wasn't selected by the Jonin apprentices this year.

Of course, another reason is that a normal Jonin wouldn't know how to instruct a disciple of an Insect Control Ninja.

Yichen then reviewed the remaining student list and selected some more candidates.

There was no one more suitable than Fujii Kusaka and Kamizuru Tsuruhime.

Yichen then closed the thick file and breathed a sigh of relief.

I'll go to the Ninja Academy tomorrow. If there are no other special circumstances, I'll choose these three.