Ninja Academy

At last, the day the Ninja Academy opened had arrived.

Konoha's Ninja Academy began in April. In another month, Satoru would turn six.

His father, Mitokado Homura, brought Satoru to register at the academy. As expected, he spotted a big fat man with a little fat boy in tow—

Torifu Akimichi of the Akimichi Clan had come to enroll Akimichi Choza as well.

"Homura, I didn't expect you to personally bring Satoru here."

Though Torifu Akimichi was built like a mountain of flesh and looked quite imposing, he was actually a gentle, good-natured man.

"I thought you'd be attending the opening ceremony with the Third Hokage as usual."

"Heh... after all, it is my son's opening ceremony. The Third Hokage gave me an hour off."

Mitokado Homura patted Satoru on the shoulder. The stern, rigid expression he always wore before others softened into a faint smile before this close comrade-in-arms.

"The heirs of your three great Ino-Shika-Cho clans seem prepared as well?"

"Them..."

Torifu Akimichi glanced at Choza, who was exchanging mischievous looks with Satoru. The boy's plump cheeks quivered happily.

"Choza has become this cheerful largely thanks to Satoru. I just hope he can get along well with those two boys from the Nara Clan and Yamanaka Clan at the academy..."

"With every generation of Ino-Shika-Cho, the Akimichi heir must first overcome his own hurdle."

"Choza will definitely be fine," Mitokado Homura said with a smile. "Satoru will help him too... Look, the Nara and Yamanaka families are here. Go on over."

Torifu Akimichi turned to look, nodded, then smilingly bid farewell to father and son before taking Choza toward the families of his other two old friends.

"Satoru, the Akimichi Clan has been one of the great clans since the village was founded. The Nara Clan and Yamanaka Clan are the same. You must get along well at the academy."

At home, Mitokado Homura was a somewhat stubborn father, but from the perspective of the entire village, he was a calm adviser who believed in authority.

To him, Konoha's great clans were not all equally close.

"Satoru, Homura is right... If you want to achieve something in the village, you need to start working hard now."

Another voice sounded. Satoru turned and saw a serious-faced middle-aged female ninja with her hair in a bun walking toward them.

"Koharu, you're here. Is Hiruzen's side about to begin?"

Utatane Koharu, a female ninja who served as one of Konoha's high-ranking advisers alongside Mitokado Homura, was highly skilled in Medical Ninjutsu and possessed a calm rationality rare among female ninja.

"Yes. I came to find you so we could go over together."

Smiling at the pouting Satoru, Utatane Koharu crouched down in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Satoru, but you'll have to enter the academy and attend the opening ceremony by yourself..."

"You should understand what we were saying earlier, as Homura's son—so do your best!"

Watching his father and his female colleague disappear from sight together, Satoru pressed a hand to his temple.

"Two old fossils... Could it be that the Mitokado Satoru of the original world took your words to heart and ended up becoming someone who might as well not have existed..."

At the opening ceremony, Mitokado Satoru stood in line with his enrollment notice in hand, his mouth twitching.

He had the body of a six-year-old and the soul of a twenty-eight-year-old. Perhaps the two had somehow balanced each other out? Satoru felt his personality was closer to that of a teenager.

But that did not stop him from viewing things through the eyes of a twenty-eight-year-old.

At the front of the crowd stood Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage. He wore a Hokage Cloak, white on the inside and red on the outside, held a pipe in one hand, and spoke without pause.

Satoru had seen the old Hokage a few times before. He was a veteran chain-smoker.

But sir, with how much you smoke and talk, weren't you thirsty?

He had been speaking for over an hour already, hadn't he?

Satoru could vaguely see that even the bangs of the students in the front row were getting damp.

"As expected of the highest leader... His speechcraft talent is completely maxed out."

Satoru rubbed the corners of his mouth, calming his twitching muscles.

As an environmentally harmless socialist intellectual, Satoru's views on Konoha and the Third Hokage were fairly consistent with those of the online crowd.

He was an indecisive old man. His gentleness and kindness were real, but so was his habit of looking forward and backward before every decision.

During Sarutobi Hiruzen's tenure, Konoha stood at its peak and produced a large number of outstanding genius ninja.

Then the Third Hokage himself messed things up so badly that the village suffered a generational gap.

The strength Konoha had squandered for no reason was enough to wipe out an entire nation.

The rogue ninja who had left Konoha could destroy the world.

If those people had remained in Konoha, where would all those damn problems have come from?

This old man simply was not rational enough when he needed to be rational, nor decisive enough when he needed to be decisive. All sorts of inexplicable concerns threw him into disarray.

The Professor of Ninjutsu was, after all, not a professor of sociology. He lacked the First Hokage's ability to make others submit through strength, was too easily swayed by others, and relied blindly on weakening factions to maintain balance. In the end, he ruined everything.

The First Hokage's "Will of Fire" had been a simple slogan in that era of war, as well as one of the key reasons Konoha's great clans had been willing to submit.

But times changed. If a slogan could not keep pace with the times, it would eventually become nothing but empty words.

The First Hokage's Will of Fire was hope, the future, and seeds.

The Second Hokage's Will of Fire was protection, inheritance, and saplings.

The Third Hokage's Will of Fire should have been development, accumulation, and a great tree.

Yet the Third Hokage's Will of Fire had not grown healthily toward luxuriant branches and a forest of towering trees.

Instead, it became riddled with disease and pests, damaged its own branches, rotted at the roots, and shed its leaves. The great tree was about to fall, and what he handed to the Fourth Hokage was a disastrous mess plagued by troubles both within and without.

And before the Fourth Hokage could fulfill his ambitions, he died young, leaving the aged Third Hokage to barely hold things together.

Among the Fourth Hokage's contemporaries, there was not even another qualified Hokage Candidate!

Oh, there were still a few.

Some defected, some suffered mental trauma, and some had no interest in the position.

There were also those who wanted it, but they had long since been excluded from the center of power.

He had played a perfect hand into complete garbage.

Not to mention all the various dark speculations that online crowds loved to weave into it.

After observing things these past few years, Satoru did not think it was all that complicated.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, simply lacked the ability to govern.

He could not control Konoha after it had reached its peak, and as he aged, his deterrent power only weakened further. That was why so many problems arose later.

So, the things he was now endlessly lecturing the students about would make ordinary young Konoha children listen with shining eyes and firm conviction...

But to Satoru, they were no different from the nonsense his idiot former boss used to spout during meetings before Satoru got him fired.

Still, Konoha could be saved.

Satoru was no savior, but since his father was one of Konoha's higher-ups, he could not let Konoha end up so miserable later, if only for the old man's sake.

As for exactly what he should do...

"We'll deal with that when the time comes..."

Satoru was not a compassionate priest, a holy and noble paladin, or a warrior who charged forward without hesitation. He was merely a rational mage... apprentice, one who knew his own limits.

Viewed rationally, rashly interfering with the main storyline when he did not control the details was a good way to get himself killed.

But since he had appeared here, his very existence was already the greatest uncertainty interfering with the main storyline.

"Therefore, the safest approach is to strengthen myself before the major turning points arrive, while also finding at least a few reliable companions."

"Mages are too fragile in the early stages. Without companions to help, relying on little tricks alone won't be enough to survive smoothly until the end in this supernatural world."