Gathering Intelligence

Ninja education in the Ninja Academy generally follows the sequence of enrollment - basics - drills - application - graduation - genin.

During wartime, however, there's a special system that allows senior students at the Ninja Academy to graduate early and be deployed to the battlefield.

This is perhaps the most inhumane aspect of the ninja world.

Of course, this is also something the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, dedicated his life to changing.

To put it bluntly, ninjas are tools of war, mercenary groups, born for war and dying for war.

But establishing villages at least offered the possibility of mutual support.

After the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, died in battle and the First Great Ninja War concluded, Konoha entered a period of peace lasting over a decade.

Therefore, the current Ninja Academy operates under a peacetime educational policy, and there's no longer a requirement to undergo the trials of fire and blood on the battlefield to become a genin.

However, as Mitokado Homura's son, Wu had already sensed something from his father's few words.

The days of peace and stability would likely not last much longer.

Friction between the great nations had begun to occur again, and it was uncertain how long the stable environment of the Ninja Academy could be maintained.

Wu glanced around at his fellow classmates, not feeling any particular impatience about playing with children.

After all, it was debatable how many of these children would live to reach the age where they could drink alcohol.

The first-year curriculum mostly focused on building fundamentals.

Having already mastered the Clone Technique and Transformation Technique openly before enrollment, Wu had undoubtedly surpassed everyone else from the starting line.

One good thing about Konoha is that children from prominent clans have no special privileges at the academy. Teachers might know which prestigious family a child comes from and that their foundation is better, but that's about it.

The children themselves don't really fear the children from the prominent clans. This is partly due to the benefits brought by the "Will of Fire," and partly related to the professional characteristics of ninjas.

As fellow ninjas, enemies on the battlefield won't show mercy just because someone is from a prominent family; in fact, they might target them more, seeking to make a name for themselves.

If they are rare Kekkei Genkai Ninja, the situation becomes even more dire.

The leaders of the prominent clans undoubtedly understood this very well: strength and achievements are the most important standards for measuring a ninja, not their background.

After all, in this peculiar world, it's not uncommon for one person to establish a prominent clan.

"Therefore, classmates, you don't need to worry about your background. The school will impart ninja knowledge to everyone equally. As long as you work hard, anyone has the hope of becoming an excellent ninja!"

The homeroom teacher spoke eloquently from the podium. Some of the young students below had shining eyes, some were drowsy, and others were indifferent.

Seeing that his speech didn't seem to elicit a passionate response from everyone, the teacher, perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed, spoke loudly:

"Not to mention, the Third Hokage's three disciples, the Elite Jonin Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, among them, Jiraiya and Orochimaru both came from commoner backgrounds!"

"If Orochimaru was already a rare genius in his childhood, then Jiraiya, who was his equal, was quite ordinary in his youth."

"Through his unremitting efforts, he eventually became a powerful ninja who stood shoulder to shoulder with the genius Orochimaru and Tsunade, the granddaughter of the First Hokage!"

These powerful ninjas, who were elites among elites even among the Jonin, finally managed to get the students to pay attention, and they couldn't help but develop beautiful aspirations for the future.

Indeed, the future Sannin, Jiraiya and the others of this era, especially Jiraiya himself, were the protagonists of inspirational stories of this era.

"Jiraiya..."

Wu's eyeballs darted around as he observed the surrounding classmates.

"Hmm... no blonde hair."

This meant that whether the Jonin sensei leading their team upon graduation would be Jiraiya or one of the others was uncertain.

Among his classmates, aside from Akimichi Choza, Shikaku Nara, and Inoichi Yamanaka, the rest were likely just background characters.

Wu couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

"At least there are three who aren't background characters..."

Wu had also looked at the list of students in the higher grades.

Although his father had a rather meaningful expression when he learned that Wu wanted to see the list, Wu still had to work hard to accumulate information step by step with the resources available.

Intelligence information was a very important part of the knowledge classification.

It was also an indispensable form of power.

As expected, Wu found a few names he recognized on the list of students currently enrolled.

"Shibi Aburame in the second year, Mikoto Uchiha in the third year, Nawaki in the fourth year, Hiashi Hyuga and Hizashi Hyuga in the fifth year..."

"However, this Nawaki in the fourth year... I remember he was..."

His mouth twitched as he recalled the sense of urgency he felt when he first saw Nawaki's name.

To be in the same period as Konoha's prince... great-grandson!

This meant that by the time this great-grandson graduated from the academy and unfortunately died, the Second Great Ninja War would be about to begin!

"Wouldn't that be in the next two or three years?"

His father, Mitokado Homura, had noticed Wu's instinctive nervousness when he saw Nawaki's name.

But his father had clearly misunderstood, introducing Nawaki's information and pointing out meaningfully:

"It's beneficial to befriend the three major clans of Ino-Shika-Cho—but as for Nawaki, you should view him from the perspective of a competitor."

"..."

Wu naturally understood what his father had misunderstood, but he couldn't say it.

Everyone in Konoha knew what that hot-headed kid Nawaki was always shouting about.

However, he had the qualifications for it.

The First Hokage, the God of Shinobi Hashirama Senju, and the grandson of the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Mito Uzumaki.

The powerful bloodlines of the Senju and Uzumaki clans weren't just for show—his sister Tsunade's achievements largely proved that.

Perhaps, this was also the main reason for his early death?

Wu appeared to be listening intently to the lecture, but in reality, he completely filtered out the teacher's incessant, brainwashing basic education.

His thoughts had already begun to uncontrollably diverge in the direction of the "Darkness of Konoha."

"Overconfidence and carelessness? Someone high up made a move? Collusion with enemies? Or did the enemy know his identity and target him specifically?"

Wu repeatedly guessed. As one of the "keywords"—the top scientist Orochimaru—Nawaki's special identity and early death, a turning point in Orochimaru's corruption, were also key points that could influence the main storyline.

"But... he was three years ahead of me, so we wouldn't have crossed paths..."

Wu wasn't so arrogant as to warn Nawaki, "Classmate, be careful with Exploding Tags in the future..."

As for Nawaki's team leader, Orochimaru, he couldn't avoid him fast enough.

It was no other reason. If Mr. Blame-Game was the most troublesome and clingy person in Konoha, then Orochimaru was another.

With Orochimaru's vigorous desire for knowledge, if he discovered anything special about Wu, he would likely go to great lengths to make Wu his research material... probably.

Even though Orochimaru hadn't turned evil yet, and was still a good young man who cared about the village and his friends, Wu couldn't take that risk.

Fortunately... Orochimaru should have been leading Nawaki's batch. After that, by the time Wu graduated, Orochimaru should have been busy with war, preparing for the next shock...

The contract was mailed yesterday afternoon. Today and tomorrow are the weekend, so the status shouldn't change...

Those who want to invest, hurry up ●●