Traditional Grass Ninja

Did Kusagakure get its own ninja academy?

Don't joke around!

This tiny country actually has its own ninja academy?!

With so few ninjas, what's the point of opening an academy? Isn't it a waste of resources, manpower, and materials?

To be honest.

When they heard what that Grass Ninja, Mujie, said, all the Stone Ninjas present were filled with shock.

Nowadays, only the Five Great Ninja Villages have established ninja academies in the Ninja World!

This is because the Five Great Ninja Villages have the strength, resources, and a sufficient number of ninjas. As for Kusagakure... a group that even copies its ninjutsu, and they dare to establish an academy?

Isn't that just asking for ridicule?

However, thinking that even such a small ninja village had founded a ninja academy, Kitsuchi still felt a bit curious. Moreover, since he couldn't find an opportunity to negotiate with that Grass Ninja leader right now, he decided to gather some intelligence on Kusagakure for the time being.

That way, if he wanted to "borrow" passage, he'd be prepared.

However.

When they arrived at the so-called Grass Ninja Village Hope Academy.

"Repay kindness with kindness, and resentment with straightforwardness..."

The sound of reading aloud entered the ears of all the Stone Ninjas.

This is Kusagakure's ninja academy?!

This is a ninja academy?!

Staring blankly at the students inside who were reading something, they asked, "What are they doing?"

Nodding their heads.

Where are the ninja teachers?

Aren't they supposed to be teaching?

As the words fell.

Mujie also glanced inside and sighed with emotion, "Oh, these kids? It's lunchtime now, so they're reading. It seems they're disciplined today and quite self-aware."

"???"

The Stone Ninjas were still utterly confused.

"What's the point of that?!"

"Eh, I don't know!" Mujie shrugged and said with a sigh, "After our leader established this academy against all opposition, all the teaching within the academy is arranged by the leader. They have to come to the academy for morning reading as soon as dawn breaks, followed by calisthenics, and then all sorts of miscellaneous courses until sunset before they can go home!"

He pointed at the large characters hanging on the academy wall and pouted.

"They say they want to cultivate students who are comprehensively developed in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor aspects!"

As soon as he finished speaking.

Hearing that Kusagakure's ninja academy was different from the one they experienced in Iwagakure, the Stone Ninjas were also a bit surprised?!

They silently looked at the lines of text.

This Grass Ninja Academy is a bit different!

At this moment.

A young ninja next to Kitsuchi curled his lips and said, "What's the use of all this? Ninjas just need to learn ninja stuff! Why learn all this miscellaneous stuff? Don't you Grass Ninjas have nothing to teach, so you built this academy to fool people!"

As the words fell.

"Shut up!" Kitsuchi's mouth twitched, and he glared at his subordinate. Then, looking at Mujie before him, he said somewhat apologetically, "Sorry! Maruhachi didn't mean anything by it."

Although he thought the same thing internally – that ninjas only needed to learn what ninjas should learn – how could he say it to their faces like that?!

"It's fine! It's fine! What he said also makes sense!" Mujie waved his hand dismissively, smiling at the young man before him. "The Stone Ninja Village is truly a cradle of geniuses! This ninja clearly has the makings of a Tsuchikage! Full of talent! As expected of Iwagakure!"

As the words fell.

"Of course! I am a genius from a prominent clan in Iwagakure, the Jōshūryū Clan! Jōshūryū Maruhachi!" Jōshūryū Maruhachi said confidently, "The man who will become the Tsuchikage!"

"Just shut up~." Kitsuchi said with a headache, giving Jōshūryū Maruhachi another look. "This is Kusagakure!"

Don't forget they still have an important mission. What's the point of embarrassing the Grass Ninjas here?

However.

Mujie seemed completely unfazed and continued to say with a smile, "Since everyone isn't interested, let's move somewhere else!"

As the words fell.

Kitsuchi no longer dwelled on his subordinate's silence. Looking at Mujie before him, he said earnestly, "Thank you for your trouble!"

To be honest.

He was curious at first, but now... he was no longer interested in this Kusagakure ninja academy.

It made sense, really.

A mere small ninja village, without even its own unique ninjutsu, what qualifications or confidence does it have to establish a ninja academy?

Perhaps this ninja academy might truly be established in the future, but at least for now, it doesn't seem like something to worry about.

At this moment.

"Don't abandon! Don't give up!"

"Strive hard, there's a rainbow after the storm!"

"Prosperous, free, patriotic..."

More strange sounds echoed out. Kitsuchi blinked slightly, seeming to be unable to help himself from looking inside again.

However.

Mujie shouted, "Lord Kitsuchi!"

"I... I'm sorry, I got distracted!" Kitsuchi snapped back to attention, a smile on his face, and said hesitantly, "Inside is..."

"Oh~, that's the new Spirit of Grass summarized by the Leader!" Mujie said casually, "It embodies the tenacious willpower of the Grass Ninja Village's hard work and struggle!"

"Spirit of Grass?"

Upon hearing this, Kitsuchi's curiosity diminished significantly, and he no longer paid it any mind.

Although he was surprised that a small ninja village, so easily annihilated, still had its own village spirit, he didn't pay it much further attention. He had only been surprised by those words just now.

Every ninja village had its own village will. For example, Konoha's [Will of Fire], or their Iwagakure's [Will of Stone].

Resilient and unmoving!

It was just that these Grass Ninjas were a bit shameless, even fabricating a so-called new Spirit of Grass. And everyone in the Ninja World knew that the Grass Ninja's spirit was... being a fence-sitter!

There was no such thing as not abandoning or not giving up!

"May I ask, Advisor Mujie... where will you take us next?"

"I don't know~, why don't we just wander around?"

"..." Kitsuchi's eyelids twitched. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "Actually, we came here on the orders of the Tsuchikage, for the peace between our two countries..."

Before he could finish speaking.

"Eh, we're here!" Mujie suddenly pointed ahead. "The Land of Grass is currently in harvest season, and the autumn wind here is quite nice. Let's all come here and enjoy the breeze!"

"..."

Next, led by the Grass Ninja advisor, they saw the spacious roads of the Land of Grass and the golden wheat fields.

They also saw a strange contraption in the fields that could assist ordinary people in harvesting crops.

It was very fast!

At first, they were quite curious and went up to take a look.

But after a short while, they realized...

This seemed to be invented with the assistance of ordinary people for ninjas. It had no use for improving the physical abilities of ninjas, so all the Stone Ninjas lost interest.

After all, they were still carrying out an important mission assigned by their village!

However.

As soon as they brought this up, the Grass Ninja they were with changed the subject, enthusiastically slinging an arm around their shoulders and introducing them to some harvesting machine, even asking if they wanted to purchase a few!

Yet, each one cost several million, and it had no use for ninjas. What would ninjas buy this for?

Besides, harvesting crops... wasn't their business as ninjas!

So, after they expressed their refusal, the Grass Ninja unenthusiastically led them on a tour, and even showed them the now very famous Grasswood in the Land of Grass!

To be honest, compared to other things, Grasswood was more interesting to them.

After all, many places in their Land of Earth were now showing movies filmed by the Grass Ninja Village, which were quite interesting.

Especially the ones that secretly smeared Konoha... that was even more interesting!

After wandering for a while longer, as the sky gradually darkened, the Grass Ninja arranged accommodation for them!

At this time.

In a small room.

The Stone Ninjas gathered together in a circle. Kitsuchi said with a serious and somewhat troubled expression, "It seems that this Grass Ninja Village has guessed our intentions and doesn't seem to want to talk to us, deliberately changing the subject!"

He sighed.

"What about you? Any findings?"

As he spoke.

A female Stone Ninja next to him pushed up her glasses and said, "According to the current intelligence! This Grass Ninja Leader seems to have a pretty good reputation in the Land of Grass! Coupled with the changes in the Land of Grass... perhaps we should change our view of the Land of Grass!"

"Perhaps!" Jōshūryū Maruhachi yawned and said dismissively, "As for that so-called Senior Advisor Mujie... I have a feeling he's not a good person!"

"That guy is indeed not a good person!"

"???" Kitsuchi and his two subordinates looked at the female Stone Ninja with confusion.

Was she going to be that direct?

The female Stone Ninja flipped through the intelligence she held. "Based on the information I've secretly gathered, this Mujie is likely an old-school Grass Ninja – stubborn, foolish, and a fence-sitter! He's probably been dissatisfied with the Grass Ninja Leader for a while now."

"According to information obtained from ordinary people, this Grass Ninja Mujie seems to have betrayed the Grass Ninja Village. He was caught by the Grass Ninja Leader on the spot and imprisoned for over a month. After his release, he maintained contact with Konoha ninjas, allegedly engaging in secret transactions."

"Some civilians saw him sneak out alone into a small grove while guarding their fields at night. Not long after, another sneaky figure entered the same grove. A few days later, this Grass Ninja was imprisoned again!"

"?!?"

Could this Grass Ninja advisor be a rogue ninja himself?!

But...

Why didn't the Grass Ninja Leader just eliminate him?

"He's not exactly a rogue ninja! Also, as one of the two major clans in Kusagakure, the Wu family should have considerable influence! Of course, it's also possible that the Grass Ninja Leader still needs him!" The female Stone Ninja shook her head. "This is the intelligence I've secretly investigated. It can be said that the advisor likely has a good relationship with Konoha, and the Grass Ninja Leader didn't punish him too severely afterward. Perhaps... our mission has failed this time." She sighed. "Kusagakure places great importance on its alliance with Konoha!"

However.

Just as the other Stone Ninjas sighed with regret.

Kitsuchi narrowed his eyes, a smile creeping onto his lips. "No! We haven't failed yet! Although we can't get anything from the Leader, but..." He slammed his meaty hand onto the table. "We can start with this guy!"

As he spoke.

The Stone Ninjas were stunned for a moment, then they all looked down at Kitsuchi-sensei's hand.

They saw that Kitsuchi-sensei's hand had landed directly on one of the intelligence reports...

Everyone couldn't help but narrow their eyes.

[Grass Ninja Advisor: Mujie

A suspected traditional Grass Ninja!]

Meanwhile.

After receiving the news that the Stone Ninjas had made their arrangements, Kusana also lowered his head and looked at the intelligence on the Stone Ninjas in his hand... His eyes narrowed as he looked at one of the foolish young men. "The Jōshūryū Clan..."