High-Level Meeting

Takigakure was thriving. The daimyo had shipped in vast quantities of supplies, and the Black Market Exchange had brought in a massive influx of capital. Following the news of Ruri fighting Hashirama to a draw and severing Tobirama's arm, more and more people recognized him as the "Sixth Kage" outside the Five Kage.

The benefits of this reputation were obvious. The villagers' approval of Ruri reached new heights, and Hagane Maomori's respect for him deepened even further upon learning of his combat record. Additionally, many rogue ninjas from smaller nations arrived; after Ruri delegated the background checks to his subordinates, those with clean histories were permitted to settle in Takigakure.

With the situation stabilized on all fronts, Ruri convened the second high-level meeting of Takigakure, attended by all elite jonin and key personnel.

The saying went that great nations relied on bloodline limits, while small nations relied on technology. Since the Land of Waterfalls only possessed one bloodline clan and had limited powerhouses, they had no choice but to light up the tech tree to narrow the gap with the major powers. The theme of today's meeting was the implementation of various policies.

Among the attendees, it was worth noting the presence of the Momochi clan head, Momochi Tanba, an elderly man pushing a wheelchair.

His clan was originally a ninja family from the Land of Grass. They had initially intended to join Kusagakure, but due to Tanba's insistence, the entire clan had relocated to Takigakure instead.

The Momochi clan excelled in secret arts—specifically spider-based techniques that allowed them to spit silk from their mouths. Their summoning creatures were also giant spiders, bearing a striking resemblance to the ninjutsu of Kidomaru from the original timeline. Ruri suspected the Momochi clan might be the ancestors of Kidomaru. In short, they were a formidable clan; aside from lacking a Kage-level powerhouse, they were essentially on the same level as the Ino-Shika-Cho trio of Konoha.

Beyond Hagane Maomori and Momochi Tanba, an unexpected figure appeared in the conference room: the head of the Fuma clan, Fuma Kazama.

Kazama was a giant standing two meters tall. After their coup failed, the Fuma clan had been wiped out. To ensure the survival of his kin, he had surrendered directly. Operating on the principle of "waste not, want not," Ruri accepted them, but because they had attacked the village, they were all assigned to assist the villagers in farming whenever they weren't training or sleeping.

This was an experiment of Ruri's, and so far, the results were quite good. A ninja's productivity was several times higher than that of a commoner; even without using ninjutsu, their superior physical fitness made them highly efficient at farming.

Kazama's presence here certainly carried no weight; he was merely there to fill the seats. Otherwise, the Takigakure high-level meeting would have faced the embarrassing situation of only having two elite jonin in attendance. Compared to Konoha, where a single Ino-Shika-Cho trio could outclass them, it would have looked far too lacking in prestige.

The remaining jonin mostly held key positions, such as Takenaka Masakata, who served as the Takikage's assistant, and Katagiri Masaki, who vetted the identities of incoming ninjas.

However, even counting these jonin, there were only ten people at the meeting—a somewhat meager turnout.

Ruri first proposed that all clans and jonin publicly share all ninjutsu except for their secret arts. This proposal received unanimous support from everyone; they had the cautionary tale of Konoha and the other four major ninja villages, which were already doing the same.

Furthermore, the sheer volume of ninjutsu mastered by Ruri and Kakuzu was terrifying. Sharing ninjutsu held only benefits and no drawbacks for them, and it would also earn them goodwill—why wouldn't they do it?

This was one of the few advantages of Takigakure having few large clans; no one would stand up to dissent, and even if they did, their lack of numbers meant they had little say. In a place like Konoha, where clans were numerous, there were indeed many elite ninjas, but the Hokage's policies were correspondingly difficult to implement. It was said that they had argued for days just over the public sharing of ninjutsu, and Madara and Hashirama had nearly come to blows.

"Ninjutsu has been made public; next, let's make ninja training public as well," Ruri said. With ninjutsu as a foundation, they could begin the work of education. This had to be done before any other village; there weren't many outsiders left to absorb, so Takigakure had to cultivate its own core combat power.

"Agreed, but how will it be made public?" Momochi Tanba asked. The Momochi clan members only knew secret arts and had very few other ninjutsu. If the next generation could master ninjutsu while also learning secret arts, it would be a significant boost to the clan's overall strength.

"A ninja academy—establish an academy to train ninjas! Select ninjas with both talent and virtue from the village to serve as teachers and recruit students from the entire village." Ruri had not only severed Tobirama's arm but had also plagiarized the ninja academy that Tobirama was supposed to propose. However, unlike Tobirama, Ruri did not intend to assign highly powerful ninjas as teachers in Takigakure's academy. Firstly, manpower was insufficient, and high-end combatants were in short supply. Secondly, the academy only taught the basics; chunin or even experienced genin were sufficient for that. It was moral education that deserved the most attention; otherwise, it would be embarrassing if they became rogue ninjas after graduating.

"That is not appropriate..." Hagane Maomori spoke slowly. "Our clan's bloodline is not universal. We have our own teaching methods, and I believe the Momochi and Fuma clans are the same. Secret arts also have their limitations."

Momochi Tanba and Fuma Kazama nodded, indicating this was indeed the case.

"That is not the point. The ninja academy is merely for enlightenment. Children enroll at age six and can be taught for three to six years, depending on the situation. We will teach ninjutsu theory, the Three Basic Jutsu, ninja knowledge, and so on... until they graduate and become genin. Beyond that, they can still receive additional instruction from their clan elders after school."

"That is acceptable." Hagane Maomori nodded. If it was just about laying a foundation, it wouldn't be a problem, and he could still have his children receive private tutoring at home without affecting their bloodline abilities.

"Furthermore," Ruri added, "we can recruit the children of commoners. The village is short on personnel, and as a newly established ninja village, we need such policies to stabilize the hearts of the people."

"The children of commoners?" Fuma Kazama muttered with a frown but said nothing more; he had a clear sense of his own lack of standing.

Hagane Maomori and Momochi Tanba exchanged a glance. If commoners' children were admitted, their two clans would be the most affected. However, they were confident that their own children's talent was higher than that of commoners, so they didn't raise any objections.

"That's right, the children of commoners. There may be exceptionally talented individuals among them. I believe the jonin sitting here today also include those who came from commoner backgrounds, or whose parents and grandparents were commoners!" Ruri continued. Although the jonin attending the meeting were capable, most did not belong to clans; they had essentially become ninjas because they or their parents had stumbled upon methods for chakra cultivation and ninjutsu.

"Agreed." Takenaka Masakata was the first to express his approval. His grandfather had been a commoner, so he held no prejudice against them. In fact, there were many such commoner ninjas during the Warring States period, but because they lacked clan protection, many of them died. To put it bluntly, if they weren't in a period of peace now, and the war had continued for a few more years, the commoner ninjas present might have been wiped out entirely.

Following Masakata's agreement, the others quickly followed suit in supporting the establishment of the ninja academy. Small ninja villages had their own advantages; besides considering their own circumstances, the others were also more or less influenced by Ruri's formidable strength.

"Good. Since no one has any objections, I will personally take charge of the establishment of the ninja academy. Masakata, prepare to report this matter to the daimyo. As for the funding, we will handle it ourselves." Ruri would not entrust the ninja academy to anyone else. He had read the original work and understood the structure of Konoha's ninja academy, and he had some ideas of his own that he wanted to implement. His only disciple, Hattori Masanari, who possessed Kage-level talent, would be among the first batch of students at the academy, and he could not afford any delays.