Konoha's Situation Is Urgent

On the night of October 10.

Inside a cave somewhere outside Konoha.

Obito and Kakashi were standing guard outside.

Inside, Minato and the village's Medical Ninjas were delivering the baby. The atmosphere was tense, but the two outside were chatting happily.

"I can't believe Sensei wants to name his son Naruto and his daughter Naruko. Wouldn't Obito and Obiko be much better?"

"By the way, Kakashi, what's Rin been doing lately? I never see her around."

Obito was missing Rin a little. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen her at all since he came back.

"The capital of the Land of Fire needed Medical Ninjas to treat people, so the Fourth Hokage sent Rin there." Kakashi was reading a book and answered casually.

"I see. But Zhengyi's the same. He's a member of Konoha High Command now, but he hasn't even tried to bring Rin back."

"If it were up to me, I'd give Rin an easy, high-ranking job in Konoha with a great salary."

Obito sounded a little aggrieved.

"You think Konoha belongs to you? That you can assign people wherever you want?" Kakashi rolled his eyes.

Didn't he wish he could?

But where in Konoha was there a job that good?!

"So what? One day, I could be Hokage too."

"Sure, sure. The Hokage who's always failed his classes."

"What did you say?! Hmph. You may be short, but grades can be improved. There's nothing you can do about your height."

Obito was a head taller than Kakashi, almost as tall as Zhengyi. Kakashi was at a loss. He took calcium supplements every day and ate enough calories and protein, so why wasn't he as tall as them? What had gone wrong?

Was it a genetic problem?!

"Hngh~~"

As the two bickered, a baby's cry rang out from inside the cave.

Obito turned around excitedly. "Kushina gave birth!"

He was a little reckless. He slammed the door open and rushed inside, knocking the two midwives waiting by the entrance flying. He was more excited than if the baby had been his own. As soon as he entered, he took the baby, who Minato had named Naruto, from Minato's arms.

Minato could only hand the baby over helplessly, then step aside to shield Kushina.

But Obito wasn't interested in her. The Naruto in his arms was much more interesting.

"Congratulations, Sensei."

He opened Naruto's swaddling blanket and congratulated Minato as he looked at the baby. "Sensei, you have to let me be Naruto's team leader when he grows up."

As he spoke, he flicked the baby on the forehead, making Naruto cry.

"Obito..." Kushina didn't have the strength to scold him. "Minato."

"Yes!" Minato snatched Naruto back from Obito, but Obito still had something to give him. He grabbed the baby again and stuffed a stack of bills into Naruto's clothes.

"Minato-sensei, it's just a little something. I hope you don't think it's too little."

People said you couldn't hit someone who came bearing gifts with a smile. With such a generous present, they'd just have to forgive him.

What about your gift, Kakashi?

The night passed peacefully. Nothing happened. The Nine-Tails didn't appear, and Kushina was unharmed.

So it really was you, Orochimaru! The culprit behind the Nine-Tails Incident that Yamato had mentioned in the future.

Konoha's birth rate was rising steadily.

But the education system really wasn't up to scratch.

People knew Konoha didn't teach moral education because it feared that ethical, independent-minded shinobi might hesitate to kill enemies who were on the verge of death, or start asking themselves why they were doing missions for nobles—and why they didn't just get rid of those nobles.

Bound by the limitations of its time, Konoha had never taught such things.

But it was precisely because they didn't teach ethics and morality that Konoha had produced so many rogue ninja and so many people with extreme views.

From Madara Uchiha all the way down to Boruto, the rogue ninja who killed the Seventh.

So it had to be taught.

Back at his old school, Zhengyi was no longer the same ninja who had once endured under A-Yi. He had come to inspect the school as acting Hokage.

He had achieved all this at just fourteen years old—a feat without precedent.

"Iruka, what do you think the Ninja Academy needs to improve?" Zhengyi asked kindly, crouching down to look at first-year student Umino Iruka.

"R-really? I can say?" Iruka often saw Zhengyi's face in the newspapers. Wouldn't he get scolded if he said anything bad about the village?

"Don't worry! People are free to speak their minds in Konoha."

In the past, if the Third Hokage heard you say something, the Anbu would come investigate.

But that wasn't how things were now.

"Then I'll say it? You won't get mad?"

"I won't." Zhengyi smiled warmly. How could I get mad? No matter what problems you point out with the Ninja Academy, I won't.

The school's long-standing problems weren't caused by me or my teacher.

Recently, Orochimaru had been criticizing Hiruzen Sarutobi's various policies.

He was preparing to overhaul them after tearing them down.

Overnight, the man Konoha had once considered its strongest Hokage became a controversial figure.

Some said he had led Konoha through the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, then fought in the Third Shinobi World War, making him a Shinobi Hero beyond all doubt.

Others said Konoha had been the same under the Second Hokage and the Third Hokage alike, and that Hiruzen wasn't a Shinobi Hero at all.

After the Fourth Hokage took office, the people's food and quality of life had improved by several levels in just a few months. Wasn't it obvious who had done a better job?

Orochimaru didn't think this was enough. This little bit of criticism wouldn't make his teacher regret his actions.

"The cafeteria! The food in the school cafeteria... It's a little hard to eat." Iruka scratched his nose, his voice lacking confidence.

"Damn it! The food was bad when I was a student, and it's still bad now?!"

Zhengyi clenched his fist and stood up, determined to give the students an explanation.

Konoha only had one school, and even its food was bad. It was no wonder the pressure to compete was so low.

The blow of his iron fist against the school cafeteria's manager would be no light one.

Just like his name: Justice!

All the schemes and tricks before had been unavoidable.

The cafeteria manager, Ryoko Akimichi, had an explanation too.

The Third Hokage hadn't provided funds.

The Third Hokage hadn't provided funds?

Then why hadn't you asked for them?!

From this incident, Zhengyi realized that corruption in Konoha was rather serious.

Konoha was now like a ship on the verge of sinking.

The Hokage faction versus the Minato faction. Infighting outweighed development, and factional interests had even come to supersede the interests of the country.

Corrupt bureaucracy, hereditary privileges, and a powerful elite class. The elite were cut off from the people, and power had become a tool of privilege.

Years of war had emptied the national treasury...

Outside the village, the Land of Fire's moral code was devouring people, its teachings shackling their minds, preserving the hierarchy and suppressing new ideas...

They'd stepped on every land mine there was.

Zhengyi believed it when people said Konoha might fall apart.