Konoha's Current Situation is Dire

On the night of October 10th.

Inside a cave somewhere outside Konoha.

Obito and Kakashi were standing guard outside.

Inside, Minato and the village's Medical Ninja were busy with the delivery; the atmosphere within was tense, while the mood outside remained quite cheerful.

"The teacher actually wants to name his child Naruto if it's a boy, and Naruko if it's a girl? Wouldn't Obito and Obiko be so much better?"

"By the way, Kakashi, what has Rin been up to lately? How come I haven't seen her at all?"

Obito was starting to miss Rin; come to think of it, he hadn't seen her once since he returned.

"The capital of the Land of Fire needed Medical Ninja to treat the sick, so the Fourth Hokage ordered Rin to go," Kakashi replied casually while reading a book.

"I see. Still, Zhengyi is the same—now that he's a high-ranking official in Konoha, he could at least find a way to get Rin transferred back."

"Anyway, if it were me, I'd have Rin take an easy, high-status, high-paying job in Konoha where she wouldn't have to suffer."

Obito grumbled a bit.

"You think Konoha is run by your family? You can't just arrange things however you want," Kakashi rolled his eyes.

Did he think he didn't want that?

But where in Konoha could you find such a cushy job?!

"So what? One day in the future, I could be the Hokage."

"Yes, yes, the Hokage who always fails his academic exams."

"What did you say?! Tch, shorty, grades can be improved, but height can't."

Obito was a head taller than Kakashi, nearly the same height as Zhengyi now. Kakashi felt utterly helpless; he took calcium supplements every day and ate enough calories and protein, so why was he still shorter than them? Which part of the process had gone wrong?

Was it a genetic issue?!

"Hngh—ah~~"

As the two bickered, the cry of a newborn echoed from within the cave.

Obito turned back, delighted. "Sister Kushina has given birth."

He was a bit reckless, bursting through the door and knocking the two midwives waiting at the entrance flying. He was more excited than if the child were his own, and the moment he stepped inside, he snatched the baby—named Naruto—right out of Minato's hands.

Minato could only give him a helpless look before stepping aside to shield Kushina.

Obito, however, wasn't interested in that; the Naruto he was holding was far more interesting.

"Teacher, congratulations."

He pulled back the swaddling clothes to look at little Naruto and congratulated Minato: "Teacher, you must let me be Naruto's squad leader jonin in the future."

As he spoke, he flicked little Naruto, causing the baby to burst into tears.

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

"Right!" Minato snatched Naruto back from Obito's hands, but Obito still had something to give the baby, so he snatched him back again and stuffed a stack of banknotes into Naruto's clothes.

"Teacher Minato, just a small token of my heart, please don't think it's too little."

They say you shouldn't hit a smiling face; with such a generous gesture, he supposed he had to forgive him.

But what about yours, Kakashi?

Tonight was calm and peaceful; nothing happened. The Nine-Tails did not emerge, and no harm came to Kushina.

So it really was you! Orochimaru!! The mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Incident that Yamato would speak of in the future.

The birth rate in Konoha was rising steadily.

Yet, the educational aspect was truly not up to par.

The reason Konoha didn't teach ethics and morality was the fear that if ninjas had morals, they would think for themselves. If they had morals, they would show mercy to a weakened enemy; if they thought for themselves, they would reflect on why they were performing missions for the nobility. Why didn't they just eliminate the nobles?

Due to historical limitations, Konoha never taught these things.

But precisely because they didn't teach thought and morality, Konoha had produced so many rogue ninjas and individuals with extremist ideologies.

From Uchiha Madara at the top to the rogue Boruto who killed the Seventh Hokage at the bottom.

Therefore, it had to be taught.

Returning to his old school, Zhengyi was no longer the genin A-Yi of the past; he had come to inspect the school in his capacity as the acting Hokage.

To achieve this at fourteen years old—it was unprecedented in history.

"Umino Iruka, what parts of the Ninja Academy do you think need improvement?" Zhengyi crouched down kindly to look at Umino Iruka, a first-year student at the Ninja Academy.

"R-really? Can I say it?" Iruka often saw Zhengyi's face in the newspapers; would he get in trouble for speaking ill of the village?

"Don't worry! Konoha has freedom of speech."

In the past, whatever was said in Konoha would be investigated by the Anbu if Hiruzen Sarutobi found out.

But now, that wouldn't happen.

"Then I'll say it? Don't get angry."

"I won't." Zhengyi smiled. How could I possibly get angry? No matter what problems you bring up about the Ninja Academy, I won't be bothered.

The historical baggage of the Ninja Academy wasn't something my teacher and I created, after all.

Recently, Orochimaru had been criticizing various policies implemented by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He was preparing to overhaul them after overturning the old order.

Overnight, Hiruzen Sarutobi had shifted from being the greatest Hokage in the hearts of the Konoha people to a figure of controversy.

Some said he led Konoha through the end of the First, Second, and Third Great Ninja Wars, making him a hero of the shinobi world beyond reproach.

Yet others argued that Konoha looked exactly the same when the Second Hokage was alive as it did under the Third, claiming he was no hero at all.

After the Fourth Hokage took office, their quality of life and diet had improved by several grades in just a few short months; did anyone really need to ask who was better?

Orochimaru felt it still wasn't enough; this level of change wasn't enough to make his teacher regret his actions.

"The cafeteria! The food in the school cafeteria... is a bit hard to swallow." Iruka scratched his nose, his voice lacking confidence.

"Dammit, the food was terrible when I was a student, and it's still terrible now?!"

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

Konoha only had one school, and even that couldn't provide decent food; clearly, the lack of competition was the problem.

His iron fist would strike the person in charge of the school cafeteria with no mercy.

Just as his name implied! Justice!

All the schemes and plots of the past had been a matter of necessity.

Ryoko Akimichi, the person in charge of the cafeteria, had an explanation.

In the past, the Third Hokage wouldn't allocate the funds.

The Third Hokage wouldn't allocate funds?

Then why didn't you go and demand them?!

From this incident, Zhengyi discovered that the corruption in Konoha was quite severe.

Konoha was now like a rickety ship on the verge of collapse.

The Hokage faction versus the Minato faction. Internal friction outweighed construction, and partisan interests were actually being placed above national interests.

Bureaucratic corruption, clan privileges, and hereditary power for the elite. The divide between the elite and the masses was widening, and power had become a tool for privilege.

Years of continuous warfare had exhausted the national treasury...

Outside the village, the Land of Fire's social etiquette was cannibalistic, suppressing thought, maintaining rigid hierarchies, and stifling new ideas...

They had truly stepped on every single landmine possible.

If someone told Zhengyi that Konoha was on the verge of disintegration, he would believe it.