Exchange

"Kid Xingzhuo, did you develop this ninjutsu yourself?"

Senju Hashirama asked, looking at Xingzhuo who was standing by the window.

Xingzhuo looked at the Hokage's goofy, smiling face, let out a breath, and wore a smile of his own, saying without a blush or a racing heart:

"Of course. I've always felt that the existence of chakra is truly miraculous. Since chakra can do anything, why couldn't it be used to heal others? That is why I developed these medical ninjutsu."

Upon hearing this, Hashirama excitedly scooped Xingzhuo up, even choking up with emotion, muttering things like "This is amazing" under his breath.

Xingzhuo accepted the Hokage's "hospitality" with a mix of helplessness and speechlessness.

Tobirama, meanwhile, wore a face full of gratification and admiration.

However, he did not stop his elder brother from "acting crazy," as he did not want to return to the tense, sword-drawn atmosphere from just moments ago.

"Xingzhuo, you have done very well. Medical ninjutsu is a path of ninjutsu development that I had never even considered."

"It seems I was a bit narrow-minded in the past. This time, in addition to the equivalent merit reward, I will also grant you one request."

Xingzhuo struggled a bit upon hearing this, failing to break free from Senju Hashirama's enthusiastic embrace, and after a moment of thought, he said:

"Uncle Hashirama, if you have already learned the Mystical Palm Technique, why not go to the Konoha Hospital and teach these medical ninjutsu to the doctors?"

"After all, for every minute earlier the doctors learn these techniques, the patients in the hospital can recover a minute sooner."

Senju Hashirama was startled by this, and with some urgency, he left behind a single sentence: "You're right, kid! I'm heading to the hospital right now!"

With that, he jumped out the window and headed toward the Konoha Hospital.

The two people in the Hokage's office let out a breath in unison, then exchanged a tacit glance, both curling their lips into a smile.

"Master, I came here to offer suggestions, but since you said you would grant me one condition, I hope you can seriously consider my opinion."

Senju Tobirama waved his hand: "You've always had ideas, and don't waste the reward I'm giving you. As long as the suggestion is reasonable, I will consider it seriously."

"By the way, the proposal for establishing the Ninja Academy also started with you, didn't it? Don't deny it. I've seen your thought process on ninjutsu development; the writing style and tone are identical to that proposal. Although I don't know how you sensed the village's difficulties, that plan solved the village's most pressing problem."

Xingzhuo felt a tightness in his chest, but he feigned embarrassment at being found out.

He first defended himself before putting forward his suggestion.

"I just felt terrible seeing the clan lose so many members every year, so I discussed it with my father and the others to write that proposal. In truth, I was just the one holding the pen; the content of the plan was all thought up by my father and the others."

Seeing Tobirama smiling silently, Xingzhuo decided to just give up and be blunt, continuing dryly:

"Actually, I had already written one point in that proposal: the creation of specialized talent classes, such as a taijutsu specialty class, a genjutsu specialty class, a sealing technique specialty class, and so on."

"I don't know if the village adopted this suggestion, and at the time, I hadn't developed those medical ninjutsu yet, so I didn't include a medical ninjutsu specialty class."

"Even if that suggestion isn't adopted, we should at least increase the number of elective courses so that students with specific talents can receive training early."

"I came here today to suggest that in the future, if ninjas graduating from the academy form three-man squads, one of them must be proficient in medical ninjutsu. If that happens, the casualty rate of our Konoha ninjas will be reduced to a minimum."

Senju Tobirama first nodded in agreement with his disciple's idea.

But then, he shook his head in denial:

"The idea is great, and the results would be excellent, but these ideas require too much expenditure and involve many different aspects. Let me give you an example."

"First, sealing techniques. Konoha's sealing techniques—or rather, the Senju's sealing techniques—all originate from the Uzumaki Clan. If members of the Senju clan learn them, it's fine, but once they spread, the Uzumaki Clan will certainly not agree."

"Secondly, taijutsu. To be honest, although I developed a forbidden-level taijutsu and know that the limit of taijutsu can reach the peak of a mortal, this is a ninja village, and the academy is for training ninjas. If someone lacks aptitude for ninjutsu and only has aptitude for taijutsu, the village cannot afford to waste resources on a tiny minority of taijutsu-only ninjas."

"Finally, there are the medical ninjutsu you just brought out. Haha, as I said before, not everyone has the aptitude that you and Yuto possess—learning sealing techniques at a glance, mastering the Flying Thunder God in half a year. Techniques of this level should be ranked A-rank, right?"

"An average Jonin only masters a few A-rank ninjutsu. You expect to train medical ninjas in specialty classes at the academy?"

As he spoke, Senju Tobirama's expression turned serious. "And you might not know this, but sealing techniques and medical ninjutsu must never be leaked in the slightest. If they are leaked and other villages master them, we lose our advantage. Therefore, we cannot spread these techniques in the academy; after all, the students are still just children."

Listening to his master's words, Xingzhuo realized his own naivety.

Indeed, since the academy in the original story only taught the Three Body Technique, there had to be a reason.

He had initially thought that the future Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, intended to manipulate ninjas from civilian backgrounds, which was why he didn't teach advanced ninjutsu.

But now it seemed that if ninjutsu were taught in the academy, what would be the probability of those techniques leaking?

One hundred percent.

Rather than spreading them widely in the academy only for them to be stolen by other ninja villages to increase their strength, it is indeed better to keep them secret and pass them down through a master-disciple system.

At the very least, from the village's perspective, this was the correct approach.

Xingzhuo let out a breath and frankly admitted his mistake.

"I apologize, Master. It was my oversight; what you say makes perfect sense."

Tobirama nodded and patted Xingzhuo's head in a comforting manner.

"As long as you understand. Tomorrow is the entrance exam, so hurry back and prepare."

Xingzhuo sighed, feeling a bit hopeless:

"Master, are you really sure you want me to attend the academy? I already have the strength of a Jonin."

Tobirama gave him a flick on the forehead and said irritably:

"You brat, don't look down on others. Do you really think you're the only one in your cohort with the strength of a Jonin?"

Xingzhuo let out a shocked, "Huh?"

Tobirama pulled out a document at this moment, pointing at the regulations written on it as he spoke:

"Don't 'huh' me. Since this is the first class of the Ninja Academy, I will be screening for promising talent during tomorrow's entrance exam to form a genius class, which will be personally mentored by veteran Jonin from several other ninja clans until graduation."

"The students in this class will range from young to old, with the oldest likely being twenty. There are even a few famous Jonin among them. With your current strength, it's hard to say if you'll even rank near the top."

Xingzhuo felt that this Ninja Academy was nothing like he had imagined, and he was left somewhat dumbfounded.

"Why do famous Jonin have to attend school, too?"

Tobirama sighed:

"Naturally, it's because many genius Jonin and Chunin are severely lacking in theoretical knowledge, to the point where they can't even execute missions properly."

"The root cause is that they were raised by minor clans; simple training is useless for them. They must undergo systematic study of ninja knowledge."

"You have to understand, not every clan has a thousand-year legacy. The level of knowledge deficiency among these ninjas is not much better than yours."

As he spoke, he cast a mocking glance at Xingzhuo.

"As for you, if you fail to get selected for this genius class and end up having to learn the Three Body Technique alongside the little kids, don't come crying to me when you've thoroughly embarrassed yourself."

Xingzhuo shouted sharply, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on:

"How is that possible? How could I possibly lose?!"