Exchange

"Hey, Xingzhuo, did you develop this ninjutsu?"

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

Looking at Lord Hokage's silly grin, Xingzhuo let out a breath and smiled too. Without even blushing, he said:

"Of course. I've always thought chakra was amazing. If chakra can do anything, why can't it heal people? So I developed these Medical Ninjutsu techniques."

Hearing this, Hashirama excitedly scooped Xingzhuo up. He was so moved that his voice even choked, and he kept muttering things like "That's wonderful!"

Xingzhuo could only accept Lord Hokage's "warm welcome," feeling both helpless and speechless.

Tobirama's face was also full of approval and admiration.

But he didn't stop his big brother from "going berserk," because he didn't want to return to the tense atmosphere from earlier.

"Xingzhuo, you've done very well. Medical Ninjutsu is a whole new avenue for developing ninjutsu, one I'd never even considered."

"It seems I was rather narrow-minded before. In addition to an equivalent merit reward, I'll grant you one request."

Xingzhuo struggled when he heard this, but couldn't escape Senju Hashirama's enthusiastic embrace. After thinking for a moment, he said:

"Uncle Hashirama, since you've already learned the Mystical Palm Technique, why not go to Konoha Hospital and teach Medical Ninjutsu to the doctors?"

"After all, the sooner the doctors learn Medical Ninjutsu, the sooner the patients at the hospital can recover."

Hashirama was startled. He hurriedly called out, "You're right, Xingzhuo! I'm heading to the hospital right now!"

Then he leaped out the window and headed for Konoha Hospital.

The two people in the Hokage Office both let out a breath at the same time, then exchanged a knowing glance and smiled.

"Master, I came here to offer some suggestions. But since you said you'd grant me a request, I hope you'll give my suggestions serious consideration."

Senju Tobirama waved a hand. "You've always had plenty of ideas, kid. Don't waste the reward I'm offering you. As long as your suggestions are reasonable, I'll give them serious thought."

"By the way, the plan to establish the Ninja Academy came from you too, didn't it? Don't deny it. I've read your ideas for developing ninjutsu. The writing style and tone are exactly like the plan. I don't know how you noticed the village's difficulties, but that plan addressed an urgent need."

Xingzhuo's heart tightened at this, but he feigned embarrassment at being found out.

He first tried to explain himself, then made his suggestions.

"I was upset to see how many members the clan lost every year, so I discussed it with my father and the others, and we wrote that plan together. I only put their ideas down on paper. The plan's contents were all thought up by my father and the others."

Seeing Tobirama smiling without saying anything, Xingzhuo had no choice but to press on, his voice stiff.

"Actually, I already included a suggestion in that plan: special classes for talented students, such as Taijutsu, genjutsu, and Sealing Technique classes."

"I don't know if the village adopted that suggestion. And at the time, I hadn't developed those Medical Ninjutsu techniques yet, so I didn't include a Medical Ninjutsu class."

"Even if that suggestion isn't adopted, the Academy should offer more electives, so students with particular talents can receive training earlier."

"I came today to suggest that, in the future, if Ninja Academy graduates form three-person squads, one of them should be skilled in Medical Ninjutsu. That would bring Konoha's ninja casualty rate down as low as possible."

Senju Tobirama first nodded, agreeing with his student's idea.

But then he shook his head and rejected it:

"It's a good idea, and the results would be good too. But it would cost a lot and involve many different considerations. Let me give you an example."

"First, Sealing Technique. Konoha's Sealing Technique—or rather, the Senju Clan's Sealing Technique—all comes from the Uzumaki Clan. It's fine for members of the Senju Clan to learn it, but if it were spread more widely, the Uzumaki Clan would never agree."

"Next, Taijutsu. To be honest, although I developed a forbidden-level Taijutsu technique, I know that Taijutsu may be able to reach the peak of what an ordinary person can achieve."

"But this is a ninja village, and the Ninja Academy trains ninja. If someone has no talent for ninjutsu and only has talent for Taijutsu, the village can't waste resources on the tiny number of Taijutsu specialists."

"Finally, the Medical Ninjutsu you just showed us. Ha! As I said, not everyone has the talent you and Yuto have. You learn Sealing Technique as soon as you're taught it, and you mastered the Flying Thunder God in six months. A technique like Medical Ninjutsu should be classified as A-rank, shouldn't it?"

"Even ordinary jonin only know a few A-rank techniques. Do you expect the Academy to train medical ninja in special classes?"

As he spoke, Senju Tobirama's expression grew serious. "And you may not know this, but techniques like Sealing Technique and Medical Ninjutsu must never be leaked—not even in the slightest. If they were leaked and other villages learned them too, we'd lose our advantage. So these techniques can't be taught at the Academy. The students there are still children, after all."

Listening to his master, Xingzhuo realized how naive he'd been.

Right. There had to be a reason the Academy in the original story only taught the Three Body Technique.

At first, he'd thought it was because Sarutobi Hiruzen, who would become the Third, wanted to keep ninja from civilian backgrounds in check, so he refused to teach them advanced techniques.

But now he saw the issue. If ninjutsu were taught at the Academy, what would be the chance of those techniques leaking?

One hundred percent.

Rather than spreading them widely at the Academy and letting other villages steal them to grow stronger, it really was better to keep them close and pass them down from master to student.

At the very least, that was the right choice from the village's perspective.

Xingzhuo let out a breath and openly admitted he'd been wrong.

"Sorry, Master. I didn't consider all that. You make a lot of sense."

Tobirama nodded and comfortingly patted Xingzhuo on the head.

"Good. I'm glad you understand. The entrance exam is tomorrow, so hurry back and get ready."

Xingzhuo sighed, looking utterly dejected.

"Master, are you really sure you want me to attend the Ninja Academy? I'm already as strong as a jonin."

Tobirama flicked him on the forehead and said irritably,

"Brat, don't underestimate everyone else. Do you think you're the only one in your year with jonin-level strength?"

Xingzhuo stared at him in shock. "Huh?"

Tobirama pulled out a document and pointed to its provisions.

"What do you mean, 'huh'? Since this is the first class of Academy students, I'll select some promising candidates during tomorrow's entrance exam and form a Genius Class. Several experienced jonin from other clans and I will personally teach them until graduation."

"The students in this class will range from the youngest to the oldest age groups. The oldest will probably be twenty, and there are even a few well-known jonin among them. With your current strength, it's hard to say whether you'll rank near the top."

Xingzhuo felt that the Ninja Academy was nothing like he'd imagined and stared at Tobirama, dumbfounded.

"Why do well-known jonin have to go to school too?"

Tobirama sighed.

"Because many talented jonin and chunin have woefully inadequate theoretical knowledge. They can't even carry out missions properly."

"The reason is that they were raised by small clans. Basic training simply isn't enough; they need to study the knowledge required of ninja systematically."

"You have to understand that not every clan has passed down its knowledge for a thousand years. These ninja are hardly any better informed than you are."

As he spoke, he gave Xingzhuo a teasing look.

"But you—if you don't get into this Genius Class and have to start with the Three Body Technique alongside all those little kids, you'll be thoroughly embarrassed. Don't come crying to me then."

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Xingzhuo shouted,

"How could that happen? There's no way I'd lose!"