A few days later.
News that the village was about to establish a Ninja Academy swept through Konoha like a sudden storm.
In less than half a day, it had spread everywhere. Everyone knew, and everyone talked about it.
The order had come without warning, announced directly by the Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
The deadline was set at one month.
Before January 15 of Konoha Year 6, all school-age children who met the requirements had to receive compulsory education.
The Ninja Academy's admission criteria were simple:
Those who could refine chakra and use any one of ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu could enroll. Those who did not meet the standard but demonstrated the corresponding potential could also be placed on the waiting list.
Konoha's civilians responded enthusiastically to the establishment of the Ninja Academy, submitting their children's names one after another.
It needed to be made clear—
Although being a ninja was a high-risk profession, it also came with an extremely high income.
Before this, it had been extraordinarily difficult for civilians to become ninja. For them, this was both an opportunity to change their fate and a way to gain the strength to protect themselves in these troubled times.
But for the ninja clans, this was an unprecedented shock.
"If we send our children to the Ninja Academy, will the ninja they raise belong to the village or the clan? Did we raise them for nothing all these years?"
Such doubts weighed heavily on their minds.
However...
After Hashirama once again displayed an uncharacteristically forceful attitude, the major ninja clans yielded once more, all declaring that they would strictly carry out the village's orders.
Only one ninja clan remained silent—
The Uchiha.
Naka Shrine's underground chamber.
A stone tablet covered in mysterious symbols stood silently there, while a Tengu mural was carved into the walls.
An elderly clan elder stood before the stone tablet.
The burning brazier cast the shadows of two people before him.
To his right stood a beautiful female ninja with cascading purple hair and a hime cut—Uchiha Chiri.
To his left stood an unruly male ninja—Uchiha Bing.
Put simply, the former represented the Uchiha moderates, while the latter represented the radicals.
Uchiha Bing's expression was dark. "Sending our clansmen to some Ninja Academy for training is clearly a scheme by the Senju to target us Uchiha."
"If I'd known the Senju were this shameless, we should've taken the clansmen and left with Lord Madara back then."
After hearing his complaint, Uchiha Chiri frowned. "Bing, you're being too extreme."
"Since the clan chose to remain in the village, we should support the village's arrangements. Don't think so poorly of the Hokage. When Lord Madara was still in the village, he never once questioned the Hokage's character."
"Besides... the clan has indeed benefited from Gospel Hospital."
Uchiha Bing's expression turned cold. "How is that the same thing? In any case, I absolutely disagree!"
Seeing that persuasion would not work, Uchiha Chiri's attitude hardened as well:
"Uchiha Bing, I am the acting clan head."
"Uchiha Chiri, you'll regret this!"
Uchiha Bing gritted his teeth and turned to leave the shrine.
Bang!
The thunderous slam of the door vented the fury in his heart.
The clan elder watched the scene with concern. "Chiri, this..."
Uchiha Chiri said expressionlessly:
"Since Lord Madara left, the clansmen led by Bing have never been willing to accept it. But since everyone made their choice back then, what meaning is there in regretting it now?"
"The clan's affairs must be resolved within the clan. Don't let the village get involved and make us a laughingstock."
Konoha Year 6, January 1. The new year had begun.
At dawn, the rising sun slowly emerged over the horizon, its golden rays spilling into every corner of Konoha.
The villagers changed into brand-new clothes and took to the streets, laughter and cheerful voices filling the alleys. As they celebrated the arrival of the new year, they also silently prayed that this hard-won peace would continue steadily through Konoha's sixth year—and beyond.
Toji had received a long-awaited holiday.
Wearing a pure white haori, he walked through the streets, exchanging New Year's greetings with the villagers. After strolling through the lanes, he went to visit the Senju Clan.
By the time he had completed the formalities, it was already evening.
Toji returned to his Zenin Grounds.
Completely unlike the bustle outside, the Zenin Clan's grounds remained desolate and quiet.
Toji had transplanted an entire grove of ten-year-old bamboo into the clan grounds.
Passing through the secluded bamboo forest and following the stone path to its end led to the main residence.
After pushing open the door, Toji expertly opened the hidden door in the corner of the wall. His figure flashed as he entered the basement, a place even the Byakugan could not peer into. The hidden door then quietly closed, shutting out all the liveliness of the outside world.
The underground space covered a vast area.
It was both Toji Zenin's laboratory and his training ground.
All kinds of jars and bottles filled the room, permeating it with a gloomy, oppressive atmosphere.
Toji pressed his palms together and shouted, "Earth Grudge Fear: Release!"
The skin along his spine split open inch by inch. Several twisted Earth Grudge Fear tentacles, exuding an ominous aura, slowly emerged and extended, waving through the sealed underground space.
It was horrifying, bizarre, and enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
If the villagers, who had long grown accustomed to his gentle and approachable appearance, saw this scene, they would probably faint on the spot.
However, unlike Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear, Toji's Earth Grudge Fear had been carefully refined in appearance.
He pursued not only practicality, but also elegance and beauty.
When the tentacles spread apart, they resembled Stone Free; when gathered together, they looked like a ghoul's kagune.
"Earth Grudge Fear Clone!"
Part of the Earth Grudge Fear detached from his body. After twisting and writhing for a moment, it transformed into four figures roughly the same size as him, their faces covered by plague doctor beak masks.
The Earth Grudge Fear Clones moved on their own, serving as excavation labor as they continued digging deeper underground and expanding the subterranean space.
After a year of dedicated training,
Toji had become proficient in the various uses of Earth Grudge Fear, and clones were one of them.
Unlike the traditional Clone Technique, the core of an Earth Grudge Fear Clone was a heart within his body. It carried the corresponding chakra nature and a portion of the original body's chakra, allowing it to be controlled in battle or act independently according to orders. Its practicality was extremely high.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The clones' tentacles lashed out. The hard rock and soil layers tore apart like thin paper, dirt tumbling down in streams as the underground space steadily expanded. The earth clone formed hand seals, gathering and molding the soil into stairs and walls.
Toji glanced at the clones before focusing on further developing Earth Grudge Fear.
He raised a hand and fired an Earth Grudge Fear tentacle into a laboratory mouse on the operating table.
After violently convulsing, the mouse suddenly went still, then began crawling stiffly according to his commands.
The experiment showed that Earth Grudge Fear could control an animal's body to a certain extent, but it reduced the animal's agility.
Toji expressionlessly took out a notebook and recorded the conclusion.
"Animal experiments have reached their limit. The next step is human experimentation."
Earth Grudge Fear could grant Toji different chakra natures, but he still needed to learn the techniques associated with those natures himself.
Toji knew that his talent for ninjutsu was average. Not only would relying on time and experience to learn ninjutsu progress slowly, but he might not even succeed in learning it.
Next,
he needed to try controlling living ninja with Earth Grudge Fear as his puppets, testing whether he could extract the target's experience in "ninjutsu and secret techniques" through manipulation and save time on training.
In life, they would be his puppets. In death, they would be his hearts.
"But in Konoha, suitable experimental materials are hard to find..."
Toji was extremely cautious.
He had no intention of conducting human experiments while Hashirama and Tobirama were still alive.
The former would not tolerate human experimentation or the taboo practice of stealing hearts. The latter was suspicious by nature and would not allow anyone other than himself to conduct taboo research.
This was an irreconcilable conflict.
After those two ninja who stood at the pinnacle of power were gone,
it would be best if he could use ninja from other villages as experimental materials. Konoha ninja were the easiest way to invite trouble, and Toji did not want to become Orochimaru's cautionary example.
As Toji thought this,
he suddenly sensed dozens of chakra signatures appearing in the distance.
Although they were faint,
Toji, with his powerful sensory abilities, still caught them.
He raised his eyes toward that direction.
"That is..."
"Naka Shrine?"
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