I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 47

The last time he had gone there, Sarutobi Hiruzen had still been a hot-blooded youth, while Shimura Danzo had been an exceptionally troublesome student and a supreme contrarian.

The Ninja Academy was the central institution of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Normally, the Hokage Building should have been the center, but in essence, it was merely an office space for internal and external affairs.

The Hidden Leaf Village's true central institution was now the Ninja Academy.

It had been more than thirty years since its founding.

More than thirty years ago, after considering various factors, Senju Tobirama established a ninja training base beneath Cliff Mountain, where Hokage Rock stood. This had been the prototype of the Ninja Academy.

Since there had barely been any civilian ninjas in the village at the time, with everyone coming from ninja clans, Senju Tobirama had set the admission requirement as "possessing the aptitude to use chakra and being able to proficiently master the Clone Technique," with the mindset of, "How much weaker could they possibly be?"

Of course, he had reasons for being so high-handed. He had directly incorporated the Senju of the Forest's ninjutsu library into the village's own, declaring that anyone skilled enough would be taught.

Back then, the Ninja Academy had only one mission—training ninjas who could be sent directly to the battlefield.

After Sarutobi Hiruzen took office, he first expanded enrollment, changing the admission requirements to "loving the ninja village, being physically and mentally healthy, and possessing diligence and perseverance."

Afterward, he reformed the system.

He established departments related to military and internal affairs, and the Hokage Building effectively became an annex of the Ninja Academy.

From then on, the Hokage was the principal of the Ninja Academy.

Aside from changes to the organization, expanded enrollment, additional subjects, and increasingly sadistic written exams, these were all changes made to the Ninja Academy after Sarutobi Hiruzen took office. Even the school buildings had already been expanded twice.

The Ninja Academy now existed to train ninjas and fully uncover their talents.

Not everyone could become a ninja, and likewise, not every ninja was suited to chopping people up.

Some ninjas excelled at analyzing intelligence. Some were suited to interrogation. Others were utterly useless in a fight but highly skilled at treating injuries and adept at dissection.

Then there were those who could do none of the above, but were especially suited to being teachers.

There were even natural tech nerds. Give them barrier techniques and sealing arts, and they could handle them with ease, but send them outside the village and they would die in no time.

Thus, Sarutobi Hiruzen had refined the different training paths, allowing the Ninja Academy to provide sufficient talent reserves for the Hidden Leaf ninja forces' increasingly complete organizational structure.

Every year, many of the genin who officially graduated from the academy went on to serve in non-combat units or administrative departments.

Those selected for combat units were assigned with great caution as well. Fresh graduates should forget about chopping people up. Even during wartime, when manpower was scarce, they would only be fit to handle miscellaneous work in the rear.

Weaklings were not cannon fodder. They were liabilities.

Unless they were such outrageous geniuses that not sending them into battle would feel like wasting all the funds spent on them.

Thus, the Ninja Academy actually encompassed a whole series of core functions for the Hidden Leaf ninja forces, including talent cultivation, personnel deployment, ideological education, and even mission assignment. It was the Hokage faction's main stronghold.

Uchiha Shingen, meanwhile, would work part-time at the Ninja Academy as a specially invited temporary instructor.

The only difference was that Uchiha Shingen was going to the Ninja Academy, while Uchiha Shisui had been invited to join the ANBU.

All of this had been settled during that meeting where they had accepted commendations from the Hokage Building as heroes.

Under the gaze of everyone present, with such gracious invitations impossible to refuse, the Uchiha Clan had no choice but to agree.

They could not refuse a Hokage twice, even if it was a former one.

At last, the Hokage faction was willing to look the Uchiha in the eye.

Do not misunderstand. They had not opened their arms in welcome. They had merely finally adopted the basic attitude expected in a political contest.

The Uchiha of the past had not even been qualified to make others take them seriously in political maneuvering.

And this had been won through their merit in stopping and sealing the Nine-Tails. Uchiha Shingen had demonstrated his value that night, while the Uchiha Clan had also demonstrated its unity. On top of that, they had gained a certain degree of public support.

The situation had already changed.

Now that the Uchiha had earned the right to take the initiative in political maneuvering, the Hokage Building would naturally respond with the proper attitude for such a contest.

Openly gathering intelligence on each other was the first step.

If he had to choose between the ANBU and the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Shingen would of course choose the Ninja Academy.

Uchiha Shingen had barely managed to block Sarutobi Hiruzen's first move, but Uchiha Shisui had been struck indirectly instead.

Setting out from home, Uchiha Shingen arrived at the Ninja Academy early.

This was the time when parents brought their troublesome children, still in the foundational stage, to school. Students who had entered the practical and application stages considered themselves adults and refused to let their parents accompany them.

The Ninja Academy's teachers were all chunin. Here, every ninja visible to the public was required to wear the Hidden Leaf ninja uniform.

Uchiha Shingen had come in ninja uniform as well. He first reported in, then was informed that the Hokage would personally arrange his duties.

An employment interview, basically. He had been a working man for ages; he knew the drill.

Jonin were basically the kings of wage labor, but the formalities still had to be observed.

Working adults had to give each other face.

The Ninja Academy buildings were extremely close to the Hokage Building. There was no need to go out onto the street; one could get there through the interior passageways.

The rooftop terrace of the Hokage Building was nominally part of the Ninja Academy's training grounds, though most of the time it was used for the Hokage to host various events.

Uchiha Shingen had received his commendation and prize money here yesterday as well.

He had already made up his mind: he would teach taijutsu.

As everyone knew, the essence of Uchiha taijutsu required the Sharingan. Without the Sharingan, one could not learn it even if they wanted to.

But the fundamentals were there. Uchiha Clan taijutsu—especially shuriken and kunai throwing techniques—remained highly sought after in training circles.

Quite a few clan members actually worked part-time as private tutors.

Accompanied by ANBU, Uchiha Shingen entered the Hokage's office and found that the rookie was not frantically plowing through paperwork today.

Had Namikaze Minato finally figured out how to be Hokage?

The fact that Sarutobi Hiruzen could be directly rehired in the original timeline, utterly shattering Shimura Danzo's mentality, was not unrelated to the way he served as Hokage.

But all of that had changed.

Uchiha Shingen had changed it.

"Shingen." Namikaze Minato smiled brightly. "Did you get any impressions from the school just now?"

"It really is quite different from the clan's school," Uchiha Shingen said.

"Mm, Kushina and I are both very happy that you accepted the invitation." Namikaze Minato's manner was noticeably warm. On a personal level, he was naturally deeply grateful to Uchiha Shingen.

His wife would not have to die, and his son would not have to grow up an orphan.

So he also hoped to make Uchiha Shingen's time at the Ninja Academy more comfortable.

"Shingen, which stage would you like to teach?"

"The application stage," Uchiha Shingen gave the answer he had long since decided on.

The foundation stage could annoy someone to death, while the drill stage might put him up against a bunch of "little adults." That would be just as stupid.

Students in the application stage were much more pleasant by comparison. They had already developed discipline and possessed a certain foundation, making them the students Uchiha Shingen considered most suitable to teach.

"Then what do you plan to teach?"

"Taijutsu. I can't teach anything else."

"Looks like you've thought it through very well already." Namikaze Minato was highly satisfied. He too was someone who liked to prepare thoroughly for everything. "Then, in my capacity as the school principal, I welcome you to teach the children."

Leave It to Me, I'll Get Her Fired Up!

Compared to Senju Tobirama's time, the Ninja Academy's training process had changed significantly.

In Senju Tobirama's day, it had been all about getting things done quickly. Now, the emphasis was on teaching according to aptitude.

What had not changed was the division into three stages, though the course content was now different.

The foundation stage, as its name implied, was for those who knew nothing. This stage involved physical training and theoretical classes.

In the drill stage, students had reached the required physical standard and learned most of the theory. They began learning how to mold and control chakra, studying taijutsu, the Three Basic Techniques, and how to use ninja tools, while undergoing team coordination training and combat simulations.

In the application stage, the school trained students according to the strengths and weaknesses they had already displayed. Teaching was divided into two methods: private lessons and targeted training.

This stage was also when competition among the students became especially fierce. Those with resources competed with resources; those without them competed with other things.

Competition as ninja began at this point.

After passing this stage, the schoolteachers would oversee a graduation exam, followed by a genin selection test conducted by the team leader. Once both rounds were complete, they would become genin.

Compared to the school's graduation exam, the genin selection test was determined entirely by the personal preferences of the team leader.

Before leading Naruto's team, Hatake Kakashi had failed every single candidate who came to take his genin selection test.

That was how willful jonin could be. Even if they were only temporary appointments, if they disliked someone and did not want to lead them, even the Hokage could not force them.

After Uchiha Shingen understood the entire process, he had a rough idea of what he needed to do.

Teaching targeted training courses to a group of people? No need to consider that. Pass!

Giving private lessons—that was the one. Its full name was "teach whoever you like, teach them whatever you like."

Uchiha Shingen loved this arrangement.

When a jonin acted willfully, it was called being willful. When a hero jonin acted willfully, it was called having personality.

Upon arriving at his office, Uchiha Shingen requested the roster of this year's students from the school's administrative staff.

He flipped through the first few pages and did not see a single familiar name.

That was reality. Most people ultimately lived ordinary, unremarkable lives, serving only as a cog in society.

Most ninja who graduated from the Ninja Academy remained genin for their entire lives. Becoming a chunin already made one an elite; becoming a jonin made one a legend, worthy of having their photograph displayed in the hallway for later generations to admire.

The overwhelming majority of the Hidden Leaf Village's jonin had been promoted directly by the Hokage. Many of them had not even attended the Ninja Academy. Instead, they had been directly promoted to chunin by the Hokage, then later promoted to jonin.

They all came from families known as ninja clans.

In the era of ninja villages, the unprecedented brutality of the ninja wars drove the surviving ninja clans to seek transformation. The Hidden Leaf Village's ninja clans had moved relatively quickly.

Senju of the Forest had transformed into a "red family." Though they had abandoned the Senju surname, their presence could still be found throughout every trade and profession in the Hidden Leaf Village—even at the Daimyo's Court.

The Uchiha Clan had been forced down the path of departmental privatization. It looked impressive on the surface, but it was actually fraught with future troubles. Fortunately, the Uchiha Clan was genuinely formidable and had managed to keep carrying on.

The Sarutobi Clan's philosophy was, "Whoever becomes Hokage, we follow them." Its advantages and disadvantages were equally obvious.

The Shimura Clan's transformation had been a failure. They were now a large number of separate small households, though compared to ordinary villagers, they still possessed considerable foundations.

Matters on that level were not something Uchiha Shingen needed to worry about right now, nor was there anything he could do about them.

He flipped through the student roster page by page.

Each page recorded only one student, essentially serving as a résumé.

At last, he saw some familiar names.

One was Morino Ibiki. The roster emphasized that he possessed strong logical thinking, excelled at analysis and deciphering coded language, was meticulous, and had solid psychological resilience. It recommended training him for intelligence work.

Another was Mitarashi Anko, with a highlighted note—Orochimaru's disciple.

Orochimaru...

Uchiha Shingen set down the roster and made his decision.

In the original timeline, Orochimaru had defected only after his human experiments were exposed during wartime.

That had happened after Namikaze Minato took office.

Up to now, the Hidden Leaf Village had not faced the threat of another war.

In the original timeline, though, the Night of the Nine-Tails had likely caused Konoha to lose both its newly appointed Hokage and its jinchuriki at once, leading to another war.

But no matter what, Orochimaru was someone Uchiha Shingen cared greatly about.

Unlike Namikaze Minato and his wife, Orochimaru's defection would bring nothing but benefits to the Uchiha Clan.

His defection had formally shattered the Legendary Sannin as a group, causing the Hokage faction's top-tier combat power to plummet off a cliff.

The Sannin were not merely three ninjas, but a single unit.

They were currently the strongest Kage-level ninja combination in the shinobi world. Together, the three of them were not 1+1+1=3, but a straight jump to 10.

In the original timeline, after already losing Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, Orochimaru's departure had left Konoha in a weakened state with no Kage-level fighters able to take the field. Its military strength rapidly declined, and its strategy shifted into a phase of passive defense.

The current Konoha, however, practiced active defense.

What did that mean? To make sure there were no problems with defense, Konoha's ninjas could simply go beat the other side senseless first. If they still did not feel secure, they could just kill them outright.