The Third Raikage's Reward

The Ninja Academy had suffered heavy casualties this time. Those children with no combat experience had not thought to spread out when helping Chiba Shun, and a single Explosive Tag had taken out a whole group of them.

However, their sacrifice greatly boosted the Ninja Academy students' enthusiasm for training.

Previously, they had only heard about Konoha's evil deeds from others and felt that such things were far removed from them.

But today, they had personally experienced Konoha's malice. That scene of the explosion would likely become their nightmare for a long time to come.

Fortunately, Chiba Shun gave a speech in time, turning what could have been a blow to morale into something that inspired everyone to train harder.

The next day, Aoki Shuyi, who had also gone without rest all night, called Chiba Shun into his office.

He gave Chiba Shun a somewhat strange look. He could not understand how Chiba Shun's mind worked.

After returning to the Ninja Academy last night, his head had been filled with nothing but anger. Yet Chiba Shun had immediately used the assassination attempt to deliver a round of indoctrination.

Without a doubt, last night's speech had been his most effective one yet. Even now, there were many people training on the school grounds as though they did not know fatigue.

He said to Chiba Shun, "You killed two intelligence shinobi last night. This is the village's reward, along with a B-rank Jutsu reward!"

"Do you have any guesses about where those two came from?"

Chiba Shun nodded as he checked the reward. "They should have been from Konoha's Root. After all, we just drove Matsuda Shan to her death not long ago."

After tallying the rewards, Chiba Shun's eyes lit up. "Senior Aoki, this much?"

"Wait? Two? I only killed one."

This time, Chiba Shun received 130,000 ryo. That was already an extremely high reward for a B-rank Mission, not to mention that he could learn one B-rank Jutsu for free.

Kumogakure was poor, and the Land of Lightning was poor as well. B-rank Missions with such high rewards were rare.

Aoki Yuyi said, "The one Lord Raikage killed was counted under your name too. This is another B-rank Mission."

"As for the B-rank Jutsu, Lord Raikage said that a group of children daring to attack a Special Jonin showed that your previous indoctrination had been very effective. This is your reward."

After a pause, Aoki Yuyi did not say much more about the reward. Instead, he said, "It seems you've made it onto Root's kill list. Be more careful from now on."

Chiba Shun nodded. He felt helpless about this as well.

He had truly only wanted to quietly lie low in the Ninja Academy and develop himself, replenishing his nutrition and nursing his body while practicing ninjutsu.

Who would have thought that Root would keep coming after him again and again?

From that perspective, the things he had said to the Ninja Academy students were not wrong at all. Konoha truly was the root of the turmoil.

Then Aoki Yuyi said, "This infiltration had a major impact on the academy. Quite a few people are questioning whether it is safe to study here."

"This time, they tried to assassinate you. Next time, they might simply slaughter everyone."

"With so many children gathered in one place, the target is too conspicuous. Not just Konoha—even the other Shinobi Villages may take the risk and attempt a massacre."

"Some shinobi have already contacted me, wanting to withdraw their children from the Ninja Academy."

"Do you have any ideas?"

Chiba Shun had no solution either. No one would have one. They could not possibly have shinobi patrol twenty-four hours a day.

Setting aside whether it would even work, the cost alone was more than the Ninja Academy could bear.

Kumogakure was nowhere near as wealthy as Konoha, and Kumogakure's Ninja Academy had not truly been accepted by every stratum of the village.

Many people still did not believe in it and even rejected the Ninja Academy.

They felt that the Ninja Academy was encroaching on their interests, using funds that should have gone elsewhere on the academy instead.

Only because the Third Raikage had clearly expressed his support for the Ninja Academy had the others temporarily restrained themselves.

If there was a chance the Ninja Academy might be dissolved, they would not mind giving it a push.

After thinking for a long while, Chiba Shun finally said, "Could we have some Jonin move in near the Ninja Academy?"

If Aoki Yuyi was at the Ninja Academy, he could provide some deterrence. But he was only one person, and he could not remain at the academy all the time.

However, if many powerful shinobi lived near the Ninja Academy, no one could be sure whether all of them were away from home.

That would greatly improve the academy's security.

But Aoki Yuyi felt that he did not have enough influence to persuade sufficient Jonin to move for the sake of the Ninja Academy.

Seeing this, Chiba Shun added, "We could try inviting Jonin who have children at home. You could guide them for free."

"We could also use some ninjutsu to win them over."

Aoki Yuyi's eyes lit up. Using ninjutsu to win people over was not a bad idea.

Even Jonin were not capable in every field. There were always things they were not good at. If they could be tempted with ninjutsu they lacked, it might truly move some shinobi with children.

However, this still required the Third Raikage's approval. It was not a problem for him to teach the Ninja Academy's ninjutsu to Chiba Shun.

But casually giving it to people outside the Ninja Academy would violate a taboo.

In any Shinobi Village, ninja clans were extremely possessive of their ninjutsu inheritances.

The village's shinobi squad system was a shared understanding. Allowing squad leaders to pass the ninjutsu they knew down to their subordinates was a rule established by the village, a form of inheritance.

But they absolutely could not spread it around freely.

If you spread it around at will and everyone came to learn from you, how were they supposed to make money?

How were the people who developed ninjutsu supposed to make money? How was the village supposed to make money?

Generally, only when clan secret techniques circulated within their own clans would others not object.

This was not something Chiba Shun needed to worry about. Aoki Yuyi would naturally communicate with the others.

He took the reward given by the village and went to the hospital.

He could not keep all this money for himself. At the very least, he could not keep all of it.

Most of the heroes who had died were orphans, but the children who were still alive and injured had to receive something.

The village had given Chiba Shun a total of 130,000 ryo.

Chiba Shun planned to take out 70,000 ryo and distribute it among the injured children.

It was not because Chiba Shun was generous. Without those children, he would have died that night.

According to the Shinobi World's unwritten rules, this was equivalent to Chiba Shun leading the children on a mission. The children had every right to receive rewards.

There were seven injured children. Ten thousand ryo each was a great deal for orphans like them.

After all, they did not need to pay their own medical expenses. The village hospital was responsible for treating all shinobi for free.

Chiba Shun comforted each of the seven children in the hospital, planning to tell the other Ninja Academy students about this afterward.

This was both publicity for himself and publicity for the village.

Likewise, it was meant for the other people in the village to see.

The Ninja Academy treated its students well enough. Hurry and send your children to the academy!

The seven injured children were also mostly orphans, and they began counting the money right in front of Chiba Shun.

They had never seen so much money before. The moment they received it, they even felt as though the pain in their bodies had eased.

After checking on the injured children, Chiba Shun felt somewhat emotional.

Medical Ninjutsu was truly miraculous!

Although Kumogakure's Medical Ninjutsu lagged far behind Konoha's, it had still taken only one night to stabilize the children's injuries.

Other than two who had been disabled, the others' injuries would not affect their future training.

Chiba Shun promised that the two disabled children could find work at the Ninja Academy in the future. He also encouraged the others to train hard once they recovered, before finally finding time to eat a good meal himself.

He had expended a great deal. Yesterday's battle, followed by the speech afterward, had left him starving.

After spending several hundred ryo on a good meal, Chiba Shun went to claim the B-rank Jutsu the village had promised him.

Chiba Shun arrived at the Cloud Ninja Building. After proving his identity, he met with an advisor.

The advisor was a burly man over sixty named Yukio. He seemed dissatisfied with Chiba Shun and treated him coldly.

"What B-rank Jutsu do you want to learn?" Advisor Yukio sensed Chiba Shun's chakra and found no Lightning nature within him, making his tone even more impatient.

Earth nature? The village did not even have any Earth-nature B-rank Jutsu. What was there for him to exchange for?

Chiba Shun did not dare show his dissatisfaction with Advisor Yukio and respectfully said, "Lord Advisor, I would like to exchange for a sensory ninjutsu."

Advisor Yukio frowned. A sensory ninjutsu?

This Chiba Shun truly was unlikeable.

As a Kumogakure shinobi, he was not learning Lightning Release.

It was one thing not to learn Lightning Release; the lack of a Lightning nature could explain that. But after finally getting the chance to learn a B-rank Jutsu, he was not choosing a powerful offensive ninjutsu and instead wanted to learn a sensory ninjutsu!

That was far too unlike Kumogakure!

With a snort, Advisor Yukio said nothing more. He personally fetched a sensory ninjutsu, tossed it to Chiba Shun, and said, "Return the scroll tomorrow."

Chiba Shun caught the scroll and still bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Lord Advisor."

Only then did he leave the Raikage Building.

On the way back, Chiba Shun began considering Advisor Yukio's attitude toward him.

He probably disliked that I wanted to learn sensory ninjutsu, perhaps also because I am not a Lightning Release shinobi. But those are not the main reasons.

The main reason is likely that I helped Aoki Yuyi revitalize the Ninja Academy and harmed his interests.

I only want to quietly lie low in the Ninja Academy, train slowly, and grow stronger slowly. Why is that so difficult?

After returning to the Ninja Academy, Chiba Shun first memorized everything on the sensory ninjutsu scroll.

After carefully analyzing it, he began attempting it.

Sensory ninjutsu did not belong to the five elemental natures, nor did it fully belong to Yin and Yang Release.

It was not fully related because sensory ability generally had some connection to the strength of the soul, so it could barely be considered related to Yin Release.

But sensory ninjutsu was not entirely Yin Release either.

Chiba Shun did not know how talented he was in Yin Release, nor did he know his talent for sensory ninjutsu. He had never encountered similar ninjutsu before.

And this sensory ninjutsu was B-rank. Chiba Shun did not know whether he could learn it.