Reforming the Ninja Academy

Sakai Yushi froze for a moment at Chiba Shun's somewhat smug words. Stuffing delicious food into his mouth, he asked, "What mission did you carry out?"

"Don't tell me that squad leader of yours actually dared to take on a B-rank Mission?"

As he spoke, he carefully examined the wound on Chiba Shun's chest, which had already been treated.

Chiba Shun smiled. "It had nothing to do with him. I found and killed an intelligence shinobi by myself. The opponent had the strength of a Chunin."

"If nothing unexpected happens, this should count as a B-rank Mission—a B-rank Mission I completed alone!"

"Also, I figure I'll be promoted to Chunin soon."

In Kumogakure, a D-rank Mission paid between 500 and 10,000 ryo, a C-rank Mission paid between 10,000 and 50,000 ryo, while a B-rank Mission paid between 50,000 and 150,000 ryo.

Previously, whenever Chiba Shun carried out a mission, half the reward went to the squad leader. The remaining half had to be split among the three team members, leaving him with pitifully little.

Taking last year as an example, he had completed five relatively easy C-rank Missions, earning an average of around 3,300 ryo from each. He had also completed forty better-paying D-rank Missions, earning an average of 1,300 ryo per mission.

He had not completed a single B-rank Mission. His squad leader was extremely cautious and did not even dare accept slightly difficult C-rank Missions, let alone B-rank ones.

After an entire year, Chiba Shun's income had amounted to a mere 68,000 ryo.

And that was before counting training expenses. His living costs alone came to ten or twenty thousand ryo a year.

Of the remaining 50,000 ryo, he still had to buy a small amount of ninja gear. He had bought his third sword last year, spending 3,000 ryo.

Chiba Shun had calculated that his ninja gear expenses over an entire year came to roughly 10,000 ryo. (Because the missions he carried out were not very difficult, his equipment consumption was also low.)

The final 40,000 ryo had all gone toward food.

Even then, it was thanks to Sakai Yushi. Since he had become a Chunin first, his income was far higher than Chiba Shun's.

With Sakai Yushi's financial support, Chiba Shun's strength had finally reached Chunin level not long ago.

Otherwise, Chiba Shun might not have been able to defeat that Konoha Chunin today.

By independently completing a B-rank Mission this time, he could earn at least 50,000 ryo—an income equal to the past year's earnings.

The two of them could finally improve their meals.

Sakai Yushi was overjoyed. "That's great! You can finally get rid of that bloodsucker."

"You should form a squad too. Then we can carry out missions together in the future."

Chiba Shun shook his head. "I don't plan to lead a team for now. I want to go to the Ninja Academy."

Sakai Yushi scratched his head. "What can you do at the Ninja Academy?"

"Forget it, I won't ask. Your decisions can't possibly be wrong."

The reason Sakai Yushi had come this far, aside from his decent talent, was most importantly Chiba Shun's guidance.

Chiba Shun's knowledge of the original story had helped Sakai Yushi greatly, so Sakai Yushi had blind faith in him.

As he spoke, he suddenly seemed to remember something and pulled four long swords from behind his back one after another.

Chiba Shun's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked excitedly, "You can already use four swords?"

Sakai Yushi's Four-Sword Style had also been taught to him by Chiba Shun, but Chiba Shun had only taught the theory. He had not even mastered the Four-Sword Style himself.

Over the past few years, the two had explored it on their own, but both had been stuck at the third sword. Using a fourth sword flexibly was simply too difficult.

Who would have thought that Sakai Yushi would give Chiba Shun such a surprise today?

Sakai Yushi said proudly, "Hehe, during this mission, I met a samurai from the Land of Iron and sparred with him. That gave me some insight."

"I held the fourth sword in my mouth!"

Chiba Shun nodded. "Learning swordsmanship from samurai really is a good choice."

Sakai Yushi said, "Since you don't plan to form a squad, I'll head to the Land of Iron tomorrow."

"I plan to challenge swordsmanship experts in the Land of Iron and temper my swordsmanship."

Chiba Shun nodded. "That works, but try not to reveal your chakra, especially your Lightning Release ninjutsu."

"Samurai tend to reject shinobi."

Sakai Yushi nodded again. "Got it."

After taking several more big bites of food, he suddenly said, "Shun, do you think anyone can really master eight swords?"

"I can't even imagine how to use five swords. I really can't picture how eight could be used."

Chiba Shun said, "It's definitely possible. If we can't do it now, first, our chakra levels aren't high enough. Second, our swordsmanship isn't good enough. Third, we probably haven't figured something out yet. Maybe you'll gain something after visiting the Land of Iron."

Sakai Yushi nodded. "I hope so."

The two enjoyed a good meal, then began sparring in the yard.

Sakai Yushi demonstrated the Four-Sword Style Swordsmanship he had just mastered to Chiba Shun.

Although Chiba Shun could not learn it immediately, he finally had a clear direction.

Once he became a Chunin in the future, earned more money, and had enough food to replenish himself, the amount of chakra he could refine would increase. He should then have more time to train.

Sure enough, the day after Sakai Yushi left, an appointment letter promoting Chiba Shun to Chunin arrived in his hands.

Along with it came two standard Chunin uniforms, a small amount of equipment, and the 100,000-ryo reward for the B-rank Mission.

Chiba Shun carefully counted the enormous sum.

The 100,000 ryo definitely included a reward for exposing an intelligence shinobi for the village. Otherwise, a normal B-rank Mission would not pay this much.

The Land of Lightning was not as wealthy as the Land of Fire, and the people who issued missions offered lower rewards.

Kumogakure was the same. With tight finances, missions issued internally by the village generally paid at the lowest rates.

Chiba Shun felt somewhat emotional. He had begun training under his squad leader when he was five years old.

At first, under that squad leader's guidance, he carried out extremely simple missions. But back then, he was not even a Genin and received practically no reward. The mission payments were basically all taken by the captain, while he and his two teammates could only receive enough to maintain their lives and buy simple ninja gear.

Later, as he grew older, his strength reached the level of a qualified Genin. The squad leader finally increased his share of the rewards, but he still had to pay those rewards to the squad leader in exchange for his guidance.

This left Chiba Shun, whose parents had died early and who had no other source of income, living in great hardship.

His parents' pension had already been spent during his childhood.

Without sufficient logistical supplies, his body had not been developed properly, and the improvement in his strength had been extremely limited.

But things were different now. With this money, he could at least eat one lavish meal every day.

Konoha's Ichiraku Ramen was food that could rapidly replenish physical strength. A bowl of the most basic Ichiraku Ramen cost 60 ryo, special ramen cost 70 ryo, and miso ramen cost 90 ryo.

If he ate one bowl of basic ramen for all three meals a day, then added other expenses, his total spending over a year would reach 130,000 ryo. He simply could not afford it.

Moreover, Chiba Shun was already a Chunin. One bowl of Ichiraku Ramen was not enough to replenish the physical exhaustion from high-intensity training.

Chiba Shun estimated that he now needed about two servings of basic Ichiraku Ramen per meal just to sustain normal training.

Of course, Chiba Shun could also buy ingredients and cook for himself, cutting his food expenses in half.

But even 100,000 ryo would only barely be enough to feed himself for more than half a year.

If his strength increased, his food intake would increase as well. By then, 100,000 ryo might not even last half a year.

Still, compared to his previous life of never knowing where his next meal would come from, it was already much better.

"With enough food, my body can grow stronger. I can refine more chakra and have more energy to train in taijutsu and ninjutsu!" Chiba Shun was in high spirits.

The next day, after changing clothes, Chiba Shun headed straight for the Ninja Academy that had been established a few years ago—the academy he had never been able to attend.

That was right. Kumogakure now also had a Ninja Academy.

The main reason was that during the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha's Ninja Academy had played far too great a role.

Konoha's Ninja Academy had been established by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, but the First Shinobi World War led by Tobirama Senju had not made use of the Ninja Academy.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, had enjoyed the benefits brought by the Ninja Academy.

When Konoha was besieged from all sides and failed to receive support from its ally, the Land of Whirlpools, countless cannon fodder appeared across the battlefields.

These so-called Genin were utterly beneath notice in the eyes of the elites from other shinobi villages!

But there were simply too many cannon fodder. They divided too much of those elites' attention and energy, allowing the Konoha elites hidden among the cannon fodder to kill them.

Konoha used a group of cannon fodder to sustain a war it should have certainly lost, holding out until the Land of Whirlpools entered the conflict. Orochimaru and the other two achieved the name of the Sannin, and Konoha ultimately won, building Hiruzen Sarutobi's prestige for nothing!

This made the other shinobi villages, which still retained many habits from the Warring States period, realize the necessity of reform.

A few years after the war ended, Kumogakure and the other three great shinobi villages all established Ninja Academies.

It was said that Iwagakure had been the first to imitate Konoha, and its Ninja Academy had already begun to show results.

However, after several years, Chiba Shun knew that Kumogakure's so-called Ninja Academy could only be described as a complete mess.

Konoha could produce three or four thousand cannon fodder Genin a year, but even after Kumogakure's Ninja Academy stabilized, it would be impressive if it could produce a few dozen people annually. And their strength would be far inferior even to Konoha's cannon fodder.

A dispensable Ninja Academy that the upper ranks had long since given up on!

Most Kumogakure shinobi were brutes. Asking them to establish an entirely new institution and compete with those holding vested interests was simply asking too much of them.

Chiba Shun had come today to change the Ninja Academy's situation.

He had read the original story, knew what Konoha's Ninja Academy was like, and had the experience of two lifetimes. He believed he could do better than Kumogakure's brutes!

Of course, the Ninja Academy was relatively safe and suited him for quiet training. Having just become a Chunin, Chiba Shun needed time to improve his combat strength.

"This will become the stage where I make my name!" Chiba Shun encouraged himself.