Reconciliation

That was why Aoki Yuyi found it so hard to understand. Investing in someone with no talent like this—wasn't that contrary to the Ninja Academy's original purpose of cultivating cannon fodder?

When Chiba Shun saw Aoki Yuyi's expression soften, he pressed his advantage. "Besides Ayana, I'm sure you know about some of the people I've deliberately approached in private, Senior."

"If there are any among them that you value, I can give them all up."

Aoki Yuyi let out a long breath and waved his hand.

Chiba Shun's goals were indeed peculiar. The people he usually focused on promoting the Will of Lightning to were all those he considered useless.

They were children who would struggle even to become cannon fodder.

He had no interest in those people. The resources he controlled were limited, and there was not even enough to spend on geniuses. How could he spare any for them?

Only then did Aoki Yuyi finally relax his guard against Chiba Shun.

Then he asked a key question. "The Eight-Tails went berserk. I heard the village suffered considerable losses?"

Chiba Shun nodded.

Aoki Yuyi asked, "The village should have quite a few vacancies at a time like this. You were suddenly promoted—did Lord Raikage not make any special arrangements for you?"

"I imagine the village wouldn't let two Jonin stay cooped up in the Ninja Academy for no reason."

Chiba Shun hesitated for a moment before saying, "I just came from Lord Raikage's place."

Aoki Yuyi narrowed his eyes.

Chiba Shun continued, "Over the next few years, Lord Raikage will arrange for some special children to enter the Ninja Academy. My primary task will be to teach the Will of Lightning to them."

Aoki Yuyi frowned and thought for a long while, but he still could not imagine what kind of special children would require the Third Raikage to personally arrange their admission.

But he did not ask. Since Chiba Shun had not said anything, it might be a village secret.

After considering it, he said, "Aside from its regular expenses, the Ninja Academy has some surplus funding. You may use thirty percent of it."

Aoki Yuyi understood how the world worked. Chiba Shun's strength and status had both risen, so their relationship had to change from one of master and subordinate into one of cooperation.

Since they were going to cooperate, he could no longer dismiss Chiba Shun as before with nothing but the mission rewards earned by those children.

Chiba Shun nodded and accepted Aoki Yuyi's goodwill.

At this point, the two had reached a consensus.

Seeing that he had temporarily dispelled Aoki Yuyi's resistance toward him, Chiba Shun decided to bring up something lighter.

"Senior Aoki, some time ago, I invited a disabled Chunin skilled in making Sealing Scrolls to join the academy."

"I also opened a Sealing Scroll class within the academy."

"This course isn't mandatory for every student. Those who are interested can choose to study it themselves."

"After studying for some time, a few students have already displayed talent in this area."

"This is what I was thinking. After some more time, once they become more familiar with it, could we cooperate with the village's logistics department?"

"We could hand some of the simpler steps in the Sealing Scroll production process over to the Ninja Academy."

"That would also give the children another way to earn money."

Aoki Yuyi nodded. "That works. I know the person in charge of the logistics department. I'll discuss it with him."

Chiba Shun sighed in relief. It seemed Aoki Yuyi truly intended to cooperate with him properly.

So he added, "Besides making Sealing Scrolls, we can also try cultivating skills such as medical techniques, sealing techniques, making Explosive Tags, and crafting ninja tools."

"I suggest that you invite some retired medical ninja, sealing ninja, Explosive Tag craftsmen, and ninja tool craftsmen to teach at the academy."

Aoki Yuyi calculated the expense in his head before asking, "The academy's funding is limited. Do you think students learning medical and sealing techniques would also have opportunities to earn money?"

Chiba Shun thought about it, then shook his head regretfully. "That may not be easy."

Aoki Yuyi said, "Then we'll put those two aside for now. I'll try inviting ninja with other specialties to teach."

Chiba Shun nodded. "As for the courses, I'll go make adjustments now."

Aoki Yuyi nodded in agreement as well.

Through this cooperation, the two had tested each other's attitudes.

Chiba Shun had proactively revealed his lack of connections, while Aoki Yuyi had acknowledged Chiba Shun's imaginative ideas.

After their relationship had completely eased, Chiba Shun said, "Senior Aoki, I've encountered quite a few problems in my recent training. I wonder if you could help clear up my doubts."

Aoki Yuyi raised an eyebrow. "Let's hear them."

Chiba Shun directly found a place to sit, then explained the problems he had encountered in detail.

"I want to simplify my hand seals, but I tried it and found that none of the dozen or so seals can be omitted. Why is that?"

Aoki Yuyi said, "Simplifying hand seals? I've encountered that problem too. More precisely, every ninjutsu ninja has."

"The most common method is to practice more, until your chakra becomes accustomed to the flow pattern used when performing a jutsu."

"Another method is to practice chakra control."

"The chakra control I'm talking about is different from the wall-climbing and water-walking exercises you taught those children."

"Hand seals can mobilize chakra and make it flow through your body. You need to actively control that chakra flow and make it work with the seal sequence."

"Until your deliberate control can replace a certain hand seal."

Chiba Shun was stunned at first, then suddenly understood.

Chiba Shun realized he had made a mistake.

He had never even considered asking Aoki Yuyi for advice on simplifying hand seals.

Chiba Shun's social circle was too small. Sakai Yushi, Yozuki A, and Killer B were all taijutsu ninja.

They knew ninjutsu, but the jutsu they studied were all supplementary.

There was too little Chiba Shun could learn from exchanging ideas with them.

But Aoki Yuyi was a ninjutsu-type Jonin, and Chiba Shun now understood why the Third Raikage had appointed him to oversee the establishment of the Ninja Academy.

Aoki Yuyi's talent for ninjutsu was absolutely not poor.

At the very least, he was not like Naruto, who relied on the nature of his chakra to learn ninjutsu.

Aoki Yuyi could clearly articulate his own understanding!

He had truly underestimated a Jonin who had survived the brutal Second Shinobi World War!

Chiba Shun had originally only wanted to ease their relationship by asking for advice, but now his thoughts had completely changed. He took the opportunity to ask about every problem he had encountered.

Aoki Yuyi did not hold anything back. In truth, he felt some regret.

If he had taken the initiative to guide Chiba Shun when Chiba Shun had still been a Chunin, then perhaps Chiba Shun would truly be his trusted subordinate now.

If he had provided some funding when Chiba Shun had been training in the A-rank Jutsu—Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique—then Chiba Shun should now be treating him like a master.

In the end, Chiba Shun felt that theoretical guidance alone was not enough, so he directly invited Aoki Yuyi to the training grounds to guide his ninjutsu.

Aoki Yuyi was helpless. Chiba Shun really knew how to push his luck, so he could only train alongside him.

After guiding Chiba Shun for several days, Aoki Yuyi also introduced several Jonin in the village who were skilled in ninjutsu, telling Chiba Shun that he could seek their advice when he had time.

Of course Chiba Shun had time. Even if he did not, he could make some.

The next day, he bought gifts and went to ask for their guidance.

Since they were all ninjutsu Jonin, buying things like longswords was definitely unsuitable. He could buy some Explosive Tags instead.

After all, among ninja, Explosive Tags were hard currency.

After Chiba Shun finished consulting one person, he would pester that person to recommend others.

Before long, all the ninjutsu Jonin in Kumogakure knew that an oddball had appeared in the village.

A freak who liked carrying Explosive Tags around and asking people for advice everywhere.

Chiba Shun did not care about the other person's personality or stance. He would show up at their door, give them a dozen Explosive Tags, skip the small talk, and directly ask about the problems he encountered while using ninjutsu.

After asking his questions, he would pester them to spar with ninjutsu. Once the spar was over, he would have them point out his shortcomings.

And this pestering often lasted two or three days, until the other party truly could not take it anymore and accepted an out-of-village mission to escape him. Then Chiba Shun would switch to a new target.

In just three months, Chiba Shun had consulted fifteen Jonin, giving each of them a dozen Explosive Tags.

One Explosive Tag cost 3,000 ryo. A dozen cost 36,000 ryo.

For fifteen people, that was 540,000 ryo!

That truly counted as spending money like water.

This time, Chiba Shun spent all his savings, then shamelessly borrowed 200,000 ryo from Aoki Yuyi.

Aoki Yuyi was speechless at Chiba Shun. He even somewhat regretted whether he should have cooperated with Chiba Shun in the first place.

But Chiba Shun borrowing money from him was also a gesture of goodwill, so he could not refuse.

Although he spent money like water, Chiba Shun was extremely satisfied with the results.

Over three months, Chiba Shun greatly simplified the hand seals for every ninjutsu he had learned.

Even his hand seal speed improved, rising directly from 4.5 seals per second to around 5 seals per second.

Do not underestimate that improvement of 0.5. Chiba Shun had originally thought that unless he advanced to Elite Jonin, it would be difficult for him to improve any further.

Yet under the guidance of Kumogakure's Jonin, Chiba Shun's understanding of ninjutsu underwent a qualitative leap, and his hand seal speed rose by a full 0.5 seals per second.

Three months later, penniless and burdened with a debt of 200,000 ryo, Chiba Shun stopped seeking advice from others. Instead, he holed up in the Ninja Academy to review and consolidate what he had learned, striving to take another step forward from his current foundation.

Chiba Shun had also trained alone in the Ninja Academy before, but back then, his training could be called blind experimentation behind closed doors.

But now, having gathered the strengths of many Jonin, his thinking had completely opened up. During his consultations, he had recorded all sorts of bizarre ideas that needed to be tested.

Land of Earth, Iwagakure, Tsuchikage Building, Tsuchikage's office.

Ōnoki was processing a stack of documents taller than himself.

An intelligence consultant walked in, handed a document to Ōnoki, and said, "Third, we've figured it out."

"The Third Raikage has gained a strategist: Chiba Shun, a newly promoted Jonin instructor at the Ninja Academy."

"Shinobi Village's Ninja Academy was able to quickly shake off Konoha's interference and take shape under his leadership."

"Kumogakure's Ninja Academy started later than ours, but in another year or two, it should begin showing results as well."

Ōnoki nodded and picked up the document to read.

The last time, the Third Raikage had thrown him off balance. After returning, he sent people to thoroughly investigate the reason behind the Third Raikage's change.

What had turned that thick-headed brute, who only knew how to charge headfirst, into someone who liked using schemes?

So after returning, he began sending people to investigate. After a full year, they had finally narrowed the target down through scattered clues.