Reconciliation

So Aoki Yuyi could not understand it. Investing in someone with no talent like that—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 struck while the iron was hot. "Other than Ayana, I'm sure you know about some of the people I've deliberately approached."

"If there are any among them you have your eye on, I can give them up."

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

Chiba Shun's targets were indeed strange. The people he usually focused on promoting the Will of Lightning to were all considered worthless by him.

They were children who would have difficulty even becoming cannon fodder.

He had no interest in those people whatsoever. The resources under his control were limited, and there was not even enough to spend on talented students. How could he have any to spare for them?

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

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

Chiba Shun nodded.

Aoki Yuyi asked, "The village should have quite a few vacant positions at a time like this. You suddenly advanced in rank—did Lord Raikage not make any special arrangements for you?"

"I doubt the village would leave two Jonin cooped up in the Ninja Academy for no reason."

Chiba Shun hesitated 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 main task will be to teach the Will of Lightning to them."

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

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

After thinking it over, he said, "Aside from regular expenses, the Ninja Academy's budget has some surplus. You may use thirty percent of it."

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

Since they were going to cooperate, he could not brush Chiba Shun off as before by merely using the mission rewards earned by those children.

Chiba Shun nodded and accepted Aoki Yuyi's goodwill.

At this point, the two of them could be said to have 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 school."

"I also opened a Sealing Scroll study class within the school."

"This course is not mandatory for all students. Those who are interested can choose to study it themselves."

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

"This is what I was thinking: after a while, 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. "Sure. I know the person in charge of the logistics department. I'll talk to him about it."

Chiba Shun breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Aoki Yuyi genuinely wanted to cooperate with him properly.

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

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

Aoki Yuyi calculated the costs in his mind before asking, "The school's funds are limited. Do you think students studying medicine and sealing techniques will also have opportunities to make money?"

Chiba Shun thought for a moment, then shook his head regretfully. "That will probably be difficult."

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

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 taken the initiative to show his lack of connections, while Aoki Yuyi acknowledged Chiba Shun's unconventional ideas.

After the tension between them 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 confusion."

Aoki Yuyi raised a brow. "Let's hear them."

Chiba Shun found a place to sit down and explained the problems he had encountered in detail.

"I want to simplify my hand seals, but I tried it and found that I can't remove any of the dozen or so seals. Why is that?"

Aoki Yuyi said, "Simplifying hand seals, huh? I've run into that problem too. More accurately, every ninjutsu ninja has."

"The most common method is to practice more, letting your chakra grow accustomed to the flow it takes when performing ninjutsu."

"The other method is to practice chakra control."

"The chakra control I'm talking about is different from teaching those children to walk on walls and water."

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

"Until you can use your own control to replace one of the hand seals."

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 guidance on simplifying hand seals.

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

They knew ninjutsu, but the techniques they learned 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 now Chiba Shun understood why the Third Raikage had appointed him to oversee the establishment of the Ninja Academy.

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

At the very least, he was not like Naruto, who learned ninjutsu by relying on the peculiar properties of his chakra.

Aoki Yuyi could clearly explain 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 seeking advice, but now his thoughts had changed completely. He took the opportunity to ask about every problem he had encountered.

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

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

If he had provided some funding when Chiba Shun was training in the A-rank Jutsu, Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique, then Chiba Shun should now be treating him as 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 take a mile when given an inch, so he could only cooperate with his training.

After guiding Chiba Shun for several days, Aoki Yuyi even introduced him to several Jonin in the village who excelled at ninjutsu, telling him to seek their advice when he had time.

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

The very next day, he bought gifts and went to seek their guidance.

Since they were all ninjutsu Jonin, buying things like long swords was definitely inappropriate. He could buy Explosive Tags instead.

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

After Chiba Shun finished consulting one person, he would cling to them and ask for recommendations for others.

Thus, before long, all the ninjutsu Jonin in Kumogakure knew that the village had produced an oddball.

A freak who loved carrying Explosive Tags around to seek advice everywhere.

Chiba Shun did not care about the other party's personality or stance. The moment he arrived, he would give them a dozen Explosive Tags. Then, without even exchanging pleasantries, he would immediately ask about the problems he encountered when performing ninjutsu.

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

And this pestering would often last two or three days, until the other person truly could not endure it anymore and directly accepted a mission outside the village. Only then would he stop and switch to a new target.

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

One Explosive Tag cost 3,000 ryo. A dozen was twelve tags, which came to 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 gains.

Over three months, Chiba Shun greatly simplified the hand seals for every ninjutsu technique 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 it would be difficult to improve further unless he advanced to Elite Jonin.

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

Three months later, Chiba Shun, penniless and carrying a debt of 200,000 ryo, stopped seeking advice from others. Instead, he holed up in the Ninja Academy to summarize and digest what he had learned, striving to advance another step beyond his current foundation.

Chiba Shun had also trained alone at the Ninja Academy before, but back then, his training could be described as working behind closed doors.

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

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

Ōnoki was handling a pile of documents taller than himself.

An advisor in charge of intelligence walked in, handed a document to Ōnoki, and said, "Third, we've found out."

"The Third Raikage has gained a strategist named Chiba Shun. He is a newly promoted Jonin instructor at the Ninja Academy."

"Kumogakure's Ninja Academy was able to quickly shake off Konoha's interference and take shape largely 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 it.

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

What had made that simple-minded brute, who only knew how to charge headfirst, start enjoying schemes and tricks?

So after returning, he began sending people to investigate. After an entire year, they finally identified their target through scattered clues.