Five-Attribute Ninjutsu

Chiba Shun continued his speech. "The Konoha ninja of the Land of Fire are a pack of demons. They want to enslave the entire Shinobi World."

"They want to kill all the adults and turn every child into their slave."

"You may not believe what I'm saying, but I have proof."

"Konoha's First Hokage was an ambitious man. He forced countless ninja clans to submit to him and serve his ambitions. He once..."

"Konoha's other former leader, Madara, wouldn't even spare his own younger brother..."

"Konoha's Second Hokage toyed with the souls of the dead and conducted human experiments..."

"Konoha's Third Hokage was an even bigger hypocrite, obsessed with power and indifferent to the lives of his own people..."

"Konoha has many, many demons like them. While fighting each other for power, they bully us."

"For example, Shimura Danzō of the Shimura Clan enjoys controlling the lives and deaths of others..."

"For example, the Hyuga Clan likes using the Byakugan to look at people..."

"For example, the Nara Clan is obsessed with killing people using their own shadows..."

"For example, every member of the Akimichi Clan is a giant. Their appetites are astonishing—they can eat a child in a single meal..."

"For example, the Yamanaka Clan can invade our brains..."

"For example, the Aburame Clan is actually made of insects..."

"Your parents died at the hands of these people. Many people like you were abducted by Konoha. You are lucky—the great Raikage sent brave Kumogakure shinobi to rescue you."

"And here, Kumogakure, is the sacred land that resists Konoha's rule! Countless heroes were born here: the First Raikage, the Second Raikage, the Third Raikage..."

"Back then, the First Raikage bravely protected this pure land of the Land of Lightning from Konoha's two demon leaders, Hashirama and Madara. He once..."

"The Second Raikage even killed Konoha's Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju..."

"Now, our leader is the great Third Raikage. He forced Konoha's Third Hokage, that Hiruzen Sarutobi who knows nothing but schemes and conspiracies, to hide in Konoha and never dare take a single step outside the village!"

"Besides the three Raikage, we have many, many other heroes..."

Under the guidance of Chiba Shun's stories, some true, some false, and some half-true, half-false, many of the slightly more sensible children had their emotions stirred up.

They gnashed their teeth, wishing they could charge into Konoha at once and, like the heroes of Kumogakure throughout the generations, beat the Konoha ninja until they fled in disarray.

As for the younger children, they gradually formed a subconscious impression that Konoha was a den of demons, while the Land of Lightning was a pure land and Kumogakure was sacred ground.

In a corner unnoticed by Chiba Shun and the others, Aoki Yuyi and the Third Raikage watched this strange scene in a daze.

Aoki Yuyi muttered, "Did he really succeed in brainwashing them?"

Of course Chiba Shun had not successfully brainwashed them. How could something like that be so simple?

He had merely stirred up their emotions for the time being.

Afterward, he would have to tell these children all kinds of true and false stories about Kumogakure heroes every day.

Only over time would these children willingly become Kumogakure's cannon fodder.

Of course, during this brainwashing process, Ninja Academy students would also be more likely to form their own Ninja Way and become ninja.

The Third Raikage glanced in another direction.

Three tall statues were being constructed there. Though they were not yet complete, one of them was already vaguely recognizable as the Third Raikage himself.

This had also been Chiba Shun's idea.

Kumogakure was not built beside cliffs like Konoha, so it could not have a Raikage Rock. But it could build towering statues visible from most parts of the village.

In the scroll Chiba Shun had given Aoki Yuyi, he had written that the statues had to be placed where children at the Ninja Academy could see them simply by raising their heads, allowing them to grow up bathed in the glory of the Raikage.

After withdrawing his gaze from the statues of the past Raikage, the Third Raikage turned and walked toward the exit of the Ninja Academy.

Aoki Yuyi was about to follow when he heard the Third Raikage say, "I'll approve another sum of funding to improve their meals. Let them have something good to eat."

Aoki Yuyi stopped. He knew that the Third Raikage was very satisfied with the current Ninja Academy and held great expectations for its future.

He smiled, then looked back at Chiba Shun, who was still brainwashing the children.

By the time he turned back and tried to follow the Third Raikage, the other man had long since vanished from sight.

He sighed and thought, Lord Raikage is so fast!

The next day, Chiba Shun was summoned to Aoki Yuyi's office.

Seeing Aoki Yuyi's expression, Chiba Shun knew he was in a good mood, so he asked, "Senior Aoki, what did you need me for?"

Aoki Yuyi handed Chiba Shun a stack of money and said, "This was approved by Lord Raikage. It's for improving those children's meals."

Chiba Shun was overjoyed. After counting it, he found that there were a full three hundred thousand ryo!

After all, even though he worked at the Ninja Academy, the salary Aoki Yuyi had promised him was only fifty thousand ryo per month.

Fifty thousand ryo per month came to six hundred thousand ryo a year, which was already a lot.

Taking Chiba Shun's former squad leader as an example, after completing five simple C-rank Missions and forty more difficult D-rank Missions in a year, his annual income had only been around two hundred and ten thousand ryo.

Of course, a Chunin squad leader received village subsidies and could also increase his income by mentoring subordinates.

If a subordinate advanced to Chunin, there would be a reward as well. For example, when Chiba Shun advanced, his squad leader received a reward of two hundred thousand ryo.

But even with all that added in, his average annual income definitely would not reach six hundred thousand ryo.

As an administrative ninja, Chiba Shun did not need to go out on dangerous missions or spend money on ninja tools, yet he earned six hundred thousand ryo a year. That was already an extremely high income.

In the entire Ninja Academy, no one besides Aoki Yuyi received such treatment.

Now, Aoki Yuyi had directly handed three hundred thousand ryo to him, leaving Chiba Shun, who had never seen so much money before, somewhat dazed.

Although it was meant to improve the meals of those two thousand-plus children, skimming off a little for himself would not be too much, right?

Surely the amount Lord Raikage had given Aoki Yuyi was more than three hundred thousand ryo?

But the thought only flashed through his mind. Chiba Shun would not sacrifice the greater good for a small gain.

His prospects were still fairly bright. There was no need to embezzle money.

Then he thought of something and asked Aoki Yuyi, "Is Lord Raikage planning to increase support for the Ninja Academy?"

Aoki Yuyi nodded. "Lord Raikage listened to your speech yesterday and was very satisfied."

Chiba Shun became even more excited. This meant he had begun to enter the sights of Kumogakure's upper ranks.

Aoki Yuyi paid no attention to Chiba Shun's excitement. He took out eight more scrolls and handed them to him. "Remember to return them after you finish reading."

Chiba Shun's eyes flickered, and he immediately became excited again. Ninjutsu!

After transmigrating for so long, he had finally come into contact with genuine ninjutsu training scrolls.

After being excited for a while, Chiba Shun calmed down.

They were only a few C-rank Jutsu. Had he really gotten this excited over them?

Thinking back to when he had first transmigrated, his goal had been to learn Lightning Release Chakra Mode, master the Flying Thunder God, develop a large number of Unsealed Jutsu, summon gigantic Summoned Beasts, fly, turn invisible, master Medical Ninjutsu, and even obtain the Yin Seal. He wanted to learn Dust Release, or develop a Kekkei Tōta no weaker than Dust Release; master Sealing Techniques capable of easily suppressing the Nine-Tails; enter perfect Sage Mode in combat; learn the forbidden technique of the Eight Gates; successfully transplant Hashirama Cells and the Mangekyō Sharingan, then awaken the Rinnegan; or combine the Shikotsumyaku with the Byakugan and ultimately awaken the Tenseigan.

But more than a decade of accomplishing nothing had made Chiba Shun understand that this was only a dream.

First, he lacked resources. Every kind of training burned money, and he had no money.

Second, his talent was inadequate. He had no talent for Lightning Release or space-time techniques, and he was not even sure whether he had talent for Medical Ninjutsu.

Finally, and most importantly, he did not have enough time.

Learning any ninjutsu required time, especially these powerful techniques. There was no way he could complete the training for all of those projects by himself.

More than a decade of hardship had finally allowed the once-arrogant Chiba Shun to face reality.

This was also why he had come to the Ninja Academy. He planned to find some promising seedlings there and use their hands to research certain forbidden techniques.

But those were matters for the future.

After calming down, Chiba Shun looked over the names of all the ninjutsu, then said somewhat regretfully, "There's only one Earth Release technique."

Aoki Yuyi sighed. "You know how it is. The village is mostly made up of Lightning Release ninja and taijutsu ninja, so there are too few ninjutsu of other attributes."

"As far as I know, the village has fewer than ten Earth Release techniques in its collection altogether."

"And quite a few of them are not for attack or defense, such as Earth Release: Earth Substitute, Earth Release: Earth Clone, and Stoneification."

"The only reason I was able to get a C-rank Earth Release technique was because the Ninja Academy received Lord Raikage's support."

"Fire Release is even worse. The village cannot even produce a single C-rank offensive Fire Release technique."

"Actually, every village is the same except Konoha. For example, Iwagakure has almost no Lightning Release ninjutsu."

Chiba Shun nodded in understanding, then took his leave.

Chiba Shun had already moved into the Ninja Academy. Carrying the funds and the ninjutsu scrolls, he quickly returned to his residence.

Unable to wait any longer, Chiba Shun opened the first scroll and quickly scanned through it.

C-rank Lightning Release: Lightning Release: Lightning Conductor.

The second one was also C-rank Lightning Release: Lightning Release: Lightning Attachment.

They were both very basic ninjutsu. The village was still very cautious about passing down ninjutsu.

The third was the C-rank Earth Release technique, the widely circulated Earth-Style Wall.

Of the eight C-rank Jutsu, five were Lightning Release. The other three were Water Release, Wind Release, and Earth Release.

"Just as expected, there isn't a single Fire Release technique. The village couldn't even get its hands on a Great Fireball that can't hit anyone?" Chiba Shun muttered.

He quickly discarded those random thoughts and picked up the Earth-Style Wall scroll to study it carefully.