Reform Plan

When the time came, he would not even need to act. The Akatsuki would go after the Daimyo on its own.

And he would use the chaos to muddy the waters throughout the Land of Fire—and even the entire Shinobi World.

"The Akatsuki..."

He repeated the name softly. "What a useful blade."

If the outside was to descend into chaos, things at home had to remain stable.

He picked up his brush and spread out a sheet of paper.

The brush tip paused beneath the lamplight, then set down a line:

Step one: consolidate authority.

Elders, advisers, those old men who held high office on seniority alone—from now on, they would have only the right to offer advice.

They would have no authority to assign missions or deploy troops.

Major decisions, declarations of war, and alliances with outside powers would require the Hokage's approval.

In the Hokage's absence, the Jonin Meeting would decide by vote.

Step two: reform the system.

He remembered the sect mission halls in the cultivation novels he had read in his previous life. Konoha needed its own point system, too.

The distribution of power in the Shinobi World had never been fair.

Children born into clans had a complete education and an entire legacy of ninjutsu waiting for them from birth.

What did civilian ninja have? Nothing. To obtain a decent ninjutsu manual, they had to spend time and money and depend on other people's goodwill.

Yet civilian ninja made up the majority of Konoha's forces.

Looking back over the entire history of the Shinobi World, the Kage Level fighters who had clawed their way up from civilian backgrounds amounted to Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Minato Namikaze, and, if he counted him, Might Guy.

Almost all the other Kage Level fighters came from clans.

Because clans had legacies