"Why exactly did the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju establish the Ninja Academy?"
Once again, it was that teaching style of posing a question first, then making them think for themselves.
Yan Uchiha had long since grown used to it, but Rin Nohara was clearly stumped.
The Ninja Academy had existed since before she was born. She had never wondered why it had been established in the first place.
After a long while, Rin ventured, "To give commoners a choice. Isn't that the Second Hokage's greatest achievement? Was there another reason?"
"Of course there was." Jin Uchiha's expression remained calm. "The fundamental purpose of establishing the Ninja Academy was to win over commoners and weaken the shinobi clans."
"The shinobi clans were too powerful back then. Each had its own power base, and even the village leadership struggled to interfere in their internal affairs. Tobirama Senju's idea was simple: increase the number of commoner shinobi, and the clans would naturally have less say in the village."
"To achieve that, the Senju Clan even brought out its treasured resources. Apart from its most essential assets, almost everything went into training shinobi."
His tone remained utterly even as he spoke.
"Unfortunately, he failed."
"The gap between commoners and shinobi clans wasn't something another school could erase. The clans had better bloodlines, and their cells contained more chakra. Their children began soaking in special medicinal baths at four and receiving early training at five."
"So by the time they entered the Ninja Academy, the gap was already there. Naturally, Tobirama Senju's first objective fell through completely."
"First, he couldn't change bloodlines. Commoners simply couldn't match the shinobi clans. Second, the village's finances couldn't possibly support giving every commoner child in Konoha the same education as clan children."
Jin Uchiha paused, then offered the second