When the White Cedar Training Center's documents reached the Five Nations Joint Education Conference, seventeen student files lay on the table.
Performance Seals.
Ambushes with live blades.
Ten years of mission debt.
And a course schedule that listed the Quarry as a graduation exercise.
No one defended the White Cedar Training Center.
The dispute arose on the last page.
An education official from the Land of Fire proposed that, from then on, any individual or institution not registered with a shinobi village or nation be prohibited from teaching chakra, ninja tools, or combat techniques.
Existing courses would be suspended.
No new applications would be accepted.
Violators would be charged with illegally training armed personnel.
"At least there won't be another White Fir."
The room fell silent for a moment.
There seemed to be nothing wrong with that statement.
But Gen first wrote three names beside the draft ban.
Takumi.
Xiaoying.
Mei.
Takumi did not want to enter Konoha's Combat Class. He had only applied to continue studying Wind Style control.
Xiaoying and Mei had not even decided whether they would continue training.
Several other children without village affiliation only wanted to learn how to stop when their chakra went out of control.
Once the blanket ban took effect, shinobi village schools would be the only places left for them to go.
Before entering those schools, they would have to answer whether they accepted village affiliation, a forehead protector, and future missions.
White Fir had bound its students with ten-year contracts.
The new ban did not specify ten years, but it could tie the right to learn back to affiliation.
"You oppose shutting down private Training Facilities?"
The official who had proposed it asked.
"I oppose replacing risk assessment with ownership."
Gen divided White Fir's documents into five stacks.
Basic literacy