Almost everyone's self-introduction brimmed with the little boys' and girls' hopes and dreams for the future. To them, today marked their firmest and most important first step toward becoming heroes of the village.
Whenever their introductions touched on their future dreams, they all involved becoming great shinobi, or even becoming the Mizukage outright!
That was perfectly normal. For children who grew up in the Five Great Shinobi Villages, ninety percent dreamed of becoming their village's Kage, and that held true for boys and girls alike!
At the very least, they wanted to become figures renowned throughout the Shinobi World.
Chiyo of Sunagakure.
And Tsunade, who had made a name for herself in this Shinobi World War and was also the First Hokage's own granddaughter, were the people little girls across the great nations of the Shinobi World most looked up to.
Children at this age still had fairly simple thoughts.
Even those who seemed the most mature-Kazeki, Shinya, and the children from the Kaguya and Hozuki Clans-expressed similar sentiments, both openly and between the lines.
They simply had a stronger sense of rivalry with one another.
Mei Terumi was no different.
And when it was Kei's turn to introduce himself.
He, too, chose measured, unremarkable words. There was no need to be overly modest or keep too low a profile, but he absolutely could not be flashy or draw attention to himself.
That was the basic policy Kei had set for his first few years!
"Right, everyone should have a basic understanding of one another now. Over the next few years, I hope you'll all get along. Remember, this isn't just a school requirement, but a fundamental quality of a shinobi. A qualified shinobi must understand teamwork. One person's strength is limited, especially when it comes to difficult missions, which must be completed through cooperation. I hope every one of you will keep that firmly in mind!"
After the last child finished introducing themselves.
Minato braced both hands on the lectern and addressed the children below with a very serious expression.
Teamwork!
It was an essential quality emphasized in every shinobi village.
Not every shinobi could become strong enough to carry out missions alone, especially the difficult ones.
Although Kirigakure placed great emphasis on competition, and even its Ninja Academy examinations were far harsher and more brutal than those of other villages!
It still assessed cooperation and coordination among its graduating students.
Every graduating class had ruthless individuals who passed the graduation exam entirely on their own, but it also had clever people who worked together to complete the task. That was precisely the result Kirigakure's higher-ups had wanted when they established this examination!
An utterly ruthless individual like Zabuza in the original story really had only appeared that once.
And afterward, Kirigakure had even changed its examination format because of Zabuza, precisely to prevent another terrifying individual like him from appearing.
Kirigakure wanted the rookie shinobi graduating from its village to be of higher quality, but Zabuza's extraordinarily bloody approach had gone far beyond what it could tolerate!
Before Zabuza's graduating class, the highest death rate in any graduation exam had been just under forty percent, which was already a terrifying figure.
Kirigakure's higher-ups were merely somewhat cold-hearted, not bloodthirsty psychopaths.
They still had to keep things within bounds.
The same principle applied to teaching at the Ninja Academy.
"Yes!"
As Minato finished speaking, the children below all answered in unison. Unlike their obviously halfhearted response earlier, they sounded much more serious this time. After all, even the youngest humans understood the value of "companions"!
Even when you played games, you needed a partner to really enjoy yourself, didn't you?!
Those born into shinobi clans understood this principle even better. After all, the essence of power and status lay in receiving other people's support and backing!
A commander with no followers could hardly claim to have any power or status.
Minato nodded in satisfaction, then continued, "Very good. Now, let's begin our first lesson, the most important lesson for those of you who have just entered the Ninja Academy: what it means to be a shinobi!"
Many people always thought that shinobi assigned to teach at the Ninja Academy were among the village's weaker members, at least in terms of combat ability. That was not necessarily wrong, but it was still a somewhat biased view.
Ever since the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju established the Ninja Academy system, the academy had been one of the most important institutions in every major shinobi village.
Because it was the most important institution for training the village's next generation!
In many respects, the most important department to a Kage was, in fact, the Ninja Academy!
One only had to look at what shinobi villages had been like when they were first founded, then consider the fundamental purpose behind establishing the Ninja Academy, to reach a very clear answer.
The Ninja Academy was a department established to consolidate the Kage's power!
Thus, those assigned to teach at the Ninja Academy.
Generally speaking, they were unquestionably people the Kage approved of, not only in terms of loyalty, but also in terms of individual ability!
Neither quality could be lacking!
Perhaps they were indeed somewhat lacking in personal strength, but their abilities in other areas were beyond question, especially when it came to teaching others. That was true of Iruka in the original story, and it was also true of Minato, the teacher standing before Kei now!
This is only the second little step...
Kei sat upright in his seat, seemingly listening just as attentively to Minato's instruction at the front, but his thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere.
The first day at the Ninja Academy passed peacefully, without any disturbances.
If anything could be called a disturbance, it was the quiet rivalry between his two "older clan brothers" and the three classmates from the Hozuki and Kaguya Clans.
Although the three great shinobi clans maintained a united stance on certain issues, in most cases, the fiercest internal struggles in Kirigakure were undoubtedly among the Kaguya, Minazuki, and Hozuki Clans.
The division of benefits was the most important factor.
Especially after the Second Mizukage had come from the Hozuki Clan.
A certain balance among the three great shinobi clans could easily be broken, much like the conflict between Konohagakure and the Uchiha Clan in the original story.
There were many reasons for it.
One of the most prominent points of conflict centered on the question of "who would become Hokage."
The same applied to Kirigakure now. Even the Kaguya Clan, which cared least about such things, would surely have some thoughts on the matter after seeing the Hozuki Clan produce a Mizukage!
It had nothing to do with right or wrong.
It was simply a matter of human nature!
Humans were always creatures who worried not about scarcity, but about inequality!
The "rivalry" and "hostility" among the three clans' higher-ups naturally spread easily to the next generation.
Still, the little ones' thoughts were not so complicated. They simply felt that they could not disgrace their own clan, and that they had to be better than the members of the other two clans!