"Masashi~~" Minato dragged out the familiar ending sound as soon as he spoke. "Come, come, have some tea. Let's chat."
"…"
"Hokage-sama, just say what you need to say." Masashi was reluctant to sit down—he wanted to slip away.
Based on his years of experience, if Minato started with this tone, there was absolutely nothing good coming next.
But Minato was persistent. He forcibly pulled Masashi onto the sofa and started making tea.
"Masashi~~" Minato repeated while brewing tea. He carefully chose his words before saying, "Actually, I wanted to discuss something with you."
"What is it?" Masashi wondered if Minato still hadn't given up on the previous topic and was trying to add more drama.
"Oh, it's nothing work-related," Minato said, a little embarrassed. "Look, my daughter and your son are about the same age…"
"They're not 'about' the same." Masashi nodded expressionlessly. "They're both just little brats under five years old."
"Come on, time flies! Before you know it, they'll grow up. Look at Naruto and Sasuke—they're already so big now."
"That could be misinterpreted, you know."
"See, you're getting all worked up! It's not like I'm some kind of villain." Minato coughed. "Think about it—my daughter is a bit older than your son, and my son is a bit older than your daughter. Isn't that fate?"
Masashi's first instinct was to shove a handful of goji berries into Minato's mouth.
What the hell are you trying to pull?!
My daughter is only three! My son is only one!
Facing Masashi's extremely sharp gaze, Minato let out an awkward laugh.
He had no choice but to bring it up—after all, Kushina had pulled out the ultimate move yesterday.
Even though he thought it was kind of pointless, if he didn't mention it, he might not even be able to go to work tomorrow.
Thinking of this, his hand unconsciously reached for the jar of goji berries.
Instantly, he felt much calmer.
"Don't look at me like that," Minato said as he eagerly poured Masashi a cup of tea. "Relax, I didn't put any berries in it."
Masashi didn't touch the teacup. He just stared at Minato with a sharp, severe expression.
"To be honest, I don't really understand the ways of you ninja clans," Minato admitted, scratching his head. "But Kushina said that feelings should be cultivated from childhood. She insisted I talk to you about this. She said you'd understand best."
"I don't understand at all," Masashi said stiffly. "I spent my childhood training. I know nothing about this kind of thing."
If you're interested in my son, I won't mind. But if you have your eyes on my daughter—absolutely not!
Naruto, that guy? The one who never comes home when he's working in an office? No way is he a good match for my daughter!
"You're just being modest." Minato wanted to continue, but when he saw how sharp Masashi's gaze had become, he wisely shut up.
After all, he had passed on the message, so his mission was complete.
Sigh, these ninja clans are so troublesome. I wonder if Naruto will have a hard time dealing with them in the future.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop talking about it." Minato smiled as he changed the topic. "Let's talk about the Ninja Academy instead."
"Oh?" Masashi's expression instantly shifted from gloomy to sunny. It was as if he had only just noticed the cup of tea in front of him. He picked it up, blew on it, took a small sip, and complimented, "Hokage-sama, your tea-brewing skills are quite impressive."
"Of course! I've been practicing for years. Never underestimate the power of the Hokage!" Minato said proudly. "Now, back to business—I want to make some improvements to the application stage of the Academy curriculum."
"How do you plan to change it?" Masashi asked.
Compared to the original timeline, this world didn't have the so-called 'Konoha 12' group.
It's not that those people didn't exist, but the situation was different now.
The current group of students was nearing the end of their practice stage. They would soon enter the final stage of their Ninja Academy education—the application stage.
At the moment, Sasuke, Naruto, and Konohamaru formed the top three.
They had left the others far behind.
In this timeline, Konohamaru—who was the same age as Sasuke and Naruto—had displayed astonishing talent. To be fair, he was only slightly behind the other two.
But that tiny gap made him incredibly eager to challenge them, failing repeatedly but never giving up.
"Under the current system, after students complete the application stage, a jonin administers their graduation test. If they pass, they train under that jonin for a while. But I want to introduce jonin instructors earlier in the process."
"Wouldn't that be too soon?" Masashi asked. "No offense to anyone, but let's be honest—you know that not all students are lucky enough to have jonin as their mentors after graduation."
Konoha might have a relatively high number of jonin, but it was not like they had enough to assign one to every student squad.
Once a jonin took on students, they couldn't accept A-rank missions or higher, which was a huge cost for the village.
Unless it was wartime.
Even in wartime, they only selected certain students.
Take Minato's squad, for example—they all had chunin-level skills at the time. Otherwise, they wouldn't have even been able to serve as decoys.
"That's why, now that we're in peacetime, I want to raise the graduation difficulty. But to do that fairly, jonin instructors need to be involved earlier."
Minato pulled out a roster.
"Take a look."
Masashi took it and flipped through.
"Haku and Karin are graduating already?" he asked. "So this is their final year?"
Both Haku and Karin had started school late due to joining Konoha midway.
Karin had it easier since she carried the Uzumaki name and had been taken in by the Hokage's family.
Haku's situation was more awkward—his entire Yuki clan was gone. If not for Masashi's influence, he wouldn't have been allowed to enroll.
Konoha's background checks for Academy admissions were notoriously strict.
For native-born Konoha children, as long as they could refine chakra, there was no barrier to entry.
But for outsiders? The vetting process was meticulous.
That was why Haku and Karin ended up just one year ahead of Sasuke and Naruto.
And in their class, there were three other familiar faces from the original timeline—
Guy's team.
But right now, they were still at the Academy.
"Hokage-sama, are you asking me to choose someone?"
"More or less. If you take the lead, there'll be much less resistance from others."
"Alright. How exactly do you want jonin to be involved in the application stage?"
"They'll primarily teach within the village, same as before. The only difference is that jonin will now serve as instructors."
Masashi nodded and continued flipping through the roster.
He would definitely pick Haku and Karin.
Now, he just needed to decide on a third member.
If only Anko hadn't graduated early, he wouldn't have to worry about finding another candidate.
And strictly speaking, the Ninja Academy curriculum was divided into four phases...
The final graduation exam was a brief stage.
After formally completing a graduation test at the school, students were assessed by active-duty ninjas to determine whether they truly possessed the qualities of a ninja. This phase was conducted by chunin and jonin from the official military ranks. Those who failed returned to school, while those who passed not only became genin but also had the valuable opportunity to become direct subordinates of a jonin.
However, since this last stage was more about testing one's resolve and was not conducted within the Ninja Academy itself, the common understanding was that the education program consisted of only three stages.
The foundation stage was focused on imparting knowledge and teaching Taijutsu. This was the easiest stage, depending solely on the students' effort.
The internship, or practice stage, involved honing individual combat skills, including learning the basic Three Techniques, mastering various ninja tools, and participating in practical combat exercises.
The third stage was where students were truly distinguished.
By this point, students' talents and characteristics had already become apparent. Thus, this stage consisted of personalized lessons and specialized training.
Now, Minato wanted this stage of training to be conducted by jonin. Undoubtedly, this was a move to push for an elite-oriented system, taking advantage of the peacetime reduction in the ninja military force.
Promoting elite training in a ninja village was not a bad idea. During times of peace, everyone reduced their military strength, and ensuring combat efficiency naturally required such an approach. However, only Kiri had taken things to an extreme, turning their elite training into a reign of blood and terror.
The biggest obstacle to Minato's policy, however, came from the jonin themselves.
It was well known that jonin typically handled A-rank and S-rank missions, with mission pay starting at 150,000 ryō and no upper limit.
Moreover, mission payments for ninjas were calculated per participant. This meant jonin could strategically include their preferred subordinates in missions to share the rewards.
For example, a jonin taking on a 150,000-ryō A-rank mission could form a squad with chunin subordinates, allowing the mission payment to be distributed among four people, resulting in a total of 450,000 ryō.
In contrast, the highest-ranking missions chunin could take on were B-rank, with payments ranging from 80,000 to a maximum of 200,000 ryō. While the maximum amount might seem higher than an individual jonin's base rate, in practice, most chunin only received around 100,000 ryō per B-rank mission.
As a result, jonin generally had little incentive to mentor fresh genin, let alone train them during the internship stage.
From their perspective, the opportunity cost was high—no one knew if they'd be lucky enough to pick a prodigy.
Masashi was one of the few jonin who didn't care about this.
After all, when Haku graduated, he was definitely going to take him under his wing.
As of now, he had three true students: Haku, Sasuke, and Anko.
Each of them had demonstrated exceptional talent in their respective areas of expertise.
As a former disciple of Orochimaru, Anko had lived up to his expectations—her talent lay in Yang Release.
In Masashi's view, Anko might be the only one among his three students who would truly master Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode in the future.
Haku had successfully awakened his Ice Release and had mastered Masashi's Body Flicker Technique better than anyone else.
As for Sasuke, there was no need to elaborate—he was a born prodigy. Masashi had been training him using the same methods he himself had once followed.
Unfortunately, the three students weren't from the same class. Anko had graduated early, and Haku and Sasuke were from different years as well.
Sasuke had great prospects, so Masashi didn't need to worry about him finding a capable mentor—Itachi and Shisui were both waiting for him to graduate.
Thus, he figured it was best to focus on Haku. After all, Haku was also his brother-in-law.
The day after agreeing to Minato's request, he headed to the Ninja Academy.
The Academy's gate remained the same after all these years.
That gate had originally been built by a wealthy fool who asked another fool to create it using Wood Release, thinking it would be festive.
Masashi wasn't sure if the gate frame was festive or not, but the sight of the legendary First Hokage enthusiastically constructing it had been quite amusing.
He had gotten so excited that he had accidentally demolished part of the construction site and gotten scolded for over an hour.
Upon entering the gate, the first thing visible was the training ground and the school building.
That training ground bore the footprints of generations of Konoha's genin.
Walking past the training ground, Masashi stepped into the school building.
The building had been renovated before the Third Shinobi World War, introducing an entrance hall. This hall primarily housed exhibits of Konoha's historical figures, designed to help students understand the village's legendary figures better.
Inside the hall, several ninja from the education department were already waiting, including the department head.
Although the education department had become a refuge for Senju remnants after their clan withdrew from the political stage, they still held Masashi in high regard.
Unlike other powerful clans that had carved out their own spheres of influence, the Senju remnants had always maintained a low profile.
Ever since the Senju clan formally disbanded, their name had gradually faded from Konoha.
As a result, many people didn't even realize that most of the reserved, reclusive individuals in the education department were actually Senju descendants.
However, the major clans were well aware of this, and the Hokage's office remained lenient toward the education department, approving nearly all their requests.
After all, these were Senju who had chosen to remain loyal to Konoha's system even after withdrawing from power.
Tsunade had initially been Hiruzen's intended Fourth Hokage candidate, but the Third Great Ninja War had disrupted everything.
"Masashi-sama," the education department head greeted warmly, extending a handshake. "Everyone is grateful that you're willing to support the Academy's work."
"You're too kind," Masashi replied with a smile. "Teaching the kids is a good thing. One of my own students is about to graduate, too."
"If only more shared your mindset, our jobs would be much easier," the department head sighed.
Managing relations between schools and parents was never simple.
A good teacher could resolve most of these problems.
News of Masashi joining the Academy's internship stage had spread quickly the day before.
Because of this, the department head had suddenly discovered that he had a lot of 'friends' in the village.
What a great group of 'friends'—why did they all assume he could assign Masashi to teach their kids?
"I'll show you to your office first," the department head said. "According to the Hokage's plan, we've cleared some rooms specifically for jonin instructors."
Jonin offices were, of course, private.
Not because of rank or privileges, but because their teaching materials were classified.
For security and convenience, the school had to provide separate offices.
"Alright, but I'd like to see the students first," Masashi said. "Are they in class right now?"
"Yes, of course. Would you like to see them now?"
"Mm, just the students from Year 57 and 58."
"Understood. Those students are currently in a culture class. Please follow me."
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Currently 80 advance chapters!
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