In a small forest, Shuunen Uchiha glared coldly at the group around him. "Let's hear how many of you know about this."
The delinquents exchanged uneasy glances. This was the first time they'd ever seen Boss Shuunen this furious.
The reckless sophomore who had spoken out of turn earlier was still fresh in their minds.
"Eh hem," one delinquent stepped forward to soothe him. "Boss, it's just a bunch of bored brats gossiping nonsense. No need to—"
Before he could finish, a deadly glare from Shuunen scared him into swallowing his words.
"Those bastards can insult me all they want, but the honor of the Uchiha clan must never be tainted!"
"Tainted? Isn't that the truth?" the group secretly grumbled internally while solemnly declaring, "Right! The Uchiha clan is the one that founded Konoha. In terms of both history and prestige, we're far superior to the Sarutobi clan!"
Hearing them say this slightly eased Shuunen's anger. "Good! Then follow me now and cause trouble for that Asuma Sarutobi!"
"Hold on! Calm down, Boss Shuunen!"
"Don't go, Boss Shuunen!"
All the delinquents desperately tried to stop him, trembling as they did so. If originally they still wanted to extend the 'tradition' to the freshmen, after observing for two months, they had long given up such ideas.
Not to mention those two freakishly strong newcomers—their insane unity alone was enough to scare the hell out of them.
They were outnumbered seven or eight times over. How could they fight?
Shuunen's expression darkened. "What exactly are you implying? Do you think I can't handle a freshman who entered two years later than me?"
"Of course not! That Asuma Sarutobi is obviously nothing." The delinquents persuaded anxiously. "But… they have more people!"
Hearing this, Shuunen's face turned purple with rage.
It had always been their habit to bully others with sheer numbers, but now the situation had completely flipped.
"I don't care! Those bastards are gonna learn once and for all—we Uchihas are the strongest clan!" Shuunen angrily roared like an idiot.
"Here we go again!" The group cried out in despair inwardly, yet they knew their boss perfectly inherited the stubbornness unique to the Uchiha clan; once decided something, not even nine tailed beasts could change his mind. [Nine-Tailed Beasts: powerful chakra entities sealed within jinchuriki]
"Well, there might not be entirely no way…" One of the group's clever advisors mumbled softly.
"Quickly speak!"
"That Asuma Sarutobi isn't particularly popular among the freshmen. It's just that he only managed to pull them together thanks to Seiki Shimaseki."
"So you're saying…we should deal with Seiki Shimaseki first?" Shuunen asked thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
"No way! Seiki Shimaseki has too high a reputation among the freshmen. If we target him, those newbies will definitely fight us to the death!" The advisor almost broke into a cold sweat.
Impatiently, Shuunen asked, "Then what exactly do you want to say?"
The sly advisor rubbed his hands together, chuckling. "My idea is to gradually isolate those peripheral figures."
Shuunen's eyes lit up. "Explain further."
"The freshmen aren't united to begin with. If we declare we'll only target the unpopular ones among them, the others will gladly watch those outsiders suffer misfortune. Then step by step, we'll divide that group of freshmen into multiple factions. At that point, not only would they refuse to stand up for each other, they'd probably start turning on one another!"
"Whoa, that's totally underhanded! But… I kinda love it!"
...
In history class, Kei Yamakei was lecturing enthusiastically.
"This ninja academy system was a groundbreaking innovation by The Second Hokage. Not only did this system cultivate numerous talents for Konoha, it also alleviated conflicts between clan ninja and non-clan ninja to a certain extent. This is why various ninja villages across different countries imitated this system, which had an extremely profound impact on the entire ninja world—one could even say it changed the entire landscape of the ninja world."
"But do you know what the three most important elements were during the creation of the ninja academy?"
However, below him, students were sleeping, chatting, and playing around, with very few actually paying attention to his lecture.
Facing this situation, Kei had no choice but to use his ace-in-the-hole. "Seiki, you answer."
Immediately, all the girls in class perked up. Seeing this, Kei couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy. "If I were twenty years younger, I might give Seiki a run for his money when it comes to charm."
"It was basic education, graduation gifts, and guidance squads," Seiki stood and answered thoughtfully. "During the Warring States era, although major ninja clans possessed their own specialized ninjutsu techniques, they struggled to provide sufficient training for clan members in fields they didn't excel in. This caused many talented ninja to be buried due to path limitations. After entering the ninja village era, rich and comprehensive basic education helped guide large numbers of probationary ninja toward appropriate paths, preventing talent from being overlooked."
"As for larger clans with more complete educational resources, what attracted them to join the academy was primarily the graduation gifts. Even for powerful large clans, obtaining advanced B-rank or higher ninjutsu techniques is difficult enough, not to mention finding exactly suitable attribute-matching high-level techniques."
"As for the guidance squad system, it significantly reduced the risk of casualties among rookie ninja, helping them grow quickly. More importantly, guidance squads served as a connecting bridge between non-clan ninja and clan ninja, facilitating integration among different social strata that previously had barriers between them."
Kei gave an approving nod and asked another question, "Other great ninja villages have imitated our system too, but do you know why their teaching results fall far behind ours at Konoha?"
This time, without waiting for anyone to answer, Kei continued explaining on his own, "Actually there are many reasons, but in my opinion, the main reason still lies in The Second's contributions."
The Second Hokage created countless Ninjutsu and Kinjutsu throughout his life, many of which remained incomplete. Yet it was precisely those techniques that greatly expanded our Ninjutsu heritage, giving our students a clear path to follow when choosing their own way forward. This is something the other great ninja villages will never be able to match."
"Wow! So the Second Hokage was really that powerful?"
"Wait, I'm going to be the Second Hokage after class!"
Seeing this, Kei Yamakei felt really happy.
In Konoha, the Second Hokage occupied an awkward position.
The First founded Konoha and brought peace to the Warring States era, so naturally his prestige far surpassed that of the Second. Furthermore, at present, the time belonged to the Third, whose various achievements naturally overshadowed those of the Second. As a result, many children had never even heard of the Second Hokage. To Kei, a devoted fan of the Second, this situation was absolutely intolerable!
After feeling satisfied, Kei continued, "Although you'll also be able to exchange for Advanced Ninjutsu by accumulating contributions after graduation, it won't be easy. In a sense, the Advanced Ninjutsu you select as your Graduation Gifts will be the only high-level techniques you'll have access to for quite some time after graduating."
"Choosing a B-ranked Jutsu as your Graduation Gift will let you smoothly progress through the Genin and early Chunin ranks, but the cost is that later on, exchanging for A-ranked Jutsu will require much more effort. If you pick an A-ranked Jutsu as your Graduation Gift, though, you might not have a strong technique to fall back on until you make Jonin!"
"Although you may feel graduation is still far away, it's never too early to start thinking about it. Consider this your homework. Alright, class dismissed."
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