A gentle breeze rustled through the forest, causing the leaves on the trees to whisper and dance. Standing on a high platform within the Ninja Academy grounds, the aged Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, stood silently with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze contemplative.
After stepping down from the position of Hokage, the Third Hokage had assumed the role of Principal of the Ninja Academy. This position had originally been one of his concurrent duties, but now it had become his primary focus and responsibility. Looking down at the dozens of young, eager faces gathered below, a heartfelt smile couldn't help but appear on the Third Hokage's face.
Where Konoha's leaves dance, flames will also burn brightly. It was graduation season once again. The dozens of young shinobi below were about to leave the Ninja Academy, becoming fresh new blood for Konoha Village's ninja forces. Thinking about the profound changes Konoha had undergone in these past few years, a sense of gratification and contentment filled the Third Hokage's heart.
In just over four short years, Konoha Village had taken on an entirely new and vibrant atmosphere. After Tsunade had ascended to the position of Hokage, she had immediately set about tackling the various messes and unresolved issues left behind by the departure of the older generation, including the Third Hokage himself and the now-defunct Danzo. A series of sweeping reforms began to be implemented throughout Konoha Village.
The selection mechanism for Ninja Academy students was reformed. The Konoha Village Ninja Hospital and its medical teams underwent institutional restructuring and significant expansion. A system of regular rotation began to be implemented between Konoha Village's standard active ninja forces and the Military Police Force.
Apart from the Hokage's direct ANBU Black Ops, which had been slightly expanded but otherwise maintained its original operational nature, almost all other ninja forces within Konoha Village had undergone major transformations. Konoha Village's three main pillars of strength—the Hokage's ANBU, the regular active ninja forces, and the Military Police Force—had begun to show clear signs of gradually integrating and coordinating their efforts more closely.
With Tatsuya's discreet but powerful support from the shadows, the Hokage's actual authority and influence had been greatly enhanced. As Tsunade's series of reform measures were implemented, a large number of elite ninja from various prominent clans within the village also began to slowly but surely enter the ranks of the ANBU and the Military Police Force. In this regard, the Uchiha clan, along with the Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Nara clans, had played an excellent leading role, setting a positive example for others to follow.
Following the actions of these four influential clans, even the traditionally conservative Hyuga clan had begun to change, dispatching a large number of their branch family members to serve within the three major ninja institutions.
Nowadays, the strength that Konoha Village projected to the outside world had experienced a leap-like improvement. This could also be glimpsed from the significantly improved quality and success rate of Konoha Village's routine mission completions. Due to the influx of many elite clan ninja into ordinary ninja squads, the overall combat capability of Konoha's various teams had been indirectly, yet substantially, elevated. This situation was somewhat similar to what occurred during the Fourth Shinobi World War in the original timeline Tatsuya knew, but the timeframe for this positive development had been greatly advanced.
Over these past four-plus years, the overall situation in the ninja world had also gradually stabilized. More than four years ago, the earth-shattering battle between Akatsuki and the Divine Court on the Moon had shaken the entire ninja world to its core. After learning the relevant intelligence passed on by Sunagakure, all Five Great Shinobi Villages had realized that these two organizations, with their astonishing and terrifying power, posed a potentially catastrophic threat to the established order of the ninja world.
This was especially true for Akatsuki, whose members were almost all S-rank rogue ninja from various hidden villages across the land. Their leader, Nagato, also harbored a deep-seated, burning enmity towards the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Seeing that even the formidable Divine Court had apparently been suppressed by Akatsuki, Konoha had taken the lead, and the Five Great Shinobi Villages had quickly organized and convened a Five Kage Summit.
The Five Kage Summit itself had proceeded remarkably smoothly, and the joint declaration they subsequently issued was indeed very impactful and intimidating. However, it ultimately turned into a complete and utter anticlimax, a one-sided show with no real payoff. After the Five Kage Summit concluded, when the Five Great Shinobi Villages organized their joint elite squads to investigate and then launch a coordinated strike against Akatsuki and the Divine Court, these two powerful ninja organizations had seemingly vanished from the face of the ninja world without a trace.
Even Ansei Hall's headquarters and Yakugakure, both known to have connections with the Divine Court, had mysteriously disappeared overnight. Nowadays, Ansei Hall still operated various branch stores in different locations throughout the ninja world. But these branch stores were all staffed by peripheral personnel, solely responsible for the outward sale of Ansei Hall's products.
There had been instances where some hidden villages, driven by desperation or ambition, couldn't resist making a move against Ansei Hall's branch stores. However, apart from managing to seize some of the branch's material assets, they had gained nothing of real value or intelligence. The price for such aggression, however, was steep: Ansei Hall would thereafter completely cut off all supplies to the entire country where that hidden village was located, causing all of Ansei Hall's various high-quality medicinal products to no longer be available through normal channels within that nation. This kind of retaliatory action not only failed to uncover Ansei Hall's true foundations but also caused the price of Ansei Hall's medicines to skyrocket within that country, leading to severe shortages in the strategic medicinal reserves of both the nation and its hidden village.
For this reason, having witnessed Ansei Hall's capabilities and its unwavering resolve to protect its interests, the major powers in the ninja world no longer dared to casually provoke this mysterious and influential organization.
After Akatsuki and the Divine Court had vanished from the scene, the allied forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, having no clear targets, maintained their joint operations for about half a year before eventually, and inevitably, disbanding automatically. No one was willing to continue wasting vast amounts of manpower and resources on such a fruitless and seemingly pointless endeavor. And neither Akatsuki nor the Divine Court had reappeared to cause any further trouble or disturbances.
The Third Hokage's gaze swept over the dozens of graduating youngsters below him, finally coming to rest on a small, distinct group standing at the far right of the formation. This group of youngsters was a special case among this year's graduates. Many of the other students in the formation were also casting curious and perhaps envious glances in their direction.
This group was, indeed, none other than Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and a few others. They had all graduated early.
Looking at this small group below, a flicker of hopeful anticipation appeared in the Third Hokage's eyes. This was the most talented and promising class of students he had seen in many, many years. Naruto, Sasuke, and Choji—these three, who had received special, intensive instruction from Tatsuya—were in a league of their own; all three of them had already reached a level of strength at least equivalent to that of a Chunin. The others in their cohort, perhaps influenced and inspired by these three, also generally possessed skills and abilities that far surpassed those of other students their age. All of them had met the stringent standards for early graduation.
Previously, the Third Hokage had been somewhat puzzled as to why Tatsuya had insisted on holding Naruto, Sasuke, and Choji back, preventing them from graduating early despite their evident capabilities. Now, however, he was beginning to understand Tatsuya's reasoning a little better.
"Hey! Sasuke, so this is what sensei meant by letting us graduate early, huh?" In the ranks of the graduates, Naruto glanced at the other familiar faces beside him, then pouted, muttering with some frustration, "I thought it was just gonna be the two of us graduating early!"
Hearing this, Sasuke shot Naruto an indifferent glance but didn't deign to reply. Truth be told, he had also misunderstood the situation. After their intense spar the previous day, Teacher Tatsuya's words had clearly seemed to be directed specifically at him and Naruto. But who would have known that when they arrived at the Ninja Academy class the next day, the announcement they received was that more than a third of their entire class had qualified for early graduation. This was quite disheartening. He had thought this was a special privilege only he and Naruto would enjoy. Who knew it would be so… cheapened by including so many others!
"Naruto, are you saying we're not qualified to graduate early with you?" Among the group, Sakura and Ino were standing just behind Naruto and Sasuke. Hearing Naruto's soft grumbling, Sakura immediately glared at him, her expression "fierce" as she whispered menacingly. Beside her, Ino also looked quite displeased.
Hearing Sakura's voice, Naruto instantly wilted. He turned his head, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as he stammered, "Huh? Haha! Sakura-chan, that's not what I meant! How could I possibly mean that!"