Chapter 541: Konoha is Still the Konoha that Loves Infighting
Three days later, at the Iwagakure Ninja Academy.
Ishiro arrived with Riori Uzumaki and Akino Atsumi to select disciples.
Riori had completely forgotten about taking on students, but when Ishiro's big announcement reached her, she remembered.
Her dear "little brother," Neji-kun, had told her he wanted to graduate early.
Neji still had a year left, but his skills had long since surpassed the need to play ninja games with his classmates.
With Kitsuchi as his instructor, Neji's growth was rapid. Coupled with his unique background, the preternaturally mature Neji trained with extreme diligence. As a result, though still an Academy student, his strength already surpassed most of Iwagakure's Chunin.
With his mindset and skills, he could have graduated long ago.
However, Ishiro had him frequently study Yin Release with Katsumata and Natsuki these past few years, so Neji hadn't felt that being at the Academy was a waste of time.
The reason he suddenly mentioned graduating early to Riori was that Ishiro seemed to have found a way to break the Caged Bird seal. He was now busy with the preparatory work and had no time for the Academy.
It was while chatting with Neji about school that Riori heard about Ishiro's disciple selection.
And so, she remembered her promise to Akino that they would both pick disciples this year.
Ishiro glanced at Akino Atsumi, silently asking what was going on.
Akino could only return an innocent look, silently begging Ishiro to solve this problem for her. In her opinion, Ishiro was the only person in Iwagakure who could manage Riori.
Ishiro glanced at Riori, who was looking around excitedly, and sighed. "We'll see."
The trio entered the Ninja Academy. This time, Ishiro didn't hide his identity, attending the graduating class's tournament openly as the Tsuchikage.
When they arrived, the first competition was already underway.
Over a hundred shogi boards were set up on the training grounds, with students on either side, already deep in battle.
The spectating students saw Ishiro, and though they bowed, they remained silent. Quiet while observing a game, their teachers had instructed them.
Aside from the graduating class, there were many students from the younger years as well. Neji, Kurotsuchi, Karin, Ii Minazuki, Sakura, Shion, and Yakumo Kurama were all present.
Among the crowd, there were even many of the village's Jonin.
Curious, Ishiro called one over to ask what they were doing.
The man replied, "Lord Tsuchikage, we also wanted to see how you pick your disciples, and to see if we might have a chance to select a few outstanding students for ourselves."
Ishiro was amused. He paused and said, "I'm using this method to find a few future staff officers for the village. What's so interesting about that?"
"Fine, watch if you want."
The man-kun acknowledged, and seeing Ishiro had no other questions, returned to the Jonin section to watch.
Ishiro chatted quietly with the Academy instructors, then walked a lap around the competition field with Akino and Riori.
The first round was shogi. Ishiro didn't understand the game, so he just did a quick pass before returning to the seat the instructors had prepared for him.
Riori, after one lap, got bored and ditched them to find Neji.
A moment later, Neji's group of seven followed Riori over to Ishiro.
Kurotsuchi spoke first, "Lord Tsuchikage, I heard Neji is graduating early this year! I want to graduate early too!"
Ishiro hadn't known about Neji's plan, so he turned to look at him.
Neji said, "Ishiro-sensei, I've been busy recently and don't have time for the Academy, so I figured I might as well graduate early."
Kurotsuchi interjected again, "Lord Tsuchikage, let me and Karin graduate early too! We can be a squad."
Ishiro rolled his eyes and gave Kurotsuchi a bop on the head. "You're not even a genin yet, and you're already arranging squads?"
Kurotsuchi rubbed her forehead and pouted, very unhappy.
Just then, one of the hundred matches on the field concluded.
A sheet with the results—listing the winner, loser, game time, and number of moves—was delivered to Ishiro.
He glanced at it, and a name caught his eye: Aono Shinichi?
He was one of the students Ishiro had noted when reviewing the class list. Though he was a student from the regular class with average ninjutsu and taijutsu, he was known for his love of shogi. Ishiro had high hopes for him.
Ishiro showed no reaction, simply placing the sheet aside.
As the other matches continued, Ishiro suddenly thought of something. He looked back at Karin. "Karin, you're applying for early graduation too?"
Karin looked at Neji, then at Kurotsuchi, who was frantically giving her eye signals. She said, "Yes, Ishiro-sensei."
Ishiro nodded. "Alright. How about this: the three of you form a squad, and your Riori-neechan will be your captain. How's that?"
Riori, who had overheard, whipped her head around. Her eyes shining, she nodded desperately before any of the three could react. "Yes, yes!"
Kurotsuchi's mouth hung open. Did I just... reap what I sowed? Riori-neechan? As a squad leader?
Neji was also dumbstruck. But when Riori's gaze fell on him, he quickly put on a bright, "surprised" expression.
"That's great!" he said. "With Riori-neechan guiding us, we'll definitely become Chunin in no time!"
Neji made a firm decision: he would take the Chunin exams as soon as possible and get promoted.
Kurotsuchi looked at Neji in disbelief. I never knew you were this kind of person, Neji.
She then flashed a brilliant smile at Riori and said sweetly, "Hello, Riori-sensei!"
Riori smiled, satisfied. She looked at the last member. Karin, being quick-witted, had caught on the moment Neji caved.
She bowed deeply to Riori. "Please take good care of us, Riori-sensei."
Beside them, Ii Minazuki, Sakura, Shion, and Yakumo Kurama all shot the trio looks of utter contempt.
Riori, now an official Jonin-sensei, was filled with motivation. She cheerfully dragged her three new students off to the training grounds. Today, she was going to teach them the "Fire Release: Fire Row Technique."
Watching the four of them leave, Akino Atsumi opened her mouth several times before finally asking Ishiro, "Ishiro-sensei, will they... really be okay?"
Ishiro waved his hand. "Relax. I have a plan for how they'll be trained."
Akino felt only slightly relieved. Then she had another thought. Ishiro could oversee their training, but Riori would be the one taking them on missions...
Will she really be okay? I hope Neji and the others can teach Riori-sensei well.
The hundred matches of the first round ended one by one, and the second round, xiangqi, began.
The two tournaments were staggered, round after round. The competition lasted for three days.
By the afternoon of the third day, the two champions had finally emerged.
The shogi winner was, as expected, Aono Shinichi. He had won almost every match with crushing dominance.
The xiangqi winner was a shy little girl named Shizuka Minamoto.
She was from the regular class, with average grades and no special talents. Ishiro had read the entire class list but had no memory of her.
Ishiro knew how to play xiangqi. To be honest, the girl's skill level was average, and her path to victory had been difficult. The main reason was that no one was familiar with the game. It was a bunch of novices pecking at each other, and Shizuka had simply been a faster learner, grasping a few basic strategies before the others.
If he had given them a few more days, she probably wouldn't have come close to first place.
But that was exactly the ability Ishiro was looking for: the ability to quickly master new rules and use them to one's advantage.
Battlefield situations were fluid and rarely left time for deep thought. Quick wits were often more important than raw intellect.
Ishiro had always been annoyed by the scene in the original story where Shikamaru sat under a tree to slowly think during his match with Temari. This is war, a life-or-death battle! Who's going to give you time to sit and think?!
If not for the plot armor, would Shikamaru have won?
Aono Shinichi and Shizuka Minamoto were now confirmed as his new disciples.
In addition, Ishiro had also picked a third student based on the files: a girl named Rion.
Rion was different from Shizuka. Shizuka enjoyed board games, even if her skill wasn't top-tier. Rion, however, had a personality more like Himeki Suda or Riori Uzumaki.
Ishiro had spoken to her homeroom teacher: Rion was a civilian-born student from the regular class. Forget having a hobby like shogi, she had probably never even touched a game piece. She liked to fight, her taijutsu was decent (for the regular class), and her theory grades were average.
Ishiro gave the third spot to Rion because he felt that learning a completely new and uninteresting subject in just three days and performing well (Rion had been eliminated in the round of eight by Shizuka) was a massive virtue in itself.
With that, Ishiro's new "Squad 8" was officially formed.
It was the first time he had ever assembled a squad where all three members were chosen for their intellect.
After Ishiro finished, Akino Atsumi and the other Jonin who had been watching for three days began to select their own disciples.
While Iwagakure was buzzing with excitement, Konoha was not quiet.
Ever since the failed operation to capture Danzō, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been in low spirits, trapped in a deep state of self-recrimination.
In the past, he had forced the White Fang to suicide, caused Tsunade's hemophobia, and watched Orochimaru defect, but none of it had produced such a strong feeling of regret.
Danzō, after all, had been his companion through decades of storms.
But from the moment Danzō activated the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, the two of them could never again chat about life and ideals. Even in death, Hiruzen's final resting place would be a memorial stone that Danzō did not share.
Now, Hiruzen saw Danzō everywhere.
Danzō sat in that chair. That person's silhouette looks like Danzō. That shop has the little toys Danzō loved.
Danzō once smiled at me from the end of that street.
Danzō used to slam this door when he was angry with me. It's been broken for years, but I never had the heart to replace it.
For the first few months after Hiruzen's return, it was manageable. But as time went on, a rumor began to spread through Konoha.
The rumor was simple: Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō had colluded to kill the members of the great clans.
The rumor, of course, was spread by Iwa. The goal was to make the Konoha villagers turn on Hiruzen, just as they had with the White Fang, and force him to commit suicide.
But as the rumor spread, it twisted.
The villagers' focus shifted: The Third Hokage and the Sixth Hokage were publicly suppressing the village's great clans.
After Danzō killed those Root ninja, the heads of the great clans had gradually begun to withdraw their members from active duty.
Many clan ninja had been in the ANBU, or were team-leading Jonin and Chunin. Now, their clan heads were calling them all back.
Shikaku Nara and the others had a justifiable reason: their clan businesses were numerous, and they were short on manpower.
The subtext was: The Hokage's 'lineage' has cost us grievous losses. We are done sacrificing. We need to rest and rebuild.
With his intelligence, Shikaku knew this would deepen the rift between clan-born and civilian-born ninja.
But Danzō's move had been too vicious.
The great clans had never suffered such humiliation since the village's founding. They had sent their elites into Root, and in an instant, they were all gone.
They genuinely needed to recuperate and restore their strength.
As for whether this would harm the village or increase the burden on civilian-born ninja... well, that was just too bad.
Shikaku and the others were now the village's high command. They controlled the political discourse, and the civilian-born ninja had no voice.
So, despite knowing the consequences, they did it anyway.
At first, the clan heads worried this might provoke a "correction" from the Hokage's lineage. After all, they didn't have a true Kage-level shinobi to back them up. Even Might Guy, who was Kage-level, was on Kakashi's side.
But they soon realized they had worried for nothing.
Of the two leaders of the "Hokage lineage," one (Hiruzen) was in a mental fog, either reminiscing about the good times with Danzō or regretting that he hadn't stopped him.
The other (Kakashi) was busy practicing Wood Release, preparing for his Hashirama cell transplant.
After seeing the power of Danzō's Wood Release in the Land of Wind, Kakashi was even more cautious. What if Danzō's insanity was related to the transplant?
To free up his time, Kakashi had even delegated daily village affairs to Shikaku Nara. He had no energy for these squabbles.
Kakashi might have known the rift was growing, but he didn't have a free hand. He was probably thinking that once he finished his transplant and his power increased, then he would have a good, long "talk" with Shikaku and the others.
But Kakashi perhaps didn't realize that not only was his path as a ninja becoming more like Danzō's, but his very way of thinking was as well.
Danzō's idea had been the same: use the village's resources to increase his own strength, then use that power to force the great clans into submission.
In fact, Ishiro was doing the same thing. The White Sphere project was consuming Iwa's war profits, and it was fundamentally a project to strengthen Ishiro alone.
However, Ishiro had the full support of his high command. And the funds he was using were funds he had "robbed" from other villages. He wasn't directly harming his own village's interests.
Kakashi and Danzō were different. Their experiments consumed Konoha's funds—funds they had not earned.
Kakashi was only able to conduct his experiments because he had ceded power to the very clans who held the village's purse strings.
With the Land of Wind branch construction and other matters, many important village positions had opened up. But Hiruzen and Kakashi were both checked out.
So, Shikaku and the others installed their own clan members. They had no choice; to restore their clans, they needed resources, not just time.
This made the civilian-born ninja furious. So, you clans recall your people from active duty, claiming you're short-staffed, but you simultaneously install your own people in all the important, high-paying jobs?
To make it worse, because the clans had lost so many elites, many of the people they appointed were unqualified, lacking the strength or seniority to command respect.
And so, in the shadows, Konoha had, as was its habit, split into two new opposing factions.
Iwa's rumor about Hiruzen and Danzō was a spark in a powder keg.
As the villagers talked, the conflict between civilian and clan ninja was dragged from the shadows into the open.
While it wasn't brought up in high-level meetings, everyone was talking about it.
The morale of Konoha's civilian ninja plummeted. Why bother? they thought. We risk our lives on missions, and the bulk of the village's income goes to those clan ninja sitting in offices.
If those people were strong, experienced veterans, it would be one thing. But many of them had no record. They had never bled for the village.
So why did they get those positions? Just because they were born a Nara? Or a Hyūga?
Of course, while the resentment was high, it wasn't at the point of rebellion.
It just meant that more ninja were calling in sick. Konoha's mission success rate plummeted.
Konoha's reputation in the shinobi world began to sour.
...
When Iwa's intelligence ninja finally untangled what was happening in Konoha and reported it to Ishiro, he was baffled.
"Konoha is split into two factions again? And this time, it really wasn't me!"
In the original story, this class conflict hadn't been prominent, thanks to Hiruzen's gentle hand. But now, Danzō had been too impatient, and he'd "hurt" the clans.
And the clans were pushing back.
The clan ninja, too, had their own resentment.
They were taught that their ancestors had built Konoha. While our ancestors were bleeding for this village, the ancestors of those civilians didn't even know what a ninja was.
They felt Konoha belonged to them. Especially with the Senju and Uchiha gone, wasn't it their village?
The Hyūga, in particular. Though the branch family kowtowed to the main family, outside the compound, they were the "number one clan in Konoha," the masters of the village.
We're just taking back what's ours. Is that wrong?
Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Danzō stole it from us!
(Well, Tobirama was dead, so it was all Hiruzen and Danzō's fault.)
Ishiro hadn't considered this angle, but when he received the intel, he was overjoyed.
He immediately called his assistant. "Have we contacted Danzō?"
"Lord Tsuchikage, not yet. The ANBU have been searching, but there's no trace of him."
Ishiro said, "Hurry up. Send more people. If you can't find him, just spread the word publicly that I have business to discuss with him."
He paused. "If he doesn't trust us, he can send a subordinate. It's not hard for him to grab some random ninja and put a Cursed Seal on them."
The assistant asked, "Lord TSuchikage, won't Konoha find out?"
Ishiro pointed at the intelligence report. "Konoha is busy. They don't have time for this. Just do it."
"Yes, sir." The assistant left.
Ishiro sat in his office, took out a piece of paper, and began writing down the names of Konoha's clans and their leaders.
He took out another sheet and listed Konoha's most famous civilian-born Elite Jonin.
Then, combining his knowledge from the original story with this new intelligence, he began to analyze.
(End of Chapter)
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