In the shinobi world, only children with ninja talent could enter a ninja school.
Some kids start licking blood off the blade at the age of five and were even sent to the battlefield.
Yahiko didn't like that.
In Yoake, there was nine-year compulsory education. As long as the parents paid some textbook and meal fees, the children could enroll.
By the time this group of students graduates from elementary school, the education department would almost have enough funds to build a middle school.
Completing the full nine years of school means they would be about 14 years old, considered adulthood by shinobi world standards.
Yahiko hoped they at least completed nine years before thinking about serving the village.
He also planned to let students skip high school and go directly to university, but only if they had the strength or academic level to meet the entry standard.
Of course, all of this was policy decided by him after meetings with the upper leadership.
---
September 1st, the sky was cloudless.
Today was the first day of school at the newly built Ninja Academy in Yoake.
Because it was the very first day, the registered children were so excited the night before that they jumped out of bed the moment the adults called them.
They had seen Yahiko perform water, wind, and fire jutsu before, a series of flashy ninjutsu that mesmerized the kids.
They had heard ninja school would teach exactly that.
Yuki was a new first grader. She slung a small cloth bag over her shoulder and held her father's hand as they left home. Along the way, her bright eyes scanned the surroundings.
"Takeshi!"
She spotted a familiar boy wearing glasses, another new first grader heading to school.
Takeshi's gloomy face lit up when he heard her voice.
"Idiot! Where are you going?" His father, Nobita, grabbed his ear, exasperated that his son got all giddy the moment he saw Yuki.
"I'm going to see Yuki. Dad, let go!"
"You're here to send your kid too?" Yuki's father stepped up with a friendly smile and greeted him.
"Yeah, shall we go together?"
"Let's go together."
The four of them headed to school.
Takeshi was skipping along the road and even tripped and fell once.
But Yahiko happened to be passing by and caught him just in time.
"Thanks." Takeshi scratched his head awkwardly as he looked at Yuki.
"..." Yahiko was now quite worried about the future of Yoake.
After instructing the adults to have the cafeteria prepare more food, he used the Body Flicker Technique to instantly appear at the ninja school.
Takeshi was left wide-eyed in awe.
"Wow! My goal is to become village chief! Let's go, Takeshi! You can definitely do it!" he said, adjusting his glasses.
"Pfft. 'I can definitely do it'... Takeshi, are you here to be the bottom of the class? Hahaha."
"Idiot Takeshi, what are you even doing in school? Hahaha."
Of course, this drew ridicule from two kids passing by, named Gian and Suneo.
"You two jerks, just wait and see!"
Inside the school, more and more children arrived. Many parents put down their work to accompany their kids to the entrance ceremony.
As the nominal principal, Yahiko naturally had to give a speech on the first day.
"I'm Yahiko, um, your principal. Well... On this bright autumn day, seeing all of you so full of energy, I'm really looking forward to the future."
"..."
"Let's fight for freedom! Let's make Yoake proud!"
Yahiko shouted passionately from the stage.
"Yes!"
The audience erupted into applause. Parents and children clapped till their hands hurt.
Except for two children who were much taller than the rest, both looked completely numb.
Kyosuke and Daibutsu.
These two knew ninjutsu but, due to a chaotic childhood, were illiterate, can you believe it?
So Yahiko tossed them straight into the first grade to learn reading and new ideas.
Next to them stood several older kids who were also clearly beyond first-grade age, in similar circumstances.
Kyosuke and Daibutsu had already become the de facto leaders of these older "first-graders."
"Yahiko-sama..." Kyosuke looked helplessly at Yahiko giving his speech on stage.
Even the normally simple Daibutsu looked pretty embarrassed.
Just then, a small boy with glasses approached, his head barely reached Daibutsu's stomach.
This guy seemed to be in the same class as them?
"Hello! We're classmates now. My name's Takeshi. I heard you know ninjutsu and are even stronger than my dad. Can you teach me?"
"O...Okay." Daibutsu crouched down and replied awkwardly.
"This is a crime..." Kyosuke covered his face. At that moment, a group of kids as small as Takeshi gathered around.
Yep, all of them were classmates too...
"For the next nine years of school life, I hope everyone gets along well... The school's development depends on everyone's effort. Let's work together... I believe that if we unite, we can create a brighter future!"
Yahiko got more and more excited as he spoke on stage, and somehow, once he picked up the megaphone, he couldn't stop talking.
As if someone had had enough of his rambling, a shuriken suddenly flew and landed at his feet.
He was furious. These students were too unruly, already challenging the principal on the first day of first grade? He picked it up and found the shuriken looked kind of familiar... those were paper shuriken.
"And now, let's welcome the Head Instructor, Konan, to give a speech."
He cleared his throat. He had said everything he needed to say and didn't really have more to add.
"Hello..."
Next, it was Konan's turn to speak on stage.
Lately, Yahiko had been finding all kinds of random proposals on his office desk, mostly about where to buy explosive tags cheaper.
To divert her attention, he appointed Konan as the Head Instructor and assigned her a class to teach.
It had been over a year since the village was founded, but he didn't trust her to handle any money.
She absolutely couldn't be left idle, when she got bored, she somehow managed to conjure up tens of billions worth of explosive tags out of nowhere.
That's all money, after all.
"Thank you. That's all from me today. As long as you obey the rules and behave, you're all good children in my eyes."
Clap clap clap!
The thunderous applause broke Yahiko's train of thought.
Konan's speech had clearly won over the crowd. Even the kids in the audience, some of whom were older than Yahiko and Konan, didn't underestimate the girl who had just stepped off the stage.
This was the same girl who once chased down savage mountain bandits across the hills using just her paper ninjutsu.
---
The first class of the day: Yahiko came in to observe.
There were five classes in total, with over a hundred students altogether.
He chose to sit in on Grade 1, Class 2, the class Konan was teaching.
"Repeat after me: 'Wa', wa wa wa..."
"'Wa', wa wa wa..."
She was teaching phonetics on the podium while the students followed along below.
Ahem...
Yahiko was unusually attentive, eyes fixed on Konan's teaching methods, not even making a single distracting move.
This made Takeshi in the back row admire him even more.
So this is what lifelong learning looks like? A true expert always carries a heart eager to learn!
---
Next door, the village's newly opened nursing home was welcoming visitors today.
Compared to the ninja school where first graders were learning phonics and Japanese characters...
Madara was quite intrigued by this so-called "nursing home."
Back during the war-torn era, some small clans would abandon the elderly to ease their burdens, basically ignoring those who couldn't contribute anymore.
But the Uchiha clan, full of love and compassion, had always shown respect to elders. Back in the Warring States era, as clan leader, he himself had supported and comforted countless disabled elders.
Yet this model, where the village pooled money to gather and care for the elderly, was something he had never seen before.
Wasn't this just another version of an orphanage for old people? It was a first in his life.
"Hm? What are those people talking about?" he ordered White Zetsu to eavesdrop out of curiosity.
Inside the nursing home, a group of elderly folks sat around a chessboard, listening intently to a red-haired elder who was chatting and playing chess at the same time.
"Do you know who was another great rival of the so-called God of Shinobi, Hashirama?"
"Madara?" One elder with historical knowledge responded.
To be fair, everyone present had at least heard of that man's name. Rumor had it he defected and had an epic battle with Hashirama at the Valley of the End.
Being on par with the ninja god of his era, undeniably impressive.
"Hehehe..." The red-haired elder chuckled softly, his eyes growing bright with nostalgia. He began, "That was a long time ago... The second son of the Senju clan leader, Tobirama, came to the Uzumaki clan to arrange a marriage. That's right, the bride was my cousin, Mito."
The other elders were puzzled. What does this have to do with Madara?
Their curiosity grew.
Meanwhile, underground, Madara's expression turned so dark, it was as if shadows bled from his skin.
Shuzen!
That year, his father had sent him to sabotage the union between the Senju and Uzumaki clans. It was not his idea.
This elder had used a flawless transformation jutsu to disguise himself as Hashirama and completely fooled him.
When they met, the fake Hashirama actually ran up crying, saying he didn't want the marriage, that he was being forced by his parents. Madara, thinking it was really Hashirama, didn't resist. In fact, he was ready to console his "rival's" sorrow. But then that guy pulled out a sealing technique.
He instinctively grabbed the handle of his scythe, suppressing the urge to crawl out of hiding and chop the guy to pieces.
Still, as much as the elder ran his mouth, the chess game was kind of interesting.
"Knight to..."
Madara sighed. After being lonely for so long, his hands were itching to play a couple of rounds.
All for the peace of the shinobi world. For a brighter future. Someone had to carry the burden, after all.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got!
"Hahaha! Checkmate!"
"Eh? Shuzen, how did your rook end up in my rook's place? Didn't I already capture it?"
"What? When did you capture it?"
Madara clenched his teeth. This elder clearly still knew how to use low-level techniques like transformation jutsu.
White Zetsu: "Could you tell me what it feels like to poop?"
Madara: "..."
Shuzen: "..."
All the elderly folks: "..."