A few days later.
News of the founding of the Ninja Academy had already spread throughout the village of Konoha.
The civilians were especially excited upon hearing about it.
They understood that with the establishment of a shinobi school, their children would have the chance to become ninjas. This, in turn, meant the opportunity to change their social standing and their future.
As for the ninja clans, reactions varied—some were shocked, others confused, and still others scornful...
Hashirama Senju, the Hokage, had already issued a public notice: once the Ninja Academy opened, all children of suitable age in the village could attend and study.
The birth of the Ninja Academy would allow the village to quickly train a batch of Genin and Chūnin, and the Senju brothers placed great importance on this.
Of course, there were certain entry requirements...
First, the children were generally required to be around six or seven years old, though a bit older was fine too.
Secondly, they needed to possess chakra potential—this was the most crucial point. Without the aptitude for ninjutsu, everything else was meaningless.
Additionally, students were required to be physically and mentally healthy, love the village deeply, and be willing to dedicate themselves to it.
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Today was the first day of the Ninja Academy.
Tobirama Senju left home before dawn to handle preparations for the opening.
Renya, dressed in black, reluctantly made his way to the academy.
At this time of day, he would normally still be training on the field.
"Damn it, I really didn't expect I'd have to go to school."
If it weren't for Tobirama making that decision without consulting him, he wouldn't have had to suffer through waking up early to attend classes.
Just thinking about how he had the soul of an adult, yet had to go to school with a bunch of little brats, filled him with frustration.
The only consolation was that children in the shinobi world tended to mature early, which might make things a bit better.
Renya spent quite some time mentally preparing himself, finally managing to calm down and accept it.
But the more he walked, the more irritated he became. Eventually, he stopped in his tracks, turned around, and headed back home.
"School sucks. I'd rather go home and train."
Clearly, Renya had developed school fatigue before even starting.
———————
Konoha was bustling with activity.
Members of all the major clans, dressed in elegant clothing, were making their way toward the Ninja Academy.
Even though they felt the academy's education wouldn't match what their clans could provide, they still brought their children to enroll.
After all, this was the Hokage's order—they couldn't ignore it...
Besides, this Hokage was the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju!
Only the major clans like the Uchiha and Hyūga were thinking along those lines.
The smaller clans were genuinely eager to send their children to study at the academy.
Truth be told, their own training standards might not actually be better than what the academy offered.
A large crowd of parents and children had gathered at the gates of the academy.
Even the clan heads from various families showed up in support, signifying their allegiance to Konoha.
Clans like the Uchiha, Senju, Hyūga, Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi—big and small alike—had all come.
As a result, the school entrance was packed to the brim.
Everyone was waiting for the gates to open.
In the early days of Konoha's founding, most ninjas came from clans—over 90%—with civilian ninjas making up less than 10%.
On the roof of the school building.
Tobirama Senju stood with arms crossed, nodding in satisfaction at the crowd below.
"Tobirama, can we open the gates now?" Hashirama asked.
"We can." Tobirama replied.
The reason he hadn't opened the gates immediately was because he wanted to observe if any clans didn't show up.
If a clan didn't come, it meant they were disrespecting the Hokage.
And that gave him grounds to question their motives...
He might not know exactly who came, but he definitely knew who didn't.
From the looks of it, though, most of the major clans had arrived.
Tobirama was quite satisfied with this outcome.
Only by uniting the clans and the village could Konoha truly flourish.
"I wonder if that brat showed up?"
Tobirama scanned the crowd but didn't see any sign of Renya.
He recalled Renya's expression of resistance upon learning he had to attend school.
A strange look crept across Tobirama's face as he muttered to himself:
"Did that little brat skip school?"
Knowing Renya, Tobirama figured it was entirely possible.
With that in mind, his figure flickered and vanished from the rooftop.
————————
Senju residence.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Renya was in the training yard practicing ninjutsu.
Suddenly, he felt a chill at his back. Instinctively, he turned around.
He saw Tobirama Senju standing with arms crossed, staring at him with a dark expression.
Renya froze, scratched his nose awkwardly, and tried to change the subject.
"Tobirama-san, why are you back so early? It's not even mealtime yet."
He didn't mention anything about the academy starting today.
"You little brat, why didn't you go to school?" Tobirama asked coldly.
"School? What school?" Renya feigned ignorance.
He tried to come up with another excuse to delay it, but Tobirama wasn't giving him the chance.
"Heh."
Tobirama let out a cold chuckle, grabbed Renya, and disappeared from the yard.
————————
Ninja Academy.
"People of Konoha!" Hashirama Senju's voice echoed across the campus. "Today, we mark the opening ceremony of the Ninja Academy!"
"This is not only the beginning of your children's education, but also a crucial moment in passing down the Will of Fire!"
Renya had just been dragged in when he heard Hashirama start preaching about the Will of Fire.
He was already annoyed about attending school, and now he had to sit through this propaganda.
He curled his lips disdainfully.
"So this is the Will of Fire?"
At its core, the Will of Fire was about protection, legacy, and sacrifice.
Renya wasn't interested in any of that. In his view, the only thing that mattered was strength.
It was precisely because Hashirama was strong that people stood here to listen to him. If it were someone else, who'd even bother?
What Renya didn't expect was for Hashirama to go on and on…
He spoke for over an hour without stopping.
When Hashirama finally finished, the crowd burst into loud applause.
"Thank god that's over!" Renya's eyes welled with tears of joy, and he clapped enthusiastically.
Only the heavens knew how excruciating that hour had been!
At that moment, Hashirama noticed Renya's expression and paused.
He thought Renya had been deeply moved by his speech and smiled warmly in his direction.
What a good kid little Renya was!
Renya, noticing Hashirama's kind look, stood there confused, a huge question mark forming over his head.
Why was Hashirama looking at him like that?
Wait a second… could he have heard what I said just now?!
"Danzo, did you see that? Hokage-sama is looking at me with pride!"
"Hiruzen, stop bragging! Hokage-sama is clearly looking at me!"
Hearing the voices next to him, Renya turned his head in surprise.
Standing beside him were two kids around eight or nine years old, arguing nonstop.
These two would one day become the Third Hokage and the so-called Shadow!
[Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo's age is set at nine—don't worry about minor details]
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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