Chapter 162: Recuperation Time
After returning to the small cabin, Ishiro discussed the cabin's layout with Natsuki. The little girl didn't care too much about these things; she hadn't reached that age yet. Even her daily necessities had been placed there by Kotake.
So, Ishiro simply divided the cabin into two relatively independent areas, and then they each went to sleep.
Ever since his fight with Tanimoto Naoto of the Cloud Village, Ishiro hadn't rested. In between, he had experienced the battle with Sasori of the Red Sand, and now he was indeed quite tired.
Not long after lying down, Ishiro fell asleep. Since Natsuki had acknowledged this "older brother," this was the first time she had slept in the same dwelling as Ishiro. She was a bit uneasy at first, but being young, drowsiness soon overcame her, and she too fell asleep.
The next day, as Ishiro was unable to do physical training due to his foot injury, he woke up early for some balance practice. Then he took Natsuki out for a bowl of ramen and sent her off to the Ninja Academy. After returning, Ishiro practiced his Lightning Release and Fire Release ninjutsu.
Although he was recuperating, Ishiro's busy life didn't change. He merely used the time originally allocated for physical training and swordsmanship practice to practice ninjutsu instead.
These peaceful yet fixed training days continued for over ten days, ending only when Ikura completed negotiations with Sunagakure and returned to the village with the agreement between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.
Ishiro was immediately informed of the results of Ikura's negotiations with Sunagakure. In this negotiation, the Land of Earth had merely given up one Third Kazekage human puppet, but the Land of Wind had paid a considerable amount in practical benefits. For example, the Land of Wind made a one-time payment of many resources unique to their country. Additionally, the Land of Wind promised to open a trade route, centered on the Land of Earth, that would only allow entry to the border regions of the Land of Wind.
It could be said that Ikura returned fully laden, and Ishiro, as a key figure in this matter, also received credit for an S-rank mission.
However, Ishiro was now quite wealthy and somewhat looked down on the rewards for S-rank missions. The reward for an S-rank mission could roughly only be exchanged for one A-rank ninjutsu, but A-rank ninjutsu wouldn't be of much help to Ishiro now.
Conversely, learning A-rank ninjutsu would waste his energy.
So, although he knew his contribution points had increased, Ishiro didn't care much.
However, since Ikura had returned, the previously agreed-upon matter of going to the Ninja Academy to select disciples no longer needed to be delayed.
The day after Ikura returned to the village, he and Ishiro went to the Ninja Academy together.
Their current status in the village already surpassed that of the Jōnin guarding the Ninja Academy, and they directly expressed their intention to select disciples. Therefore, the Ninja Academy teachers were very enthusiastic, bringing out the files of students from various graduating classes and vying to give them detailed introductions.
However, the teachers were overly enthusiastic, introducing every single student. This process lasted an entire day. After a whole day of doing nothing but listening, the two left the Ninja Academy with their heads spinning.
After leaving, Ikura looked back at the Ninja Academy gate behind him, a wave of lingering fear washing over him. Then he said to Ishiro, "Ishiro, did you go through this last time you came to recruit disciples?"
Ishiro shook his head and said, "No, I came secretly last time. But that time, I was pressed for time to pick disciples, and I only had a simple list given by Advisor Saka. In the end, the selection was completed with Jōnin Yoshiwara's introduction."
"So this time, I was thinking of first understanding the situation from the teachers of various classes. I just didn't expect..." Ishiro shivered as he said this.
Because among the disciples Ishiro had previously recruited, Chiko Tomoe was a special case, this time the teachers of various classes introduced every single student without exception during the introduction process. One had to know that a single graduating class at the Ninja Academy had over a thousand students.
"Alright, at least we got a lot of information. Let's go back tonight and sort through the information on these students first. Tomorrow, we'll go see the students' actual situations."
Ikura nodded; it was the only way. Just thinking about the files of over a thousand students gave him a headache.
The two then separated and went their respective ways. Time was short; they had to go back and think carefully about what kind of disciple suited them.
Ishiro didn't pick Natsuki up from school today. Natsuki returned after eating dinner at Kotake's house. After returning home, Natsuki looked at this already somewhat familiar older brother and said, "Ishiro-nīchan, are you and Lord Ikura going to recruit disciples?"
Ishiro was stunned for a moment, not expecting that even younger students like Natsuki knew about this.
Ishiro nodded and asked, "Who did you hear it from?"
Natsuki replied, "I heard it from older sister Kotake. Older sister Kotake is a student in this year's graduating class."
So that was it. Indeed, the teachers certainly wouldn't hide this news from the graduating students; they would definitely instruct them to perform well.
This was also good. At least tomorrow, the Ninja Academy's graduating class would definitely be full. It wouldn't be like last time when Ishiro was selecting disciples, and the most talented group of ninja clan children didn't even come to school. In the end, Ishiro even had to search for these students elsewhere.
Ishiro had also heard a graduating class teacher mention Kotake today and had thought about asking Kotake to introduce the situation in her graduating class.
However, Ishiro had met Kotake. Kotake's talent wasn't very good, and unlike her older sister Chiko Tomoe, she didn't have an advantage in chakra sensing. Therefore, Kotake was not on the list for disciple selection, and thus, Ishiro felt embarrassed to ask.
But although Natsuki was in a lower grade, she should have heard some things about the graduating class. So Ishiro asked, "Little Natsuki, do you know about the situation with the graduating students? Tell big brother, okay?"
Natsuki nodded and then told Ishiro everything she had heard about the graduating class.
And it turned out, Natsuki knew quite a lot. The reason was that when Kotake chatted with Natsuki, she would often mention the trivial matters of the students in her year.
After analyzing the data all night, the next day, Ishiro and Ikura appeared at the Ninja Academy again. Only this time, the two no longer entered the Ninja Academy as openly as the day before.
Ishiro and Ikura first found Jōnin Yoshiwara, one of the academy guards. After getting their permission, Ishiro and Ikura used the Transformation Jutsu to turn into Yoshiwara and another guard Jōnin. The two moved around the Ninja Academy in the guise of guard Jōnin, secretly observing the students' situations.
Ishiro and Ikura didn't act separately. The two pretended to patrol while secretly sizing up the students in various classrooms.
Ishiro asked Ikura, "Ikura, did you pick any key targets last night?"
"Yes, according to the descriptions in the files, there are two individuals whose attributes are similar to mine." Saying this, Ikura took out two detailed files.
Ishiro glanced at them and nodded. He had also focused on these two files last night. Both individuals had good talent and were students in the top class. Indeed, as Ikura said, their types were very similar to Ikura's. Although they hadn't graduated yet, both already possessed two chakra natures, and these two natures were consistent with Ikura's primary and secondary natures.
Most importantly, like Ikura, both were well-rounded "hexagonal warriors" who were balanced in all aspects. Whether it was taijutsu, swordsmanship, or ninjutsu, they had no obvious shortcomings.
Ishiro also knew these two had good talent, but they were not on his priority list because Ishiro had never been an all-rounder.
Ishiro's preference was very clear: emphasizing ninjutsu and downplaying taijutsu. Although he later learned some swordsmanship and unexpectedly mastered sword aura, Ishiro had always positioned himself as a ninjutsu-type ninja.
Ishiro wouldn't know how to guide this type of all-rounder, so Ishiro just felt a slight regret and didn't pay them much more attention.
"Are there any others besides these two?" Ishiro asked again.
"There are also these few. The first one is a ninja skilled in Earth Release. The file describes that he already has the idea of developing ninjutsu, and from the direction of the ninjutsu he's developing, it suits my fighting style quite well."
"Oh?" Ishiro carefully looked at this student's file. This student's talent was average, and during last night's selection, he hadn't caught Ishiro's attention. There was no helping it; Ishiro paid the most attention to Water Release.
Earth Release, although also one of Ishiro's main affinities, Ishiro didn't have many of his own insights into Earth Release training, unlike Water Release, which he had studied extensively for a long time.
"Any more?"
"The second one is a female student, skilled in sealing jutsus."
"Huh?" Ishiro was a bit surprised this time. Skilled in sealing jutsus? Shouldn't this be the standard for his own disciple selection?
Ikura knew Ishiro was curious, blushed a little, and said, "For sealing jutsus, Yumi can provide guidance."
"Oh~~~" Ishiro understood, then deliberately dragged out the sound, making Ikura's face even redder.
This kid and Uzumaki Yumi were progressing quite quickly, huh? Now they were even considering each other when recruiting disciples.
Next, Ikura introduced a few more students he planned to focus on.
"What about you? Do you have any students you want to observe closely?"
"Yes, look at this." Saying this, Ishiro took out a file. "This is the one I'm most optimistic about."
Ikura looked at the file in Ishiro's hand and then unconsciously read it out loud: "Matsutani Shinya, from an ordinary class, hmm? Doesn't seem to have any special skills. Theory class, practical combat class, all his grades are just average."
After reading the file, Ikura was somewhat puzzled.
"Hehe, I originally thought so too. Didn't I take in a younger sister? From her, I heard some things about this year's graduates, including this Matsutani Shinya," Ishiro explained to Ikura.
"This Matsutani Shinya's grades are indeed average. To say average is actually quite euphemistic; it should be said they are very poor. If nothing unexpected happens, he, like Chiko Tomoe, should belong to the group of students in the ordinary class whose graduation is even in question."
"However, he has one amazing trait: he is quite close to small animals. I've recently been trying to find a way to learn Sage Mode. Of course, I haven't even found the doorway to this matter yet."
"But, I have a guess: people who are closer to nature are more likely to learn Sage Mode. This Matsutani Shinya might be the type of person I'm guessing."
"This kind of person who is naturally close to nature has one drawback: a lack of ambition. This Matsutani Shinya, when he first enrolled, his talent was among the top in his class. But because he didn't study hard and didn't train diligently, his grades naturally dropped."
Ishiro shared his thoughts with Ikura.
"So that's how it is. It's just that natural energy is probably not easy to control. Since this Matsutani Shinya doesn't train diligently, how do you plan to motivate him?"
With Ikura's question, Ishiro's expression faltered a bit. Whether it was Ishiro himself or his current three disciples, their training was all very self-disciplined. They didn't need external supervision and would arrange their time to be fully packed.
As for a problem child like Matsutani Shinya, Ishiro really didn't have a good solution: "I can only take it one step at a time."
Saying this, Ishiro pulled out a second file...
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