Chapter 273: A Kage's Disciples
A few days later, the Ninja Academy became lively again, and this time, the enthusiasm was far greater than any time before because two Kage would be coming to accept disciples.
The Third and Fourth generations accepting disciples at the same time—as soon as this news came out, even many students who were a year away from graduation applied to graduate early.
After all, Ishiro's pattern of accepting disciples was clear. If they couldn't become Ishiro's disciple this year, there would definitely be no chance next year.
Faced with this situation, Ishiro discussed it with Ōnoki and convened a meeting of the village's Jonin.
Ishiro proposed that for any Jonin who could guide a student to the quasi-Jonin level within four years, it would count as one S-rank mission. And there was no upper limit to the number of such S-rank missions.
As soon as this proposal was made, many Jonin were immediately tempted. S-rank missions were too rare. The rich rewards were secondary; what was important were the accompanying benefits. Many of the village's ninjutsu and secret scrolls required a record of S-rank missions to be exchanged for.
Some position appointments also required a certain number of S-rank mission records.
Training a quasi-Jonin in four years seemed like a long time, but the advantage was its safety. The danger of performing S-rank missions was very high. Although ninjas were not afraid of death, no one would accept a mission they knew to be certain death.
Many Jonin, in fact, had never performed an S-rank mission.
To boost everyone's enthusiasm, Ishiro directly supplemented the S-rank mission records for the supervising Jonin who had met the standard in the past.
For example, Ikura was credited with three S-rank missions; as for Ishiro himself, he was directly credited with nine.
Squad One's three members: Chiko Tomoe, Kajiyama Ri, and Kawakita. Squad Two's three members: Shinya Matsutani, Ogura Saki, and Takumi. All six had long since become Jonin.
Takuhiro Uchiyama of Squad Four had already been a quasi-Jonin during the Chunin Exams a year ago.
And in the past year, Kazumasa Yoshimura of Squad Three and Kanako of Squad Four had also successively become quasi-Jonin.
Kanako, having received the insights from Konan after she became a near-Kage, although she had not yet mastered Paper Release like a Kekkei Genkai, had also benefited greatly and became a quasi-Jonin.
As for Kazumasa, because he was developing hand seals, he received great support from the village, learning many ninjutsu for free and gaining experience from various different ninjutsu, completing his transformation.
Now, among Ishiro's disciples, only Katsumata and Himeki Suda of Squad Three and Yuran Kawazoe of Squad Four had not yet become quasi-Jonin.
However, for Ishiro and Ikura, one a Kage and the other an advisor, S-rank missions were not of much use to them.
But this operation still attracted the attention of most of the Jonin.
After Ishiro distributed the list and detailed introductions of this year's graduates to the Jonin, those students with good talent immediately became the objects of everyone's competition.
"Ahem, this top student named Deidara has already been reserved by Lord Third. As for the others, who can take them as disciples will depend on your own abilities."
"Those who are interested, fill out a form. Tomorrow you can go to the Ninja Academy and talk to the students you value and give them the form. As for who they ultimately choose, no one should interfere; it's all voluntary."
"But there is one point: the disciples you take must be in groups of three; you can't just take one."
"Yes," the numerous Jonin answered in unison.
The next day, the Ninja Academy was unprecedentedly lively. One after another, Jonin who were usually not seen all went to the Ninja Academy, expressing their desire to take on disciples.
Although the disciples these Jonin valued were mostly the same, after a count, the number of favored students still exceeded fifty.
Considering that most Jonin might only have one or two students choose them, and they would still have to recruit one or two more to make up a three-man squad, then at least over a hundred people from this year's class would be taken as disciples by Jonin.
Even though more than half of them would not be given special attention, being able to grow under the guidance of a Jonin would still be much better for their future.
Only after these Jonin had finished selecting their disciples did Ishiro and Ōnoki begin to select theirs again.
Ōnoki's disciple selection was relatively easy. Because his goal was clear, Ōnoki just wanted to take Deidara as his disciple. The other two were mainly to support Deidara.
So Ōnoki chose a taijutsu ninja and a sword technique ninja, two close-combat ninjas to support Deidara, a powerful long-range damage dealer, which was a perfect fit.
But Ishiro's idea for taking disciples was rather unconventional. Under normal circumstances, Ishiro didn't consider team synergy. Anyway, they would be in a team for only about two years. After two years, the team would disband, and everyone would go their separate ways. Synergy could be disregarded.
Ishiro still followed his original method, mainly choosing students with their own unique characteristics.
The other two students Ishiro chose were Riori Uzumaki from the regular class, and another from the regular class named Kiyoshi Ishizawa.
Ishiro was now the Tsuchikage, and Ōnoki was also a former Tsuchikage. Their identities were different. Naturally, they couldn't use a Transformation Jutsu to observe secretly like before.
Ishiro gave a speech directly in his capacity as Tsuchikage.
Wearing the Tsuchikage's cloak and hat, Ishiro said to the graduates below, "Hello everyone, I am your Fourth Tsuchikage."
"I came today for two things. First, to chat with everyone. In a few more days, you will be graduating. Leaving the safe harbor of the Ninja Academy, you will have to directly face this cruel ninja world."
"Outside, the teachers of the Ninja Academy will no longer be able to help you. In the future, learning ninjutsu will require exchanging for it with contribution points. In the future, you will no longer have time to play. In the future, your lives will be mainly composed of various dangerous missions."
"At that time, you will feel despair, you will feel lonely. But, as your Tsuchikage, I want to tell you, you still have support. Your support is the village's Chunin, Jonin, Elite Jonin, and me, your Tsuchikage. Your support is the entire Village Hidden in the Stones."
"Although our Iwagakure is not as strong as Konoha now, we are united. We have competition internally but no internal strife. Our goals are the same. We are of one heart and one mind."
"You are still very weak now, but do not be discouraged, do not relax your training. One day, you will grow up. Just like me. I am an orphan. I am just like you, graduated from the Ninja Academy, walked step by step to this day, and have now become the Kage of the village, become your support."
"So, I believe that now, the village and I are your support; in the future, you will become the village's support."
At first, Ishiro's words made these children feel a bit heavy, but later, everyone became invigorated, as if no hardship ahead could stop their steps forward.
Ōnoki did not speak. He listened silently from the side. Seeing Ishiro's performance, he was very gratified. This was what a qualified Tsuchikage should do.
After everyone's mood had calmed down a bit, Ishiro continued, "Next, let's talk about the second matter. I believe everyone already knows about the second matter. Lord Third and I are going to take on a few disciples."
Hearing this, the people below were all very excited. Of course, except for the students who had received invitations from other Jonin yesterday. They had been told that today, neither the Third nor the Fourth would compete with those Jonin.
So yesterday, these students had chosen their supervising Jonin with half regret and half joy.
Ishiro waited for everyone's discussion to quiet down before speaking again, "However, even if you are not chosen by us, do not be regretful or feel inferior. The disciples I choose are never the most talented. I choose those whose talents have been buried for various reasons."
"They are the ones most beneficial to the village. They are all ones I feel can enhance the overall strength of the village after they grow up."
"For example, the ones everyone discussed the most a while ago: Shinya Matsutani, Ogura Saki, and Takumi."
"Takumi created a set of body movement techniques on his own, which can improve the combat power of close-combat ninjas. Ogura Saki has also developed Wind Release ninjutsu, and she is even trying to develop a new Kekkei Genkai for the village. As for Shinya Matsutani, whom you all treated as a joke, hmm... right, he raised a very powerful ninja cat for the village."
"Hahahaha..." All the students were amused by Ishiro's last few words.
"Alright, let's first invite Lord Third to announce the disciples he has chosen," Ishiro said, yielding the position to Ōnoki.
Ōnoki stepped forward and directly read out the names of the three, including Deidara. Since most of the students in the advanced class had already been chosen, the other two of Ōnoki's three disciples were both from the regular class.
No one felt much when they heard the name of the top student, Deidara, but when they heard the names of the other two, everyone cast envious glances.
The three stood up one after another and came behind Ōnoki.
Then it was Ishiro's turn, "Akino Atsumi, Riori Uzumaki, Kiyoshi Ishizawa."
Every time Ishiro called a name, everyone had to search for a good while because the three were too ordinary in the Ninja Academy. Riori Uzumaki at least had the name "Uzumaki," giving her a little fame. The other two, apart from their own classmates, were almost unknown to anyone.
After the three also came behind Ishiro, everyone, including the geniuses from the advanced class who had been taken by Jonin, cast envious gazes at the three.
In fact, the three of them were all dumbfounded at this moment, completely not understanding what aspect of them Ishiro had taken a fancy to.
Riori Uzumaki was indeed from the Uzumaki clan, but the number of Uzumaki clan members in Iwagakure was not like Uchiha Sakai, who was the last of his line. There were still quite a few Uzumaki clan members.
Riori did not have the kind of talent Uzumaki Yumi had. Apart from her chakra amount being far greater than her peers, which was like an Uzumaki clan ninja, she was not like them in any other way. In terms of sealing jutsu, she had no talent at all.
Neither Riori herself nor her Uzumaki clan elders had ever expected Ishiro to choose her; they were completely unprepared.
Akino Atsumi felt even more like she was in a dream. She had never thought that Ishiro would choose her because whether it was ninjutsu talent or taijutsu talent, she was at the bottom of her class—to emphasize, the bottom of the regular class.
As for genjutsu talent or medical ninjutsu talent, she was not related to them at all. Originally, she had already been planning what industry to work in after graduation. Anyway, becoming a ninja was impossible.
When she heard her name, she didn't even dare to stand up, once suspecting if there was someone in this graduating class with the same name as her.
On the other hand, Kiyoshi Ishizawa's performance was better. Riori's only specialty was taijutsu, which did not match Ishiro, but Kiyoshi's specialty was Water Release.
Although he came from a civilian background and hadn't learned any Water Release ninjutsu, he had already mastered the water attribute transformation. He had looked forward to being valued by Ishiro. Although it also felt like a dream at this moment, it was much better than the other two.
Ishiro looked at Ōnoki's three disciples, then at his own, nodded in satisfaction, and only then announced the dismissal.
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