Chapter 134: Konoha's Transformation and Change
"Is it here?"
Hiruzen looked at the many children below, contemplation appearing on his face. "There must be a thousand of them, right?"
"More than that."
Kei spoke calmly. "This is the Junior Ninja Academy. There are ten thousand students here in total."
"How many?"
Hearing that number, Hiruzen's face went blank. "Ten thousand students?"
"How is that possible?"
He had once been involved with the Ninja Academy.
The current Junior Ninja Academy was built upon the foundation of the original Ninja Academy, which had been founded by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
Because of his relationship with Tobirama, Hiruzen had always paid close attention to the Ninja Academy. In his view, it was the place where Konoha would nurture its next generation of Ninja.
But in the year he disappeared, if he remembered correctly, the entire Ninja Academy had only a few hundred students at most.
Now, only three years had passed, yet the number of students in the Ninja Academy had exploded to ten thousand?
How on earth had this been achieved?
He could not help turning his gaze toward Kei.
"There is no need to be so surprised."
Yuu explained, "In today's Konoha, all children who reach the appropriate age can directly enroll in the Ninja Academy."
"Although this policy is currently limited to Konoha, the number of people who benefit from it is already quite large."
"You must understand that there are now over a million people living within Konoha."
"Among a population of over a million, children can be sent to the Ninja Academy for training once they reach the age of seven. Is it really that strange to gather ten thousand students?"
It was not strange at all.
Hiruzen silently calculated it in his heart.
The original Ninja Academy curriculum lasted three years. If ten thousand students were spread across those years, then each grade would have roughly three thousand students.
And Konoha Village currently had a population of more than a million.
The demographic structure of this population was exceptionally healthy.
After all, the war had not ended long ago. Throughout the Ninja World, young adults made up the majority, and there was no issue of an aging population.
Most people did not live long enough to grow old anyway, dying for all sorts of reasons.
People of this era also had a strong desire to have children. As long as there was enough food and enough resources, the birth rate was generally quite good.
Under these circumstances, the proportion of children in Konoha was likely astonishing.
In such a situation, never mind three or four thousand school-aged children. Even ten thousand could probably be found every year.
Of course, to make this a reality, sufficient funding was essential.
After all, education in the Junior Ninja Academy was essentially free. Aside from small costs like book fees, almost nothing was charged.
Therefore, in order to popularize education, funding had to be allocated from Konoha's own treasury.
In the era of the Second Hokage, this had been precisely why the Ninja Academy could not develop properly.
Because if the Ninja Academy charged tuition, few people would be able to enter.
Those who had the money to pay tuition usually came from Ninja Clans, and they looked down on the basic lessons taught at the Ninja Academy.
After all, they had their own clan inheritances. Why spend money to attend the Ninja Academy?
Commoners who truly wanted to attend the Ninja Academy often lacked money and resources to support their studies.
But if Konoha allowed free enrollment at the Ninja Academy, its finances could not bear the burden.
Before Kei, Konoha had essentially been a mercenary-style organization.
Such an organization had to invest most of its resources into maintaining military power, leaving no spare resources to focus on other areas.
For this reason, during Tobirama's era, the Ninja Academy had never been able to truly expand.
But the current situation was different.
After a series of reforms, Konoha's finances were much more comfortable.
Although the financial burden of implementing free compulsory education was heavy, it was not unbearable for the current Konoha.
That made an enormous difference.
In this world, having money and not having money were two entirely different things.
With money, many things became much easier.
Without money, every step was difficult.
"Konoha has already planned to establish several more Ninja Academies in other areas to accommodate the growing number of students."
Kei continued, "As Konoha expands, the number of students in the Ninja Academy has been increasing year by year."
"I estimate that in a few years, the number will swell to more than ten thousand students per year."
In truth, this estimate was still conservative.
Because the number of children born in Konoha over the past few years was far higher than expected.
Furthermore, the profession of Ninja was highly respected within Konoha.
Although Hiruzen's wife did not want Asuma to become a Ninja, that was only from their perspective.
For ordinary commoners, becoming an outstanding Ninja was absolutely the most accessible path of upward mobility in this era.
Even if they could not become Jonin, as long as they could become Chunin, or even Genin, their future treatment would be very good. Not only would they not have to worry about employment, their pay would often be quite high.
No matter the world, children from commoner families often had limited choices.
With such a clear path laid before them, people naturally flocked to it.
In the foreseeable future, all children in Konoha would undergo training at the Ninja Academy, using it to hone their ability to refine and utilize Chakra.
"You understand now, don't you?"
Kei spoke softly, "The Konoha of today never worries about lacking enough Ninja in the future, because all of Konoha's children will receive Ninja education."
"With such a massive foundation, exceptional geniuses will always stand out and become the Ninja of the new era."
"Those with both interest and talent will naturally rise and present themselves before you. As for those without talent or desire, allowing them to arrange their lives according to their own wishes is not a bad thing either."
At this point, Kei smiled.
"In a way, wasn't our original intention in building Konoha to give future generations the power to choose their own lives?"
"Protecting Konoha is the duty of the future army. As for the other children, they should also have the right to choose their own lives."
"In my view, there could be no better outcome."
Hearing Kei's words, Hiruzen's heart stirred.
"To give future generations the power to choose their own lives?"
He murmured those words to himself, and his eyes suddenly brightened.
He felt as if he had found his original intention again.
Indeed, this was the Konoha he wanted to protect.
Konoha had been founded by a group of Ninja who longed for peace and gathered under the banner of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
What Konoha was meant to protect was not Konoha itself, but every individual living under its protection.
If everyone were forced to become a Ninja for the sake of protecting Konoha, reduced to expendable tools, then that would be a betrayal of the original purpose behind Konoha's founding.
"That's right."
Hiruzen felt deeply moved. "People should have the power to choose their own future, and the freedom to choose what kind of person they become. Even if they do not become tools, they should still be able to live well under Konoha's protection. This is the Konoha in my heart."
"Kei, your talent truly far exceeds mine."
Looking at Kei before him, he could not help sighing as various thoughts flashed through his mind.
"Original intentions are difficult to maintain, but one must always try to uphold them."
Kei said, "This is also the direction we must continue striving toward."
"So from this perspective, Hiruzen-sensei, your previous worries were unnecessary."
"Rather than worrying about whether there will be too few Ninja in the future, what we should truly worry about is having too many Ninja."
"Hmm?"
Hearing Kei's words, Hiruzen was somewhat puzzled. "Too many Ninja? Is that also something to worry about?"
The more Ninja there were, in a sense, the stronger Konoha's power would be.
In Hiruzen's mind, this should be a good thing. Why would it be a concern?
"Children choose to become Ninja not because of some hollow slogan, nor because of some invisible and intangible belief."
Kei said, "There may be many people like you, Hiruzen-sensei, but there are far more ordinary people in this world."
"Most people become Ninja simply because of the generous rewards that the profession brings."
"Currently, a Ninja's pay is very generous. Even an ordinary Genin can earn enough from missions to support a family."
"But if the number of Ninja increases in the future, the situation may change."
"If the day comes when a massive number of Ninja appear and their treatment worsens, that could lead to major problems."
Once anything became abundant, it would lose value.
The reason Ninja were valuable now was, at its core, a matter of supply and demand.
The number of outstanding Ninja on the market was limited, so Ninja were naturally valuable. Even an ordinary Genin could receive fairly generous rewards.
After all, a Genin's combat ability was not weak. Compared to ordinary people, they were like superhumans. It was not surprising that they could earn superior pay.
But in the future, when Ninja were everywhere and everyone possessed at least Genin-level ability, that might no longer be the case.
It was just like in Kei's previous life. University students had once been incredibly precious, but once their numbers increased, many had to deliver food for a living, and even those with master's or doctoral degrees had to lower their expectations to find work.
Supply and demand worked exactly like that.
When something became too common, it would eventually become worthless.
However, compared to ordinary workers, the damage caused by Ninja becoming worthless would be exceptionally severe.
After all, Ninja were a profession that truly possessed military force.
When ordinary university students became too common, they would at most grumble a bit. As for anything more drastic, they certainly would not dare.
But once Ninja became too common and worthless, there was no telling what these people with military power might do.
If one was not careful, it could cause a major disaster.
As Hiruzen listened to Kei's explanation, his expression gradually became serious.
He could almost imagine that scene.
A large number of Ninja studying and training hard for years, only to find that their treatment was unsatisfactory in the end.
When that time came, what would the situation become?
It was truly difficult to say.
"The development of Konoha's industries over the past few years is actually preparation for this."
Kei said, "Various Chakra industries require a large number of workers who have mastered Chakra."
"So from this perspective, having some Ninja step down from combat roles and work in other fields is also the general trend."
"As long as those industries can develop, then even if the number of Ninja trained by Konoha increases, they can be absorbed."
In the past, Konoha trained Ninja so that they could carry out mission requests and obtain commission fees, thereby supporting both the Ninja themselves and Konoha.
But once Konoha reached its current scale, the original model was destined to become unsustainable.
Konoha's current size was already far too large, and the number of Ninja trained each year had exceeded previous limits.
The number of Ninja graduating from the Konoha Ninja Academy in a single year was now greater than the number trained in the past ten years combined.
And as time passed, Konoha's speed of training Ninja would only become faster, producing more and more of them.
It was impossible to maintain such a large number of Ninja solely through mission requests.
Setting aside where they would find so many mission requests, Konoha's own actions were also eliminating the environment that had created those requests in the first place.
In the past, the reason Konoha had received so many requests was mainly due to war and the noble daimyō in various regions attacking one another, creating a high demand for hiring Ninja.
But now, as Konoha gradually took control of the entire Land of Fire, public security throughout the Land of Fire was improving.
The noble lords in various areas were no longer attacking one another. Even the territories they controlled had all been placed under Konoha's management.
Once security improved, a large number of mission requests naturally disappeared.
To rely on commissions from those missions to support Ninja was obviously impossible.
Therefore, over the past two years, Kei had been guiding Konoha through a transformation.
The military bases established in various places had first absorbed a large number of Ninja.
At the same time, many military institutions were being formed within the Land of Fire to take control of the country, which also required a large amount of manpower.
Most importantly, they were developing industries and preparing to use those industries to absorb the large number of new-style Ninja who might appear in the future.
In the future, the Ninja trained by the Konoha Academy would not merely be warriors. More of them would become workers and producers.
In the terminology of Kei's previous life, this could be considered a way of developing new productive forces.
After all, using an energy like Chakra to develop production was remarkably efficient.
The process of Konoha training large numbers of Ninja was also the process of Konoha seeking its own transformation.
"As long as you have a plan."
Hearing Kei's words, Hiruzen nodded, his worries on this matter finally put to rest.
He knew that his talent in this field was far inferior to Kei's, so he did not intend to interfere too much.
As long as Kei was prepared, that was enough.
"There is one more thing."
As they chatted, Hiruzen suddenly thought of something and continued, "The issue with Danzo and the others. Do you know about it?"
He looked at Kei before him. "He has changed a lot now."
"I know."
Kei nodded, showing no intention of denying it.
From beginning to end, everything Danzo had done had been under his watch.
…..
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Frieren: The Demon Who Learned to Love