Promoting the Konoha threat theory, and talking about the Hidden Mist Belt!

Some people even hoped that Hozuki Shingetsu would focus all his attention on the Ninja Academy and cause more trouble inside!

After all, a person's energy is always limited. Since most of his attention is focused on the Ninja Academy, Hozuki Shingetsu naturally won't pay attention to things outside the academy.

Hozuki Shingetsu was also happy to see this happen.

In this way, no matter what changes he makes at the Ninja Academy, as long as the changes are not too big and do not involve their specific interests, no one will pay attention to his actions.

After all, the difficulty of any reform lies in its initial stage.

Both Wang Anshi's reforms and Zhang Juzheng's reforms were characterized by their contrasting approaches: one raised the slogan of "reform" before any measures were finalized, while the other, even after the measures were implemented, still invoked ancestral laws.

This difference may be one of the important reasons why the two had different outcomes.

Based on this experience, the three reforms on the surface are merely a smokescreen used by Hozuki Shingetsu to conceal his true intentions.

Once he has implemented the various measures step by step using the ninja school as a pilot program and thoroughly understood some of the policies, he can seamlessly integrate them into the village.

After all, as a military outpost and military training institution, it's perfectly reasonable to say that the Ninja Academy is a smaller version of Kirigakure, or that Kirigakure is a much larger version of the Ninja Academy.

His true intention at this stage is very simple: to turn the ninja school into a training base for his private army through ideological assimilation and political brainwashing.

A gun is meaningless no matter how sharp it is, if it doesn't belong to you and you can't use it.

In Hozuki Shingetsu's view, the most important thing about this ninja academy is ideological and political education.

After all, it would be too terrifying to imagine a group of children wielding sharp blades, possessing extraordinary abilities like chakra, and being skilled in various killing techniques, yet whose bodies and minds were still immature, having astonishing destructive power but not knowing why they were fighting or for whom.

Although they were told during their school years that they should fight for the village, they knew nothing about the specific reasons for the fight or the purpose of the fight.

This state is fine under normal circumstances, but when it encounters clever political propaganda and slogans, these are all standard hidden bombs.

Even the "Will of Fire," which Hozuki Shingetsu considered so grandiose and empty, could still make Itachi Uchiha, a genius who "possessed the mindset of a Hokage at the age of three," personally kill his own clan, which is enough to show the importance of this kind of brainwashing.

Moreover... from any perspective, this group of children aged six to nine, who couldn't even recognize all the characters when they entered school, are absolutely perfect for brainwashing.

With just a few simple additions, one can quietly transform ninjas loyal to the village into a private army loyal to the Mizukage, or rather, loyal to Hozuki Shingetsu alone.

The key to all of this lies in those seemingly insignificant daily changes.

-

Ryozo Tamagawa is thirty-five years old and is a chunin.

Born into a small ninja clan, he had only average talent in ninja training and no lofty ambitions. After entering the ninja academy as a homeroom teacher through family connections, he settled down and enjoyed school life.

Unlike the bloody and turbulent world of ninjas outside, the lives of ninja academy teachers are always peaceful and tranquil.

Although his primary job is teaching, he rarely puts his mind into it.

After all, the students at the Ninja Academy were all ordinary people. The higher-ups only wanted them to be cannon fodder. As long as they could learn the most basic Three Body Techniques and ninja tool throwing, they didn't care what the teachers did in their spare time.

Therefore, under this mindset, Tamagawa Ryozo lived a very comfortable life for several years.

But things have changed recently. Ever since Hozuki Shingetsu became the principal, this great hero who had just quelled the internal strife in Kirigakure has issued a series of notices.

Not only did they hold a special meeting to emphasize the importance of these notices, but they also issued a special evaluation method for ninja school teachers, linking teachers' performance with students' teaching progress and determining year-end bonuses, job changes, and so on. Good heavens, as a ninja, Tamagawa Ryozo had never heard of any evaluation method in his life.

However, he was still the leader, and even if Tamagawa Ryozo had many complaints, he had no choice but to suppress his temper and implement Hozuki Shingetsu's various measures.

After all, the previous Mizukage had only recently "died from his injuries," and he didn't want to "overwork himself to the point of illness" and then sacrifice himself on duty.

However, although he dared not outwardly comply but inwardly defy, it did not stop him from harshly criticizing Hozuki Shingetsu's measures.

"Damn it, what is this teaching outline? What are lesson preparation notes? What is this lesson observation system? And this group training method, I've never heard of such a thing before?"

Indeed, Hozuki Shingetsu incorporated various excellent teaching methods from his previous life into the ninja academy's teaching methods.

Although these teaching methods gradually became mere formalities in the previous generation, it is undeniable that compared to the primitive education methods of the ninja world, these methods are still a significant improvement.

After all, with ninja academies having been established for only a little over a decade, and in a time when ninja academy graduates are often used as cannon fodder, it would be far too unrealistic to expect people to specifically research how to improve students' learning efficiency.

Tamagawa Ryozo looked at the notice in his hand, comparing it with various templates, scratching his head in frustration.

For the first time, he realized that holding a pen was not necessarily easier than holding a kunai.

"It's not just these things; I never expected that those ideological and political courses would be so difficult to teach..."

Of all the changes, the division between combat and skills classes had a significant impact on them, but the fact that the previously optional ideological and political education class had become a weekly compulsory course caused him, as the class teacher, even more trouble.

Especially when Hozuki Shingetsu required each teacher to write a political and ideological note of no less than two thousand words every month based on a designated book, he regretted even more why he had come to this ninja school to become a teacher.

Unfortunately, given the importance of the Ninja Academy, the role of its teachers has been exaggerated to an extreme degree.

Without a group of ninja academy teachers who understand the Will of Water (×) and the Will of Hozuki (√), how can a reserve of ninjas be trained to be loyal to the Mizukage?

After letting out a long sigh, Tamagawa Ryozo turned to look at the stack of books beside him. They were newly distributed books, a series of books reportedly written by the principal himself, all designated for ideological and political education courses.

This batch of books can be said to be a condensation of the various ideas that Hozuki Shingetsu received from his past and present lives, but he naturally mixed in his own personal opinions.

This series of books includes:

"Hozuki Shingetsu's The Will of Water" emphasizes why ninjas fight and what the purpose of fighting is, clearly stating that under Hozuki Shingetsu's leadership, the future will inevitably belong to Kirigakure, etc.

Although this book has the fewest words, it is the cornerstone of the series and the core of Hozuki's will.

"From Nothing to Something: The Path to the Establishment of Kirigakure" mainly mentions the hard-won establishment of Kirigakure, detailing the key moments and major crises the village has experienced from its founding to the present day.

The book specifically names the internal strife launched by the previous Mizukage, calling it the most serious crisis Kirigakure had ever suffered since its founding, causing incalculable damage to the village. It also affirms the great significance of Hozuki Shingetsu in restoring order during this internal strife, and thoroughly nails Ren to the pillar of shame in the book.

"Analysis of Evil Ideologies in the Ninja World" primarily targets and refutes the ideologies of the other ninja villages one-on-one. After all, there's no such thing as a foolproof defense; the best way to prevent your own ninjas from being brainwashed by foreign ideologies is to first smear them with all sorts of dirty water and then thoroughly smear yourself!

Especially since the Will of Fire of Konoha was popular in the ninja world at that time, Hozuki Shingetsu focused on a detailed critique of the Will of Fire in this book—no ideology is without flaws, and if you want to find them, you can definitely find problems.

Or you could simply ignore it and just throw all sorts of dirty water at them, since these kids don't know what the original ideas were.

If anyone brings this up in the future, then after these students have undergone a series of brainwashing sessions by Hozuki Shingetsu, the following scenario is highly likely to occur:

What? You're saying your family doesn't have these kinds of thinking problems?

That must be something they stole from our great Will of Water and then optimized themselves!

Pooh!

How shameless!

Therefore... there is no right or wrong in thought, only what is appropriate or inappropriate.

"Geopolitics: The Root Cause of the Limited Development of Kirigakure" mainly describes how the evil forces surrounding Kirigakure use geographical conditions to block Kirigakure on an island, implicitly pointing out that Kirigakure must expand outward, conquer the ocean, and gain its own foothold on the mainland.

"The Development of the Times: From Ninjutsu to Technology" is almost entirely devoid of political overtones compared to the previous books. It primarily introduces various current industrial technologies and provides a simple description of their basic principles, similar to a "Nature and Science" lesson that Hozuki Shingetsu attended in elementary school.

These five books constitute the entire series on ideological and political education at the Ninja Academy.

In Hozuki Shingetsu's vision, the implementation of ninja training measures would enhance the combat capabilities of ninja academy students as ninjas.

But this political and ideological education determines whether they are loyal to the village and to him, Ghost Lantern Crescent Moon.

It is foreseeable that as long as the education is strictly carried out according to these books at a frequency of once a week, then after three years, these ninja school students will at least be completely transformed into Hozuki Shingetsu in terms of their thinking.

This is what a disciple of the Water Shadow should be like!

When they have truly grown up and spread Hozuki Shingetsu's will throughout the entire village, that will be the time for Hozuki Shingetsu to truly unleash his full potential without any scruples!

This is the real reason why Hozuki Shingetsu went to great lengths to seize the position of Ninja Academy principal!

Chapter 99 Ten Admonitions

At the Ninja Academy, Hozuki Shingetsu has done everything he could; all that's left is to wait for time to pass and gradually reap the rewards.

However, it is foreseeable that even if Hozuki Shingetsu sets up many protective measures for these civilian ninjas, not many ninjas will be able to truly grow up and gain Hozuki Shingetsu's approval.

During their growth, they will inevitably encounter a lot of suppression from the ninja clan and fight battles that are beyond their level. Most ninjas will be worn down in the process.

However, none of this has anything to do with Hozuki Shingetsu anymore. After all, he's not a philanthropist; he's a cold-blooded capitalist.

What he wanted were battle-hardened warriors, not delicate flowers in a greenhouse. For Hozuki Shingetsu, even exchanging the corpses of a hundred civilian ninjas for one talented individual was a worthwhile trade.

So after the Ninja Academy began to get on track, he turned his attention back to the Ninja World.

The ninja world has been relatively peaceful lately, with each village quietly accumulating strength, trying their best to avoid conflict, and patiently waiting for Mito Uzumaki's death.

During this period, Kirigakure, on the contrary, made the front page of the ninja world recently because of the "Blood Mist Chaos".

For Hozuki Shingetsu, this is definitely unacceptable.

If your ninja world isn't in chaos, how can I steal people from you?

How could highly skilled individuals from various countries, including blacksmiths, researchers, and artists, "legitimately" and "legally" "avoid" disaster in Kirigakure Village without the threat of war?

If your countries aren't at war, how can I act as a middleman arms dealer and make a fortune off you?

How can I recuperate, develop myself, and then conquer you if I don't make money?

Mito Uzumaki is not dead. It is understandable that you are afraid of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's power and are holding back. But can't you do what you did in the Land of Whirlpools and have a local war to test Konoha?

In short, Hozuki Shingetsu is very dissatisfied with the recent state of the ninja world. As the renowned "Ninja Fox Demon," he is very angry.

However, Hozuki Shingetsu had already exhausted those quick and powerful methods, and for the time being, he really couldn't find any obvious oversights in the villages—after all, the villages weren't blind. Since Konoha was dealt a big blow by Kirigakure because of the Uchiha clan, the villages had increased their investment in their public opinion propaganda.

In this situation, while he was looking forward to the next hot topic, he could only try some long-term publicity work, trying to subtly guide the public opinion in the ninja world and the ideological atmosphere of each village.

However, this kind of long-term work is not suitable for him now—his identity is completely different now. He has been internally designated as the Fourth Mizukage, and he needs to strengthen his own strength more than public opinion.

After all, public opinion diplomacy can only achieve a small effect, but in order to prevent the other party from not using its strength, Hozuki Shingetsu also needs to strengthen its own power.

Therefore, in order to deal with this situation, Hozuki Shingetsu prepared to gather his subordinates and relinquish some of the work in the field of public opinion propaganda in an attempt to cultivate a group of basic propaganda talents.