They're promoting the "Konoha threat" theory, and spouting nonsense about the Hidden

Chapter 91 Ninja Academy Principal

The deceased are gone, but the living must go on living.

A week has passed since the internal strife that affected the entire village, and the villagers of Kirigakure are gradually recovering from their grief and working hard to make a living in the future.

Immediately after the civil war ended, Hozuki Shingetsu's first order was not to clean up the mess or tally the losses, but to send ninjas to spread the word about Ren's actions.

If the villagers had only learned the truth from word of mouth, Hozuki Shingetsu's actions were an attempt to officially conclude the case.

All the blame lies with the Third Mizukage, and all the glory belongs to Hozuki Shingetsu.

For Hozuki Shingetsu, it was crucial to quickly instill this awareness in the minds of all the villagers. In a situation like this, where loved ones had perished and property had been severely damaged, at a critical juncture when people's hearts were most grieving and vulnerable, such ideological indoctrination would be far more effective.

Anger alone can cloud a person's perception; people are most likely to conform and be easily swayed when they are emotionally agitated.

Moreover, from another perspective, throwing the lotus away at this time is also an outlet for people's grief.

If someone with ulterior motives stirs things up at this time, it's easy for the target of hatred to expand from a single person to the entire village, which would be troublesome.

Through Hozuki Shingetsu's series of actions, the villagers' hatred was completely anchored on Ren. As the villagers' hatred for Ren grew deeper and their love for Hozuki Shingetsu grew stronger, news suddenly came that Ren had died from her injuries. So what would these villagers do at this time?

With no one left to hate, the hatred naturally vanished, leaving only respect for Hozuki Shingetsu, who had saved them!

Subsequent events fully proved Hozuki Shingetsu's idea.

After this task was completed, the next step was to organize manpower to collect casualty information, clean up the battlefield, collect the bodies, and organize post-war reconstruction work.

Next, he gave a detailed report on the details of the rebellion to the daimyo who was extremely loyal to Kirigakure.

After all, it wasn't easy to raise Sui Keita's favorability to the maximum, so Hozuki Shingetsu certainly wouldn't make a mistake at this time. He would definitely make his adoptive father feel the loyalty from afar.

The report vividly described how ruthless Lian was, how powerful the enemy was, how dangerous their own situation was, and how the situation was collapsing.

Then, under these circumstances, Ren uttered wild words, saying, "The title of daimyo takes turns, and tomorrow it will be my turn," which greatly angered the loyal retainer Hozuki Shingetsu.

Out of boundless loyalty and respect for the Daimyo, Hozuki Shingetsu unleashed his power and defeated Renunun.

Of course, besides maintaining the relationship with the daimyo and expressing his loyalty to the daimyo, the main purpose of writing these things was... to get money!

After the chaos of the Blood Mist, Kirigakure suffered countless casualties and property damage. The funds needed for post-disaster reconstruction, such as comforting the people, cleaning up the ruins, and rebuilding houses, were also considerable. Naturally, it was necessary for Mizuki Keita, the financial backer of Kirigakure, to contribute!

After all, the people of Kirigakure are all very loyal subjects. It is not the behavior of a wise ruler to let loyal subjects feel disheartened!

Finally, it was time to settle scores with those rebellious ninjas.

First and foremost is the Kaguya clan.

Since the day Hozuki Shingetsu and Kaguya Yoshio made their promise, the Kaguya clan has secluded themselves, spending their days and nights studying the stone tablet to find a solution to their bloodstain disease.

But it was obviously a waste of time, since that thing was made by Black Zetsu to incite internal strife in Kirigakure, so how could it possibly have any effect?

Kaguya's clan naturally refused to believe this outcome, but the reality was there, and after a period of impotent rage, they had no choice but to accept the situation.

In the end, to atone for his sins of aiding and abetting evil and instigating internal strife, Kaguya Yoshio, as the head of the Kaguya clan, accepted Hozuki Shingetsu's order to reduce the power of the Kaguya clan and committed seppuku in front of everyone to atone for his sins.

Then there are the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

Apart from Tachibana Haruhiko, who had always been loyal to Hozuki and was the master of the twin swords Hiramekarei, the other six basically took on all the high-risk missions for the next five years—and that was only because they were loyal to the Mizukage and had not yet caused too much bloodshed.

With these two major issues resolved, there's not much else to say. Just proceed with the punishments and rewards as appropriate.

For those defeated ninjas, unless the killings were too numerous, Hozuki Shingetsu did his best to preserve their lives.

After all, even a discarded aluminum can can be sold for money, let alone a ninja?

If all else fails, wouldn't it be better to let them farm than to kill them indiscriminately?

It is worth mentioning that, perhaps hoping that Yuan Shi would cooperate with him as an elder to stabilize the situation after the war, Lian did not kill Yuan Shi, but simply imprisoned him in a secret room.

He was rescued after the war.

Master Yuan didn't comment on Lian's death; after all, having done such a thing, her death was a good thing.

He readily expressed his support for Hozuki Shingetsu becoming the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, defeating Ren, and making the Hozuki clan the biggest winner in this internal strife.

However, when Hozuki Shingetsu came to him hoping to appease people with his prestige, he had some special ideas about the timing of the appointment of the Fourth Mizukage.

"The village's power will be held by the elders' council until I come of age, and then I'll become the Fourth Mizukage?"

Looking at Hozuki Shingetsu, who remained calm and listened quietly to his words, Genshi nodded and explained his reasons for doing so.

After achieving telepathic communication with the Six-Tails and perfectly mastering its chakra, Hozuki Shingetsu's strength has completely stabilized at the Kage level.

In addition to his record of defeating Ren and his numerous contributions to the village, Hozuki Shingetsu's becoming the Fourth Mizukage is a popular and well-deserved choice, without any problems.

But there's one thing: his age.

At thirteen years old, he seems far too young from any perspective.

For ninjas, younger is always better. But for a leader of a faction, it's a different story.

As the saying goes, "A young man with no experience is unreliable," especially for a violent organization. What will others think if the leader is a thirteen-year-old child? What will the businessmen who come to commission the missions think?

What will others think of the entire Hidden Mist Village?

Even if we explain that Hozuki Shingetsu is the strongest in Kirigakure, it will only make others think that Kirigakure is not strong enough, so that a child can become the number one ninja village.

Especially when Kirigakure has suffered heavy losses and urgently needs material support from all sides, if someone were to label it as such, the development of Kirigakure would be greatly hindered.

Master Yuan explained many things in a scattered way, but in short, he hoped that Hozuki Shingetsu would become the Mizukage after he came of age, so that others would not look down on Kirigakure.

Prior to this, all power in the village was nominally held by the council of elders. The elders could be appointed by Hozuki Shingetsu, and he could also propose that Hozuki Zangetsu be appointed as the Mizukage. In reality, the power of Kirigakure was still in the hands of the Hozuki clan.

This was not just his suggestion, but also the suggestion of those small and medium-sized ninja clans, since their interests had long been closely related to Kirigakure.

Besides, the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure is only thirteen years old... It does sound a bit strange if word gets out.

Hozuki Shingetsu didn't care about this; he believed that after this battle, no ninja clan in the village would dare to cause trouble.

Since they still hold power, delaying their ascension to the throne isn't necessarily a bad thing.

After all, becoming the Mizukage would inevitably restrict one's freedom of movement to some extent, so remaining behind the scenes as a figure in the background is not necessarily a bad thing.

However, it wasn't in Hozuki Shingetsu's nature to agree so easily, so he put forward his own conditions.

"The Ninja Academy Principal? The reconstruction of the Ninja Academy after the disaster is the top priority, and no one is allowed to obstruct it?"

Although I don't know why Hozuki Shingetsu wants this position, as long as they agree to the proposal, this request is naturally not a problem.

Seeing Genji's straightforward manner, Hozuki Shingetsu couldn't help but smile.

-

"How about it? Sitting here, my appearance isn't any worse than Lian's, is it?"

In the Mizukage's office, Hozuki Zangetsu sat in the main seat, showing off to his son.

If we start counting from the time the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, died, this Mizukage office can be considered to have been lost from his hands. Now that it has returned to the Hozuki clan's hands, how could he not be so excited?

In response, Hozuki Shingetsu simply looked up and gave an awkward but polite smile before looking down again to review the data list in his hand.

"Are you still studying the Ninja Academy's historical data?"

Hozuki Cangetsu approached Hozuki Shingetsu and examined the data.

"I really don't understand why you're so insistent on taking on the position of principal of the ninja academy. If you want to cultivate your own team, you can just find some elites like before, right? Why waste so much effort on these cannon fodder?"

"They're different."

Hozuki Shingetsu gently shook his head and put down the data in his hand.

"The Ninja Academy is the foundation of the village's prosperity and cannot be ignored."

After reviewing the records about the Ninja Academy preserved in Kirigakure, Hozuki Shingetsu finally gained a clear understanding of the Ninja Academy at that time.

First and foremost, it must be made clear that the current ninja academy is far from deserving the title of a ninja world military academy.

"Cannon fodder school" is the correct name for it.

The current ninja academy students mainly come from various ordinary families. They are between six and nine years old when they enroll, and the course lasts for three years. Each year, there are about a hundred graduates who are proficient in throwing kunai and the basic usage of the Three Body Technique.

In terms of graduation requirements alone, they were roughly the same as those of Naruto's class. However, times have changed, so there will always be some differences.

The main difference lies in the survival rate.

According to records, the three-month survival rate for each graduating class is 60%, the three-year survival rate is 30%, and the five-year survival rate is 5%.

In the fifteen years since the establishment of the Hidden Mist Village Ninja Academy, the number of surviving graduates from the first class was...0.

This is the true state of ninja schools during this era of war, and it is also the fundamental reason why the major ninja clans tacitly allowed the establishment of ninja schools and why ninja qualifications flowed out of the country.

Why? Because who wouldn't like this kind of cannon fodder?

However, for Hozuki Shingetsu, who aspires to dominate the ninja world, the current state of affairs at the ninja academy is not good.

"Therefore, the first step is to change the training objectives of the Ninja Academy."

If you really want the graduates of the Ninja Academy to become your core group, to respect you as much as the scholars and officials of your past life respected their mentors, and to be proud of being "disciples of the Mizukage," then you must make changes in this area.

After all, nobody's a fool. Even if you're faking it, you have to make it look genuine, right?

"Then there's the teaching method."

He recalled his school life in his previous life, as well as the descriptions of sects and academies in the novels he had read, and then wrote down words such as monthly exams, final exams, ranking lists, ladder battles, and secret realms on paper.

"And most importantly, there are issues regarding ninjutsu resources and treatment."

Hozuki Crescent paused, then drew a large circle on it.

(End of this chapter)