Chapter 630

Onoki shook his head at Kitsuchi and the Iwa-nin, signaling them to disperse, then looked at Yusuke and said weakly:

"The Ninja Master's strength is formidable; truly worthy of your reputation. I am impressed."

Yusuke being able to defeat Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally implied he was strong, but Onoki really hadn't expected Yusuke to be this overwhelming.

He hadn't even figured out Yusuke's methods before he was utterly defeated.

It was only because Yusuke held back; if it had been a real fight, he would probably have been killed.

Now Onoki was no longer curious about how Yusuke had defeated Hiruzen Sarutobi; he was curious about how Hiruzen had managed to survive Yusuke's hands and return to Konoha.

Even his Atomic Dismantling Technique could not affect Yusuke; Hiruzen's ninjutsu certainly couldn't work on Yusuke either.

"For the Ninja Sect's sake, I suppose."

Onoki figured that Yusuke had let Hiruzen live because he didn't want full-scale war with Konoha.

Yusuke was indeed powerful; even if he gathered the village's elite ninja, Onoki wasn't confident he could capture Yusuke.

However, no matter how strong Yusuke was, he was only one man, while the great villages had many elite ninja.

Yusuke could protect himself with his great strength and kill many enemy ninja, but he couldn't protect every single Ninja Sect ninja.

If the Ninja Sect went to war with any of the great villages, the result would inevitably be mutual destruction, with neither side gaining any advantage.

Most of the Ninja Sect's ninja would be killed by the great villages, and the great villages would have to face the threat of Yusuke, a ninja with terrifying power.

"The Dust Release truly is a Kekkei Tōta that surpasses Kekkei Genkai; it has opened my eyes as well." Muyue replied politely.

Onoki's mouth twitched; although Yusuke was praising him, it was hard for him to be happy.

Given the just-concluded battle, Onoki had reason to suspect that Yusuke was being sarcastic.

He hadn't even broken through Yusuke's defense; what was there to open his eyes to? Or was "opened my eyes" referring to the fact that the Dust Release, which was said to disintegrate everything, couldn't even damage Yusuke's clothes?

"The village has many affairs to attend to; I won't impose further." Onoki said his goodbyes with a darkened face, refused the Ninja Sect's farewell, and left supported by his subordinates.

Because of Onoki's insistence, Muyue and the others just watched Onoki leave from where they stood.

"What a stubborn and obstinate old man," Rōshi sighed.

Onoki's arm injury was not light, but he stubbornly refused Yusuke's treatment to save face.

He couldn't understand— having lost so badly, what face was there to save? Was being treated by an opponent shameful?

"Shirakawa, are you familiar with the Tsuchikage?" Yahiko asked curiously.

Few in the Ninja Sect knew Rōshi's true identity; only Muyue, Nagato, and Kakuzu knew that Rōshi was Iwa's jinchūriki, while the rest only knew his surface identity.

"I know a little." Rōshi nodded, not saying much.

He didn't mind if people knew his identity; his main concern was causing trouble.

The tailed beasts were like the lifelines of the five great villages; if Iwa found out that he had joined the Ninja Sect under the alias Shirakawa, even if they feared Yusuke's strength, they would still try every means to deal with the Ninja Sect.

Yahiko didn't think too much about it and soon put the matter behind him, excitedly asking Muyue about questions that arose from watching the battle.

On the other side.

After walking a little distance, at Onoki's signal, an Iwa-jōnin skilled in medical ninjutsu promptly began treating Onoki.

In fact, he had been ready to treat Onoki immediately after the battle ended, but Onoki had stopped him.

"Lord Tsuchikage, should we still agree to cooperate with Suna?" Kitsuchi asked after a moment of silence.

After watching Yusuke's battle with Onoki, Kitsuchi understood why Konoha hadn't reacted at all even though news of Hiruzen's defeat had spread across the ninja world.

With Yusuke being this powerful, what could Konoha do?

Send a large force of ninja to annihilate the Ninja Sect?

To save face, lose a large number of ninja, and end up incurring the hatred of an unparalleled strongman— that would be a tremendous loss.

"Put it on hold for now." Onoki replied after thinking it over.

His motivation for dealing with the Ninja Sect was that its continued growth would affect Iwa's interests.

If they joined forces with Suna now to attack the Ninja Sect, they would have offended Yusuke to the extreme and yet be unable to kill him; in the end, Iwagakure might not fare well.

Fortunately, Iwagakure had never taken a stance anyway, so there was no need to explain anything to Sunagakure.

"Why hasn't Iwagakure produced a genius like that?" Onoki sighed inwardly.

He had thought that after the God of Shinobi passed away, there would be no more such off-scale ninjas, yet so soon another monster like Ukyo appeared, along with Muyue, a potential monster.

Onoki was truly frustrated. All five great hidden villages existed—why was Konoha so outstanding? First there were Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, and now Muyue.

After half an hour of treatment, worried that delays might bring trouble, Onoki left without a moment's pause and returned directly to Iwagakure.

The first thing Onoki did upon returning to the village was to convene a meeting of the high-ranking officials and inform them of all the intelligence he had uncovered.

After listening, the few Iwa high-ranking officials all showed expressions of extreme shock.

If the informant hadn't been their own Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, they would have immediately doubted the veracity of the intelligence.

"Konoha is truly treacherous. No wonder they kept this secret so well—they probably wanted to make us take a huge fall through the Ninja Sect," Elder Mokuka said, instantly sensing the malicious intent behind Konoha's actions.

If Iwagakure had clashed with the Ninja Sect in ignorance, they would definitely have ended up with no good outcome.

"Yes, thanks to the Third Tsuchikage's caution," Elder Jyuseki said with lingering fear.

If Iwagakure had been severely weakened as a result, they would have become the village's sinners.

"I think we can turn this to our advantage—use this to let the other shinobi villages and the Ninja Sect cripple each other," Hui, the captain of the Jonin Squad, said after some thought.

What Iwagakure hadn't expected, the other hidden villages probably hadn't expected either, which would give them an intelligence advantage.

"Sunagakure is interested in the Ninja Sect, isn't it? We won't join Sunagakure in attacking the Ninja Sect; instead, we could cooperate with Sunagakure in other areas to mislead them, making Sunagakure and the Ninja Sect fight until both are exhausted."

Onoki thought carefully, then nodded.

If this plan succeeded, it would kill two birds with one stone—both eliminating the threat from the Ninja Sect and weakening Sunagakure.

Land of Fire, Konohagakure.

Hokage Building.

After receiving the news of the high-level meeting, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado rushed to the conference room.

Whatever their attitude toward the new Hokage, they had to maintain appearances—this was the first high-level meeting chaired by the new Hokage.

As they neared the conference room, the two met Hiruzen Sarutobi.

After exchanging greetings, the three entered the conference room together.

Muyue and Minato had arrived early. Seeing the high-ranking officials enter, Muyue nodded in greeting.

After sitting down, Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced curiously at the documents on the table. Among the five seats in the room, only Muyue's spot had no documents; the rest all did.

"Ninja Academy Reform…"

Looking at the document's title, curiosity stirred in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.

The Ninja Academy was where he had discovered Muyue, and Hiruzen also knew that Muyue had an inexplicable love for the position of teacher.

Perhaps it was because of this passion that Muyue had given much thought to the Ninja Academy and had proposed many beneficial suggestions.

For example, the Medical Specialty Student program—though established less than two years ago, it had been highly praised by village ninjas, who considered it a very sound measure.

But this time, Muyue had actually brought the Ninja Academy before the high-level meeting, and Hiruzen felt it must be more than just something as trivial as Medical Specialty Students.

So Hiruzen was very curious about what kind of reform plan this would be.

"Minato, I'll leave it to you," Muyue said, looking at Minato Namikaze.

Minato Namikaze nodded, cleared his throat twice, and said, "I will now explain this plan for the reform of the Ninja Academy."

Although Muyue understood the plan better, Muyue was the Hokage and couldn't handle everything personally—otherwise, what need would there be for Minato as Hokage's assistant?

"Change the current six-year system of the Ninja Academy to a four-year system, positioning it as elementary school, and add a new three-year middle school department. Graduating from elementary school will not allow a student to become a ninja as before; they must advance to and graduate from middle school to become an official ninja."

While Minato explained, Hiruzen and the others flipped through the documents on the table.

Koharu Utatane's brow gradually furrowed.

This change was far too drastic—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it completely overturned the original Ninja Academy.

Moreover, the new ninja academy would require Konoha to invest even greater resources, and the process of training ninjas would also take longer.

"Minato-sensei, please pause for a moment. I'd like to ask—what exactly is wrong with the current ninja academy, and why do we need such a major reform?" Koharu Utatane asked bluntly.

Although she knew this was a reform plan proposed by Mu Yue, that didn't stop her from challenging Minato.

"The six-year system has been changed to seven years. Have you calculated how much extra cost that one year will incur, and how many fewer ninjas we'll produce? Moreover, middle school now requires students to master a C-rank ninjutsu, which raises the demands on teacher quality as well. The combined increase in all kinds of costs is no small figure."

Minato Namikaze's expression remained unchanged—Mu Yue had let him present the plan, and they had prepared thoroughly.

Minato Namikaze calmly explained: "The current ninja academy's teaching is too lax, and the quality of genin graduates is uneven…"

Before the meeting began, Minato Namikaze had not only called up the ninja academy's data but also personally inspected the academy, and finally took the summary report to consult Mu Yue.

Minato Namikaze had already memorized all the problems with the current ninja academy.

Seeing that Minato Namikaze could actually speak so eloquently about the current ninja academy's issues, Koharu Utatane was somewhat surprised, but she did not give up.

"If the ninja academy has so many problems, then how is it that Konoha has still produced so many excellent ninjas?"

Since graduating from the ninja academy, Koharu Utatane had never paid attention to it again, so she couldn't tell whether Minato Namikaze's words were true or false.

However, over the past few decades, Konoha had continuously produced all kinds of genius ninjas, so she felt the ninja academy must not be problematic.

Minato Namikaze suddenly didn't know how to answer Koharu Utatane.

Koharu Utatane's statement was very emotional and unreasonable, but it happened to be a fact.

"Advisor Utatane, is it possible that we should have had even more excellent ninjas?" Mu Yue said lightly.

"Or does Advisor Utatane believe that Konoha maintaining the status quo is sufficient, and there is no need to pursue improvement?"

Now it was Koharu Utatane's turn to be speechless.

Mu Yue had dropped such a heavy accusation on her—how could she dare to agree? If she did, she would be labeled as a lazy, unambitious high-ranking official.

"No matter what, the past cannot be changed. Let's continue discussing our current reforms." Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a chuckle, signaling Minato Namikaze to proceed with the explanation.

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's view, both Mu Yue and Koharu Utatane were somewhat in the wrong.

Mu Yue was too sharp, lacking respect for a highly esteemed elder, while Koharu Utatane showed insufficient regard for the new Hokage, opposing the reform so bluntly in the first high-level meeting.

Minato Namikaze subconsciously looked at Mu Yue. Mu Yue nodded, and only then did Minato Namikaze continue the explanation.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had treated him very well, and Minato Namikaze respected Hiruzen Sarutobi, but this was a high-level meeting, and Mu Yue was his true ally.

After Minato Namikaze finished explaining, Homura Mitokado spoke:

"I believe the reform can indeed improve the quality of graduating genin, but does this improvement really outweigh the costs required for the reform?"

After thinking it over, Homura Mitokado decided to stand on the same side as his old friend Koharu Utatane.

Mu Yue had shown too much assertiveness; if they backed down this time, their say in the village would likely be severely weakened.

That was something Homura Mitokado did not want to see. He had originally supported Mu Yue's rise to power only because Hiruzen Sarutobi had promised him six years in a high-ranking position.

During these six years, if Mu Yue clashed with them and tried to remove them, Hiruzen Sarutobi would intervene to stop it.

If they lost their voice in the high-level meetings, what kind of high-ranking officials would they be? What meaning would there be in holding such a position?

Moreover, he wasn't talking nonsense—these were real problems in the plan.

Hiruzen Sarutobi silently flipped through the data and said nothing.

If this were someone else's plan, Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude might have been similar to Homura Mitokado's. But this was a ninja academy reform plan proposed by Mu Yue.

Mu Yue's proposals regarding the ninja academy had never been wrong.

So Hiruzen Sarutobi was actually leaning toward the reform, but under the current circumstances, he really couldn't speak up.

If he took a stand, it would mean the old and new Hokage were in agreement, and Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado's opinions would no longer matter.

Wouldn't that be stepping on his old friends to help Mu Yue? Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't want to do that and couldn't do it.

After all, the reform wouldn't fail to pass; they could just hold another meeting and pass it then.

PS:

Sorry, something came up, so the update is a bit late.

The extra chapters from the past two days were just a warm-up. In another day, it will be the joyful seven-day National Day marathon of releasing chapters.

The plan is to have no less than 7-8k words per day, and write even more if possible.