Chapter 631

"Then let me ask you, Advisor Homura: do you understand what costs reform requires?"

Muyue did not answer Homura Mitokado's question; instead, she asked him one in return.

"The expense of an additional school year. More grades mean more teachers needed, which leads to increased teacher salaries, and the construction costs for new school buildings and classrooms."

Homura Mitokado said everything he could think of.

Muyue gave Minato Namikaze a look; Minato stood up, took out a pamphlet, and placed it in front of Homura Mitokado.

"Rewriting elementary school textbooks, compiling new middle school textbooks, expanding the school..." Minato Namikaze began listing the detailed costs required for the reform.

Minato Namikaze covered everything Homura Mitokado had mentioned, and also things Homura had not mentioned.

As Homura Mitokado listened, he opened the pamphlet in front of him and found that Muyue and her team had already estimated all the expenses.

"Since you know this will cost so much manpower and money, why still push for reform?" Homura Mitokado did not relent.

Even if the budget was ready, who could guarantee the future quality of the students?

Perhaps Muyue herself, as a teacher, could manage it, but now she was the Hokage and couldn't personally teach at the Ninja Academy anymore.

"The Second Hokage's Ninja Academy was emulated by all the hidden villages in the ninja world—hasn't a single village carried out major reform in decades? Doesn't that prove the superiority of the current academy system?"

Muyue picked up her teacup to moisten her throat. Since Homura Mitokado wanted to argue, she wouldn't hold back.

"Exercising the body makes it demand more energy, requiring more food and spending more money. Didn't you exercise when you were young, Advisor Homura?" Muyue asked Homura Mitokado.

Homura Mitokado was about to say those weren't the same thing, but Muyue immediately continued:

"Lucky for you, Advisor Homura, you were born near the end of the Warring States period—otherwise, the Ninja Academy might not have been founded by Konoha first. After all, when the Second Hokage proposed creating the Ninja Academy, all the other hidden villages were still using Warring States-era training methods.

According to your logic, Advisor Homura, since everyone was still using Warring States methods, that means those methods were excellent, and there was no need to create a Ninja Academy."

Homura Mitokado wanted to retort. Although Muyue's words contained no profanity, they practically called him blind and short-sighted.

But that was indeed the logic of his own earlier statement, which left him momentarily at a loss for words.

Koharu Utatane's look at Muyue changed.

Muyue was incredibly articulate, and her words were sharp, far removed from her usual gentle personality.

"If other villages don't reform, then we won't either—how could such a Konoha ever pull ahead of the other villages?" Muyue tapped the table to emphasize.

Although that wasn't her original intention, it didn't stop her from hoisting a grand banner.

Muyue's words put Hiruzen Sarutobi into deep thought.

Konoha was already strong, and it had an even stronger future.

But was that strength something Konoha was destined to gain? Actually, no—it was the strength Muyue brought to Konoha.

Muyue herself possessed both immense power and extraordinary teaching talent. Not only was she strong, but she had also produced several highly promising disciples and a large number of excellent students.

If Muyue's life came to an end and the new era had no new Muyue, could Konoha maintain its strength? That was an unknown that Hiruzen Sarutobi dared not confirm.

When Hashirama Senju was alive, the ninja world was peaceful, and no one dared to provoke Konoha.

After Hashirama Senju's death, war erupted across the ninja world, and Konoha became the vortex of conflict.

Hiruzen Sarutobi genuinely hoped history would not repeat itself, even though he knew he wouldn't live to see that day.

But before Hiruzen Sarutobi could speak up to support Muyue's reform, Muyue looked at Minato and said, "Minato, please continue."

Minato Namikaze nodded, took out several documents, placed them in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, and then spoke:

"That was about the middle school reform. Within the Ninja Academy reform, above middle school there is also a university. The university is a three-year program; only those who achieve a certain score upon middle school graduation can proceed to further study at the university."

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his mouth, which he had just opened. He still didn't understand university, but the mention of a three-year term already gave him a headache.

From elementary school to university graduation, the entire process would take ten years!

Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't accept just the length of time. Forget ten years of training; during the Warring States period, a ten-year-old child might have already been to the battlefield several times. This process was far too long.

"The university will divide students into specialized programs based on their areas of expertise and interest. For example, students skilled in Fire Release can enroll in the Fire Release major..." Minato Namikaze continued his explanation.

Homura Mitokado lost his composure. What was this nonsense? They were even subdividing by specific ninjutsu attributes.

Even when graduating classes were assigned to chunin instructors or jonin instructors, it was never this detailed. And yet this university was dividing things so finely.

When Homura Mitokado finished reading the university proposal in the documents, he completely lost his composure. This university might even establish a Sealing Technique major.

But this time, Homura Mitokado did not interrupt Minato Namikaze; instead, he patiently waited for Minato to finish speaking.

Because he noticed one thing: although this university was very impractical, it was surprisingly complete.

That is to say, this might be a reform plan that Muyue had been preparing for a long time before presenting it.

Homura Mitokado had just experienced Muyue's debating skills and did not want to be put in an embarrassing position by an angry Muyue again.

"Assistant Minato, this university is supposed to be a school for training elite ninja, isn't it?" After Minato Namikaze finished speaking, Homura Mitokado immediately spoke.

Minato Namikaze nodded in confirmation.

According to Muyue's plan, from middle school to university, at least seventy percent of ninja would be eliminated.

This was also the reason why Minato Namikaze thought the university was very unrealistic. The current Ninja Academy only graduated a little over two hundred people per year. During wartime, due to various reasons, it would be more, but still only three to four hundred.

According to this elimination rate, at most only a little over a hundred ninja could enter university each year. Then they would need to be subdivided, and the number of ninja each major could recruit would be pitifully small.

"But to train such a batch of elites at such a great cost, isn't it too unreasonable?" Homura Mitokado couldn't help complaining.

When it came to middle school, Homura Mitokado had to rack his brains to think about shortcomings in the reforms, but with this university, Homura Mitokado could easily find impractical flaws.

Compared to the manpower and financial resources required for the university, the middle school was nothing.

Homura Mitokado said without exaggeration that if Konoha were to run a university now, it could bankrupt itself.

"Running a university is indeed not a small expense," Muyue nodded in acknowledgment.

The ninja university was not the same as the ordinary universities from his previous life. If forced to compare, Muyue's university plan was to establish a top-tier university.

After all, his university would even need many jonin to teach. With that level of strength, they could even dominate small countries and utterly defeat ninja forces outside the five great ninja villages.

"It's precisely because the plan is not perfect that we need to discuss it in a meeting, to make the plan more complete and increase its feasibility. I believe that after thorough discussion, we will definitely reach a result that satisfies everyone." Muyue said with a gentle smile.

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado exchanged glances, vaguely understanding a bit of Muyue's thoughts.

Muyue might have considered establishing a university, but probably not now.

However, to give them a way to save face, Muyue proposed this completely unfeasible university for them to oppose.

Having figured this out, Homura Mitokado cleared his throat and said:

"Reforms are indeed necessary, but we must start from reality. I think changing the current Ninja Academy into an elementary and middle school system is very feasible. As for the university, the time has not yet come."

Muyue's performance today really surprised Homura Mitokado. He hadn't expected Muyue to be so tough, a huge difference from before.

When Muyue served as Hokage Assistant, he rarely spoke in high-level meetings and rarely contradicted other higher-ups, leaving Homura Mitokado with a very good impression.

Weighing the pros and cons, Homura Mitokado finally decided to take the opportunity to back down.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude was too ambiguous; the two advisors together could not counter the Hokage plus Hokage Assistant.

"The quality of Konoha genin really should be improved to enhance Konoha's potential," Koharu Utatane also changed her tune.

Muyue's previous performance in high-level meetings had caused Koharu Utatane to seriously misjudge the situation. If she had known Muyue would be so tough, she would not have courted this trouble.

Koharu Utatane felt gloomy; she had thought Muyue would be a kinder younger version of the Third Hokage, but now it seemed he was more like a tougher younger version of Danzo Shimura.

"The middle school reform is very good. As the principal of the Ninja Academy, I think it's fine," Hiruzen Sarutobi finally stated.

All the higher-ups reached a consensus, and Muyue's Ninja Academy reform proposal was passed.

After the meeting, Minato Namikaze and Muyue returned together to the Hokage's office.

"Muyue, you're really amazing. It's almost exactly as you predicted," Minato Namikaze couldn't help praising.

Before the meeting, Muyue had conducted a meeting rehearsal with Minato Namikaze, predicting the reactions of the other higher-ups and preparing response strategies.

So even though it was his first time attending a meeting, facing seniors twice his age, Minato Namikaze never panicked.

"Because they are too easy to read," Muyue said with a smile as he sat down.

Muyue couldn't say whether Hiruzen Sarutobi liked power or not, but Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane were definitely reluctant to give up their advisor authority.

Until Hiruzen Sarutobi died, until Kakashi abdicated and Naruto became Hokage, those two old things were still at the top, really not giving any chance to the young.

Out of desire for power, and because Muyue was usually too kind, it was almost too normal for those two old things to try to throw their weight around with Muyue.

Actually, Muyue didn't mind sharing power, because more power also meant more work, and Muyue didn't have that much time to deal with political affairs.

Mainly it was because those two old geezers were incompetent; after being high-ranking for so long, Muyue had never seen them make any useful contributions.

"I think, rather, that you, Muyue, also possess extraordinary talent in politics," Minato Namikaze shook his head.

If he had merely predicted the advisors' reactions, one could say the advisors were easy to read, or that Muyue understood them well.

But Muyue had also casually come up with a solution, which made Minato Namikaze realize the gap between their political skills.

"That's not really talent, just a little bit of study."

Although he hadn't formally worked within the system yet, in order to go further, he studied dramas frame by frame, read all kinds of realistic political novels online, and even specially went to learn from a retired old cadre relative.

But Muyue felt that the most important factor in easily resolving this matter was not political wisdom, but his strength combined with his attitude.

Muyue's strength and approval rating destined him to be a very heavyweight Hokage.

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado weren't loners; they had families and relatives too.

If they offended Muyue to the death, how would those related to them ever get along in Konoha afterward?

…

Night.

Shisui and Obito went together to the Naka Shrine to attend the Uchiha clan meeting.

Obito usually didn't attend, but since Shisui said there was something, he came along.

"Obito, if you want to become Hokage, it's not enough to just improve yourself; you also need to secure enough support for yourself," Shisui said on the way.

Obito had helped him a lot, and Shisui was happy to assist Obito's dream.

"For example, the clan has over twenty jonin. If they all support you becoming Hokage, you'll directly have over twenty votes."

"True, Cold-Face Uncle only has twenty-eight votes in total," Obito realized that the Uchiha really had prestige.

"Of course, I'm just giving an example. I'm not saying you should waste energy on the clan. If you're nominated as a candidate, the jonin in the clan will definitely all vote for you." Worried that Obito might misunderstand, Shisui explained.

The Uchiha clan had a strong sense of family honor. Even if they weren't familiar with Obito, as long as the only Uchiha candidate was Obito, the Uchiha jonin would inevitably vote for him.

"I know that. I'm just thinking about how to make a move," Obito replied.

Suddenly, Obito thought of the old people in the village who were kind to him.

"How about making lots of shadow clones to carry out a big campaign to help the elderly?" Obito's eyes lit up.

If he could gain the support of all the elderly in Konoha, wouldn't that be equivalent to gaining the support of everyone in Konoha? After all, those people wouldn't disobey their own grandmothers or mothers, would they?

Shisui: …

Was this still the Land of Fire language? How come he couldn't quite understand it?

As they spoke, the two arrived at the Naka Shrine.

"Shisui, Obito, you're here."

Many Uchiha actively greeted the two.

In the Uchiha clan, strength outweighed seniority. Faced with the strong, even if the clan member had a lower generational rank, they wouldn't put on airs; they would take the initiative to greet them.

Since there were too many people greeting them, the two didn't respond to each one individually but just nodded and walked into the Naka Shrine.

"Suspend some of the ninja activities of the Police Force for the time being, and have them take on commission missions as Konoha ninja," Fugaku Uchiha stated the topic for discussion at this clan meeting.

PS: Accidentally became dark again.

I hope this doesn't affect the National Day burst-update pace. We will win!!!