8 Ch. 8 Speech
Ever since the Second Hokage started up the ninja school, it has achieved great results. At first it was only the children of the Ninja clans that fought for the village, but a few decades of propaganda and now 57% of Konoha's fighting force was made up of civilians.
Not only that, but now Minato has started making waves throughout the world, giving the civilians Shinobi hope that they too can achieve such a level of strength without being born into a clan, not know that Minato was a one in a billion talent.
The number of children enrolled every year is constantly increasing as the need for them also increased. War is a catalyst to promote the development of Ninja's strength, and peacetime is a good time to accumulate the number of ninjas.
Only after getting the certification from the Ninja academy, will they be registered as a ninja of Konoha's record. Because of this, no matter how good you are, you must attend the Shinobi academy if you truly want to become a Konoha ninja.
However Konoha was in the middle of a war, therefore the period of student staying at school will be greatly shortened compared to the peaceful period.
The older generation of Shinobi entered school at the age of six and graduated at the age of twelve, it is impossible to do so In this era where Shinobi were needed immediately.
It was too time consuming to follow the usual route, the supply of ninjas simply couldn't keep up with the demand in order for the war. In times of war, it was already considered long to stay in school for three years as they spent majority of the time training combat skills.
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Students had gathered around in the school playground, some wore plain cloths, while the majority wore clothes that had the symbil of their clan. The average civilian Shinobi usually joined during times of peace, but why would a civilian Shinobi without any prior training or knowledge join during the time of war.
Chiba watch the kids showing up, he saw that less than half of the kid came with their parents. Those who came alone, either their parents were fighting on the front line, or they were already killed on the battlefield.
War was cruel. You can see it in there eye, which childs family suffered the scourge of war and which hadn't. The innocent twinkle in their eyes had been lost and replaced with either ambition or hatred.
Fortunately, none of the glints in his friends eyes have faded. Koizumi was still full of innocent and naivety, perhaps she didn't even think of war.
Meanwhile Itachi has long since understood the meaning of what a Shinobi was and had a trace of deep melancholy, but still had a small glint in his eye. As for Chiba, well no one could see his eyes.
Chiba took Koizumi and met Itachi, these were his only two friends.
The gathering of them attracted the attention of many people around. They both wore the iconic fan symbol on there back, one had an indescribable mature was a little boy.
The other one was a blind boy with a walking cane in hand, just standing there and yet subconsciously release an aura of power from himself.
The famous Uchiha's genius and the infamous blind Uchiha had gathered, both were celebrities in Konoha for different reasons.
The former is what every family wishes their child could be and the latter is what every family was glad that their child didn't become.
This is the true definition of heaven and hell, but they have been combined together.
"Here itachi, I got you some Dango's" As soon as they met, Chiba handed Itachi a package that he ordered for him
After opening it up, there were five skewers of the sweet rice flour balls lying inside. Dango wasn't just Koizumi's favorite sweets, Itachi also has a soft spot for it. As for Chiba's favorite sweets, he still had his western taste buds and preferred a chocolate bars and soda over a Dang. It didn't mind eat them every now and then.
Seeing this scene, Koizumi blinked curiously.
"It turns out that the geniuses of the patriarch's family also like to eat this kind of sweets." Chiba immediately flicked the head of Koizumi, causing tears to appear in her eyes as she rubbed her head in grimace
Itachi seemed embarrassed and lowered his head buts his hand was honest and took out skewer, eating the sweet rice flour treats.
Seeing Itachi's speed of eating the dangos, Koizumi knew that he was also a dango lover.
Just as Itachi ate all the sweets, there was a large commotion as children started to get riled up before it became deadly silent.
A figure slowly walked onto the high platform above them
"Hokage…coming!" A kid muttered in excitement.
At this moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen appeared in front of them as the personification of the neighborly grandpa showing a kind smile.
He had a pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth, but because the are was full of children who had not yet enrolled in school, he did not light his tobacco just to show the children who would fight for him some consideration.
Hiruzen gave a warm smile, wanting to appear like the hokage he dreamed off when he too was just a kid.
The child below looked up with reverence and awe, all of which wanted to become just like him.
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked around and smiled kindly before speaking to his future soldiers.
"You are Konoha's future! Today, once again ushers in the annual entrance ceremony! Rekindling the village fire with a greater future!"
If Chiba had eyes, he have rolled them so hard that they'd have rolled out of his skull.
'That is the perfect anology. These children will be throne into the flames of Konoha, burning themselves and rekindling the fire in order for the power hungry elites to gain more land and resources.'
While Chiba found this distasteful, he knew that war was simply a part of human nature. Whether it was his past life or this one, he knew that ambition and greed is what made the world go round.
Blaming one person in particular for the cause of a war never made sense to Chiba, because even without that person, war would have eventually broken out simply because of human nature. It would be akin to blaming a bear for attacking a sheep, it's just following it's instincts, just like humanity.
"Before your formal class starts, I will be giving you your first lesson! The name of your first lesson···The Will of Fire!" The Hokage said, raising his voice to gather all of the children's attention.
"Where the leaves fly, the fire is endless. The fire will continue to illuminate the village and let the new leaves germinate. Young people are the hope of the future. People of the older generation must trust and guard them. The sacrifice of the older generation is not meaningless, but it will inspire young people to become the pillars of the fu....."
'....' Chiba was forcing himself not to frown at the horseshit the Hokage was sayin, he knew that he was going to have to prevent Koizumi from getting brainwashed.
"This is the will of fire as I understand it! Now it's up to the next generation to step forward and protect the older generation! You will grow in the futu...
The annual [brainwashing] was absolutely indispensable. You may not be talent and born slow, but you must be loyal and obedient.
Chiba understands Sarutobi Hiruzen's goals for the speech and didn't hate him for it. Leaders need to have control over his people, whether it was a fantasy world or modern. If Chiba was the Hokage, he too would give such a speech.
If Chiba was in charge of the most powerful position in the world, where he is the top enemy if every nation, then absolutely couldn't allow his own people to run rampant and chaotic.
At this time, Sarutobi Hiruzen's seemingly erratic eyes fell on Chiba and Itachi, intentionally or unintentionally.
Feeling his eyes on him, Chiba forced a smile on his face as if he too bought into the brainwashing.
'So these two are the kids?' Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled and waved at both of them.
"Uchiha's children...come here!" Hiruzen said, beckoning them forward.
All eyes immediately froze on the two of them as the walked over to the Hokage. Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled and patted their heads kindly.
"Everyone should know that five years ago....he is the Uchiha child who was born blind."
At this moment, Itachi suddenly looked up and looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen next to him, thoughtfully.
'Hokage, what is this about?' Itachi thought is puzzlement.
"There are a lot of negative remarks made by the lowlife and moraless, simply because he is a Uchiha who is blind! Whether they be Uchiha's child, the child of another clan, or civilians! You are all Konoha's children, and we are all one family!"
"In the Uchiha clan, he was always looked down upon and blamed for his clans decline....This child is also a victim! I hope everyone treats him equally." Hiruzen said grandfatherly, radiating all of the children in his warmth.
Intentionally or not, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Uchiha Itachi in wonder and hope
(I've read a head in the story and it's mostly just talking philosophy and Chiba flexing how strong he is And some face slapping, but it really doesn't show any Fighting. Imma start heavily changing the story to include more fight scenes)
