Chapter 64: Early Graduation

After listening to Nara Patriarch's long explanation, the expression on Hashirama's face eased off, letting out a sigh, and wondering if he should actually laugh or cry…

"So… Out of competition to get to be the supervisors of the graduates, the Clans ended up fighting each other?"

It turned out that last September, a group of students enrolled in the Ninja Academy and had managed to quickly graduate in just one year. Now in order to be the supervisors of these newly graduated students, the clans ended up in a quarrel.

"Big brother, we must be cautious dealing with this matter!" Tobirama said on the side, "Konoha has just been established, these men are not used to this none war state, the moment they get a chance to start a fight, they will definitely try to seize it. For that reason, they're trying their best to get as many students as they can to attract more allies and strengthen their tribes."

Upon hearing this, Hashirama seemed like he realized something, then thought to himself secretly, "It seems the clans still cannot let go of their hatred…"

He smiled and then said, "Easy, just let every graduate return to his clan, and their elders will guide them."

Nara Patriarch then slowly shook his head, "I'm afraid we don't have that choice. Some Clans have only one graduate student this year. They won't be able to form a team this way." Then, he looked at Masahiko, "And for the civilian ninjas…"

"Huh? In just one year, there are already some civilian ninja graduates?" Masahiko interrupted out of shock.

"Yes, there are two of them, and dealing with them will be the most difficult task…" Nara Patriarch replied.

"So how many clans are involved?" Hashirama asked.

The head of the Nara clan smiled bitterly, "Except for the Senju and Uzumaki… All the other clans are involved."

"The Uchiha too? If Madara is participating, how did the other clans actually had the guts to fight back? Uh, I mean, its Madara…" Masahiko couldn't help but feel stunned!

"After you left Madara went out of the village, so far I don't know where he went…" Nara Patriarch explained.

Masahiko frowned and wanted to ask Hashirama what happened, but then he nodded slightly, "Let's go to the Ninja Academy first."

A few people tagged on with them and went to the Ninja Academy, where the Nara Patriarch introduced them to the graduated students.

The most notable of them are four people, who weren't that unfamiliar to Masahiko.

Master of the four natures of Chakras, son of Sasuke, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Prince of Evil… Danzo.

With their remarkable talents, there's no doubt that they will end up being the Patriarchs of their Clans. One of the Uchiha Elders wanted to take both of them as disciples. And the other clans opposed, especially the Hyuga, who already known for their conflicts with the Uchiha Clan.

The remaining two graduates were the civilian Shinobis, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado. Even though they come from civilian families, their talents were sharp enough to make some of the Clans compete to have them.

The clans rarely paid any attention to the civilian shinobis. But after the establishment of the academy, some of the civilian students have managed to sharpen their edge.

In particular, these two kids had taken them only one year to become Chunin when they only were ordinary people at that time!

He heard Nara Patriarch's explanation, but Masahiko didn't care much about details. He knew that these people will end up being the disciples of Tobirama and Hashirama, so he didn't really care.

Now, what is really worrying him the whereabouts of Madara. Judging by the timeline, Madara should have already found the stone tablet of the Uchiha with the help of black Zetsu…

"Is it really unavoidable? The Battle of the Valley of the End…" Masahiko murmured.

"What can't be avoided?" Hashirama seemed puzzled, "Second Grandpa, this is not too difficult to solve…"

Masahiko scratched his head and couldn't take back what he said.

"Yes, it's easy, when the answer is always before your eyes…"

Initially, Masahiko thought that this dispute will soon end when he forces the idea of taking these kids as disciples on Tobirama and Hashirama, but something unexpected happened.

Sasuke Sarutobi and Ken Shimura came to find Masahiko and ask him to take their sons as his disciples.

"Eeeh, why me?" Masahiko rolled his eyes, "Although I have taught you too before, this doesn't mean that I have to teach your sons too…"

Sasuke then smiled, "Don't say that, Sensei, you always tend to think too low of yourself, you've mastered all of the five natures of Chakra, which makes you a more suitable teacher for little Sarutobi than the Uchiha."

Ken also added, "I tried for so many years to learn the advanced version of the Rasengan, but I ended up failing, but with my son, Danzo, in your hand, I will feel more reassured."

Masahiko didn't believe a word that these two have said. It's estimated that these two couldn't bear the pressure from the Uchiha and Hyuga, and wanted to use Masahiko as a shield.

"I am already 69 years old. I would rather use what is left of my time on planting and watering all kinds of flowers. I don't want to accept any disciples. And you don't need to worry about the Hyuga and the Uchiha. After all, The Hokage of Konoha is Senju Hashirama, and he will never turn a blind eye if something happens. He will solve the problem."

Although he said that, Masahiko once was interested in taking such good disciples as his apprentices. But after more consideration, he thought that this will end up being too troublesome. His current disciple is already giving him a headache, not to mention having another disciple.

Sasuke and Ken looked at each other with disappointment, then left.

What happened next is precisely what Masahiko has predicted. Firstly, the two civilian graduates' shinobi. Hashirama accepted them as his disciples, calming down the current situation. Now, no one has to fight.

It's relatively difficult to take the responsibility of Hiruzen and Danzo too. Thus, Hashirama gathered all the clans and family leaders.

After the consultation, the Sarutobi boy was accepted as Hashirama's disciple, along with the other two civilian shinobi. As for the Shimura boy, he was accepted as Tobirama disciples along with Torifu Akimichi and Kagami Uchiha.

Of course, Tobirama wasn't really pleased with this; after all, he didn't really have a pleasant disposition with the Uchiha. At this time, he has yet to understand the Uchiha.

As for the other 20 graduates, none of them was noteworthy. Thus, after careful consideration, they divided them equally between the Clans, and Konoha survived this storm. This incident brought Masahiko 5 witness points, but he didn't look happy.

"A bigger storm is coming…" Masahiko sighed.

Madara recently returned to the Konoha. Compared to the times when he was always yelling 'Old man,' Madara was basically acting as if Masahiko wasn't there, as for his good old pal, Hashirama, he ignored him most of the time.

"I'm afraid that he already saw the Uchiha stone tablet, and still not sure what he should do…" Masahiko murmured.

"It's really troublesome that the Mind's Eye of the Kagura couldn't detect Black Zetsu. I'm afraid that the battle of the Valley of the End is already on the verge of breaking…"

"Do we really have to walk this path…?"