Shisui's shoulders slumped, and he let out a long defeated sigh. The Hyuga clan had grown to utterly despise the Uchiha ever since Hiashi's daughter had been kidnapped, believing we are responsible for giving out information to Kumo.
Itachi remained silent, his mind racing as he stared at the floor. Every calculation he made led back to a single driving purpose: "All for a peaceful village where Sasuke can grow up safely without worrying about anything."
"Are you thinking about those radical Uchiha? Shisui." he asked gently, referring to the faction within the clan that had fiercely advocated for a violent coup d'état to take over Konoha. "The ones who foolishly believed we could win an open civil war against the entire leaf village, even after seeing their strength we have seen from the last 3 attacks of Kumo? I am sorry. It was my direct order that put their blood on your hands. But it was a necessary sacrifice to silence the dissent and ensure the safety of everyone we love."
Shisui looked down at his trembling hands, as the memory of the radical clanmates he had been ordered to eliminate.
The path of their survival was paved in blood, and the warmth of the village they once loved felt further away than ever.
~~
The Kumogakure's Ninja Academy did not look like the cramped lecture halls found in other hidden villages. By the decree of the Raikage, the academy was built as a sprawling, open-air and a massive expanse of different terrains where dense forests, and rocky plateaus replicating the war zones near Land of Hot water and Rice fields and also served as the training and fighting grounds.
So today, Kaien attended the academy and as he watched the bustle of the student body. He couldn't help but feel a flicker of pride. This entire system was his brilliance. Under the old regime, the gap between academy hopefuls and active-duty Genin was a chasm bridged only achieved by luck and necessity such as war.
Kaien had proposed a complete structural change to foster talent early: a definitive split between the Lower and Upper academies and extending the academy course.
The Lower Academy was a foundational six-year crucible for children aged six to twelve. And the Upper Academy... a focused, three-year advanced track course for students aged twelve to fifteen... that truly revolutionized Kumo's military pipeline. Here, they were taking on low-level missions as Genin and honing their combat styles tailored to their specific genetic traits or chakra affinities.
To ensure these adolescents didn't stall out, Kaien had introduced an ingenious incentive program for the village's elite. A rotating roster of Jounin... masters of Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Kenjutsu... were brought in to personally oversee training of upperclassmen.
If an instructor successfully nurtured a student to a higher rank, the teacher received a massive bonus, ranging from a 10% raise to a staggering 100% salary increase or even more, depending on the student's strength and their influence in the students growth.
Naturally, this caused an influx of veteran Jounin, especially those from emerging clans, to fight for teaching slots. The academy had transformed from a fodder producing machine into a highly competitive gold rush.
~~
Dodai stood before the gathered youth. He scanned the crowd of Year 6-12 students.
"Attention everyone!" Dodai's voice boomed cutting through the chatter of 120 of students. "Today is a special day. We have quite a few talents here in this bunch. To test your mettle, we have invited several upperclassmen who have already earned their Genin forehead protectors. For those among you who possess the courage and the skill, this is your chance to challenge them."
The younger students exchanged nervous glances. To challenge an upperclassman was to invite a severe beating in front of the entire peer group.
Dodai's gaze hardened as he looked across the front row of the Year 12 students. "No one? I suppose none of you want an early promotion to Genin." He looked down at his clipboard, then shifted his eyes toward a hulking, yet strangely timid boy standing near the back. "What about you, Jugo?"
Jugo flinched, his massive shoulders tensing as he instinctively shrunk back. He twiddled his thick fingers, staring intensely at the dirt. "B... but I don't want to hurt anyone, Dodai-sensei," he muttered, his voice barely a whisper. "What if... what if I lose control again? What if the outburst happens again like that time?"
Dodai's expression softened. "Be confident, Jugo. The last time that happened, you didn't take your medication. Did you take your pills the Benihime-sama prepared for your clan today?"
Jugo nodded slowly, a hand tracing the small pouch at his hip.
"Well, then. Good," Dodai said, clapping his hands together. He flipped through the pages of his notepad, scanning the roster of the Year 13 upperclassmen. He wanted a real test... someone who wouldn't hold back, but possessed enough skill to handle a volatile opponent. "Ruri Fuma. Step forward."
A young girl with sharp features and a confident aura leaped down. Ruri Fuma, a prodigy of the rising Fuma clan, stretched her arms as she yawned as this took so long. "Don't worry, sensei," she smirked, casting a dismissive glance at Jugo. "I'll end this quickly so we can get back to real training."
~~
The two combatants stepped into the center of the arena, standing two meters apart. Jugo looked anxious, his posture completely closed and defensive, while Ruri was nimble and acrobatic.
"Begin!" Dodai shouted.
Ruri vanished from her starting position. She body-flickered directly into Jugo's blind spot, her leg whipping out in a fluid roundhouse kick. The strike caught Jugo squarely on his cheek, sending his heavy frame crashing into the dirt.
"There. It's over," Ruri said, turning her back to the fallen boy and dusting off her hands.
Groaning, Jugo pushed himself up, shaking the dirt from his hair. His eyes locked onto Ruri's retreating form as he dashed forward.
Sensing the sudden shift in wind pressure, Ruri didn't panic. She launched herself into the air, executing a flawless aesthetic backflip directly over his head. While mid-air, her fingers blurred, flicking a barrage of shuriken straight at his back.
With a sickening, squelching sound, the flesh of his right arm distorted, expanding into stone-like animalistic mass. With a sweeping motion of his mutated limb, he batted the shuriken away, the metal clattering uselessly against the hard skin.
Ruri's eyes widened slightly, she closed the distance instantly, dropping low to avoid a wild swing from his mutated arm. She drove a brutal palm strike into Jugo's oblique muscles, forcing the larger boy to gasp for air. Seizing the momentum, she leaped onto his broad shoulders, wrapping her legs around his throat and locking her arms in a suffocating neck-lock.
Jugo thrashed and pulled at her legs, but her grip was ironclad. Sensing his consciousness fading from the lack of oxygen, Jugo stopped trying to break the hold. Instead, he threw his entire weight backward, intending to use his massive frame to ram her spine-first into the ground.
Realizing the incoming impact would shatter her back, Ruri made a split-second decision. She released the lock, twisting her body mid-air to face him. As they fell, she bent her leg and drove her knees with immense force straight into Jugo's stomach. The impact forced Jugo's body to double over into a painful U-shape.
~~
A/N: I don't want to write from what is chakra and shit... it's boring to read and write. So, I wanted to write a reworked academy system.
Being Genin is perquisite for getting into upper classes, where you have to go on missions and get trained by tutors and they would incentive based how strong the student has become.
There are half yearly different promotions to jump to Genin. If a year 6 student becomes a Genin, he/she can skip to Year 13.
Upto 20 Advance chapters available @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0