Ninja Academy, teaching building rooftop.
The Third Hokage stood by the railing, his face amiable.
A group of students sat around the edge, looking at him with longing or expectation.
"Where leaves fly, fire burns. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and new leaves will sprout again."
As soon as these words came out, everyone was moved.
They might not yet understand the meaning of these words, but they could feel the implication, their eyes full of hope.
Even Iruka, standing at the back, revealed a proud smile.
Hiruzen nodded slightly, the wrinkles on his face smoothing out quite a bit.
On the surface, Jokichi was no different from the others, but inwardly he disagreed.
Sacrificing oneself to protect the growth of the new generation...
The intention is good, but the lines are filled with sorrow and helplessness.
Why must one sacrifice to protect?
It is nothing more than a lack of strength, a forced choice.
Of course, this is just a kind of spirit.
If Jokichi had to say it like that, he would seem a bit like a contrarian.
But no matter how it is put, he does not agree with it.
To dominate everything and let everything go as one wishes.
Even if one does not claim hegemony and plunder others, one should not let any tragedies happen around oneself.
Afterwards, the Third Hokage successively imparted many spiritual thoughts to everyone, and only reluctantly closed his mouth when the class dismissal bell rang.
He glanced at the sun on the horizon, a kind smile appearing on his aged face. "This class ends here!"
"Eh, talk a bit more!"
"Yeah, yeah, Lord Hokage's classes only happen once in a long while!"
"I also want to hear how our predecessors fought bloody battles for the village."
The crowd was unsatisfied and begged the Third Hokage to continue the lecture.
Hiruzen smiled slightly and said, "Definitely next time."
"Eh!" A wave of disappointment came from below.
Iruka stepped forward crossly, "Be content, you guys. Lord Hokage has a lot of official business to handle, how could he have the time to teach classes all the time. If you guys want to listen to lectures, why do you always doze off in my classes!"
"Tch!"
Everyone gave him the middle finger without giving him any face.
Over the past half year, everyone had become familiar with each other and also knew Iruka's good-natured personality.
Therefore, their daily interactions were very casual.
These brats!
Iruka's mouth twitched, and the veins on his forehead throbbed, forming a cross shape.
Seeing this scene, Hiruzen also laughed cheerfully.
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a sneaky figure coming to his side.
Looking closely, it was Naruto.
"Naruto, do you need something?" Hiruzen looked at him curiously.
"Nothing."
Naruto chuckled, suddenly jumped up, reached out and yanked his beard, then turned and ran.
The sudden turn of events stunned everyone.
They looked at the Third Hokage covering his chin in pain, and then at Naruto who was laughing heartily and running far away clutching the beard hairs, taking a good while to come back to their senses.
"Naruto!"
Iruka's roar echoed through the sky of the entire campus.
...
Afterwards, Naruto stood outside the classroom holding buckets full of water as punishment.
Meanwhile, Jokichi was snickering in the restroom holding a few strands of beard.
[Ding! Detected special material "Wise Man's Beard", can forge special items "Hat of Wisdom" and "Moving Library", do you wish to forge?]
Jokichi took a look using the Book of Omniscience, confirmed there was no one nearby, and chose to forge.
In the next second, a doctoral cap and a thick-covered book with a black iron cover appeared in his hands.
The hat looked no different from an ordinary doctoral cap, and the cover of the black iron book was engraved with many archaic portraits, the whole thing exuding an archaic and heavy aura.
Mhm, holding it in his hand, it was indeed heavy.
"Hat of Erudition: When worn, you will possess extremely high wisdom and can quickly memorize and understand ninjutsu knowledge."
"Moving Library: Records all of Konoha's (excluding clan secret jutsu) forbidden jutsu and ninjutsu, and will automatically record the ninjutsu and forbidden jutsu knowledge possessed by the holder."
The Hat of Erudition and the Top Student Glasses share a similar purpose and effect.
However, the Top Student Glasses only improve the learning state, while the Hat of Erudition elevates a person's wisdom. The two complement each other and can exert an even stronger effect.
As for the Moving Library, just the forbidden jutsu and ninjutsu of Konoha recorded on it are enough to make it a supreme treasure fought over by countless ninjas in the ninja world.
Not to mention it also has the function of recording the ninjutsu knowledge possessed by the holder.
If used well, gathering all the ninjutsu in the world is not impossible.
Jokichi roughly flipped through it. It recorded many familiar ninjutsu and forbidden jutsu, including the First Hokage's Wood Release, the Second Hokage's Impure World Reincarnation and Flying Thunder God, the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan, Kakashi's Chidori, and so on...
Jokichi just took one look and drooled with covetousness.
Unfortunately, many forbidden jutsu and ninjutsu required special constitutions or talents to learn.
Because he was in a public place, Jokichi only took a rough look and then reluctantly threw it into the system space.
Furthermore, he would not browse through it in the short term.
Food must be eaten one bite at a time, and the road must be walked one step at a time.
He had not forgotten Itachi's advice.
Until he practiced his shuriken and swordsmanship to a level sufficient to compete with enemies in actual combat, he would not distract himself by learning ninjutsu.
Doing so would only hinder his own progress.
He believed that with the talent of the Weapon Soul, he would be able to complete his training in this aspect very quickly.
By then, his foundation would be solid.
With both the software (Moving Library) and hardware (Sage Body, Sage Eyes) complete, it would be like a flat plain all the way, only needing to whip the horse and gallop to advance rapidly.
...
Time flew by like a white horse passing a crevice.
Unknowingly, Jokichi spent two springs, summers, autumns, and winters at the Ninja Academy.
Over these two years, he lived almost repetitive days.
Morning exercise, going to school to absorb knowledge, extra training after school...
Almost every day was like this.
Monotonous, tedious, yet incomparably fulfilling.
With the assistance of the Top Student Glasses, Jokichi had already completed the six-year curriculum of the Ninja Academy, and was the undisputed number one in every theory class.
As for his practical combat grades, they completely crushed the entire grade.
As he grew older, he grew quite a bit taller, and his physical strength naturally became stronger.
Although he did not temper his body with almost masochistic physical training like before, spending a massive amount of time every day practicing shuriken and swordsmanship also tempered his physical fitness.
Although it was not as fast as the improvement from specialized physical training, it still maintained a steady upward trend every day.
Nowadays, simply comparing speed and power, few even among Chunin could match him.
His chakra volume had even reached five percent of the Ring of Kurama.
As for physical stamina and endurance...
Heh, comparing this with a Perfect Sage Body.
It was not Jokichi bragging, but in the current Konoha, apart from Guy, not a single person could surpass him.
Moreover, for the past two years, he trained hard in shuriken and swordsmanship every day.
Now, he could achieve a one hundred percent hit rate with shuriken within ten meters, and could also maintain a seventy percent probability on moving targets.
And his swordsmanship...
He was able to retract and release it freely as early as a year ago, able to not easily reveal flaws in actual combat.
And now, with a swing of his sword, the wind it brought up contained sharpness.
He could cut through a bamboo mat from half a meter away.
Apart from combat experience, his strength was already the elite of elites among Chunin. Even an ordinary member of the Anbu could not compare to him.