Chapter 16: The Ninja Academy Begins
As the various clan heads murmured amongst themselves, Hyuga Tenjin stated faintly, "My Hyuga clan will invest in one share." He said it so casually as if one hundred million ryo was nothing to him.
Nara Shikakaze followed, "The three clans of the Ino-Shika-Cho will jointly invest in one share."
Sarutobi Sasuke also said, "The Sarutobi clan and the Shimura clan will also jointly invest in one share."
Inuzuka Ya: "The Inuzuka clan and the Aburame clan will jointly invest in one share."
The remaining small clans, such as the Hatake, Kato, and Kurama, combined their funds to invest in one share.
After all the clans had stated their positions, Tobirama concluded, "The Yamamoto family holds one share for their technical contribution. Of the ten shares of future profits, the remaining one share will be reserved as capital for the hotel's expansion."
"All invested funds are to be delivered within three days. The first step of the plan is to open a Konoha Hotel in every city in the Land of Fire. The positions within will be given in priority to members of the various investing clans. The second step is to open hotels in other countries and ninja villages."
"For now, the decision-making power rests with the Yamamoto family. If the Yamamoto family makes a major error, a shareholder meeting can be convened to revoke their decision-making power. Profits will be distributed once a year, and shareholders have the right to audit the accounts, but no other shareholder may interfere in the operations."
Finally, Tobirama asked, "If you have no objections, you may come forward and sign the contract."
Akimichi Torune asked, "Will every clan be able to send people to join as chefs?"
Tobirama replied, "Of course. However, they are not permitted to spread the recipes. A prohibition seal will be placed on every person who becomes a chef. If a chef ever tries to leak the recipes, whether actively or passively, or cooks the dishes outside of the hotel's kitchen, the seal will erase that part of the泄露者's memory. Anyone who loses their memory in this way will not be re-hired."
Hearing this, Akimichi Torune completely gave up on any plans to steal the techniques. It seemed that in the future, the only way to eat this cuisine would be to go to the hotels.
The clan heads had no further objections to the contract, and they all signed it together.
Three days later, Yamamoto Ryusei came to the Ninja Academy alone to enroll. On the same day as the meeting, Yamamoto Shuichi and Yamamoto Nami had left for other cities in the Land of Fire to select locations for the hotels. Liu Maoxing was currently in the Senju compound with Mito Uzumaki, training the Senju clan members to be chefs. It was estimated that they could open for business in about half a year.
"Ryusei-nii!" Komiya Yuki came running over, followed by a beautiful woman in a kimono.
"You must be Ryusei-kun," the beautiful woman said with a slight bow. "I am Komiya Ryoko, Yuki's mother. Thank you so much for taking care of our Yuki."
Ryusei returned the bow. "You're too kind, Auntie Komiya. Please, just call me Ryusei."
"Big Brother, you came to register alone too? My parents are so busy they just told me to come by myself," Yamashita So said, running over with a stick on his back.
Ryusei introduced him. "This is Auntie Komiya Ryoko, Yuki's mother."
So bowed to her. "Hello, Auntie Komiya."
Ryoko patted So's head and praised him, "Hello to you too. Such a good boy."
Yuki was quite interested in the wooden stick on So's back. "Yamashita So, why are you carrying a wooden stick? Is it so the teacher has something handy to hit you with?"
"This isn't a wooden stick! This is the Golden-Hooped Rod!" So retorted.
"The Golden-Hooped Rod? The one Sun Wukong has? This doesn't look like it," Yuki said, sizing up the stick in his hand.
So was displeased. "What do you mean it doesn't look like it? I think it's the Golden-Hooped Rod!"
"It doesn't matter what you think," Yuki said, turning her head to Ryusei. "Ryusei-nii, what do you think? Does it look like it?"
Ryusei carefully observed So's stick. One end was large, and the other was small, and the large end was cracked.
He shook his head directly. "It doesn't. Setting aside everything else, the hoops on that staff are golden. If you really want one, I can draw up some blueprints for you, and you can just go to the blacksmith shop to have one made."
"Really?" So's eyes lit up with excitement. "Then I also want the Phoenix-wing Purple-gold Crown, the Golden Chain Mail, and the Lotus-root Cloud-walking Boots!"
So has memorized it all quite well. "Alright, alright, I'll draw them all for you. Now let's go register."
After the three had registered, Komiya Ryoko went home. There was only one class in total, and it was mostly filled with children from clans with Kekkei Genkai. There were very few commoners; it seemed not many commoners wanted to send their children to the academy at this time.
Ryusei looked at his classmates. Those gathered in small groups of two or three were mostly from the clans, while those standing alone were commoners.
Before long, a young man with a pineapple-style haircut walked into the classroom lazily.
"Ryusei-nii, look! It's him!" Yuki exclaimed.
The person who entered was the Nara ninja from the forest who had paid them for the deer. I didn't expect him to be our teacher.
The Nara ninja wrote his name, Nara Shikagen, on the blackboard. He turned around and said, "I am Nara Shikagen. From today onwards, I will be your teacher for the next six years. I will teach you literacy, trap-making, chakra refining, ninja tool throwing, and a series of other skills. Perhaps some of you have already learned these things. You are free to sleep in class, but you are not allowed to be noisy and affect the other students. Now, let's do some self-introductions. Tell us what you like, what you dislike, and what your dream is, so your classmates can get to know you. Let's start with you." Nara Shikagen randomly pointed to a person.
The first to go up was a boy from the Hyuga clan. He wore a headband on his forehead, so he was likely from a branch family.
"Hello everyone, my name is Hyuga Natsuki. My favorite food is wood-fish cake. The thing I hate the most is tomatoes. My dream is to become a Gentle Fist master like Lord Tenjin."
The following students all followed Natsuki's format for their introductions. Their dreams were mostly to become ninjas like their clan heads.
This continued until a handsome boy with black hair and the Uchiha fan crest on his clothes took the stage. "Hello everyone, my name is Uchiha Kagami. My favorite food is ramen. The thing I hate most is sweets. My dream is to become a great man like the Hokage."
The girls below couldn't help but scream for him. "He's so handsome! I like him so much!"
Next up was a small, chubby boy. "Hello everyone, my name is Akimichi Torifu. My favorite thing is the food made by Master Liu Maoxing. The thing I hate most is people calling me fat. My dream is to eat all the delicious food in the entire ninja world."
Nara Shikagen couldn't help but sigh. "That's a great dream. I also want to eat all the food in the ninja world. Next."
Next on stage was a blonde loli. "Hello everyone, my name is Yamanaka Seisen. My favorite things are flowers. The thing I hate most is crabs. My dream is to open a flower shop."
Hmm... so the future Yamanaka family flower shop will probably be opened by her.
After her, a boy with a pineapple haircut lazily took the stage. Seeing the two pineapple heads together created a strange sense of comedy. "Hello everyone, my name is Nara Shikamei. My favorite thing to do is lie down. The most troublesome thing is... troublesome things. My dream is to live a lazy life."
Next was an energetic, black-haired boy. "Hello everyone, my name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. My favorite animals are monkeys. I don't have anything I dislike. My dream is to become the Hokage."
So this is Sarutobi Hiruzen. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be my greatest rival.
Next up was a small boy with two painted marks on his face, holding a dog. "Hello everyone, my name is Inuzuka Rō. My favorite thing is my ninja beast, Howling Celestial Dog. The thing I hate most is cats. My dream is to become a deity like Erlang Shen."
"Are you kidding me?!" The most agitated was Hyuga Natsuki. "You don't even have an all-seeing doujutsu! How can you be Erlang Shen?"
"That's right!" Sarutobi Hiruzen pointed at the puppy in Rō's arms and retorted, "And your dog is gray! The Howling Celestial Dog is black! The color isn't even the same. How dare you name it Howling Celestial Dog?"
"Exactly!" Yamanaka Seisen also stood up. "Erlang Shen is so handsome. How can you compare to him?"
Inuzuka Rō hugged his little gray puppy and said painfully, "Rōmaru, they don't like you."
"WE DON'T LIKE YOU!" everyone shouted back.
...Inuzuka Rō's speech had drawn the ire of his classmates. It seemed Journey to the West was quite popular.
Nara Shikagen stopped the class from ganging up on Inuzuka Rō and called for the next person.
A little loli with black hair who was quite cute came up. "Hello everyone, my name is Utatane Koharu. My favorite things are sweets. The thing I hate most is spicy food. My dream is to become a powerful kunoichi."
Ryusei looked at her cute face and couldn't help but think of the old woman she would become, and he shivered.
Next was a boy with glasses. "Hello everyone, my name is Mitokado Homura. My favorite thing is reading. The thing I hate most is rice balls. My dream is to become the Hokage."
Hmm... the future background duo has appeared.