"Kitazawa, you've taught at the Academy for so many years—you must know it inside out."
Hiruzen tapped his pipe and asked, "What problems do you think the Academy has right now?"
Kitazawa blinked. Why ask him this out of the blue? Was it about yesterday's Student Council selection match?
"Here's the thing." Seeing Kitazawa's confusion, Hiruzen skipped the riddles and laid out what he'd been thinking yesterday.
It boiled down to two issues:
First, the teachers' overall level isn't high enough.
Second, students' talent varies widely.
"I see." Kitazawa nodded and praised him. "You're thinking several moves ahead, Hokage-sama."
"Spare me the flattery. Tell me your fix." Hiruzen drew on his pipe, expectant.
"If Academy teachers aren't strong enough, invite stronger shinobi to teach," Kitazawa said after a short pause.
"I've thought of that too, but it isn't realistic," Hiruzen replied, shaking his head. "It wastes our shinobi's strength and keeps them from taking missions."
At the end of the day, Konoha is a mercenary organization; shinobi exist to work for daimyō, nobles, and merchants.
"That brings us to the second issue—students' ability gaps," Kitazawa said with a smile. "Why not put the gifted in the same class?"
He meant what people in his previous life called "fast and slow tracks"—an advanced/"rocket" class and a regular class.
"Hm?" Hiruzen made a small sound. He thought of the experimental medical-nin class. Long ago Tsunade had proposed putting a dedicated medic on every squad, but during the Second Shinobi War, and given how hard medics are to train, it wasn't approved.
After the war, Konoha created an experimental class, gathering shinobi who both wanted to learn medical arts and had talent for them. It worked: among the Five Great Villages, Konoha has the most and strongest medical-nin.
"How would you roll it out?" Hiruzen asked, pipe in hand.
"Sorting exams," Kitazawa said. "After their first semester, all students can take a placement test. Those who pass join the 'genius' class."
"What about late bloomers?" Hiruzen mused.
"Teacher nominations," Kitazawa explained. "If a teacher spots talent, they can report it. Once confirmed, that student can transfer into the genius class."
"If you're only teaching one class, you don't need that many teachers—so the waste is minimized," Hiruzen said, then added, "But if you put all the gifted in one room, won't they progress at different speeds?"
"Teach according to aptitude," Kitazawa said lightly. "With twenty to thirty students max, teachers can tailor plans for each of them."
"Teach according to aptitude," Hiruzen repeated, eyes brightening. "That hits the mark."
He suddenly realized Kitazawa was already doing exactly that. Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, and the rest had all been on different training tracks, which is why they'd grown so fast in under a year.
"You were born to teach," Hiruzen said with feeling.
"I'm only practicing the Will of Fire," Kitazawa answered solemnly. "If I'm a teacher, I should help the new leaves grow strong."
"Well said!" Hiruzen slapped the desk. "If every shinobi had your conviction, how could Konoha not thrive?"
Kitazawa blinked. Maybe he'd laid it on a bit thick.
"Do you have a way to attract strong shinobi to teach?" Hiruzen asked, increasingly pleased. As Hokage, he could force it—but that would breed resentment and run counter to the Will of Fire.
"We don't have to hire currently top-tier shinobi," Kitazawa said steadily. "We can hire retired shinobi. Their peak strength may be gone, but their experience is deep."
"Young retirees, quick on the uptake—very good." Hiruzen paused, then praised the idea.
"Just a thought I stumbled into," Kitazawa said modestly.
"Reforming the Academy is a big deal," Hiruzen said after thinking it through. "Draft me a plan. If it checks out, we'll convene a jōnin meeting."
Kitazawa froze. A jōnin meeting—attended only by special jōnin and jōnin—was for truly major matters in Konoha: changing Hokage, declaring war, that level. Reforming the Academy didn't feel that big to him.
"My teacher, the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama, founded the Academy," Hiruzen said, leaving it at that. "It hasn't changed in all these years."
Kitazawa caught on. Before retiring, Hiruzen wanted to do something that would benefit future generations—and polish his legacy.
The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, pacified the warring states and founded Konoha.
The Second created the Academy, the Anbu, and various institutions that strengthened the village.
But the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had few standout achievements. Konoha barely scraped by in the first two wars, and the Third Shinobi War was won thanks to Namikaze Minato.
On top of that, Sakumo's suicide, Orochimaru's defection, the Nine-Tails' attack—these all happened on his watch.
The Academy may seem minor, but it's actually crucial—it shapes Konoha's future. Since Kitazawa had offered a genuinely useful reform, Hiruzen would of course make use of it. When the genius-class kids grew into legends, they'd mention him too. In short, Hiruzen wanted to bow out with dignity.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Kitazawa said at once.
"I'll be waiting for your plan," Hiruzen said with a broad smile.
Kitazawa nodded, took his leave, and exited the Hokage's office.
"Come with me." An Anbu operative—Haru—was already waiting and led him to the ninjutsu archive.
Kitazawa didn't hesitate long. He chose an A-rank Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.
In the original story, only two shinobi used it: Senju Tobirama and Hoshigaki Kisame. The reason was simple—its chakra cost is monstrous. Its effect is to instantly create a vast sea and imprison the enemy.
After memorizing the technique, Kitazawa left the Hokage building.
"Back already?" Kurenai looked over. "What did the Hokage give you?"
"An A-rank Water Release," Kitazawa said, walking up. He glanced at the scroll on the table. "Your Four Limbs Weighting Seal has four mistakes."
"Where?" Kurenai's eyes started scanning the scroll.
"Here," he said, pointing them out one by one. "And there."
"Your eyes are like a Byakugan or what? You can spot such tiny differences?" Kurenai said, a little amazed.
"Nothing fancy—just practice," he said, then squeezed her thigh twice. "Same way I already know where your thigh's weak spot is."
"I'm talking business!" Her thigh tingled; a dazed look flickered in her eyes before she snapped, flustered and annoyed.
"Only giving an example," he said straight-faced.
"I've never seen you practice sealing," she said, then frowned. Something felt off.
"I practice at school," he said casually.
"I'm going to work on seals—don't distract me," Kurenai said, thinking nothing more of it.
"Call me if you get stuck," Kitazawa said, leaving her be and heading upstairs.
Vacation or not, he still had plenty to do. For one, the task to master four Water Releases. He already knew two—Water Formation Wall and Water Dragon Bullet.
Three remained: two A-ranks (Great Waterfall Technique and Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave) and one B-rank (Water Release: Instant Water).
He planned to learn Instant Water first—the two A-ranks would guzzle chakra. But not today; first he had to write the genius-class proposal. He also needed to flesh out everyone's winter-break training plans.
On the third day of winter break, Kitazawa arrived at the Academy training grounds at 9 a.m. sharp.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Naruto was his usual bundle of energy.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Yamanaka Ino, Hyūga Hinata, and the others chimed in.
"Mm." Kitazawa nodded. "We'll go one by one."
Naruto didn't speak, but he was already windmilling his arms.
"Naruto, you first." Kitazawa led him to a tree, picked up a leaf, and handed it over.
"Do I get the leaf drill like Sasuke?" Naruto asked.
"Not the same." Kitazawa opened his palm. "You're going to cut the leaf with Wind Release chakra."
The leaf in his hand split cleanly in two. No doubt—the first stage of Wind nature transformation.
Naruto was at a bottleneck. Kitazawa didn't dare help him tap the Nine-Tails' chakra yet. He had tons of chakra, but not many ninjutsu suited him—Multiple Shadow Clones and the Rasengan were already perfect fits.
Beyond that, taijutsu. To pair with shadow clones, Kitazawa intended to teach him Wind Release—but first Naruto needed some grasp of Wind nature transformation.
"Got it!" Naruto nodded. He didn't know Kitazawa's end goal, but he trusted him.
"Work at it slowly. If you hit a snag, come to me," Kitazawa said after half an hour of pointers.
Could Naruto learn Wind nature transformation? Yes—he'd done this in the original timeline while developing the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. He was younger now, so getting started would take longer—but he had time to burn.
"Ino." Kitazawa moved to another patch of ground.
"Coming!" Ino jogged over, caught her breath, and asked, "New jutsu for me?"
"Right." Kitazawa nodded. "I created one that suits you."
"Created… one?" Ino's mouth fell open. Even after Kiba's hellhound example, she was stunned.
"It's called Ninja Art: Ten Thousand Flowers Profusion," Kitazawa said, stepping back. "I'll show you once."
Ino nodded quickly, eyes fixed on him.
A heartbeat later, her vision filled with flowers. She reached out on instinct and caught one—felt the petals. Real flowers. More and more appeared—and Kitazawa vanished from in front of her. She glanced around. Suddenly, one blossom in front of her lunged, petal-edge aimed at her throat. A chill of mortal danger washed over her.
Kitazawa reappeared and pinched the flower between his fingers.
"Amazing!" Ino said, thrilled once her heart stopped pounding.
"And then?" Kitazawa flicked her forehead. "You didn't even notice you were under genjutsu."
"I was? When?" Ino looked down—the fallen petals weren't nearly as many as she'd "seen." In other words, some flowers were real, some weren't.
"Ten Thousand Flowers Profusion is a combo technique," Kitazawa said, taking out a scroll. "Your job today is to memorize it."
"Yes, Sensei!" she said, beaming.
He ruffled her hair and waited a few seconds—no system prompt. So that task would only trigger once she actually learned the technique.
"Hinata, Neji," he said once they were standing before him. "You two keep drilling Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms."
"Mm." Hinata nodded reflexively. Neji, however, didn't answer.
"Neji? Something on your mind?" Kitazawa asked with a smile.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Neji said after two seconds' hesitation, "I want to defeat Sasuke and Naruto."
Kitazawa raised an eyebrow. As expected of a Hyūga prodigy—going two-on-one. Fair enough: like Sasuke, Neji had been proud and aloof; losing to Sasuke and Naruto had tempered him, but a genius's pride dies hard.
"You're not far behind them," Kitazawa analyzed. "Just pay attention to Sasuke's genjutsu and Naruto's Multiple Shadow Clones."
Neji nodded; that matched his own assessment. Doing it was the hard part. He could anticipate Sasuke's genjutsu somewhat with his Byakugan, but Naruto's clone swarms were a headache.
[Current Mission: Help Hyūga Neji defeat Uzumaki Naruto in next month's exam.]
[Reward: +10% Byakugan purity.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa stared at the text. Only Naruto, not Sasuke? Maybe because Neji believed he could beat Sasuke but not Naruto. As for the reward—exactly what he'd been wanting: +10% Byakugan purity.
"I'll teach you the Shadow Clone Technique first," Kitazawa decided.
Cracking Naruto's clone tactic wasn't easy, but with shadow clones of his own, Neji could at least split the pressure.
"Thank you, Sensei," Neji said at once; he'd already seen the value in learning it.
"I…" Hinata pressed her lips together, hesitating.
"You want to learn it too?" Kitazawa asked, looking over.
Hinata bobbed her head, a smile slipping out.
[Current Mission: Help Hyūga Hinata learn the Shadow Clone Technique over winter break.]
[Reward: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.]
[Accept?]
That triggers too? Kitazawa was taken aback. Vacuum Palm is Gentle Fist as well, but long-range—firing dense chakra from the palm like a wind-style blast.
He gave them the usual half-hour of instruction, then called over Aburame Shino. The two of them headed north to a sequestered corner.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Hands flashing through seals, Kitazawa slammed a fireball into the ground. Moments later, a deep pit ringed by flames yawned open.
"Shino, build a hive at the bottom that suits kikaichū, but don't give them extra food," Kitazawa said offhandedly.
Shino's heart jounced—he understood. With no food, the kikaichū would have to find a way through the ring of fire. Over time, he'd cultivate a batch with fire-style resistance. Brutal, yes—but likely the most effective path. All he'd lose was some chakra and some bugs.
[Current Mission: Help Aburame Shino cultivate fire-resistant kikaichū.]
[Reward: Ignore 10% of Fire Release damage.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa's eyes narrowed. A reward like that? Ten percent doesn't sound like much, but at a high level, fights can turn on that ten percent.
"I'll leave a shadow clone with you. When the fire dies, have him relight it," Kitazawa said, forming the seal and splitting off a clone—then heading for the Hokage building to see Hiruzen.