I stood before all the new students entering the academy. Around me were also students who had already enrolled, as well as parents who had come to see the new headmistress give her speech.
Sitting and waiting for my turn, I adjusted my attire.
Since it was a formal occasion, I considered wearing a shirt, trousers, and a blouse—out of place in the feudal era, as I was getting a bit bored with kimonos. But that made people look at me strangely and somewhat unkindly.
Not to mention that I had grown out of the habit of wearing formal attire. In my past life, since I spent so much time at conferences and traveling from place to place, I always had to wear formal clothes at least once for presentations. Afterward, I would change into something more comfortable to go to the lab or the reef, since my last research project was about that place.
"With that said, let's begin with a big round of applause for Miss Miyu, who will be giving a welcome speech, both to her as director and to the new students," said the academy's coordinating chunin.
Adjusting my uniform, I walked to the podium and looked at the kids in front of me. I also glanced at the surrounding ninjas and the civilians who had come both to see me and to see what I would do as the new director of the academy.
"The Will of Fire was established by the First Hokage, seeking to prevent his family from dying in senseless wars or petty conflicts, placing particular emphasis on the younger generation. But seeing you here wanting to become ninjas shows that, even in times of peace, there are still young people who want to go to war." My words left some people stunned, others confused, and very few nodding.
"But your being here isn't a bad thing, because even though this is a ninja academy, it's still an academy, because you come here to be the best versions of yourselves, whether you end up becoming ninjas or not." I paused to let everyone process what I'd just said, but not for long. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to become ninjas and serve the people; it's just that dedicating yourselves to it at such a young age can be detrimental to your mindset, so in the early years of the academy, you won't be covering ninja-related topics."
At that moment, the murmurs began.
"In compensation, I will improve the students' morale and skills in the later years to make up for the deficiency, because for me, two things are important: first, that the children remain children, not war machines; second, that when a graduate leaves the academy, they have a much greater chance of surviving difficult missions and being able to continue helping both those who supported them and themselves," he declared firmly.
I paused for a moment to allow people time to process my words, but then I heard applause. It came from a civilian ninja, followed by another civilian, and then a teacher joined in.
A cacophony of applause erupted, leaving me somewhat taken aback, as I hadn't expected it. But thinking about it, perhaps many of these people had been waiting for these changes that never came, and my presence, along with my authority, was something they seemed to appreciate.
Many began to applaud enthusiastically, others out of politeness, and some didn't applaud at all, simply watching. The good thing is, I've already identified them, so I'll keep an eye on them and, if necessary, make them disappear.
After a few moments, I gestured for them to stop.
"These aren't the only changes coming to the academy; more specifically regarding the education of our students, a public outline of the reforms will soon be available. This is being done because we always strive to innovate and improve for the future, and you will be able to see these changes for the common good. I wish all the students of the academy the best year, especially those in their final year. That's all, thank you very much." With my impromptu speech over, I took a step back.
More waves of applause followed as I sat back down.
...
It's been a few months since I became the academy director, and I've only been there three times. The first time was for the opening ceremony and to manage some things, the second to oversee how everything was running, and the last because of a particular incident involving a brat from the Uchiha clan, for which Fugaku had to come and apologize.
This is bad news for them, since it involved a civilian brat. During a normal training exercise, this kid faced off against the Uchiha clan member. The main issue is that the civilian kid won, which angered the other, leading him and some other clan brats to hunt down their opponent and beat him up, leaving him crippled.
I had to save him myself, managing to get him back to his previous condition, but he'll need a long recovery time to fully recover, and he might not be able to.
In the end, I forced the bratty accomplices to repeat the year while performing community service in the village, while I denied the main aggressor, by any means necessary, the chance to become a ninja.
At first, there were complaints, but after saying that this was escalating, I would go to the Hokage to seek greater compensation for the victim's family from the Uchiha clan. And that was the end of it.
I have so many things to do, and there are some I haven't even finished yet. Like choosing the representatives for each of the elemental nations; they will be the public face of my new company, which I haven't named yet.
"Ugh, this is what happens when I try to do so many things at once," I muttered to myself.
At that moment, I started hearing a baby crying. I quickly went to where Yami was; he was resting in a crib in the middle of the room.
I picked him up and took him to my desk to start calming him down. "If only your grandmother were here, I could ask her to watch you while I work," I complained again.
Ever since Minato took over as Fourth Hokage, Tsunade left the village under the guise of a vacation. Afraid she might do something foolish, I sent Shizune to keep an eye on her. I also asked my mother to teach her a thing or two to make up for the trip.
Yami, snuggled in my arms, calmed down and fell asleep again, but this time I left him there.
I looked at the eight-month-old baby who, frankly, looked very Uchiha, which bothered me a little.
That reminded me of something very important: Kushina and Minato's child should be born in a month, and, by extension, Hikari should be "born" a month and a half later.
That means Obito's terrorist attack is coming soon, so I need to think things through carefully.
And one of the things that bothers me is that Minato hasn't asked for my help with this.
"I think I'll pay a quick visit to the Hokage's office."
...
"I thought we were all very busy with having a child, leading two clans, and being the academy director, not to mention dealing with some extremely important matters at the hospital while Tsunade is on vacation," Minato explained, finishing signing a document and looking me in the eye.
"That may be true, but in such a delicate matter, I should be there, especially since I was Kushina's nurse for the past eight months; I think I should be there," I replied.
"I already have everything prepared. I don't think I need you there; this is between Kushina and me. Don't worry, everything will be fine," he tried to reassure me.
"But if things go wrong, what will happen to Kushina, your child, or the village itself?" I asked. "What if the Nine-Tails is released?"
"Then I know you'll be there to stop it and prevent the village from being destroyed," Minato replied, looking at me intently. "Look, I understand your concern, but I just need you to be vigilant and ready if that happens. My child will be born outside the village; as long as I'm out here watching for a giant fox to come to town, then everything will be fine and I can rest easy."
All I could do was click my tongue.
"Fine," I said, slamming my fist on the table, cracking it a little. "I'll be at the village border waiting to respond if that happens, should the situation warrant it."
With that, I stormed out of the office, ignoring everything.
...
I walked through the town carrying Yami in my arms, mostly so he could get some fresh air.
In his right hand, he held a toy, while in his left, he held a pacifier that he chewed on occasionally.
Out of nowhere, he dropped the toy and reached for a wooden toy sword for toddlers.
I just looked at Yami and turned him to face me.
"I think I'm going to start taking you out blindfolded; you want something at every shop we pass. If this keeps up, I'm going to end up spoiling you rotten," I complained, but since he was a baby, I just made a noise with my mouth as a little of his drool dripped onto my face.
Usually, I would have ignored Yami and kept walking, even if he started crying, and then found something else to distract him, but... in three days it would be October 10th, the day Kushina and Minato's baby was due and most likely, the day of the Kyuubi incident.
This business was going to be completely destroyed, and seeing the merchandise he had, it looked superficially good, so I went over to the wooden sword.
"Oh, Mrs. Miyu, what brings you to my humble shop?" the vendor said.
"I'm interested in this toy sword, but do you happen to have something more flexible, like for a baby?" I asked; as much as Yami wanted it, I wouldn't give him a wooden sword, even a toy one.
"Yes, I'll bring it right away for you to see," the duelist said, entering the shop.
While he was doing that, I took the wooden sword Yami wanted and examined it, seeing that it was mediocre in every aspect except for its quality; there, it was truly excellent.
"Here you are," the owner said, handing over a dagger rather than a sword; this one was very flexible and soft, made of rubber. "A toy that the young master can use without harming himself, even if he puts it in his mouth."
I took the toy and showed it to Yami. His attention automatically shifted from the sword to the dagger, grabbing it without hesitation and ignoring the toy katana.
"Okay, I'll take this one and the wooden sword. How much is that?" I asked.
"Nothing for you. I just hope you'll speak well of me in the future," the owner replied with a rather fake smile.
I just raised an eyebrow at this.
I immediately set the toy katana aside and took several ryo from my wallet.
"I'm not leaving here without paying; you merchants live off this, you can't live for free," I told him.
Seeing the amount of money I was handing him, his eyes went from normal to the ryo symbol, as if I had activated a doujutsu.
"How considerate of you, Miss Miyu," the owner flattered me as I received the payment, but just as I handed him the money, I intentionally dropped it on the ground. "What the heck?"
I quickly grabbed the toy sword and held it to his neck.
"I imagine you were trying to curry favor with us so you could later claim you had preferential treatment from me and my clan to raise your prices or make other deals, and if something happened to you, you'd come begging for that favor back. But unfortunately for you, I don't grant favors to just anyone, much less to a nobody." With that word, I removed the game from his neck and left.
The shop owner stood frozen for a moment, until he realized the money I'd left on the floor was flying through the air. Not to mention, there were other people watching, ready to grab it, so he didn't have time to reprimand me for what I'd said and done.
I already knew almost all the tricks these merchants used, but for one of them to try it on me was something I never expected.
During the time I've secretly dealt with them, I've watched each one without them noticing. That's why I can manipulate them if I want and bankrupt each one of them. And from what I've seen, I can say that most of them are bad people, in one way or another. That's why I practically control the entire commercial area of Konoha.
"If your shop isn't destroyed in the Kyubi's attack, I'll tell Daiki to do it." With that, I went back to the clan compound.
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Hi, I've decided that the next chapter will start with the Kyibu incident, mainly to avoid interrupting the storyline. I don't know how many chapters it will take, but I think at least two.
I also wanted to mention that I was going to write this chapter yesterday, but I got sick, and with a headache, I can't think straight, so I didn't write anything.
I just wanted to say that; I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you later.