After hearing Chu Yang out, Tobirama Senju's lips curled into a teasing smile. "You brat—this is probably something you've wanted to do for a long time already. Fine. Since I've agreed, go all out. We must straighten out the school's atmosphere."
From that day on, Chu Yang's actions became even more unrestrained than those of the little troublemakers themselves. It didn't matter what they were doing—so long as they violated school rules, once he caught them, they'd be met with a thorough beating.
Begging for mercy was completely useless. Every time, Chu Yang would make sure their backsides were swollen before sending them home.
With Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura serving as living negative examples, the usual mischief-makers at the academy immediately became far more well-behaved.
Hiruzen's bright red backside was the best possible warning.
On the other hand, whenever conflicts broke out between clan-born students and civilian students, Chu Yang paid especially close attention. After understanding the full sequence of events, he would then determine responsibility.
What Chu Yang aimed to do was ensure fairness and impartiality as much as possible, while also dismantling the small cliques gradually forming on both sides—preventing open confrontation from taking shape.
In practical training courses, he deliberately paired clan students with civilian students as teammates.
In some respects, Chu Yang had worried too much. Children were still just children—their sense of hierarchy mostly came from what their parents instilled in them. As long as that mindset was crushed within the school, they wouldn't become the kind of people Chu Yang feared.
The Ninja Academy wasn't Hogwarts, a millennium-old institution with something like Slytherin constantly reinforcing blood purity ideology day after day. With proper guidance from teachers, students' values could be reshaped smoothly.
After a period of strong-handed governance, the academy's atmosphere began to improve. Regardless of background, students got along quite harmoniously—at least within the school.
With the backing of Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, most clans tacitly accepted Chu Yang's "educational methods." Only the Uchiha clan voiced some dissatisfaction, but even that was quickly suppressed personally by Madara Uchiha.
Madara Uchiha was in especially good spirits toward Tobirama and Chu Yang at this time. Doing so was a gesture of goodwill in return, thanking them for their previous support during the Hokage election.
At this point in time, not only was Konoha in a period of rapid growth, it was also the honeymoon phase between the two great clans, displaying an unprecedented unity to the outside world.
Seeing Konoha's prosperity, other nations also accelerated their efforts to establish ninja villages of their own.
In essence, they were copying Konoha's model wholesale.
What they failed to realize was that Konoha's strength was built upon Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha—an overwhelming power that was nearly impossible to surpass.
Such strength inspired awe, but it could also, to some extent, push the ninja forces of other nations to band together against Konoha.
If that happened, the hard-won peace would once again show signs of collapsing.
To stabilize the situation and preserve peace, Hashirama Senju convened a special meeting, summoning all of Konoha's top leadership—and there, he made a shocking decision.
"I plan to capture all the tailed beasts and seal them, then distribute them evenly among the ninja villages of each country. If everyone's strength is balanced, peace can be maintained."
Hashirama's proposal was simple and direct—yet undeniably reasonable. Using tailed beasts to balance power was something others wouldn't even dare imagine.
After hearing his elder brother's idea, Tobirama looked at him as if he were staring at a hopeless idealist.
In the long run, this plan would indeed benefit Konoha's development—but the immediate gains were minimal. From Tobirama's perspective, it would be better to seize all the tailed beasts and simply steamroll the entire ninja world, achieving unification outright.
Chu Yang exchanged a glance with Tobirama.
Teacher and student both saw the same ambition—to conquer the world—reflected in each other's eyes.
Unfortunately…
Neither Hashirama nor Madara necessarily wanted that war. Both had founded Konoha out of a longing for peace and were already weary of endless bloodshed.
Unless Uchiha Izuna were to die on the spot, Madara wouldn't turn against the entire world.
Uchiha Izuna frowned and said, "Hokage-sama, capturing the tailed beasts would be an enormous undertaking. Setting everything else aside, just tracking down their whereabouts would take an immense amount of time. Is it really necessary?"
As the public head of the Anbu, Izuna quickly estimated their available manpower. If too much effort was devoted to tracking tailed beasts, Konoha's defensive forces would be stretched dangerously thin.
The Anbu had only just been established; many aspects were still incomplete, and manpower was especially lacking. Those capable of acting independently were mostly elite members of the Uchiha clan.
Tailed beasts weren't stray cats or dogs you could simply grab—they represented the pinnacle of power in the ninja world. How great a price would have to be paid to capture them?
"I support Hashirama's plan to capture the tailed beasts," Madara Uchiha said. "Although it will consume immense time, energy, and resources, it's still better than becoming the target of everyone's hostility. Once other nations finish consolidating their ninja villages, it won't be long before they form an alliance."
Konoha was simply too powerful.
Without doing this, they had no way to ensure their own survival.
Chu Yang leaned close to Tobirama and said softly, "Sensei, it seems capturing the tailed beasts is unavoidable. But with the Hokage-sama and Madara-sama involved, casualties shouldn't be too severe."
"In that case, I also agree with this plan," Tobirama nodded, then asked aloud, "Capturing the tailed beasts isn't the hard part. The real question is—how do we distribute them afterward?"
Hashirama scratched his head in distress. He hadn't really thought that part through.
The others also fell silent. As Tobirama had said, distribution was the biggest problem.
As the saying goes—people don't fear scarcity, they fear unfairness.
Handle the distribution poorly, and benefactors could easily become enemies.
Chu Yang smiled. "The simplest method is to decide by number of tails. One-Tail with Eight-Tails, Two-Tails with Seven-Tails, Three-Tails with Six-Tails, Four-Tails with Five-Tails. The Eight-Tails pair will naturally be stronger, so we prioritize giving that to the weaker nations."
The room spoke in unison, "Then what about the Nine-Tails?"
Chu Yang replied, "We choose a neutral force—like the Uzumaki clan of the Land of Whirlpools. They specialize in sealing techniques and can help us seal the tailed beasts."
Hashirama and Tobirama both looked at Chu Yang with strange expressions. Madara chuckled quietly.
"If I remember correctly, the Uzumaki clan is a distant relative of the Senju clan, right?" Uchiha Izuna said with a smile. "After all this circling around, isn't it basically the same as keeping the Nine-Tails in Konoha?"
Chu Yang coughed lightly. "That's an obscure secret only the Uchiha really know. Other villages have no idea. And distant relatives are still distant relatives—the Land of Whirlpools is the Land of Whirlpools. Being on good terms isn't the same as wearing the same pair of pants."
Hashirama shook his head helplessly. "I'm just worried that if they find out about this later, they'll have objections."
(End of Chapter)