A/N : I don't own naruto
Chapter one: For the Future
"The past has been there all along, reminding us: This time-maybe, hopefully, against all odds, we will get it right."
― Leslie T. Chang
It was said that the life expectancy in the shinobi warring states period did not exceed 30 years, for civilians and shinobi alike. Many would point to the constant war and lack of medical research as the cause, but if one were to look deeper, they would find that It was mainly caused by the aberrant militarisation of children and their usage as cannon fodders in the battlefield, that in turn led to a spike in their mortality. For the clan heads, it was all but natural, after all, only the strongest shall be deemed worthy to survive into adulthood, that is how it should be, that is how it has always been.
"He fought and died as a full-fledged shinobi! Do not dare disrespect your brother's sacrifice and call him a child! "
Hashirama Senju could almost hear those words being spoken as he was sitting across an unnamed grave.
Passing his hand on the wet soil in front of him, it was as if he was still caressing his dying younger brother's face; Looking at his damp hand, he remembers how bright the colour of his blood was, it should not have made any sense, blood was blood, and yet, he had found it so mesmerising, like the feeling you get when you are about to wake up from a nasty nightmare.
But instead of vanishing, memories of a not-so-distant past begun flooding his head, how many fathers has he seen burry the lifeless body of their child? How many of his teenager friends disappeared in battle, never to come back? How many times has he seen life fade from innocent eyes that have yet to know what life even means as he plunged his sword through their owner's yet to be fully developed body? And all of that in the name of what? Survival? Honour? Fame? Brotherhood? Hashirama once again found himself lost, not finding an answer; But this only serves to strengthen his unshakable belief that the shinobi world was rotten.
The fair-haired Senju opened his eyes to the embryo of his dream: Konoha, a place where people of different clans can live in peace, a place where toddlers play with toys instead of kunai and swords, a place where he will honour the promise that he made to his late friend Madara…yes, this time, he will not fail
"Still trying to speak to the dead, brother? What tales do they tell?" A deep voice came from behind
"One of misery and dread…I have been thinking about Itama, and all those that shared his fate" as Hashirama said that Tobirama's usually stoic face noticeably distorted with anguish
"Tell me, Tobirama, can we really change this rotten world, or is it destined to be this way?"
Contemplating his brother's question, Tobirama thought for a moment before answering:" I don't know about the world, brother, but maybe we can begin with Konoha" Tobirama's words must have reached his brother's heart as he gets up with a newfound resolve
"Then let us be on our way"
Hashirama turned towards his brother, and with a nod, he calmly walked past him, no words were spoken, yet both men knew their destination and purpose.
Walking through the village they built, receiving multiple greetings nods of recognition, Hashirama and Tobirama could not help but feel a speck of pride, were they really the ones that spawned this serene atmosphere?
Confidence fills them as they now feel that no task shall be too hard, no mountain shall be too great, and no storm could extinguish their will of fire, for they will give their all and beyond to protect this beckon of light in a world devoid of it
Upon reaching the small wooden building designated as their temporary headquarter, Hashirama sat on the desk, adopting a thinking position with his elbow on the table, while Tobirama just leaned on the wall gazing at their masterpiece from the window.
Deciding to break the comfortable silence Tobirama spoke up "So, what are you thinking about, brother?"
Thinking for a moment while shifting his position, Hashirama declares "I've thought about creating a place where children could be trained to become shinobi"
Turning his head to his brother with risen eyebrows Tobirama said "I thought you hated the fact that kids were being made into killing machines?"
"Don't get me wrong" Hashirama retorted with a shrug "To my dismay, the world has yet to become the peaceful place I dream it will one day be, and Konoha needs to be defended by powerful shinobi, you were the first one to tell me 'if you want peace you have to prepare for war'"
"I understand that but..." Tobirama says while sceptically squinting his eyes "How exactly would that be any different from before? won't children still go and risk their lives on the battlefield or some mission for the village?"
Meeting his brother's gaze with determined eyes, Hashirama confidently retorts "I said they were to be trained, yet I never mentioned anything about when will their training end; You see, I plan on having them being formed into the ninja ways until they reach adulthood, where they will graduate from multiple trials to see if they are ready to join the shinobi force, if they are found to be prepared they will become full-fledged ninjas of Konoha, if they fail on the other hand, they would have to choose between trying again next year, or becoming civilians"
With a somewhat downcast sigh and a shake of his head, Tobirama tries to refute his occasionally too optimistic brother
"You know, I will always be of the opinion that we should build a peaceful world where children don't have to die for some bickering lord's petty disputes , But the protection of those we are responsible of, whether it is our family, our clan, or Konoha will always be the utmost priority for me; If we delay the formation of new shinobi by that long of a time period , we will have a considerable manpower disadvantage, granted, Konoha is, as of right now, considered to be by far the most powerful shinobi organisation whether that is considering the quantity or quality of its troops, but who is to say that one day, other villages won't rise up to challenge us and destroy everything that we have worked so hard to build ?"
Not shaken by his brother's rebuttal, Hashirama gets up and argues while walking "I've thought about this for a long time brother, and even though you may be right on the surface; You have to consider this : Konoha greatest asset lies within its children, we could either rush their development and send them to battle, granting us a temporary advantage in numbers whilst losing considerable amount of them in the process, or we could invest in this asset, training them until adulthood, when they will, hopefully, become a force to be reckoned with , this way, all of those young souls that would have perished on suicide missions would now be good quality shinobis serving Konoha, and in the long term, taking our time to train them might actually give us a considerable edge, even on the numbers side"
As he was pondering about his sibling's argument, Tobirama chastised himself for not looking far enough in the future, he then could only agree with his brother "That may very well be, but it still stands that Konoha would be weakened for the first few generation of shinobis"
Hashirama could not help but let a grin form itself onto his oval face "And that would have been a problem, but did you forget that Konoha is the collection of the most powerful and prominent clans of the land of fire?" he turns to his white-haired counterpart while enumerating on his fingers "Aburame, Akimichi, Hyûga , Inuzuka, Nara , Sarutobi , Yamanaka, and finally the Uchiha and Senju; I doubt any organisation or village will have enough power to rival us at least for the next few decades, and even then…" he points his thumb to his heart and takes on a serious expression " I, Hashirama Senju, The God of shinobi, will not let anyone lay a single finger on Konoha and its people as long as there is a beating heart in this chest of mine "
Admiring his brother's determination for a moment, Tobirama's closes his eyes while letting out a snicker "Hmpf and here I thought I would have to do all the work of Hokage for my helpless brother"
His expression taking a complete turn, Hashirama's face morphed into his usual pseudo-depressed state and dejectedly whined "I'm not that lazy…"
"We will see about that in just a moment, brother "Tobirama says with an evil smile that sent chills to his brother's spine, little did Hashirama know, he had just witnessed the first appearance of the soon to be known Tobirama Senju: "The great Administrator"
They then spent the rest of the evening and the following days arguing about this new would-be institution that may revolutionise the ninja world.
First, they agreed that it should be located on the safest location possible in the village, close to the Hokage headquarters; Then, they had to take into consideration the entity that will preside over it, Hashirama being the kinder of the two brothers wanted it to be under the authority of the civilian council, since after all, undergraduates would have yet to become proper shinobi, but Tobirama strongly disagreed, stating that the matter of training the future generation of ninja is too important as to let some civilians fools handle it, they finally reached the conclusion that the hokage would be the headmaster while the civilians would act as the institution's council board, noting that the teachers were to be retired experienced shinobis
After that came the issue of the admission criteria, they laid out a few points, but the most important ones were:
1-Love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity.
2-Have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work.
3-Be healthy in mind and body.
4-Graduate from the civilian pre-school or be given permission by the Headmaster to integrate the program
For the curriculum itself, the two brothers thought about letting the next generations change it as they see fit, so they just planned out the most basic elements of the formation:
The students will be trained and tested in all three major shinobi arts: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu; they will also be formed in the multiple skills needed for one to become a shinobi, kunai and shuriken handling, basic chakra control, and a few fundamental techniques such as Kawarimi, Henge, and Bunshin no jutsu
Not only that but they will also be taught about various subjects necessary to ninjas: Geography, History, Mathematics, Anatomy, Physics; with specialized cells forming medical ninja.
Hashirama's and Tobirama's "Academy" as it came to be known upon the elemental nation was first met with ridicule and harsh critics, yet after some time, it became a defining institution of the Konohagakure village, and no one could deny the impact it had on forming the best shinobis in the elemental nations, so much so that the other great elemental villages had to develop their own training institution to try and keep up with the rising military power of Konoha, in the end, Hashirama's bet came into fruition as the Academy was considered one of the key reasons Konoha stayed on top of the other villages.
On his deathbed, when people asked Hashirama Senju, 'The God of Shinobi', 'The Bijuu Master', 'The Father of Konoha' what was his greatest feat, he chuckled a bit before answering mysteriously and without any doubt in his voice "I have let the children play" many scholars would then analyse the events of Hashirama Senju's life to try and decipher what exactly did he mean with his answer.
This is my first story, and frankly the first time i try writing something, i would gladly accept any kind of review.