Monday morning finds Raven with the rest of the Academy Staff standing on the stage in the Academy's Auditorium waiting for their audience to finish assembling. Word was sent around to all the students and their parents about the impromptu meeting and almost everyone is curious as to the reason behind it. Raven waits a few moments after everyone arrives before stepping forward and tapping the microphone a couple times to get their attention. "First of all let me thank everyone for taking the time out of their busy schedules to attend today's meeting," he tells them. "For those of you that don't know me, my name is Raven Sarutobi and I have been assigned by the Hokage to come up with a new curriculum for the Academy in order to improve the quality of Konoha's Genins."
A fairly loud murmur passes through the crowd as they listen to Raven's announcement and while most of the civilians in the audience are confused as to what he means by improving the quality of Konoha's Genins the Shinobi among them are curious as to exactly how he intends to go about making such improvements. "Before I begin explaining my plans for improving the current curriculum I wish to apologize to the third and fourth year students who will be held back in order to receive the additional training they will need to meet the Academy's NEW Standards for Graduation." The announcement immediately meets with loud cries of outrage from both the students being held back as well as their parents both Civilian and Shinobi alike. Rather then attempting to shout down the enraged group Raven simply waits for them to calm down before proceeding.
"I know many of you are upset with my decision," he begins once the screams subside enough for him to be heard without yelling himself horse. "But I want every student in the Academy to have the best possible chance of surviving out in the Real World," he tells them. "Under the current curriculum those students would end up either repeating the Academy anyways, dropping out of the Shinobi program altogether, creating more work for their Jounin Senseis or else getting themselves and/or their Teammates killed."
"Why should we listen to some No Name Chunnin?" one of the outraged civilian parents demands. "The current curriculum has served Konoha well for many years and now you come along and tell us that our children aren't good enough. Just who the HELL do you think you are?"
"I already told you," Raven says remaining eerily calm. "My name is Raven Sarutobi and I am a Jounin not a Chunnin. I am the adopted son of the current Hokage and was trained by the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya along side the former Hokage." These revelations have the desired effect of causing everyone in the room not already familiar with Raven's pedigree to gasp and look on him with awe. 'Kami they're all a bunch of mindless sheep,' Raven groans in his head. 'Has Konoha really fallen so far so quickly?'
"As I was saying," he continues trying to get the impromptu meeting back on track. "The current curriculum is a joke and I will be working with the rest of the Academy's Staff as well as hiring additional Staff to remedy this problem." Raven has a few of the teachers pass around handouts to the parents and allows them a few moments to look over the new courses for each year. "You have all been given a general outline covering what we will be teaching your children," he tells them. "If you feel that the new curriculum is too extreme for your children or you don't approve of the classes that are going to be taught at the Academy then you are free to remove your children from the Academy at any time."
Raven sends the remainder of the meeting explaining his plans for the students under his care along with the reasoning behind the changes being made and by the end of the meeting he was ready to beat the stuffing out of almost every civilian parent in the room.
0o0o0o0o0
"Sheep," he almost yells to himself in his still empty office, "They are all fucking sheep."
"I hope you're talking about the parents and not your students," a voice says from the door letting Raven know that he was no longer along. Looking up Raven sees Hiashi along with Mikoto entering the room. "Although I am inclined to agree," Hiashi adds with an almost disgusted tone of voice. "It is rather discouraging how easily they accepted your plans once they learned who your father, teammate and Sensei were."
"Don't remind me," Raven groans dropping his head onto his desk with an audible thump. "Has Konoha really fallen so far that a person's lineage and associations mean more to the public then their own actions and accomplishments?"
"Sadly I believe it has," the Leader of the Hyuuga Clan answers. "I know it matters a great deal among my own Clan," he reminds his old friend. "As much as I wish it was otherwise."
"Your ideas certainly are innovative," Mikoto interrupts the two men trying to bring the subject back around to the reason for their visit. "So you're really going to teach them your personal Taijutsu Style."
"Hai," Raven replies as they sit down in the pair of chairs in front of his desk. "It's not the best style I'll admit but it'll give them a good basic style to start with for developing their own personal fighting style. It's also easily incorporated into any of the existing styles already out there, even the Clans' different Taijutsu styles."
"This is true," Hiashi smirks referring to the way that he and his brother, Hizashi, had incorporated several of the moves they had learned from sparring with Raven when they were younger into their own variations of their Clan's Juuken Ryuu. "It will be interesting to see how many of your students actually remain enrolled in the Academy long enough to graduate," he tells his long time friend.
"I actually expect between one third to half of the students currently enrolled to dropout by the end of the year," Raven tells them. "In all honesty I expect that rate to hold true for each of the coming years," he adds thoughtfully. "I really don't see any more then say nine to fifteen students from each first year class remaining in the Academy for the full four years," he says with a chuckle seeing their shocked expressions at the Academy's new projected dropout rate. "But I expect every student that graduates to be able to complete their first C-Ranked Mission within the first month of Graduation and to easily complete the Chunnin Exams within their first year of eligibility."
"Well those certainly are some rather high expectations," Hiashi says letting his friends see the surprise on his face. "But given the changes being made to the curriculum I can see why you would be confident in your students' ability to meet them."
"I agree," Mikoto adds. "You're doing a wonderful job so far and if you need anything please don't hesitate to ask. Not like you ever have," she adds with a giggle.
"Well now that you mentioned it," Raven draws out with an evil smirk that they both know all too well. "I could use an Instructor of your expertise, Mikoto-chan, to teach these children the proper use of stealth." he tells her.
"I would be happy to," she replies with a smile. "It'll give me something to do while Sasuke-kun's in school while allowing me to keep an eye on his studies." Both men chuckled at that.
"And if the Hyuuga Clan would be willing," he adds starring Hiashi directly in the eyes, "She will need an assistant to help her gauge their progress."
"I shall see what I can arrange," the Hyuuga Leader tells him, "I'm sure I can find at least one member of the Branch Family suitable for the task."
"Thanks," Raven tells him before looking over the notes on his desk. "Uchihas and Hyuugas check," he says making a few quick notes to a piece of paper. "Now I need to ask Tsume and the others for their assistance before my meeting on Friday… oh joy," he adds sarcastically to himself.
"Talking to yourself again?" Mikoto inquires with a playful smirk. "You would think someone in your… situation shall we say would be more careful about being caught doing something like that," she teases.
"Force of habit," Raven replies before looking back over his notes. "I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to convince the Council to agree to the new budget," he confides in them. "I've been looking over the Academy's Annual Budget Reports and it is no wonder the quality of the Genins graduating each year continues to drop giving the Budget Cuts being made."
"It takes a lot of money to run a Village," Hiashi informs the newly reinstated Jounin. "Some times funds have to be shuffled around from one expense to pay for another."
"I know that," Raven almost growls in frustration, "But this is a Shinobi Village. Certainly the Academy's Budget should take priority. I mean how can we continue to function when the Program designed to train our Military, which by the way provide the majority of the Village's Economy, suffers?"
"A valid point," the Hyuuga Leader concedes. "Perhaps if you were to demonstrate to the Council the potential results of your proposal they might be willing to grant you the additional funding you require."
"Brilliant," Raven exclaims, "Why the hell didn't I think of that?"
"You've been out of the game for a number of years," his friend points out. "How about giving them a practical demonstration?" Hiashi suggests, "Let's say Naruto against the top Genin Squad currently in circulation."
"That's not a bad idea," Raven thinks aloud. "Naruto is above average for what a second year student would be under my proposed curriculum," he informs them. "And even with a full year's experience under a competent Jounin Instructor they would only be around say the new level for a third year student. It could work."
"Don't you think your giving them and their Sensei too little credit?" Mikoto asks slightly worried. "What if they have more then a year's experience and their Sensei's training is better then you're given them credit for?"
"Then the credit for their victory would go to their Sensei's training regiment and not the Academy's training," Raven points out. "Either way it would still serve to demonstrate just how poorly funded the Academy actually is."
"A win, win situation regardless of outcome," Hiashi agrees.
0o0o0o0o0
Friday could not arrive quickly enough for Raven's liking. He spent the entire week not only preparing Naruto for his upcoming handicap fight but also speaking with the Heads of every Shinobi Clan as well as several Shinobi still on active duty, including Jounin and a few ANBU, in order to insure that he had the best possible instructors for each of the Academy's new courses. By the time he and Naruto arrive at the Council Chamber Raven already had the Political backing of nearly the entire Shinobi population as well as the beginnings of a new Pilot Program requiring each potential Jounin Sensei to spend one year teaching at the Academy in order to familiarize themselves with their prospective future Genin Squads.
'Now all that remains is to convince the Civilians on Council to approve the funding for the Academy's new Budget,' Raven thinks to himself as he and his Ward stand before fully the assembled Council.
"Before we begin," the Hokage says calling the meeting to order, "I wish to thank everyone here for taking the time out of their busy schedules to attend this meeting. I believe everyone here is familiar with Raven-san's appointment as the Head of our Ninja Academy. Has it was Raven-san that requested this meeting I shall allow him to explain to us the exact reason behind his request."
"Thank you Hokage-sama," Raven says bowing to the elderly Kage. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Council," he begins looking each of them in the eyes. "As many of you are aware the Academy is woefully under-funded and as a direct result the quality of each year's graduating class continues to steadily decline. As a result each year's so called 'Rookie of the Year' is actually only about as skilled as the previous years so called 'Dobe'," he informs them earning several nods of agreement as well as more then a few gasps of disbelief. "Under my proposed curriculum I can ensure that not only will the quality of each graduating class continue to rise but so too will the overall quality of Konoha's entire Military Force," he adds.
"While this maybe true Raven-san," Danzo speaks up. "You're requesting nearly three times the Academy's current Budget," he points out. "Surely you must realize that such funding will be difficult for this Council to authorize even if we were willing to agree to such a request."
"Hai, I am aware of this," Raven replies. "I am also aware of the fact that many members of this Council are unwilling to allocate the necessary funding as it would require shuffling funds from several of the Village's other programs in order to meet my requested Annual Budget for the Academy."
"Given your… shall we say track record," Danzo continues with an almost conspiring smirk, "That you are prepared to offer this Council some type of compromise or some measure of assurance that it would be in this Council's best interest to grant your request."
"I am prepared to offer a practical demonstration for this Council if that is what you are asking," Raven replies. 'Kami I hope this works,' he thinks to himself. "I am willing to allow my Ward whose current skill level is above average for a second year student under my proposed curriculum to fight against the top Genin Squad currently in circulation," he tells them.
"Are you sure about this Raven-san," Homura asks his former Teammate's adopted son. "That particular Team is slated to enter the upcoming Chunin Exam and is heavily favored to be promoted," he warns the Jounin he has respected for many years having watched him grow from a young child into the man now standing before him.
"Hai Homura-sama," Raven replies. "I am aware of the risks involved with allowing Naruto-kun to fight them," he admits. "I am also aware that their skill level is the result of their Sensei's and their Clans' training and not the skills they learned at the Academy,' he adds. "This demonstration is only to show the Council the benefits to Konoha that my proposal has to offer," he tells them. "I know Naruto's chances are slim and in all likelihood he may not even win," he says placing a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "But I have every confidence in his abilities and have no doubts that he will surprise all of you."
"Then we shall hold the match tomorrow morning," the Hokage says adjourning the meeting until the following day.
0o0o0o0o0
The next morning Naruto stands in the designated combat arena with three teenagers and three fairly decent sized dogs. His nervousness is clearly written on his face as the Inuzuka kunoichi looks over at him with an almost feral grin. "They've got to be kidding us," she tells her Teammates. "They honestly expect us to fight this kid? He looks like he's about to wet his pants and the fight hasn't even started yet."
"Don't take this so lightly Hana-chan," her raven-haired Teammate cautions. "According to Itachi-sama that kid, as you called him, has been training with the Hokage's son for over four years."
"So what Siefer-kun," she asks him, "The kid's obviously no match for the three of us."
"Remember what Hishu -Sensei always tells us," their pale-eyed Teammate reminds them. "'Underestimating an enemy can easily result in your defeat'," he adds quoting their Jounin Instructor.
"Yeah, yeah whatever Himaro-kun," Hana responds clearly bored. "Let's just get this over with so we can go home. I've got a date this afternoon," she tells him.
0o0o0o0o0
Up in the Hokage's box Raven sits with the Hokage and his two former Teammates as well as the Genins' Sensei. Even though today is the first time that the two Jounin have actually met Hishu Yakima is well aware of what Raven is attempting to do with the Academy thanks to his talks with his fellow Jounin Senseis and fully supports his fellow Jounin's proposal. "Everyone seems ready," the Hokage tells them. "Let's begin shall we," he says signaling the referee to begin the match.
"I wish to apologize in advance for any harm that my Squad may cause your Ward," Hishu tells Raven. "They tend to get a little…overzealous shall we say."
"I'm not too worried," Raven tells the other man. "With an Inuzuka an Uchiha and a Hyuuga as his opponents Naruto will have a good opportunity to learn first hand the different fighting styles of three of Konoha's most prominent Clans. Besides," he chuckles, "It's not like they'll be able to predict his attacks anyways."
"What do you mean," the other Jounin inquires. "He's just an Academy student. Surely he can't hope to defeat them."
"Maybe not," Raven admits. "But he's not your typical Academy student. At least not typical of the Academy's former students anyways," he reminds the man.
"True," Hishu concedes. "Let's just see what happens."
0o0o0o0o0
Down on the field the match is already underway with Naruto producing five Kage Bunshin allowing him to battle his six opponents one-on-one. While his clones deal with the nin-dogs and the males on the team he himself engages the kunoichi in a Taijutsu fight. Using his smaller size to his advantage he drops below her guard and grabs the front of her shirt with both hands before jumping up to plant both feet into her stomach and pulling backwards.
Using the momentum from his throw along with their combined weight he pulls the surprised Inuzuka towards the ground and rolling through the landing brings himself around atop her with both of his knees in her stomach. Maintaining a hold on her shirt with his left hand he punches her face with his right fist before pushing off her midsection with his knees and twisting around in midair, while maintaining his grip on her shirt, to bring his right knee to the side of her face.
Releasing his grip with his left hand he grabs hold of her shirt with his right hand before punching her in the stomach with his left fist. His left knee connects with her ribs just before he brings his left elbow down on her stomach causing her to rise up from the force of the impact only to have the side of her face punched by his right fist knocking her out, the entire altercation taking less then five seconds from beginning to end.
0o0o0o0o0
"DAMN…" a wide-eyed slack-jawed Tsume exclaims watching her eldest child completely decimated within such a short time frame. "I knew Raven taught Naruto-kun his Taijutsu Style but Kami-damn..."
"Hana-can never had a chance once Naruto-kun got a hold of her," Kuromaru tells his Mistress. "Although the pup still needs work as most of his attacks are still a bit sloppy."
"Refinement comes with practice and experience," Shibi reminds his former Teammate's nin-dog, "Although the boy's progress is still rather impressive."
0o0o0o0o0
The three Haimaru siblings are all taken down quickly and in identical fashion as the Kage Bunshins fighting them grab their front paws as the three nin-dogs lung for them. Using the momentum of the initial attacks they roll through bringing their feet up to the nin-dogs' stomachs bringing them around so that the familiars' heads connect with the unforgiving ground with the Bunshins on top of their chests. Moving their hands from the siblings' paws to the fur of their throat the Clones then slam the poor animals' heads against the ground knocking all three out in the span of two seconds.
Even though Himaro Hyuuga warned his Teammate about underestimating their opponent he was guilty of the same overconfidence that lead to his Teammate and her canine companions being swiftly defeated. Attempting to engage the Bunshin in front of him in Taijutsu proved to be a fatal mistake as the Clone grabbed his right wrist while sidestepping a Juuken strike to the chest. The Kage Bunshin quickly capitalizes on the Hyuuga's mistake and pulling the teen off balance by the arm it's holding its left hand connects with a hard chop to the Hyuuga's throat causing the older boy to lean back.
Still holding on to the Hyuuga's wrist the Clone uses his left hand to grab hold of the teen's throat and brings the small of the Genin's back down onto the point of its left knee. As the Hyuuga grunts in pain the Clone's left elbow connects with his face before its knee forces him back up just enough to remove its knee from his back as it twists around to grab his right wrist with its left hand while its right knee connects with his stomach as they fall back to the ground with the Bunshin kneeling on Himaro's stomach. The Kage Bunshin finishes the Branch Family Member off with a powerful palm thrust to the face that results in the Genin's nose being broken as his world suddenly flashes bright white before being plunged into total darkness.
For perhaps the second time in his Genin career Siefer Uchiha is wishing that he and his Teammates had never accepted their current assignment. 'This kid is way too good to be a mere Academy Student,' his thinks as he once again dodges another of the Shadow Clone's attempts at grabbing him. 'Itachi-sama says that this is what this Raven-san is going to be teaching at the Academy,' he thinks in amazement as his eyes suddenly see his Team completely decimated in the span of about fifteen seconds. 'Damn… almost makes me wish I was still enrolled in the Academy.'
With their own opponents defeated Naruto and his other Bunshins move to assist the one fighting the Uchiha. "Looks like it's time to step this up a notch," Siefer says to himself. "Sharingan," he calls out as his dark eyes suddenly flash blood red with two black tomes each. His Sharingan begins spinning as time seems to slow down enough for him to keep track of his six opponents. Pressing his new advantage he quickly dismisses the five clones with five well aimed kunais to the chest before sidestepping the original's attempted grab and delivering a hard chop to the back of the blonde's neck ending the match.
0o0o0o0o0
"I must say Raven-san," Hishu begins, "That was very impressive. If the other students turn out to be even half as good that boy of yours then I might consider taking on another Genin Team after these three are promoted."
"I'll keep that in mind," Raven chuckles as the Medic-nins begin reviving the competitors. "Although to be honest Naruto's only above average for what I intend all of my second year students to be under the new program," he tells him.
"Damn…" Hishu whistles at the statement. "If that's what a second year is capable of I'd love to see what the Genin will be like," he says with an almost wishful look on his face.
Raven laughs at the man's expression before clasping a hand on his shoulder. "They'll be a lot stronger then almost any other Genin Konoha's seen in almost twenty years," he says with a grin.
Following Naruto's match with the Genin Team the Council eagerly agreed to provide Raven with the additional funding he requested for the Academy and were looking forward to seeing his first Graduating Class in two years. Even with the additional two classes being held back Raven knew that his first Graduating Class would be one of the smallest in Konoha History but he also knew that each one of his students would go on to be Konoha Shinobi. 'Quality over Quantity' he had said when informing them of his projected dropout rate for each year. While they would prefer a larger number of actual Graduates each year they were willing to settle for a larger number actual shinobi, especially when Raven assured them that ALL of his Graduating students would pass the Final Genin Exam given by their Jounin Senseis.
"Now all I have to do is teach them what they need to know and prove that my program truly was worth the headaches it took to get it started," Raven groans, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?"
0o0o0o0o0
A/N: DAMN that took forever to write. I hope you all enjoyed it, especially the fighting. I know what you're going to say and NO Naruto wasn't overly stronger in the fight. Remember Hana and her Team underestimated him because of his age and had no prior knowledge of his fighting style. Raven's personal style is based on a combination of Brawling and Grappling and is perfect for someone like Naruto who is a natural brawler as it delivers quick and powerful hits while at the same time using grabs and holds to keep your opponent off balance and preventing them escaping.
The biggest flaw with this Taijutsu Style was demonstrated when Siefer avoided Naruto's attempts at grabbing him since the Style requires the user to have a firm hold on their opponent while fighting. However, once the user does have a hold on their target the fight is basically over since the attacks are so fast and brutal and attack key weak points of the body that their opponent is usually rendered helpless before they even know what happens.
As always please remember to Read and Review and if anyone can come up with a proper name for the Style (including both the English and Japanese names) I'll give you full credit in my story for it.
Later,
Raven