Naruto Academy Expanded

lord geryon

Well-Known Member
#1
Right, been a while since I made a post in this section, but I thought this idea to worthy of discussion.

I've seen the idea before that the genin that pass the Academy exam and the test set by the jounin sensei are the elite genin, considered by the system and the other shinobi to be fast-tracked prodigies.

But that doesn't properly account for the numbers of active duty ninja. So there must be a large number of 'regular' shinobi out there that don't enter the system in the elite manner. So, then, how?

Naruto failed the Academy exam 3 times. This is sometimes taken to mean he was held back(but he's the same age as his graduating class). Other times it means that he took the exam early(but why didn't anyone else - or did they and their failures not mentioned). I propose that it was the second meaning. He opted to try earlier, and perhaps others did too but their failures went unremarked. The optional exam is offered every year and those that pass are assigned to teams under a jounin-sensei. Those that fail the jounin-sensei test are sent back to the Academy, those that pass are elite genin.

Why did the rookie 12 all graduate in the same year? Perhaps it's tradition for most to start trying in that year and the results were uncommonly high due to all the clan heirs.

The core of my idea extends out from the optional exam. What happens if you don't take the optional exam? At what point is the optional exam made mandatory to keep from expending resources on people that will never make it? My suggestion is that at age 16, a final exam is given. Those that pass it are awarded the rank of genin. Those that fail are drummed out of the shinobi program and there are no retakes or appeals at that point.

These genin are not assigned jounin sensei. The last two years of the Academy are much more practical than the earlier years and the final exam graduates are talented enough to jump right into doing D-rank missions and are able to sign up to make themselves available to be tapped for C-ranks led by a Chunin.

So, what do these older and less talented genin generally do? They're the admin ninja, the librarian ninja, the couriers, and so on. They're the ones that do the vast majority of the D-ranks and a significant portion of C-ranks. They're the ones that get stuck with guard duty and patrols.

How are they promoted? Most never get promoted and retire to start families in their twenties or thirties. Those that do are promoted by fulfilling the requirements. Age, missions completed(X number of C-ranks), and written exams. No Chunin Exams for these folks, that's only for elites as only jounin sensei can enter a team in them. Also, Chunin is as high as they can go. No jounin or special jounin come from the rank and file, as they're not considered to be strong enough to protect the secrets that come with those ranks. However, they can be recruited for ANBU and is where most ANBU come from. ANBU squad leaders and captains are selected from elites, though.

The Hokage can only be appointed from elites too, btw.

Anyway, that's the idea. What do you all think? It's not enough for a full story, obviously, but a lot of worldbuilding never makes it into a story directly, only indirectly.
 

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
#2
My headcanon is that there is more than one ninja academy in the Fire Nation. Konoha is just the "capital" ninja village where the leader of all the leaf ninja lives and all the black ops organizations are headquartered, but there are smaller ninja bases all over the country that also train new recruits, house border patrol units and act as staging grounds for large scale foreign operations.

We've seen that kids who were raised in the orphanage and taught medical jutsu by the head nun were able to become Leaf ninja, so there's already a precedent for Konoha ninja who didn't attend the Konoha shinobi academy.

There aren't possibly enough Jounin to train every genin, so I figure that those genin who don't catch the eye of a Jounin-sensei or who fail a Jounin-sensei's test are simply given a bit of remedial training based on the Jounin-sensei's recommendations and then reassigned to a Special Jounin or Chuunin ranked sensei. These genin are given less elite training, but I don't think there are any restrictions on their promotion opportunities. They can still theoretically advance to the top ranks through their own hard work, they just get less advantages than the "fast-tracked" genin being training by legendary shinobi like Asuma or Kakashi.

As for Naruto failing the academy exam three times, but ultimately still graduating with other kids in his same age group. Remember that most of the older ninja graduated at absurdly young ages according to the databooks, so early graduation is a normal thing. I think that in times of war academy graduates are encouraged to take the exam early so they can be rushed to the battlefield as quickly as possible. In times of peace this normally not allowed though, so geniuses like Sasuke and Neji still have to wait until they are twelve to become genin. My theory is that Naruto asked Iruka to graduate early because he was desperate for some genin teammates so he wouldn't be so lonely anymore. Iruka knew Naruto wasn't ready to pass the exam, but he saw this as an opportunity to show Naruto just how badly he was lagging behind in his schooling in order to encourage him to take his lesson more seriously and stop sleeping through classes. So Iruka pulled some strings and got Naruto special permission to take the exam early. Basically, Iruka was using the early graduation process as a kind of "mock exam" to help prepare Naruto for the real thing. It didn't work, of course, because Naruto is an extreme hands-on learner and is a total idiot at book learning.
 
#3
Remember : during Sasuke's first academy year, the were only 90 kids in his grade in the whole academy.
Also: to graduate early one needs the permission of their parents/tutor. Sasuke wanted but whoever his tutor was never let him. Naruto was let trying because he could get away with anything this side of murder, and because his tutor was probably hoping failing would calm him down or force him to take things seriously.

I also believe there are other academies through the Land of Fire AND there are a number of clans living outside Konoha that "homeschool" their children until graduation.

The Konoha Accademy os for the elite clans living in Konoha. And the random small clans/families/civilians that are lucky or small enough to being able to live in Konoha proper
 

douter

Well-Known Member
#4
I've always liked how it was shown in Naruto: Captured, where the genin who pass the Jounin-sensei's test are the elite genin - who have the ability to be promoted to Jounin, while the ones who fail are sent back for boot camp style classes. They become one of the many faceless ninjas, who do all the un-glamours jobs, and are usually recruited into ANBU. Its also stated that they rarely use that many jutsu, and the one they do use are very practical.


The elites are the image that hidden village likes to portray, while more militaristic ninja to most of work to keep the village running.
 
#5
Hmmm. douter, I highly doubt that Academy failures are recruited into ANBU. I think ANBU is more likely made up of the better part of the village's jōnin population, and also a reason we didn't see many of them in the series.

Here's my head canon of how the Academy works:
It mostly operates like a normal, real life school, just that they only have four years.

So the Academy has two batches per year, a Spring and an Autumn, and they take their students mostly from the ninja population. Then these students study four years during peacetime, less during wartime. In their first two years they receive a holistic education, like all civilian schools, with the intro of the chakra pathway system and some basics of being a ninja. In the third and fourth year, they venture into ninja territory with the shuriken throwing, taijutsu classes, kunoichi training, and chakra manipulation classes.

This is how the promotion system works:
A student is welcomed to study as long as they need to achieve promotion to the next level. However as they get older, into their twenties, but is still stuck in shinobi basics, they get shipped off to a new class, so the newer batch of smarter students are not mingled with the old. Once a student is on the fourth level, there is the graduation exam they must take. If they fail, they are to repeat the year, or simply the semester. If they pass, they are shipped onto a genin team. Because of the nature of my Acadmy (the two batches), there are two exams per year, the Spring batch takes the exam at the beginning of Winter, while the Autumn batch takes the exam at the beginning of Summer. These two exams are mandatory, but for repeat fourth year students, he can choose which time frame to go for.

Student Body:
Most of the student body is made up of clan children, and next is orphaned kids, then comes civilian children. Here is the explanation: the clans want their shinobi skills passed down, so admission to the Academy is mandatory for their kids, with only the slightest exception. Even if the boy or girl has really no talent, they are drafted into clan businesses. Like the Yamanaka flower shop, or the Inuzuka Veterinary. For orphans, it is impossible for a militaristic nation to provide for them all the way into adulthood without the children contributing to the village. Besides, they have no choice, and have no family, and thus have nothing to loose. So they are enrolled into the Academy in the hopes that there will be some obscure talent. These are the cannon fodder, the clerks, the forever D-rankers, the held-backs, the laughed-upon, because they do not have the family support. Clan orphans are better treated, because they are still clan members. For civilian children, most civilians in their right minds would want their children to be in the supplementary industry for shinobi, like weapon-making, scroll-making, seal masters (storage and etc), medicine (doctors and Shizune's autopsy team), etc. Sakura is an exception. The civilians are fully aware of what a shinob does and the death rate, and no one would want the same for their children, would they? Being a shinobi, simply graduating, is hard, and competitive, and getting into a good team and actually surviving in the field is even harder, without or without the clan talents interfering.

This might explain Naruto's situation, if all orphans are submitted into the Academy. He entered the moment he was old enough to learn, say, 6 years old. Then he progressed, but slowly, being held back occasionally to repeat a year. Then he reached the fourth year, and he took the graduation exam, and failed. Then he took it again, and again, and for three times he failed. We don't know how many years he went by not taking it, but by the time the clan heirs (who are all smartasses and shot through the four-year programme of the Academy by the schedule, that is, one level per year) caught up with him, 12 year olds in the fourth level, Naruto got lucky with examiner Mizuki and here you have it, the canon timeline.
 

douter

Well-Known Member
#6
Must have worded it wrong, I was more meaning that the non-elite ninja are usually selected to be in ANBU
 
#7
Strange. But didn't the manga state (forgotten whether it was explicitly or not) that only the best becomes ANBU? I hardly think chūnin or even base jōnin would have the skills to be in ANBU.
 

douter

Well-Known Member
#8
In my head canon, the elites make up a very small percentage of the ninja force and are the ones who rich/noble clients exclusively use - an example is they don't want some no name team, they want a team that is being trained by THE Kakashi Hatake.

The other side, calling Base for convince, aren't any less skilled, they just do everything else from admin and to the vast amount of B and C rank missions.

Now ANBU (in my Headcannon) don't do client missions only missions sanctioned by the Hokage, assassinations/guarding/infiltrating - jobs where if found out ANBU cant allowed to be taken prisoner. Sure there are a couple of elites who join ANBU, but most elites are used to ore glamours jobs that a much higher percentage of living, while the base ninja are the cannon fodder their life expectancy is not amazing.

As a village leader, I wouldn't want to throw my top money making ninjas into a division that, a. doesn't make the village any money b. have a higher chance of dying c. risk them going just breaking down from the sheer stress.
 
#9
Wow that actually makes more sense than "drop the elite into ANBU". Thanks!

Maybe it would also explain the cannon-fodder-like portrayal of ANBU members in the series?

Then why make both Kakashi and Itachi (geniuses of their generation) ANBU members? Maybe the Hokage needs a different skill level for ANBU captains.
 
#10
ANBU is probably not something one does as career choice.
Most ANBU operative probably stay ANBU only for a limited time.

Hell, it's probable being ANBU is basically something promising shinobi do to get promoted\access to higher level positions. There are exceptions, but for the promising shinobi who aren't "lucky" enough to find themselves saving countries and rescuing princesses and defeating A-rank missing nins every other weekend, becoming ANBU is the way to show you are worthy of trust and reliable enough for higher level missions and secrets
 

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
#11
Guys we already know how the ANBU are selected. According to the Third Databook, elite shinobi are chosen to become ANBU, presumably by the Hokage. It's not something newbies are recruited for, nor is it something anybody can just sign up for.

My theory about the ANBU - they are chosen primarily for loyalty, discretion, stealth and information gathering skills rather than raw combat strength. They are Black Ops secret agents, not soldiers or mercenaries. They are supposed to track persons of interest, search hideouts and steal information, assassinate unsuspecting targets from the shadows, fill out entries in the bingo books, work undercover with disguises and assumed identities, etc. ANBU are NOT supposed to ever directly engage enemy shinobi in pitched battle. If that happens, it means either their mission has FAILED, or Konoha is in deep shit and everyone available needs to pitch in to defend the village from invading forces.

Furthermore, the ANBU perform their missions only for the Hokage, not for clients. So while they perform vital tasks for the village, they generally don't bring in revenue. Since the ANBU aren't supposed to be getting into fights anyway, the real badass fighters are better off sent on missions to bring in money to Konoha. The exceptions would be the ANBU captains like Itachi, Yamato and Kakashi. This is because the Hokage does still want at least one badass combat specialist in each ANBU squadron just in case things do go to shit so they'll have a chance to return home alive. And since the badass combat specialists are usually already experienced soldiers from the regular forces, they get put in charge of the ANBU teams.

So in other words, all ANBU are elite, but for most of them their elite skills are in non-combat fields. They are stealth, assassination and information gathering specialists. The actually badass fighter ANBU are promoted to captains.
 

Knyght

The Collector
#12
I dunno, those three Anbu from the Invasion of Pain were pretty on the ball when it came to tearing that summon a new one with their jutsu. Unless gheg were all squad captains?
 

Altered Nova

Well-Known Member
#13
They were. You never noticed that the ANBU squad commanders all wear white cloaks? The regular ANBU wear black cloaks, or no cloaks at all. Back during the Chuunin Exam invasion you can see the white-cloaked ANBU captain barking orders to his black-cloaked subordinates. He's also the only one of them that does anything badass, when he chops the transformed Sound Four members in half with his bare hands.
 

Knyght

The Collector
#14
True, true.

On the Academy, I've gone into greater detail elsewhere (though it could do with some updating) but the key points would be that it is a seven-year course where children enrol at the age of five and graduate at the age of twelve during peacetime. I'd suggest that each year group starts out with ninety students in total, split into three classes and are reshuffled each year. Hence why Naruto wasn't always in the same class as those he graduated with like Kiba and then Sasuke. The last year consists of three graduation exams; two mock exams and the final exam.

So it's mostly based on real life education (depending on where you live, I suppose) in that it starts from the age of five, students can end up in different classes from year-to-year and you get mock exams. And I assume that report card means year groups or grades since only having 90 students in the entire school and comparing the first years to older years doesn't sound right.

I sort of like the idea of there being two batches per year to help boost the numbers but I'm undecided.
 
#15
The two batch per year idea is based off the fact that shinobi training needs a higher student to teacher ratio, thus the two batches to reduce the amount of students per batch. The Academy didn't look too huge, and we have to factor in different classes and age groups, so maybe ninety, even if split into classes of thirty thirty thirty might be a bit too much for a single teacher to handle. While these classes could split up during the actual shinobi classes, it still makes more sense for the classes to be inherently smaller, allowing for better instructing and class distribution and as teamwork is a huge factor in Leaf's shinobi education, I'd think the teamwork thing is fostered right from entry into the school.

And this idea of two batches could go off on a spin as well, especially during wartime. But peacetime situation first.

During peacetime the two batches are used to increase numbers in the shinobi system, and more active shinobi can be pulled off active duty to teach, and longer time can be devoted to training the newbies, hence the longer seven-year program, bigger class size, more teachers.

During wartime, the two batches can be used to whittle down the numbers of students with good potential, filling off the no-talents into more useful supporting industries. It can be used to increase the amount of good shinobi produced instead of simply churning out large amounts of average shinobi with a shorter four-year program, and increase the student/teacher ratio.

I like the idea of three exams in total for graduation, but I highly doubt it is used during wartime, which is most of the time in the Elemental Nations. We're talking about three massive international wars within five to six generations (Hashirama-someone-Tsunade-Kakashi-Naruto) which can't have been a little more than a century. Three exams is simply too much bureaucratic work.
 
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