Everyone looked at the files Fujin had placed on the desk with curiosity. Fujin said, "Some time ago, Katsuhiro had come to me with a proposal. Even though his proposal had a lot of flaws, it pointed out an important flaw in our current system and also gave quite an ingenious solution."
Shikaku squinted his eyes and thought, 'Katsuhiro? That Elite Jounin who has been frequently visiting his office?'
Others in the council knew about his visits to Fujin's office as well. It wasn't something that could be hidden. Besides, Fujin didn't particularly care about it. One of the civilian members thought, 'Katsuhiro was working with him on a proposal? Why did he keep dropping hints that he wanted Fujin's seat if that's what he was doing?'
Fujin continued, "The issue he pointed out was that ninjas who belong to ninja clans get guided by their seniors. Considering the varying specialities of everyone, they can get help in any area they want to.
However, civilian ninjas don't have the same opportunity. Even though the jutsus are available in the library, without a proper teacher, learning the jutsus isn't easy. When one tries by himself, then mistakes can occur and injuries can happen.
Even though everyone is assigned a sensei while graduating from the academy, a majority of the senseis are just ordinary Chunins who aren't that knowledgeable. Even if a Jounin is assigned as the sensei, he or she won't know everything. Not to mention, once their sensei dies in battle, they no longer have anyone they could ask for guidance."
Everyone in the room subconsciously nodded. What Fujin said was true. Even so, most of the clan leaders raised their guards slightly. They still remembered the changes Fujin had recommended for the academy. Hiruzen had started implementing some of Fujin's recommendations. And now, Fujin was proposing something that would reduce the difference between clan ninjas and civilian ninjas even further.
Though Fujin noticed it, he ignored it and continued, "Katsuhiro came up with an ingenious solution to solve this issue. He suggested that we make a Guidance Hall in the center of the village.
The basic idea is that civilian ninjas can put up requests in the Guidance Hall for the jutsus or techniques for which they need guidance. For instance, if someone wants to practice Fire Dragon Flame Bullet jutsu, he or she can put up the request in the Guidance Hall. If a veteran civilian ninja who has mastered that jutsu wants to teach it to that ninja, then he can do so.
Of course, doing it on a one-by-one basis will not be feasible. So, the Guidance Hall will be responsible for gathering all the requests and collating them. That way, a veteran can guide multiple youngsters at the same time. If it is implemented properly, then we could help a large number of Chunins become Jounins."
Hiruzen was surprised. He immediately thought, 'Hmm, not a bad idea. I had been thinking about this issue for some time as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with anything. That said, there are some major flaws.'
As Hiruzen expected, Hiashi said, "While it sounds good on paper, creating a Guidance Hall in the center of the village is unfeasible. The cost that will be required to move the shops and other buildings currently there would be enormous."
Inoichi added, "That's right. It might be worth several years of our budget. While the idea is good, such costs aren't something we can afford."
The civilian council members immediately began calculating how they could argue against them. However, to everyone's surprise, Fujin nodded and said, "That's true. In fact, it's not just about the cost. Creating the Guidance Hall there will also cause Konoha to lose an excellent opportunity. It is one of the major flaws that were in Katsuhiro's proposal. Actually"
Fujin suddenly stopped talking and let out a sigh of exhaustion. Hiruzen's eyes immediately twitched as everyone in the room glanced at him. He cursed, 'This brat! Why is he sighing exactly like I do? I worked hard for decades and my hair turned gray before I began using it! You think you can use it after working on just one proposal?'
"Katsuhiro's proposal had too many flaws. It was too idealistic as well for it to work properly. I had to work hard for weeks to fix all the flaws. I almost gave up a few times but continued remembering how much it would benefit the village." Every single word Fujin spoke showed how exhausted he was! While speaking, his elbows were resting on the table and his shoulders and head drooped to further emphasize his exhaustion!
Thankfully, Katsuhiro wasn't in the council room. If he was, he wouldn't have been able to restrain himself from lashing out. Needless to say, no one bought Fujin's little act. However, no one could speak it out loud either. A few almost wanted to chuckle on seeing how Hiruzen was staring at him but managed to hold themselves back.
Shikaku asked, "What opportunity would we have lost?"
Fujin replied, "I'll come back to it later. One of the major issues in his proposal was that there was no incentive for veteran ninjas to help the young ninjas out. While we can easily say that they should do it out of compassion, what was stopping them from doing that until now? Even though the Guidance Hall will provide a platform, it will still result in very limited involvement from them.
In order to overcome this flaw, I decided to change the nature of the Guidance Hall. Now, while youngsters can go and put in requests for the jutsus they want to learn, we will also allow Veteran ninjas to make an offer about the jutsus they are willing to teach. In order to incentivize them, they'll be allowed to put a price for which they will guide the youngsters.
Another way of looking at this can be that veteran ninjas can treat these like missions while the youngsters will be their clients. Since the main method of earning money is completing missions, it can create a virtuous cycle.
The youngsters will be more motivated to take and complete missions as they can use the money they earn to take their guidance, master new jutsus and strengthen themselves. On the other hand, veteran ninjas who have semi-retired can contribute to the village in a risk-free manner. Guiding youngsters will also help them stay in shape and could reignite the fire in some of them.
Of course, certain checks have to be put in place to ensure that no one misuses the system. Every veteran trainer who wants to teach has to first prove that they can perform the jutsus he or she wants to teach properly and have adequate knowledge of the same. This task can be left to the Anbu to ensure that there is no monkey business.
We will also need to maintain a feedback system where we can ask the youngsters how effective the guidance was. We could go a step further and inspect how well they can perform the jutsu. That could allow us to rate the ninjas who guide the youngsters, allowing them to choose the appropriate guide and will also motivate the veteran ninjas to give their best.
The techniques that they teach will have to be monitored as well. I'm sure we can all agree that secret techniques and Forbidden jutsus shouldn't be taught through the Guidance Hall.
In addition, we will also have to put limits on the amount of money they charge and the number of youngsters they can teach at the same time. This will ensure that no one gets too greedy. After all, the Guidance Hall is for guiding the youngsters and not to make a fortune."
Fujin's words made all the ninjas in the room fall into thought. Some were trying to find any flaws in his idea. After a couple of minutes, everyone in the room was left impressed. There was nothing they could pick out. Unlike Katsuhiro, Fujin's idea was flawless. Of course, that didn't mean that he would have everyone's support.
Hiruzen said, "That is very well thought. I agree with these methods. Continue."
Fujin nodded and said, "The second major flaw is restricting the Guidance Hall to just civilian ninjas. While it is true that currently civilian ninjas don't get much guidance, that's no reason to keep the clan ninjas out.
While the clans represented by the people in this room are relatively well off, there are several clans that are too small due to the losses they took in previous wars. They will benefit from the Guidance Hall as well. Even the larger clans can benefit. For example'
Fujin gazed towards Hiashi and continued, "I have never met any Hyuga clan ninja who knows any Taijutsu other than Gentle Fist. So if any Hyuga clan youngster wanted to pursue any other form of Taijutsu, then the Guidance Hall would be a great help."
Since Hiashi was the first one to speak, Fujin decided to target him. He continued, "Besides, there could be other things that ninjas in your respective clans don't know. Or even if they know, they might not know it as well as someone who has devoted a long time to mastering that particular technique. So, even the ninjas from your clans can benefit.
That's why, I changed the proposal to make the Guidance Hall open to every Konoha ninja irrespective of their background."