Chapter 272: The Shinobi World’s Educational Standards Still Have A Long Way To Go

Countless gambling houses had even opened bets on whether this legendary youth could return alive from the Village Hidden in the Cloud’s encirclement by tens of thousands of troops.

And this mysterious Peter Parker, since the middle of the war, had repeatedly provided firsthand inside information regarding Shinichi Higashino’s movements. The speed and detail of the intelligence caused World Weekly’s sales and influence to repeatedly reach new highs.

The editor-in-chief guessed that this Peter Parker was probably some Kumogakure ninja who had participated in the encirclement operations and might even have personally witnessed Shinichi Higashino’s battles multiple times.

As for why he did not suspect it was someone from Konoha?

"Why not just say he’s Shinichi Higashino himself?"

The editor-in-chief had once joked to his subordinates like that.

"Mhm... I see... Sensory ability?" The editor-in-chief nodded continuously while rapidly jotting notes on a memo pad, but when he heard the term, his pen paused slightly, and confusion appeared on his face. "Mr. Peter Parker, this sensory ability you mentioned specifically refers to what? Our readers might..."

The other side of the phone seemed to fall silent for a moment before patiently explaining: "Sensory ability is a precious and special ability possessed by ninja. It allows them to surpass conventional senses such as sight and hearing to detect chakra, living beings’ movements, and even malicious intent within a certain range. It plays an enormous role in warfare..."

"Oh! Understood! Very clear! Thank you very much, Mr. Peter Parker! Your information is always so timely and professional!" The editor-in-chief suddenly understood and repeatedly expressed gratitude before respectfully hanging up the phone.

After hanging up, the editor-in-chief rubbed his temples and fell into thought.

Sensory ability?

And it needed special emphasis?

But who among ordinary readers would understand something like that?

Even he himself did not understand it. Could it really become a selling point?

The editor-in-chief curled his lips. As a media professional deeply familiar with mass psychology, he knew clearly that the public had no interest whatsoever in professional ninja concepts like sensory ability, nor any intuitive understanding of them.

What they loved to read about were legends, miracles, and dramatic, heroic stories.

After pondering for a while, the editor-in-chief’s small eyes suddenly lit up as he got an idea. He picked up his pen and wrote a headline that he believed had tremendous explosive potential: [The boy who wouldn’t die! Revealing the survival journey of Konoha’s child of miracles, Shinichi Higashino]

Yes! This would have an impact!

Compared to the dry, detailed explanation of sensory ability, words like miracle, surviving disaster, and luck would obviously attract more attention and spark more discussion and imagination.

He immediately began writing furiously, vividly portraying again and again how this genius youth had luckily evaded the Village Hidden in the Cloud’s vast dragnet, how he had coincidentally avoided deadly ambushes, and how he had miraculously escaped death time after time.

After writing the final period, the editor-in-chief satisfiedly blew on the still-wet ink; he confidently believed this report would once again trigger a surge in sales.

...

’Sigh, the Shinobi World’s educational standards still have a long way to go. For the editor-in-chief of a top-tier newspaper to not even know what sensory ability was was really surprising.’

On the other end of the phone, Shinichi helplessly shook his head after putting down the receiver.

Unlike intuitive, easily understandable concepts such as great strength, high defense, or fast speed, sensory ability was an abstract, vague concept to non-ninja groups and even to many Genin.

Yet his system specifically required the outside world to form a clear and distinct understanding of one of his talents.

More troublesome still, the difficulty of generating purple talents far exceeded his expectations.

Take Master of Fire Style, for example. This was his first talent to advance to the purple level.

It had been built upon the shocking achievement of breaking the strongest shield, enough to shake every nation and ninja village, combined with the Land of Fire government’s full-force propaganda, and also the fact that concepts like flames and high temperature were things even civilians could intuitively understand.

In other words, purple talents required both deep recognition from top-tier experts and broad awareness among the masses. It was a dual requirement of both quality and quantity.

In contrast, the Clarity talent, a top-tier sensory ability, possessed immeasurable value in battles between experts and strategic planning. Every village’s Kage-level powerhouses and elites already understood this clearly and were even deeply wary of it.

But how could this invisible value be transformed into a concept that a broader population, including civilians who only vaguely understood the Shinobi World, could clearly comprehend and form a deep impression of?

Difficult!

Extremely difficult!

’Could it be that in the future, I’ll really have to personally carry out free educational campaigns throughout the Shinobi World?’

Shinichi frowned inwardly.

Wouldn’t that practically make him a saint?

What a hassle!

Even if he wanted to popularize compulsory education in the future, or even push forward any grand vision, the foremost prerequisite was that he had to ascend to that position standing at the peak of Konoha’s power.

Only by holding the position of Hokage and grasping great authority could he turn his ideals into reality.

Furthermore, once he becomes Hokage and controls the vast and efficient propaganda and intelligence machine of Konoha and even the entire Land of Fire, the difficulty for him to acquire and upgrade talents will decrease dramatically, and the efficiency will soar exponentially.

Earth Style, Water Style, and other natures among the five styles he has not yet explored, as well as the more abstract concepts of Light Style and Dark Style.

Of the six senses, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, he has not yet received specialized talents in the other four, or even more profound cognitive abilities such as spatial and temporal senses.

Genjutsu, Barrier Jutsu, Sealing Jutsu, archery, forging, and other skills that were either at very low levels or that he had never previously come into contact with.

All of them could rely on the officially crafted image of Hokage-sama, who is naturally gifted, knowledgeable, and proficient in countless arts, to rapidly generate corresponding foundational talents and quickly advance into blue-quality through the continuous spread of his deeds.

One had to know that every single blue-quality talent he currently possessed had required him to spend enormous amounts of time, meticulous planning, and even personally risk his life to obtain.

But once he became Hokage, under the push of the gigantic propaganda machine, obtaining a blue talent would become extremely easy. He would only need to move his lips, have his subordinates cooperate, or even have the Land of Fire’s official apparatus coordinate in carrying out a series of clearly directed public opinion guidance campaigns.

This would be a qualitative transformation.

Afterward, by using certain key battle achievements, breakthrough research, or world-shocking events as catalysts, he could gradually push these blue talents built up through propaganda toward the higher purple-quality tier.

’Purple level talent...’

Shinichi temporarily suppressed the longing in his heart for the Hokage position, and his gaze landed on the Incarnation of Fire Level 1 on his system panel.

Purple Level 1...

Merely Level 1, which represents reaching a publicly acknowledged representative level in a certain field of the world, already has such harsh acquisition conditions.

Then what kind of terrifying conditions would Level 2, which in his estimation belonged to the undisputed peak level of this field in the world, require for advancement?

Shinichi fell into deep thought.

A few seconds later, a clear answer surfaced in his mind.

Yin Release (Inton, Viz: Dark Style or Shadow Style) is a nature transformation that exists outside the five basic elemental natures.

Yang Release (Yōton, Viz: Light Style) is a nature transformation that exists outside the five basic elemental natures.

Source, Naruto.Fandom.com