Kiriko looks around the shop then picks up a piece of paper. Her father chuckles and pats her shoulder. "Even with no 'official' ninja with the academy closing except for civilian classes, I really can't see the shop closing."

"Neither can I, the meals will sell no matter what. Plenty of people working long hours who can't or don't have the time to make meals ahead of time." She says. "There's still going to be the older shinobi and kunoichi going on missions. Once the new teams have their first mission outside the village though, I doubt I'll see the need for the camping scrolls unless their gear need to be replaced. I can move those to the back room and use that area for other scrolls."

Her mother comes in with the babies in a collapsible stroller, nodding as she listens to her husband and daughter talk.

"With so many people working in the village we might be looking at the need to have entire meals prepared in scrolls for grab and go." One of the clan women in the building next door looks at her from the doorway and slowly nods. "Two, four, or eight person meals?"

"Something that you and the others will have to consider." Kiriko says quietly. "It won't be right away."

"No, mothers are going to be with their children for at least another year or so unless they *have* to work." She sighs. "Meals for children who are being watched. Unless their parents bring meals for them."

"Yes, something mild that will fill their bellies and allow them to grow. Something to ask the medical nins."

"Or any mother." She snorts. "Heads up," she yells going back into the other building. "We might be on tap for meals for kids in daycare as well as complete meals in the future. Unless their parents have meals for them when they drop them off." The others nod as they continue to work.

"Especially when we have a large number of children in the same building."

"And it would be quicker to grab scrolls and putting food down in front of them than bringing out their meals."

"Not to mention some people can't be around other foods because it makes them sick." Somebody else says. "Not so much here, but I know it's a problem at the capital."

Kiriko's father nods at the buy more dishes and silverware note his daughter makes on the paper in front of her. "If you are supplying meals for the children, you'll need them."

"How does the civilian school handle meals?" Kiriko's mother asks.

"Like the academy they bring it with them. Neither school has the facilities or manpower to cook for so many children. You might be asked to feed them too." Her father says.

She makes a note of that on the list and puts it in the drawer as the door opens for a new genin team who buy supplies and head off.

"How are the girls coming on the jewelry, hair pins, and stuff like that?"

"Going like gangbusters, it's something they make all the time because they know if it doesn't sell here it will in the capital." Her father says. Kiriko nods and makes a note of that on the list she'd brought back out. "Tio's doing well working with Shuisui and Gen at their forges making weapons."

"Have either of you heard anything about growing food in water?"

"Hy dro pon ics." Kiriko's mother says slowly, sounding out the word carefully. "Not water but some sort of liquid. The Daimyo was looking into information some of his scholars brought back from places where it's used. I know the land of snow uses it because they have snow year-round. Otherwise they'd have to bring in everything and that would be expensive."

"Something to think about in the future if they ever have a degree."  Her parents and the clan elders nod when they return to the farm.

A few months later the lady in waiting that always seems to be walking past the gates when Kiriko arrives grins as she is let in. "Our orders?"

"Yes, along with some new soaps and jewelry."

The Daimyo's wife squeals girlishly as she not quite comes running at the news and Kiriko starts bringing everything out of the scrolls, including fabric rolls for the jewelry. A report for the Hokage is slipped to Kiriko along with the money and she wishes them well.

"Are you going to be here long?"

"A few days, I'm back to making my regular trips for the village instead of every other month now that we have so many supplies on hand." Kiriko sighs. "At least my parents have finally stopped having noisy sex everywhere, but then they do have triplets waking them up every night." The Daimyo's wife brays with laughter despite herself. "Yes, that was my thoughts exactly." Kiriko smirks nastily.

Two weeks later Kiriko slides the report across the Hokage's desk. "From the Hokage's wife."

"Thank you my dear, was I your first stop?"

"Because of that, yes." She says dryly. "And yes, I need the bank president. Both for the store and my casino visit."

Kiriko walks into the store, tossing a receipt wrapped around scrolls with a rubber band.

"Thank you my dear, did you bring anything back?"

"No, and I have more orders for you in there."

Another woman laughs and starts unwrapping the bundle and emptying the scrolls, tossing the bundle back to Kiriko later that night. They go in another scroll to be reused as they gather for the clan meeting now that she's returned.

"Did you bring anything back?"

"Yes, both for the Hokage and us." She closes her eyes, picturing the report in her mind and reading it out loud. It's something all the clan kids have been taught, especially the civilians in case they 'accidentally' see something they can report it. She opens her eyes, the others nodding slowly. 

Over the next few days everything is delivered and the empty scrolls put together for the next trip. Neji comes in one day, holding a jonin jacket. Kiriko blinks as he carefully places it in a scroll. "The Hokage insisted. He says I would have earned this honor if I hadn't had to retire and I deserve it."

"Yes you do." The female clan member in the doorway says loudly. "Ladies, the Hokage made Neji a Jonin even if he's retired."

Shikamaru's mother squeals as she comes out of the other building, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He's pulled into the other building and after showing it off to everybody, puts the scroll away and starts to work.

Naruto comes in and Kiriko runs across the room to hug him, seeing the chunin vest he's wearing. "Sakura got one too even though she's a medical nin now. Is Shikamaru's mother here? He was being called to the Tower when we were leaving."

"Yeah, she's in the next room. Neji got promoted to jonin even if he's retired."

"Good." He walks in, catching everybody's eyes. "Shikamaru was heading to the Tower."

"Go." one of her clanmembers says. "We have this covered today. It's a cause for celebration." Naruto grabs the knife from Neji and pushes him after her, getting a nod of thanks. Naruto takes Neji's spot and begins to do what the others tell him to do.

"Only Naruto's classmates, Lee, and Tenten?" Madi asks that night after dinner.

"The other genin are still too new and the older genin who would be trying to advance in the exam aren't here right now. They've been working and training hard, learning new skills, and bettering themselves every day."

The others arrive at the farm for their first day of picking the crops, getting hugs from everybody who knows them. Kurenai is not there, she's at the stage of her pregnancy where it's too hard to constantly move and she's settled in a chair at the tower handling paperwork until she delivers. Asuma is looking after both their teams with help from Gai and she knows everybody is in good hands. 

After finishing the crops at the farm the teams are working with the newer genin on the fields of the village, it's another six to eight weeks but everything is harvested and in warehouses or being sent off to be processed in the case of the wheat.

"Okay, dumb question but how long. . ."

"It's been over three years for Naruto's class, four for Lee and even longer for the teams that would normally be showing up for a chunin test. And some of those teams were taking the test for the tenth or twelfth time."

"Why?"

"They wanted a promotion? You never see them around the village. I truly doubt they ever *will* become chunin. And the tests to become a jonin are even tougher. Do you *really* think Neji, Tenten, and Lee are the only graduates of the academy the year before Naruto?"

"No, not when they were team *nine*. That means there was at least eight more teams that either made chunin in less than a year or failed their genin exams. But since you only saw team seven, eight, and nine in Naruto's year. . ."

"Yeah, I know some of them no doubt failed, but I hope some of them joined the pool of genin working in the village without teachers."

"Or the academy and their teachers conspired so only nine students from those who graduated become genin every year?" Kiriko says, smirking at her parents. "After all, the stories are. . .fail my exam and go back to the academy?"

"There wouldn't be any students attending the academy if that was the truth." Her mother scowls. "Not to mention doubling the size of the graduating class every year?"

"I'd be fucking annoyed if I was told, sorry you're not one of the nine we selected, back to school you go even if you *did* pass our test." Madi says as she walks past.

"Son, are you sure you don't want to attend the academy?" Kiriko drawls. "Mom, there's 270 'students' waiting for a shot at nine spots. There's no room."

"We're a ninja village, we have to have people who can protect us and do the jobs we can't. Nine students? Pshea." Her fathr makes a rude sound. That's stupidity you'd find in one of Jiraiya's books."

"Team Gai, I have an escort mission for you. Yes, it is Kiriko. Do not smile, this is not a good assignment."

"Manure?" Kiriko moans from her seat.

"Yes, contact the other farms and see how many barrels they will need."

"Manure?"

"Cow shit, horse shit, goat shit, sheep shit, well you get the idea." Kiriko sighs. "Buy the salve to take along with us and take your oldest clothes to wear when we go pick up the barrels. You'll want to change clothes as soon as we're done and put them in a scroll until we're back." She looks over at the Hokage. "Am I picking up the information on that new growing system while I'm there?"

"Yes, both for yourself and the village. And yes, go destroy a few casinos while you're there. Both of you." He says, waving a hand.

Kiriko and the others head off a week later with the money, everybody thanking her silently for telling them to buy the salve and use it after they've put the barrels in scrolls for each purchase. Their clothes are put in scrolls for the trip home and they use the baths before settling in at the hotel for the night. The next day they do their other errands before starting back home three days later.

They return to the village, each scroll with the individual orders being brought out and put where needed. At the farm Kiriko brings her clothes out to air out, various noses wrinkling but nodding they need it. A couple of days later she tosses them in the wash and hangs them out to dry.

"How long did you air your clothes out?" Tenten asks, walking into the shop a week later.

"A couple of days, I live on a farm. They're used to that smell. You guys live in the village, somebody would complain."

Tenten nods silently. "We set them washing as soon as we got home."

"Mission?"

"The rainy season will be coming soon, we've got a three week mission of inspecting and cleaning all the drains in the village so the water flows into the system instead of puddling in the streets." They'd all seen that on various trips to the capital, water flowing over the streets because of blocked drains, where they existed anyway.

The clean water drains into separate tanks to be reused, some will drink it while others use it on the plants they grow in the village.

The Hokage nods in satisfaction when he gets the report that they had all been inspected and those that had been damaged had been made a note of so they can be repaired. Mostly they had just needed to have the dirt and other debris pulled away from them and repainted bright colors so people know what they are.

At the farm the water is welcomed for the next year's crops as clan members turn their attention to the other chores that happen after the crops are in or are performed year-round. Kiriko brays with laughter suddenly.

"Lemme guess, some old fool who didn't *wike* how we have so much land and demanded to know why?"

Kiriko nods frantically. "We just use it to lord over everybody, like she wants to. The Hokage called her a damn fool and told her the farms have so much land *because* we're farms and if we turned it over to her, where was the food everybody eats going to come from? And no, not the store because the shops buy the food from us and the others. The little bitch ran off sobbing like her heart was breaking because she can't *be* somebody in the village."

"Always going to be fools out there." One of the clan elders snorts. "People grow old but they never grow up. Look how many people wanted their kids to attend the academy so they could get on the civilian council and push their weight around."

"Like that stupid bitch who was upset that I had brought the building for the cooks, her precious daughter was *tired* and dirty and sore coming home from cleaning it."

"And what the hell did the fool think happened on missions?"

"They were seeing the glamour, not the real life of a ninja. Like that fool who tried smashing the windows of Kiriko's shop because she was tired and wanted to go home and if they didn't have to clean the windows they covered with paint she was done for the day."

"I liked how one of her classmates said her parents had a shop, should they go break *their* windows so they didn't have to clean them?" Madi snorts. "Needless to say, she failed big time." Kiriko's mother sighs. "I can't say there hasn't been *good* civilians come through the academy, but. . ."

"Too many are just looking at the power. Or to catch the eye of the last Uchiha. That and the classes being revamped is why so many failed those two years. The new genin *know* what their life is going to be like and *want* to serve the village."

"Nine genin a year?" Hiruzen snorts in disgust as he looks over something Jiraiya had found on his travels. "And anybody who failed the genin test went back to the academy? Whoever wrote this nonsense never met a ninja a day in their life." He rolls his eyes. "If you only have nine genin a year, who is supposed to be protecting and serving the village when they're on missions? Gai's team is the oldest ones still in the village, all the others have left for missions and only showed up to take the chunin exam. . .for the eighteenth time."

The watching ANBU snicker and nod in agreement.

Naruto and the others without families are surprised to find themselves invited to an end of the year celebration at the Izuno farm.

"We do this every year, it's a time to reflect on the year that just happened and to think about the year ahead." Grandma Miri says at their looks. "Everybody not on a mission or who has to work will be here today. That's why we're using the main building." More tables had been set up and covered with clothes and covered with food. "we made food all year and leave it in scrolls for this day."

"We've had a few things happen this year. The babies arrived at the village, Naruto, his team, and the students he graduated with became chunin."

"There's only one year of students at the academy now, and when this year graduates it will be shut down until the babies are old enough for schooling." one of the clan that's an active shinobi winces but nods that it had to be done. There was no way the village would be able to handle so many new shinobi. As Kiriko and the others had said, there was not enough money for base pay when they graduated, not enough missions, and nowhere near enough teachers for them all.

"How are the latest genin handling working with two or three instructors?" Madi asks him.

"On one hand it's good practice for when they are older and on a mission without their teacher, but on the other hand it slows their training down as they get used to working with a different instructor." Everybody nods. 

"Well, if some of the damn 'genin' teams from the other years ever showed back up at the village there'd *be* enough teachers for the new students." Grandma Miri says. "They only show up to fail the fucking chunin exams and vanish again."

Madi starts laughing suddenly. "Re. . .remember when we were talking about what would happen if there was *really* only nine genin a year and everybody else was sent back to the academy?" Naruto moans. Gai looks at him. "That's something Kakashi said before our genin test, that only nine students out of the 27 who had graduated became genin." Gai moans as Lee whimpers. "Anyway, Jiraiya found a series like that on his travels and passed along a book to the Hokage. He was not impressed to put it mildly."

"Who is supposed to be taking care of the village with only nine genin?" Gai moans. "Especially when they are all off on missions? Some of the older genin haven't been back to the village in years."

"Okay, how long does it take for genin to be let go? Either being promoted to chunin or being told, there's nothing more I can teach you. I've been given a new team in the cases of the older ones?" Tio asks Gai. He waves a hand at his team.

"The Hokage asked us to stay together because we work well as a team." Naruto says. "Not to mention we can keep up with Kiriko when she leaves the village. Asuma is still working part-time with his team, but he's also working part-time at the Tower."

"My team split up after they became chunin because of Kurenai's pregnancy, working with our clans. Kiba isn't ready to go on his own, he's more confident working with others." Hinata says quietly. "We take missions two or three time a week, same with the others."

"Do you see any of your teams leading teams in the future? If the last couple years had been different?"

"No, not permanently anyway." Naruto says slowly, tipping his head sideways and looking into the distance. "It's not where our strengths lie. Same with how Kakashi was such a horrible teacher but a very competent ninja." He looks at Gai who nods. 

"Part of the problem is your genin teams were all clan heirs except for yourself and Sakura, everybody was expected to lead their clans in the future. That kinda shoots down the idea of training teams unless your parents are still alive." Madi says. "Other clan members who don't have that responsibility *can* be jonin instructors." Gai sighs but nods.

"That won't be a problem for a while, children will be learning first from their clans then others doing the same job they are." Grandma Miri says briskly. "Now, plans for the year?" She looks at the younger clan members.

"This is tradition too." Kiriko says quietly at Gai's look. "Those younger clan members who are in school or don't have steady jobs yet talk about what they have planned for the future. Tio would have been doing this a couple years ago, now that he's working with Tenten's dad at the forge he's got a pass."

"And Madi?" Gai asks quietly.

"Might be one of the kids we send to the capital for a few years to get more education than is available here. I know the Daimyo wants a university in the future in the village and if . . ." Kiriko waves a hand, getting everybody's attention. "What's the latest on the Thunder Rail coming to the village?"

"They're going to be laying track this direction next year." Her father says. "You're going to be making multiple trips to the capital to buy the supplies needed to put up larger buildings over the Hokage monument including larger apartment buildings like you find at the capital and a university."

"What is a university?" Hinata asks quietly.

"A civilian school that teaches classes in various areas for jobs." Kiriko's mother says briskly. "Every generation two or three kids in the clan go to the capital and get degrees they use for the clan. They have people coming from all over to the capital for the classes, they stay in dorms. . .mini-apartments that are basically bedrooms with shared kitchens and bathrooms for the entire floor of students. Our students wouldn't need to board since they have homes here in the village and our school wouldn't be big enough for decades to have students coming in from elsewhere."

"Yes, our university would be for the village students for a few years unless the smaller villages in the area send students." One of the elders says. "It won't be for a good fifteen years or more, it will take both time to build the buildings, bring in teachers to teach the classes, and get enough students to make it necessary."

"Not to mention a way to get up to the plateau from the village for students." Another clan elder says. "Unlike Naruto, the students can't be expected to climb the mountain." Hinata giggles despite herself. "What? I was young and stupid. .  .er." he says as everybody laughs. 

"Wasn't there something in one of the records. . ." Madi says slowly. "In other countries they have carriages that travel up and down the mountains there on tracks, one going up while another is going down?"

"Something to look into in the future. And it's going to be the future, two or three generations before any of this happens." Grandma Miri says firmly. "It will take at least three years to lay the tracks to the village and put up a place for them to get on and off the train."

"Let alone have enough people using it to make bringing a train to the village more than once a month worth the money." The accountant in the family says dryly. The others laugh and nod. "I can see more freight traveling the trains instead of by wagon, especially in the beginning." One of the others says quietly.

One of the farmers starts to shake his head but slowly nods. "That would take doubling or tripling our harvests, but that's what is going to have to happen as all the kids get older and start eating solid food."

"Not to mention a way to get the harvests up to the plateau besides putting everything in scrolls and bringing it out up there." Kiriko's father says.

The Hokage nods firmly as Gai repeats what had been talked about at the gathering. "Yes, unlike fools who could see the plateau built up in their lifetimes." He says quietly. "The Izunos *know* it will take decades and they will not see it happening, but their great-grandchildren will. Not my generation or yours, but somebody like Asuma's and Kurenai's twins great-grandchildren."

"Kiriko, next time you go to the capital, see if you can get information on the hydroponics we were talking about for the village and ourselves?" Her father asks a few days later. "You might have have the Daimyo get it for you if it's not readily available."

"Already did." Kiriko says absently. Her parents look at her. "Our last trip out to get the manure."

"And you didn't think to tell us this?" her mother asks dryly, hands on her hips. Grandma Miri sniggers behind her. "You've been a little busy with the new babies, it's in the library."