In the Warring States Era, the children born in shinobi clans receiving personal training from their parents and were then trained together in groups of similar age and skill by their clansmen.
This meant that there wasn’t any kind of standard learning process as each clan taught their children different things in different ways which led to a discrepancy between the level of skill and knowledge displayed by shinobi of different clans. Those who wished to become shinobi without being born into it were either self-taught or had to find masters willing to teach them, so this often means that they were left at a distinct disadvantage in the field that led to their early deaths more often than not.
The collaboration between clans brought by the advent of the hidden villages opened up new possibilities. It began with the youngest Uchiha and Senju being put into classes together – soon followed by the children of the other clan that joined – where they would learn essential knowledge such as maths, history, geography and the rest. However their shinobi training remained solely in the hands of the clans themselves.
It wasn’t until the First Great Shinobi War broke out that the situation changed as children learning solely from their own family became too inefficient.
Fifty or so years ago, the Second Hokage chose to increase Konoha’s military by building a training camp at the base of the village mountain. It started out purely for education but quickly merged with military and domestic parts of their lifestyle.
Utilizing the shared knowledge from the clans living and working together, this Academy hosted the first standardized curriculum for teaching the shinobi arts that all of their children would learn from. After the Second Hokage’s death, the Third Hokage perfected the educational systems, and education and training are now carried out under strict standards.
The Konoha Academy was meant for the development as shinobi with respect to individuality. In a free, open-minded environment students are allowed to stengthen their bodies and minds, discovering their own ninja paths. When they have found their way, they are guided by the belief that fills them.
Children undertake an entrance exam which tests whether they have any aptitude for the ninja arts, whether they are healthy in body and mind, possess a spirit able to endure hard work and training, and a love for their village with the hope to help preserve peace and prosperity.
Students are given basic training and education so they gain sturdy bodies and fundamental knowledge immediately after entrance. They learn the type of things that all children are expected to learn but the focus of their lessons is always on their role as shinobi in training.
To hone the body, they undergo all kinds of physical training such as running, climbing, push-ups, pull-ups, vaulting, throwing and swimming. To hone the mind, they study the theories behind techniques and hand-seals in detail, learn history of shinobi and engrave the shinobi code into their hearts.
When students are deemed to have mastered the basics and manoeuvres they are moved to the application stage, where they are taught techniques designed for their personality and skills. Private lessons or special seminars help enhance their specials qualities.
The practical lessons focus on taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu. Students learn fighting stances that serve as a solid foundation for any individual styles they develop, participating in sparring matches to test their skill. Illusions are difficult enough that they aren’t taught in the Academy, but the students are trained in detecting and countering them. And all students are expected to learn five E-rank ninjutsu, the most fundamental technique taught to every shinobi that act as a stepping stone for the entire art.
Today, the Academy is a seven year course where students enrol from the age of five and graduate at twelve. The graduation age has changed repeatedly since its inception as during times of war, the village needed to produce ninja at a faster rate to provide manpower, especially the students who are particularly gifted. Only during peacetime are all students expected to attend for the full seven years.
Each year group usually has at least ninety students in total which are split into several classes. At the start of the new year, the students are rearranged into different classes to familiarize themselves with a wider range of people and to teach them to adapt to change. Even during their lessons, the classes are often broken down into smaller groups for their school activities.
In the last year of the Academy, there are three graduation exams. The first two are mock exams which show the students their current skill level and how much knowledge they have so they know what they need to improve on. The final exam is at the end of the year and is the one that decides whether or not they become ninja. The exam tests their theoretical and practical knowledge, their skill in taijutsu, whether they are capable of recognising and dispelling genjutsu, and their mastery of ninjutsu.
And this institution isn’t the only one of its kind in the Land of Fire as not all of their shinobi come from a single academy. The many samurai schools that once existed across the nation changed to become ninja schools that taught their students how to wield chakra. These training camps are all allied with Konoha, training new recruits, housing border patrol units and acting as staging grounds for large scale foreign operations.
The students that graduate in Konoha are sorted into teams of three selected by the Hokage based on their teachers’ recommendations. They are assigned to a special jounin or a jounin who gives them the Genin Certification Exam which has a failure rate of over 66%. The parameters of the test differ for each teacher but they require the genin to achieve a specific objective whilst demonstrating their individual skills and working together as a team.
If they pass, they become an official team and get to work in the field. They spend the majority of their time training under an elite ninja and work for the village’s clientele with D-rank and C-rank missions. They quickly earn field experience, develop thier skills and possess a good chance of being promoted within a few years.
If they fail, they are sent back to the Academy. They undergo a short period of remedial training after which they can choose to retake the certification exam, or join one of the village’s divisions that handle the more mundane tasks that are needed to keep the village running and secure.
The Academy became a model that all other hidden villages followed when the effectiveness of its training became apparent. Each nation has their own lessons to teach but generally they all follow the same guidelines.
The Narutoversity 