The next day, the fourth year in the academy started. Not having paid any attention to the graduation exam, and wanting to get the information, he decided to go a bit early to the academy.
He reached the class at 7:45 am. On reaching, he saw that 24 kids were already there. And there were 3 new faces. He looked around the class and didn't see Teru, Yori and Nobu in the class. He then went to Hoka, sat besides him and asked, "Morning. What happened in the graduation exam?"
Hoka's mood first soured as he hadn't passed. But on realising, he looked at Fujin in disbelief, "You don't know?"
Fujin shook his head. Hoka continued, "Have you been living under a rock?"
Fujin replied, "Nope, just under trees."
Hoka gave him a deadpan expression. Fujin asked again, "Well are you gonna talk today?"
Hoka then showed a sad face and answered, "I failed. Only Teru, Nobu and Yori passed."
Fujin, having expected that, nodded.
He then asked about what happened in the exams. Hoka gave a summary of what all happened. Despite already knowing the possibility, he sighed at the fact that those 3 could perform rank C jutsu. He thought, 'Sigh, I guess being in a top clan or being backed by a crazy old fellow has its benefits.'
Fujin then asked whether those 3 formed a Genin squad. However Hoka replied, "No, Teru and Yori were placed together in a squad with someone a year older. No idea where Nobu went but I haven't heard about him after the exam."
Fujin thought, 'I see. I guess Danzo inducted him into the root. Though I am surprised that he didn't take Nobu when he was 3-4 years old itself.'
He then asked, "So what's up with the 3 new guys?"
Hoka dismissively replied, "No idea"
Seeing Hoka unconcerned about the new guys, Fujin thought, 'Uh… He isn't the right guy to ask this. He is very aloof if it doesn't involve Taijutsu. But this much information is enough. I wonder if I could use this info to get a few C rank jutsus from Genki.'
After the talk, Fujin decided to continue sitting there for the rest of the day. While he didn't make much of a relationship with his classmates, due to constant spars, his relationship with Hoka and Teru was better than others.
Surprisingly, today, Genki didn't enter the class alone, but was also accompanied by an old man. When he entered, everyone stood up and greeted him, as he was the headmaster of the academy.
After entering, he first made some small talk. Then he started talking about the Will of Fire. And finally, he asked the students to try to graduate this year.
Fujin was quite surprised with this. He only had one thought, 'Wow they are really desperate!'
After he left, Fujin thought, 'I guess not participating this year is not an option. Then again, I have learnt most of the things I can. Only Genjutsu and learning swords are left. And the 2nd book of Fuinjutsu is still left. Still, if they are this desperate, I might actually have a shot at chakra swords!'
After that, the headmaster introduced the 3 new kids. He said, "Since 3 of your classmates have already become Genin, we have transferred 3 students from other divisions to your class. So be friends with them."
The 3 kids introduced themselves to the class. They were the top 3 among the remaining 400 students of their year. Some students were happy to have new classmates, some felt like they didn't need anyone else to join in, so the reaction was mixed.
Fujin's thoughts were, 'I see, so in this way, they ensure that the other students don't become too pressured due to few of their classmates becoming genins. The 3 kids will ensure that the absence of the ones who graduated isn't always felt, but they will still serve as a benchmark for the rest. Also, the new kids in this class will have to work much harder, if they keep up, they'll become quite strong in the future. It's a pretty smart move!'
While Fujin was acknowledging the ingenuity of the move, one person in the class was extremely unhappy, and almost crying too. That person would be the class teacher. Genki thought, 'I taught everything I had to teach to all these kids last year itself! All I had to do was to wait until they absorbed everything and passed the graduation exam. But now I have to again teach these new kids everything!'
While he was depressed and lost in his thoughts, he had a thought that horrified him, 'Wait, so if this year more students pass out, does that mean more students will join the class and I will have to teach them again?'
His shoulders dropped on having that thought, he really was depressed. He sighed, 'This isn't what I signed up for!'
After introducing the new kids, the headmaster left. Genki then announced the syllabus, and it surprised Fujin once again. Genki said, "This year, your main focus will be to master everything I taught you guys in the last 2 years. The 3 basic Ninjutsu as well as the basic skills I taught you. In addition to it, I will also teach you 5 new rank E jutsus. They will be Fire Release : One jutsu, Wind Release : Gale jutsu, Lightning Release : Static String jutsu, Earth Release : Rock Shield jutsu and Water Release : Fish Spit.
These jutsus aren't compulsory for you to learn in order to graduate, however, they will be very helpful to you, if you are able to use them. I've already explained nature affinities to you last year. So I'll check your nature later, and at the very least, you'll have to learn the jutsu of your affinity. Learning all 5 will help you if you decide to graduate early. Your former classmate, Nobu, was able to perform all 5 of these jutsus. That's why he was able to graduate so early."
Mentioning Nobu riled up the class and made them very competitive. Genki was satisfied with the reaction. He thought, 'It's nice to see them so motivated. I should be thankful to Nobu for performing this during the previous year's exam. Else I might not have decided to do this.'
Fujin thought, 'Well this is surprising. I didn't think Genki would teach jutsus of all the 5 elements. But it isn't much of a concern for me. I already know 2 of those 5 jutsus.'
After the class was over, Fujin grabbed a sparring sword from the academy and started practicing swinging it. He had 2 basic ideas, which is why he wanted to learn using swords. The first one was to infuse Wind chakra in his swords, make them incredibly sharp so that he could cut his enemies down, even if they block it with their weapons. It would make him incredibly deadly in close combat. The 2nd idea was to shoot out slashes or thrusts at mid range, similar to what Zoro and Mihawk did in One Piece.
Of the 2 ideas, the first one seemed very realistic. Fujin was confident in being able to do that very soon. He wasn't quite sure about the 2nd one though. His memories regarding the small events in Naruto had grown a bit hazy by now, so from what he could recall, there was only one ninja who could use brute force at mid-range. That was Guy while performing his Morning Peacock and Evening Elephant. However, even if he wasn't able to send slashes flying with brute strength, it could be replicated by launching a slash of chakra instead. Like the Samurai are able to do. And it could be improved further by charging that chakra with wind nature.
After practicing for an hour, he sighed at his sword skills. He thought, 'Even though I have watched a lot of swordplay in my previous life, I don't really have a proper way to train it. Oh well, I'll bother Genki once again.'
So he kept the sword back, and went to find Genki. On finding Genki, he saw Genki talking with a fellow teacher. He waited for a bit. Genki after seeing Fujin, cut short his talk and asked Fujin why he was here.
Fujin said, "Sensei, I want to learn how to use swords. Can you teach it to me?"
Genki almost cried internally, 'First, that headmaster made me teach 3 new kids everything again! Now this brat comes and asks me to teach him how to use swords. As if I don't have any other work to do. And he doesn't even attempt the graduation exam!'
He gathered himself and sighed, 'Whatever, I can't say no to him. But I do need to have a talk with him. I want him to graduate this year. If he stays for another year or two and if others start taking a cue from him and ask me to teach more, my life will become hell!'
Fujin was surprised at Genki sighing. He wondered, 'What's up with him? Wasn't he always very enthusiastic when the students wanted to learn more?'
Genki then replied, "I don't use swords much. But I have a couple of friends who do. I'll arrange you some sessions with them." While he was saying this, he thought, 'I am so glad that I made so many good friends, on whom I can offload my students!'
Fujin nodded and thanked him. Genki then asked a few more things. And then moved on the topic to Graduation exams. He asked, "Fujin, what are your thoughts on graduation?"
Fujin sighed internally at the question, 'There really is no other option this year.' He put up a thoughtful expression and said, "I will be attempting it this year. Last year I wanted to attempt it too, but I got a bit scared as it was told to us at the last moment. And I didn't know what to do."
He then showed a slightly yearning and slightly sad expression and said in a sad voice while looking down, "But after hearing that Yori, Teru and Nobu were all able to perform rank C jutsus, I guess it was a good thing I didn't attempt the exam. I would have made a fool of myself if I did."
Fujin maintained that expression, while hoping that Genki takes pity and gives him some rank C wind release jutsus.
On seeing Fujin's expression, Genki felt some sympathy for him. He thought, 'An orphan with no clan becoming a ninja is pretty difficult. Not having the resources that a clan provides puts them at a huge disadvantage. I myself struggled a lot due to coming from a civilian family.' He sighed a bit and decided, 'Alright, I should cheer him up and give him a rank C jutsu. Great Breakthrough jutsu is a very basic one for wind users. And I'm sure that Lord Hokage would agree too. But first I need to check up on his progress.'
He tried to cheer Fujin up a bit, and then asked, "We checked your nature affinity more than a year back. How far have you progressed with it?"
Fujin replied, "Sensei, I managed to cut the leaf in two. I learnt Gale jutsu from the library. I can also do Breakthrough jutsu, but I'm still improving it."
Genki was a bit surprised at the answer, 'I didn't expect him to come so far, and even practice jutsus by himself. Then again, he was very diligent. Also rank E and D jutsu aren't hard to perform. But since he has learnt these 2, Great Breakthrough jutsu should become easier for him to learn.'
He then said, "That's good. Can you show me how well you can do them?"
Fujin nodded and they went to the training grounds. Fujin first performed Gale jutsu properly. Though he could perform it without hand signs, he made all the hand signs while showing it to Genki. Genki nodded and said, "That's good. Show me Breakthrough jutsu, try it on that tree." He pointed to a nearby tree.
Fujin once again made the hand signs, but he made them at a slower speed. He also controlled the power of the jutsu. It only broke off a few leaves and a few twigs. After performing the jutsu, he thought, 'Well this much should be enough. If I had gone full power and turned this tree into a naked tree with plenty of deep cuts, a certain someone would have gotten very interested in me.'
Genki was impressed with Fujin's performance, 'That's good. Though the power is a bit lacking, it's sufficient considering that he is only 9 years old and didn't have anyone to teach him. But his talent in Ninjutsu is definitely not as good as the 3 who passed.'
Genki thought a bit more on whether he could help Fujin more, but he couldn't come up with anything. He concluded, 'Oh well. Even if he doesn't become a Ninjutsu expert, he still is a sensor. Not to mention that his Taijutsu is solid too. And though his Ninjutsu ain't very good, the wind element makes fire stronger. So, between his sensor skills and wind jutsus, he will provide a lot of utility to his squad.
So becoming a special jounin within a decade shouldn't be an issue for him. He might even become a jounin if he grows well.'
On concluding his thoughts, he said, "Nice work Fujin. Both the jutsu have been learnt very well. Though you should work on increasing their power." Fujin nodded and said, "Yes Sensei."
Genki continued, "Don't worry about rank C jutsu. I'll see if I can get one for you."
Fujin quickly thanked him. The next day, Genki, after taking Hiruzen's permission, handed the scroll for Great Breakthrough jutsu to Fujin. He said, "This jutsu is the next stage of Breakthrough jutsu. Learn it properly, it'll help you to graduate." Fujin thanked him again.
