Renjiro took Hayami to his home and introduced him to his family. His wife and children entertained Hayami and made him feel at home while Renjiro arranged for Hayami to stay in the Senju clan compounds.
After making arrangements, Renjiro took him to the T&I Department where Hayami was put to sleep using a Genjutsu and the authorities did a thorough checkup on him. They inspected his body for any possible seals. After confirming there were none, they had a Yamanaka ninja read his memories. Once again, he was cleared and they confirmed he wasn't a spy. After confirming, Ibiki let Renjiro take him back.
The procedure wasn't created especially for Hayami. All the 35 children Renjiro had sent before were subjected to the same. Of course, none of the kids remembered any of this.
The next afternoon, Fujin walked into Yakiniku. He heard, "Fujin, here."
Fujin turned his head in the direction of the voice to see Hoka. He joined him and said, "It's been a long time."
Fujin had gone to Hoka's residence the day before. Unfortunately, he wasn't at home. So he just dropped a message for him and left.
Hoka replied, "Yeah. It's been over a year since we last met up. Time flies so quickly. Seems like the Anbu life is very hectic."
Fujin nodded and said, "Yeah. Some missions need me to stay out for months."
He let out a sigh and added, "And for some reason, Lord Hokage seems to like giving me a lot of missions. You are lucky to not be in it."
Hoka nodded and replied, "Yeah, it gives me a lot of time to train."
Fujin chuckled and teased, "So, why aren't you a Jounin yet?"
Hoka immediately became dejected. He said in a depressed tone, "Lord Hokage is so strict when it comes to promoting. I can already fight against Jounins from other major villages and even in my clan. But he promoted me to just Special Jounin. Father said that I'll probably need another couple of years to be officially promoted to the Jounin rank."
He looked at Fujin and asked, "What about you? Do you remember the promise we made two and a half years ago? You only have six months left."
Fujin replied, "I got promoted to Anbu Captain a few months back. That rank is equivalent to Jounin. I'll be Jounin when I retire."
Hoka quickly caught on to the information. He asked, "You are planning to quit the Anbu?"
Fujin nodded and answered, "I don't get much time to train. But I still have some work to do in the Anbu. It should be completed in around 6 to 8 months."
Hoka replied, "Alright. Let's compete when you are done with your work then."
A grin formed on his face as he said, "I can't wait to fight against you again."
"Is fighting all you two can think about?"
Fujin and Hoka turned their heads to see Renjiro approaching them. Fujin chuckled and replied, "Well, we can only do what our Sensei taught us."
Hoka nodded, "Yup. Feel free to blame our Sensei."
Both laughed at Renjiro's expense. Renjiro sighed at their antics and joined the table. It had been just over 3 years since Fujin and Hoka were Genins under his tutelage. However, now Hoka was a Special Jounin while Fujin was an Anbu Captain.
In terms of strength, Hoka was at the Jounin level while Fujin was as strong as Renjiro. Though he lacked in terms of overall capabilities and experience, in terms of speed and lethality, he had already surpassed Renjiro. In a fight, Renjiro would need to be very careful against Fujin.
Renjiro was very proud of his students. However, he couldn't help but think, 'It's a shame that Mieko got caught in the Uchiha mess. She would have been at the Jounin level as well if she had been alive.'
A server delivered them meat as the three of them caught up and shared some of their experiences. Of course, no one spoke about any missions that had to be kept a secret. So Hoka and Renjiro were unaware of the stunts Fujin pulled in the Land of Wind and his fight against Roshi.
After having lunch and talking for a couple of hours, Renjiro asked Fujin, "So, how did you make it to the Land of Water so quickly?"
Fujin replied, "I signed a Summoning Contract. My summons can fly quite fast."
Hoka was surprised. He said, "Summons that can fly you? That's very rare. Congrats Fujin."
Renjiro added, "No, Summons that can fly four people and probably fly at twice the speeds of messenger birds. That's even more impressive."
Hoka was surprised, "That good? Wait!"
He squinted his eyes and stared at Fujin. Fujin realized his thoughts and chuckled. Hoka let out a sigh and cursed, "Bastard! It's already annoying to fight you when you keep running away! For the last two years, I kept working on strategies to combat your style of combat. But now you can fly? How the heck am I supposed to fight you if you fly and keep attacking from above?"
Fujin didn't reply and just grinned. Unknown to Hoka, his summons had great control over Wind chakra and were just as lethal as him if Vacuum jutsus weren't considered.
Hoka sighed and said, "No summons and no running and hiding during our fight. Wait, no clones either."
Fujin tilted his head and asked, "Are you gonna tell your enemy that?"
Hoka replied, "It's a spar, that's different."
Renjiro chuckled and said, "So much talk about sparring. Do you two want to spar against me?"
Both Fujin and Hoka looked at him. Hoka replied, "Sensei, I know that you could take three of us at the same time back when we were Genins. But do you think that you can take the two of us at the same time right now as well?"
Over the last few years, Hoka's Taijutsu improved a lot. It didn't have any flaws and he was confident in going up against Renjiro when it came to Taijutsu. With Fujin supporting him with Ninjutsu, he didn't think that Renjiro would have an easy time against them.
Renjiro shrugged and said, "It's not necessary to win in a spar."
Fujin said in an uncertain tone, "Sparring… I'm kinda against doing much of that now."
Fujin's words surprised Renjiro and Hoka.
Hoka asked, "Why so?"
Fujin replied, "The last time I sparred with my team, I had a hard time controlling myself. The missions in Anbu have honed my killing instincts to an extreme. It gets difficult to control myself when I see openings. And it is very dangerous considering that I use Wind jutsus primarily. One bad attack could end up killing a friend."
Fujin's words surprised Hoka. Unlike Fujin, Hoka went on missions that were tailored to his growth. The Hyuga clan had a proper system in place for anyone who worked hard to get stronger. So Hoka benefited from it. And unlike Fujin, his missions didn't involve as much killing.
Renjiro said, "Yeah, that happens when you spend a lot of time in Anbu. Even after leaving the Anbu, it stays for many years. That said, losing control over your actions is not good. It may seem advantageous in battle, but you'll end up making a lethal mistake at some point. You should find a sparring partner to learn and control those instincts."
Fujin nodded and said, "Yeah. I guess Lord Hokage feels the same. My missions over the last few months don't involve much fighting."
After his clash with Roshi, Hiruzen realized that Fujin's tactics and thoughts had developed to become extremely lethal. He realized that Fujin's actions in the Land of Wind wouldn't be a one-off event. So to tone down his aggression, Hiruzen had assigned him missions that dealt more with diplomacy and protection rather than elimination.
Though the mission to rescue Renjiro's squad had a chance of high-level combat, it too fell under diplomacy as Fujin had to avoid conflict to ensure the complete success of the mission. So as such, Fujin hadn't killed a lot after his mission to eliminate the base that Suna had created in the Land of Fire.
After talking for a bit, the group decided against sparring. Renjiro was concerned that an all-out spar between them would wreck an entire training ground. Though the village generally disregarded such destruction, he had a feeling that the scale might surpass what the village could ignore. As for Hoka, he wanted to keep his improvements a secret from Fujin. So he didn't push for a spar either.
Fujin changed the topic by asking, "How many kids did you rescue from the Land of Water?"
Renjiro replied, "Including Hayami, 36."
Fujin was surprised. He said, "That's quite a lot. Do any of them have Kekkei Genkai?"
Renjiro shook his head and replied, "They are too young. So it hasn't manifested in anyone. But some of them do have the bloodline. Hopefully, a few of them will unlock their Kekkei Genkai. Though even if they don't, it's fine. At some point in the future, one of their descendants will unlock it."
Fujin nodded. Establishing a new bloodline clan in the village was a long-term project. It would take a few decades to show results. And the frequent wars and deaths during the missions would be a huge obstacle towards that goal.
But Fujin wasn't very interested in the long-term aspect. He hoped that a few of the kids would unlock their Kekkei Genkai very soon. He was planning to start fusing his own elements soon to learn a Kekkei Genkai. Having a reference would be a huge help for him. He thought, 'I'll need to keep an eye on those kids.'
Seeing how much time had passed, Renjiro said, "I lost track of time. I have some work to do at home. It was good meeting both of you again."
Hoka nodded, "Yeah. We should do this more often in the future."
Fujin and Renjiro nodded. They said farewells and went their separate ways.
