Without wasting any time, Fujin flickered towards Hokage's building and entered his office. Surprisingly, Hiruzen wasn't in his office and Fujin instead saw Takao arranging some files. Takao greeted Fujin and asked, "It's been a while, Fujin. Are you here to see Lord Hokage?"
Fujin nodded and asked, "Yeah, where is he?"
Takao answered, "He went to the Anbu Headquarters for some work. He…"
Without waiting for him to be done speaking, Fujin nodded and said, "Alright, I'll find him there."
He immediately disappeared without waiting for Takao who continued his sentence "He will be back in a couple of hours…"
Unfortunately, he only spoke to the air. Takao cursed, 'Why do I even bother? He didn't even ask whether he could go or not and directly left!'
Fujin entered the Anbu Headquarters while thinking, 'Is he influencing those kids again? Well, whatever, that doesn't need much chakra.'
Finding Hiruzen wasn't difficult. As Fujin expected, he was drilling the Will of Fire into them. In the past month, most of Danzo's influence on them was already wiped out. Their belief in the Will of Fire even exceeded an average Konoha ninja's belief in it! By the time Hiruzen handed them over to him, Fujin had little doubt that those poor kids would believe in the Will of Fire fanatically!
A few Anbu noticed Fujin but didn't say anything as he regularly entered to meet with Eagle and was a former Anbu Captain. Hiruzen noticed him as well and suddenly had a bad feeling. He thought, 'Why does it feel like he is here to ask something from me again?'
Unknowingly, Hiruzen got a bit tense. He cursed Homura whose idea it was to arrange rewards for the top academy student in each year. It had caused him numerous headaches over the last few years. Thankfully, Hiruzen had stopped it. Unfortunately, it was already too late to do anything about Fujin for whom it had become normal.
Fujin waited for a couple of minutes for Hiruzen to be done with the kids he was talking to and flickered next to him. Hiruzen smiled and asked, "Good to see you, Fujin. Are you here to meet the kids as well?"
Fujin looked towards the kids standing close to Hiruzen and smiled. He answered, "I'll be seeing them for several years, Grandpa. It'll be better for them to enjoy your company right now. Anyway, I need your help."
Hiruzen complained internally, 'He didn't even pretend…'
He asked, "What's the matter?"
Fujin answered, "Well, it isn't anything bad, but it's a bit too complicated to explain here. Also, I don't want to distract you from meeting these kids. Can you send a Shadow Clone with me? Preferably with at least a third of your chakra."
Hiruzen looked at Fujin with a deadpan expression, but there was no change in Fujin's expression. Having already been helped by Hiruzen's clone several times, Fujin didn't even see a reason to say please. And having helped Fujin so many times, Hiruzen couldn't say no either especially if he didn't have a good reason. Helplessly, he created a Shadow Clone and sent it with Fujin.
Fujin and Hiruzen's clone reached the training ground. Surprise appeared on Hiruzen's Clone's face as he noticed the destruction. He thought, 'This doesn't look like the destruction he usually causes. I haven't checked on him for quite some time. Did that Wind technique he was working on improve so much? I should check up on him sometime later to monitor his progress.'
While Hiruzen's clone was observing, Fujin said, "Grandpa, I need your help in developing proper Fire and Earth combat systems."
Hiruzen's clone was a bit surprised. He asked, "You are working on improving Fire and Earth manipulation? What is the issue you are stuck on?'
Fujin answered, "I am not stuck on anything. I was thinking about developing these two natures in case Wind jutsus don't work against an enemy for some reason.
Currently. I have developed both of them to complement my Wind jutsus. Earth helps me in defense and gives me another direction to escape when I can't resist the attack while Fire is useful in making large-scale wind jutsus even more destructive.
However, if I use either of them independently, their power is very lacking. I wanted your help in developing these two natures to a level where I can use them independently in battle. I know that I won't be able to master them as much as my Wind manipulation, at least in the short term. But I would still like them to be at a much higher level so that I won't be in a terrible situation in case my Wind jutsus don't work."
Hiruzen's clone thought about Fujin's words for a few seconds and felt that was reasonable. He himself believed in training in this manner. When it came to Ninjutsu, he had mastered all 5 elements along with Yin and Yang release, a slew of Secret Techniques that were prized possessions of the proud clans in Konoha and an array of Forbidden jutsus. Fujin wanting to take a similar route was a pleasant surprise to him.
He said, "That's a good decision. While improving one nature is good, you need to have a diverse skill set so that enemies can't make a plan against you like what Iwa did. What ideas do you have for developing Fire and Earth? Tell me the jutsus you decided to learn and I'll tell you if you could do better."
Without any change in his expression, Fujin replied, "I didn't think of anything. I directly came to find you after deciding."
For a moment, Hiruzen's clone was left speechless! He didn't know what to say. Due to his jutsu mastery, everyone called Hiruzen 'The Professor'. However, considering his position, very few approached him to ask for guidance. The few who did would only approach him when they encountered an issue in their training. It was like how Fujin approached Hiruzen several times before this incident to deal with a particular issue.
This was the first time anyone approached Hiruzen to ask for his help without making any efforts themselves! To make it worse, Fujin said as if it was the most natural thing in the world! It was as if he didn't see anything wrong or inappropriate in it.
Hiruzen's clone bitterly wondered, 'What exactly did I do to deserve this in my old age? Not only do I have to look after the village and maintain peace between clans while having to deal with Danzo's mess, but I also have to teach anyone who asks me for help? What if others decide to follow Fujin's example in the future? How many clones will I need to use all the time? When will those ungrateful students of mine return and allow this old man to retire?'
Unfortunately for him, no one was interested in hearing about his troubles. He could only be grateful for the fact that Fujin did not spread this news around and didn't tempt others to do the same. Otherwise, his peaceful days would truly be over.
Hiruzen's clone sighed and said, "Fujin, I have already said that in order to develop properly and grow stronger in the future, you need to work on such things yourself. It's fine if you face a problem and want my help, but you should work on it first yourself. Asking for my help should be when you are left with no choice."
Fujin nodded obediently. Unfortunately, his words were anything but obedient as he replied, "I know Grandpa. I have thought this through properly. I have no interest in developing Fire or Earth natures any further. After having spent so many years training Wind Manipulation, I have a feeling that I might be able to advance it far further than anyone else.
And doing that will require a lot of time, perhaps even decades. In the future, I'll be busy with it and I don't think I'll have any time left to develop Fire and Earth natures. So, I decided to skip the long process of developing the combat systems around them and directly ask for your help.
This way, I can train those two natures to a high level in a short time and then focus entirely on Wind nature. I could have thought of which jutsus to learn from the library, but I figured that it'd be best to directly ask you. That way, I won't take any wrong turns."
