Senju Renjiro's eyes twitched. Genki was horrified! Inoichi, Tsume, Illumi, Anbu guards, Jounin senseis, and the chunin instructors were dumbfounded. 'Any rewards? Since when did Lord Hokage begin giving rewards?'
The genins from Kiri began wondering, 'Genins from Konoha get rewards for such little things?' Kiri genins looked at Hiruzen with longing in their eyes. Their own Kage hunted them, while the Kage of Konoha rewarded their own genins. They thought, 'The difference between the two Kage is like the difference between Heaven and Hell!'
While the other genins wondered, 'There's a reward for breaking records?' Mieko and Hoka too stared at Fujin. Mieko frowned, 'I didn't hear Itachi getting any rewards. Hmph, I'm an Uchiha, I don't need any rewards.'
Hiruzen too was dumbfounded. His expression didn't change, but he was left speechless for a minute. Genki yelled in his mind, 'Even Lord Hokage is speechless!'
Hiruzen began remembering the scene when Fujin asked him for chakra metal swords. His eyebrows twitched, 'Last time he asked for chakra metal swords. What does he want this time? A house made of chakra metal?'
Hiruzen didn't know how close he was to guessing the truth. If he did, who knows how he would have reacted!
He was about to say no when he saw the frown on Mieko, who was standing right next to Fujin. He thought, 'Does she also expect a gift? The relationship between the village and Uchiha has been deteriorating day by day. I could use this opportunity to reward her and mend the ties a bit. If it results in the ties improving, then it'll be very good for Konoha.'
As Fujin expected, Hiruzen decided to reward them. He was about to reply in the affirmative when he felt a chill running down his spine! Hiruzen was a veteran of all 3 ninja wars! He had fought a lot on the frontlines and spread terror among his enemies. However, this was a feeling he only felt when he was about to step into a trap!
His eyes went back to the genin standing next to Mieko with an innocent smile and an expectant look on his face. He said, "Yes. Your team will be rewarded for breaking this record." He smiled kindly and said, "You guys will receive your rewards on the day of the tournament in front of everyone."
This left everyone dumbfounded once again. Fujin too was left speechless, 'Wtf? He will reward us? Meaning that we can't ask for any particular reward? That's bullshit!!'
Fujin maintained his smiling face and bowed, "Thank You, Lord Hokage." However, his thoughts were the opposite, 'Sigh, I underestimated him. Old fox didn't give me any opportunity to ask for any particular reward. This way he gets to improve his image while giving us something that won't cost him.'
He looked back up at Hiruzen and thought, 'Monkey summon doesn't suit him! He should switch to the fox!'
The chunins and jounins were completely lost at what was happening. Genki was shocked again, 'He agreed to reward them?' Renjiro and the rest wondered, 'What is happening here exactly?' Itachi, who was one of those four Anbu, thought, 'I didn't get any reward last year.' But on thinking more he realized, 'Is Lord Hokage rewarding so that he could reward Uchiha Mieko and thaw the relations between the village and the Uchiha clan?'
While everyone was confused, Hiruzen looked at Inoichi. He noticed and said, "Since there are no more doubts, you are dismissed. Use this month to prepare properly for your fights."
The Jounin sensei began taking over the genins. Renjiro approached his students and said, "Follow me." Fujin, Hoka, and Mieko followed him.
The group went to their usual training ground. On reaching there, Renjiro looked at Fujin and asked, "So, what was that?" Fujin asked back, "That?"
Renjiro squinted his eyes and said, "The reward." Fujin tilted his head and replied, "Well, we were rewarded for ranking 1st in the academy. I assumed that the same would apply even this time."
Lines immediately appeared on Renjiro's head. He thought, 'I need to educate this brat.'
He ignored it for now and said, "Congrats on making it to the 3rd round. Though it shouldn't be a surprise I suppose. We will now decide how to train for the next month."
He looked at Mieko and Hoka and said, "I had a chat with your parents. They said that they want to train you themselves for the next month. They will be taking the entire month off to train you two."
Mieko and Hoka immediately got excited.
Renjiro smiled on seeing their reactions. He said, "Train hard you two. I would love to see my students as both finalists. You can leave."
They both thanked him. Before leaving, Mieko looked at Fujin and said, "Win your 2 matches and fight me. This time I will defeat you." Fujin grinned and said, "Don't worry. I'll win the whole tournament." She was annoyed at Fujin's confidence, but she grinned in response. Both Hoka and Mieko left.
Renjiro looked at Fujin and asked, "So, any plans for this month." Fujin shook his head. Renjiro smiled and asked, "Prepared for a month of deadly training." Fujin grinned and replied, "Of course."
Renjiro asked, "Before we begin, do you have anything you want to try or any doubts?"
Fujin thought for a bit and said, "I don't have any new ideas to try. I do have a question though. Are you aware of the training rooms on the 2nd floor of the Tower inside the Forest of Death?"
Renjiro thought for a bit and replied, "I have never used them. But I did hear about them. What about them?"
Fujin answered, "They have a Wind Training room, Earth Training room, and training room for other natures too. I inspected those rooms and noticed that each room has a crystal, which has dense energy belonging to that nature. Can you tell me what those crystals are?"
Renjiro was surprised at that question. He answered, "Those are Elemental Crystals. Known as Fire Crystal, Wind Crystal, and so on. They provide some help to increase our affinity to that nature. It's helpful if you meditate in such rooms. Unfortunately, they are very rare and costly. So it isn't that useful."
Fujin thought, 'Just increase the affinity? No, I definitely felt a minute increase in my chakra level. So why didn't he feel it? It's either that he isn't telling me the whole thing, or his rate of refining chakra was too slow and he didn't feel anything. After all, it was only when the rate of using its energy increased many folds, that I could feel it!'
Fujin asked, "How rare and how costly are they?"
Renjiro chuckled and replied, "Only the Hokage and major clans can buy them. That's how rare they are. As for price, every piece of crystal costs millions of Ryo!"
Fujin was shocked, "Millions?" Renjiro laughed lightly at his student's reaction. However, he soon heard him sighing and muttering. "I was planning to ask Lord Hokage for a few thousand Wind crystals as the reward."
Renjiro was flabbergasted on hearing that, 'A FEW THOUSAND?' He looked at Fujin and asked, "Do you think they grow on trees?"
Fujin looked back and purposefully gave a look, as if asking, 'They don't?' Renjiro's face was full of black lines again!
