Chapter 216 : Bounty! (Patreon)

Fujin decided, 'I need to reduce the hand signs required for this jutsu. No, I want to eliminate them. Only then this jutsu will show its true worth. In addition, I also need to learn how to apply this jutsu to just one body part. It will save chakra and increase the versatility of this jutsu.'

Fujin was about to begin practicing when his doorbell rang. He answered the door. It was a messenger asking him to visit Hiruzen.

Fujin flickered to Hiruzen's office. Since the door was open, he just walked in. Hiruzen noticed Fujin and handed him a book and said, "Check this."

Hiruzen had already opened the page for Fujin to see. Fujin was surprised to see what he did. However, soon a smile appeared on his face as he thought, '20 million already? Not bad. Not bad at all. Though I guess that this is more due to Hiruzen's rumors rather than my achievements.'

Hiruzen looked at Fujin's smile and coughed to get Fujin's attention. He said, "That isn't a good thing Fujin."

Fujin had a wry smile on his face on hearing his remark. He thought, 'Shit, that fight with Darui makes me want to fight more such fights. I need to meditate and eliminate that thought. They may feel fun but are super harmful to my life!'

Fujin said, "Yes. But I don't need to be worried inside our village, right?"

Hiruzen nodded, "There hasn't ever been any incident of anyone claiming bounties inside Konoha. You don't need to worry about that."

Fujin nodded and said, "Alright, I won't be leaving Konoha until you think I am ready."
Hiruzen replied, "Good. You can return to your training."
Fujin thanked him politely and left.

Since he didn't need to worry about it for the time being, Fujin ignored the bounty for now. If his speculations were right, Hiruzen would keep him among the Anbu for years. During this time, his identity will stay hidden. By the time he quit the Anbu, he was confident that his strength would be in a different league!

When Fujin reached his house, he saw that there were 5 children his age waiting outside his house. He wondered, 'Did these guys learn tree walking?'

The group of 5 orphans had arrived outside Fujin's house a few minutes earlier. They saw the tag that said that Fujin wasn't at home.

Tatsuya sighed, "It looks like he is on a mission. Our exams are less than 2 months away."
The others nodded. Daisuke said, "I hope he returns soon."

At that instant, Fujin snuck up behind them and asked, "Who should return soon?"
They didn't expect someone to appear behind them suddenly and were startled. They quickly moved away from Fujin. Fujin chuckled at seeing their reactions.

He asked, "Are you guys done with the Tree walking exercise?"
Everyone nodded. Daisuke said, "We all managed to learn it last Wednesday."

Fujin nodded and said, "Good, how much time is left for the exams?"
Daisuke said, "We have just around 7 weeks."

Fujin thought for a bit and concluded, 'Just 7 weeks. That's not enough time to teach them what I had planned for them. And once they graduate, I doubt they would have much of a reason to come to me…'

Seeing Fujin in a thought made them nervous. After all, their future was on line. Tatsuya asked, "Fujin, why are you thinking so hard?"

Fujin looked at them and decided, 'Leave it, it's not my job to guide them thoroughly. It depends on their fate and will. I'll just point them in the right direction.'

Fujin said, "I had initially planned to teach you guys a few more things. Unfortunately, I don't think you have enough time. So I'll just tell you what my plans were. If you have enough time, you can try to work on it. Otherwise, you can just focus on the three ninjutsus needed to pass the academy."

Fujin's initial words increased their worries a lot. They took a few seconds to process what Fujin had said. Suddenly their eyes widened. Bunjiro asked, "Do you mean that we can pass the exam?"

Fujin nodded and said, "As I said, these exercises have improved your control a lot. So learning those 3 basic jutsus should be very easy now. Just train hard and you will get it down rather quickly."

They became excited on hearing Fujin's words.
However, Bunjiro was intrigued by Fujin's words. He asked, "What were your plans for us, Fujin?"
Fujin said, "I was planning to have you improve your chakra control more. The next step would be to walk on water. Water isn't hard and stable like a tree. So it will be much more diff..."

Fujin was cut off as Ryoma exclaimed in excitement, "We can walk on water??"

Fujin nodded and continued, "But as I said, it is difficult to learn. Another plan I had was to make you learn at least one elemental jutsu. If you guys master the 3 jutsus quickly and have time, buy a chakra paper from any weapon store.

It will tell you what your chakra nature is. Then go to the Section E of the library and pick up a simple jutsu of that nature and learn it. It will improve your rank in the exam considerably."

The orphans quickly thanked Fujin for his guidance. They asked a few queries which were resolved by Fujin before leaving.

Fujin saw their backs as they left. His smile faded away as he thought, 'Not everyone in this group is serious about training. Otherwise, they would have been done with these basic exercises a long time ago. But, the others in the group waited for that person probably due to their friendship and hence stalled their progress as well.'

Fujin couldn't help but analyze their situation, 'On one hand, is their long friendship which they probably relish a lot. On the other hand, if they cut off the slackers, they can progress much faster and increase their strength. That's a rough dilemma to face.'

Fujin turned around and headed into his home. Though many would struggle to decide between those two, Fujin had no doubts, 'In my previous world, success could be compared with the amount of money you had or earned. It didn't matter if one earned a bit less and enjoyed more time with family and friends and enjoyed your life. I would have chosen family and friends over money any day.

But in this world, power reigns supreme. Sacrificing power to stay with friends who hold you back is foolish. After all, that little bit of power could be the difference between life and death.

Of course, there is no need to terminate all friendships. They just have to train with the ones who train at the same pace and intensity as themselves or train solo. They can still remain friends but have to keep training out of their friendship.

Though I guess I too share a bit of the blame as I asked those 5 to come to me together instead of individually as I didn't want to spend a lot of time on them. If I had told them to come whenever they reach the assigned goals, perhaps the result would have been different.

Still, this is a good thing to know. One slacker can pull the whole group down. When I create an organization, such people will have to either be kept out or kept away from those who want to work harder and get stronger.

And I shouldn't put some stupid restrictions like coming to me at the same time just for my convenience. Instead, making it a competition between them will give me much better results. I can even add some rewards similar to how Hiruzen rewarded me. That way everyone would work hard for the reward and also due to peer pressure.'

Fujin ended his train of thought and continued his training.


Two weeks later -

Fujin was breathing heavily. He had 4 shadow clones around him. A smile could be seen on his face. He thought, 'Finally! I have reduced the number of hand seals to perform Iron Skin jutsu to just 1. And I can harden any part of my body I want to.'

He took a deep breath and dispelled his clones. He sat against a tree as he received their memories and experience. He analyzed, 'As I kept practising this jutsu, the amount of chakra needed to sustain it dropped a lot. So I could use shadow clones to speed up my training. Otherwise, I might have needed around a month and a half to master this jutsu. Anyways, now that I have this jutsu down properly, it's time to try that!'

Fujin sat in a meditative pose. He grabbed a soldier pill and ate it. He meditated until his chakra reserves were back to full once again. His eyes opened. Determination and excitement could be seen in it along with a hint of fear.

He stood up and weaved hand signs.
Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram
He slammed his hands on the ground!