Chapter 397 : Temptation

Naruto looked up and asked, "What did you say?"

Fujin replied, "I said that you will have to work for hours daily for a few months to learn that. Why are you thinking that you will learn it in 15 minutes? And what are you so upset about? I needed more than a month to learn this jutsu perfectly. Others need around 3 months to learn it.

I will ask you again. Can you put in the hard work needed to learn this jutsu? If not, you can quit now and save yourself from a lot of trouble."

Naruto immediately responded, "I will train until I learn the jutsu."

Fujin nodded and said, "Good. For the next three hours, keep practicing seriously. Even if it seems like you aren't making any progress, in truth, you will be. So don't get restless."

Naruto nodded and started his practice again. He was very grateful that Fujin continued teaching him and didn't abandon him because he was slow at learning.

As for Fujin, he just observed while thinking, 'Though my words were a lie, it will give him some hope. If he knew that I learnt it within a few days, he would be very discouraged. That said, I am not sure if that's a bad thing considering his never-give-up attitude.

Still, I should give him some tips slowly. That chakra control needs to improve, even if just slightly. However, asking him to meditate would likely lead nowhere. I recall him saying to had never taken that seriously. Guess I'll have to make up some bullshit.

And maybe I should introduce him to the leaf-cutting exercise as well. Though training Wind Affinity isn't needed for a low-level jutsu like this one, it won't be any harm. And, it will give him something to do to spend time.'

Fujin sat down with his back against a tree while Naruto practised. Though he kept an eye on Naruto, his mind began thinking about the Frying Thunder God seal. He had a hundred Shadow Clones working on it, so he didn't need to practice it himself. Instead, he recalled the various theories in the scroll. Though practising the seal was important, studying and analyzing it was equally important in Fujin's eyes.

Unlike Fujin, whose day was going as planned, a certain someone had a strange start to his day. Hiruzen had just reached his office when he saw an Anbu waiting for him. He immediately informed him about Fujin's actions.

With a confused expression, Hiruzen sat on his chair and grabbed his crystal ball. He thought, 'First he leaves the Anbu and then he suddenly takes an interest in Naruto? What is Fujin up to?'

He began watching in the crystal ball. Soon, the scene of Naruto practicing Gale's jutsu and Fujin monitoring him appeared in the crystal ball. Hiruzen observed for a few minutes, but nothing else happened. That confused Hiruzen even more.

He wondered, 'Why is Fujin teaching Naruto rank E wind jutsus? Does he intend to guide him like he did for those 5 orphans? But why Naruto? And, he should know that Naruto has Nine Tails sealed inside him.'

Hiruzen analyzed and had a few guesses, but he had a feeling that none of his guesses were right. He decided, 'I'll need to keep an eye on him. Fujin seems to have a soft spot for orphans, so he won't harm Naruto. On the contrary, this might be good for him. But I need to monitor him. He rarely does things that are completely selfless. Besides…'

A smile formed on Hiruzen's face as he realized, 'I doubt Danzo would want someone to gain influence on Naruto. Fujin's current actions might force him out. It will be interesting to see a confrontation between these two. Regardless, if he crosses any lines, I will get a reasonable excuse to take away the kids he recruited from the Land of Water.

Though it would result in him pulling the Root out of the Land of Water, it won't be a loss. Both Rebels and the Mizukage factions have realized that their next generation is being kidnapped and have started taking action. Getting any more kids out of that country will be very difficult.

However, this will spoil my idea of having Danzo rebuild Root and handing it over to Fujin or Kakashi.'

Hiruzen thought for a bit before letting out a sigh. He decided, 'Leave it. Becoming the Shinobi of Darkness isn't easy. And there is always the possibility of losing yourself to the darkness like Danzo has. I have a feeling that the next generation might not need the darkness that we needed. If they do, they can always recreate it.'

Hiruzen grabbed a few files and thought, 'I was planning to do this after a few days, but now I want to talk with Fujin to see if I can understand his intentions behind training Naruto.'

He immediately began working on the paperwork needed to promote Fujin to the Elite Jounin rank officially.

Naruto trained for 3 hours straight. He hadn't made any progress but still had the same enthusiasm as earlier. He finally started getting tired. However, Fujin couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of envy after observing Naruto properly.

He observed, 'He isn't tired because his chakra is getting depleted. Instead, he is tired due to thrusting his palm forward again and again for 3 hours straight. Sigh, what insane chakra reserves…'

Fujin couldn't help but think, 'I began training at the age of 5. After joining the Academy at 6, I created proper training plans and followed them rigorously without taking a day off for years. It still took me more than 5 years to go from the level of an Academy student to Jounin. And, it took me two more years from there to reach the level of Elite Jounin and another two years to reach the rank S.

But Naruto… If I were to teach him seriously, I could easily raise him from his current weak self to a Jounin even before he graduates. Heck, he might even reach the Elite Jounin level by then.

I will just need to teach him the Shadow Clone jutsu, then improve his Chakra control to an acceptable level and let the magic happen. He can easily master the Wind element within a few weeks and learn most of my Wind jutsus thanks to the broken combination of Shadow Clone jutsu and insane chakra reserves.

Once he learns to supercharge jutsus, he will have a stronger offense than most Jounins. And with his chakra, he can keep spamming them until the other side runs dry and escapes or dies.

Going to rank S from there won't be very difficult either. Perhaps in just one more year, he could reach that.'

Fujin couldn't help but sigh at the unfairness. At the same time, he had a temptation in his heart. A temptation to teach Naruto seriously and make him ridiculously overpowered.

However, after a few minutes, Fujin shook his head and decided, 'Unfortunately, doing that has the potential to completely ruin any knowledge of the future I have.

Would Hiruzen put Naruto on the same squad as Sasuke and under Kakashi if he is already close to the Elite Jounin level?

If he does, how would it impact their clash with Zabuza?

How will his relationship with Sasuke be if he is so much stronger than him even before graduating?

And, if Naruto reaches close to rank S by the time the Chunin exams take place, his encounter with Orochimaru will turn out to be very different. With his unpredictability, he might even prevent Orochimaru from putting the cursed seal on Sasuke.

And, it is possible that Akatsuki might take him very seriously and attack preemptively. After all, unlike the rest of the ninjas, rank S would merely be a starting point for Naruto. As he continuously keeps growing stronger, even Obito and Nagato, despite their arrogance, might not want to risk seeing Naruto getting stronger.

Irrespective of what happens, my advantage will be completely ruined. Though I would still be a rank S ninja and my life won't be threatened easily, I'll lose out on a lot of critical opportunities.'

Fujin could only shake his head and give up on that idea. Though he pitied Naruto's situation and could fully explore his potential, Fujin's gains just didn't match up with the horrendous losses he would incur due to the opportunities he would have given up.

Naruto was oblivious to the opportunity he just lost. Of course, even without Fujin's help, his future would still be very bright. Though Fujin decided against helping Naruto too much, he didn't intend to block his path to rank S and even planned on assisting him a bit and making his path slightly easier.

As he trained, Naruto's breathing became rougher. He wanted to stop but thought, 'I have to keep going. I have to show that I am serious about learning this jutsu.'

He weaved hand signs, thrusted his palm forward and once again shouted, "Gale jutsu."

[A/N: It's so damn tempting to take Naruto as a proper student and train him to make him insanely overpowered, especially considering how easy that is. Unfortunately, that will go against Fujin's plans and making him do something that will be detrimental to his plans would go against his character. That will make him inconsistent. So, I can't do much here. I'll definitely explore this path in my next fanfic though.]

[A/N: Next Chapter - Building a bond]

[A/N : Bonus chapter on next Sunday if the fic gets 1000 Power Stones. Bonus chapter on next week's Saturday if the fic gets 2000 Power Stones.]

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