Chapter 52 : Up a Few Notches

After the mission ended, Renjiro continued the training of his students. 

One day, when the training was about to end, Renjiro observed his 3 students. He smiled seeing them, with a bit of pride. He thought, 'These 3 have turned out to be quite good. I'll be surprised if any of them aren't promoted to Jounin before they turn 16. I suppose they do deserve some praise from their sensei."

The training was completed soon and the genins were about to leave when Renjiro stopped them. He said, "Three months earlier, I accepted to be the Jounin sensei of your squad. Do you recall what I told you then?" 

Fujin, Hoka, and Mieko, all shake their heads. Hoka asked, "What did you say sensei?" 

Renjiro sighed and said, "You guys are on a probation period, remember?" 

Understanding that Renjiro just wanted to make it official, Fujin tilted his head and asked, "What probation period Sensei? Mieko, do you remember any?" 

Mieko understood him and tilted her head too, "Nope, don't remember. Any idea Hoka?" 

Hoka too tilted his head and said, "Nope. No idea what you're talking about Sensei." 

Renjiro's face goes completely dark, looking at the perfect poker face maintained by his 3 students. Seeing his reaction, the 3 Genins couldn't help but laugh out loud. Renjiro finally gives up on the antics of his students. He composed himself and said, "You guys have pas…" 

However, Hoka cuts him off and says, "We already know Sensei." And the 3 genins flicker away, leaving their Sensei completely dumbfounded. Renjiro smiled bitterly and muttered to himself, "I really need to have a word with the one who suggested I put the top squad of the year on probation." 

It had been 4 weeks since they had been officially made Genins. Fujin, Hoka, and Mieko were resting under a tree after the morning workout. 

Mieko started the conversation by saying, "The final round of the chunin exams will be tomorrow." Mieko nodded and said, "Yeah, two of my classmates will be participating in the fight tomorrow." Mieko continued, "Yeah, I wanna see Yori's fight. I wonder if Sensei would allow us to see the fights." Fujin chuckled and said, "Good luck asking Sensei for a holiday." On hearing that, Mieko looked at Fujin with an annoyed expression. Fujin ignored that and thought, 'That said, it won't be a bad thing to see how much Teru and Yori have progressed. They have been genin for a year longer than me.' 

After the break, Renjiro appeared and gathered his squad. On seeing him, Mieko quickly wanted to ask him permission to watch the next day's fights. However, Renjiro stopped her and said, "We'll be taking another mission. We will leave tomorrow at 9 am." 

Mieko quickly asked, "Sensei, can't we take the mission a couple of days later?" Renjiro squinted his eyes and asked, "Why?" She replied, "Sensei, we were wondering if we could watch the chunin exams that will be held tomorrow." Renjiro, with the same expression, asked the same thing again, "Why?" Mieko put up a diligent expression and answered seriously, "We want to observe the tactics, strategies, and jutsus that ninjas from our neighboring villages use. That way we will be more prepared when we have to fight them." 

Fujin chuckled internally at the answer. Renjiro didn't forbid any ideas they had. Just that, he required a solid reason to agree to them. That was why Mieko prepared such an answer. 

Renjiro dismissively waved his hands and said, "It's merely genins fighting. You won't learn much." He then looked at his squad and said, "Let's get back to training." Mieko slumped her shoulders in disappointment. Fujin thought, 'That's a bit surprising. I thought he would agree with that reasoning. Well whatever, it doesn't matter much.' 

The next day, Team Renjiro accepted the mission to accompany a merchant carven to the Land of Rivers. The mission was very uneventful with only one small bandit group trying to assault the carven. It took 9 days to reach the Land of Rivers and the return journey took another day. 

The squad returned to Konoha around midnight. After completing the formalities, Renjiro dismissed the squad. Fujin, on returning home, saw a bunch of newspapers lying outside his door. He picked them up and went inside. He made a couple of shadow clones to go through the papers, while he went for a bath. The clones went through the papers briefly and dispelled themselves. 

On receiving all the information, Fujin thought, 'I see, both Teru and Yori became chunin. A bit surprising, but I guess Konoha is still trying to increase the number of chunins and jounins. Well, I suppose my promotion too should happen in my first attempt then.' 

Not having much to do for the remaining day, Fujin decided to brush up on his Fuinjutsu. He made 3 clones, and all four together created all the seals that they knew. 

While revising his Fuinjutsu knowledge,  Fujin began reviewing his progress over the last few months, he analyzed, 'it's been 4 months since I graduated. The progress has honestly been phenomenal. I really underestimated the effect of having a dedicated Elite Jounin guiding you. Then again, I never expected that we'd be taught this well. My chakra reserves have almost doubled. The amount of pressure I can handle from my training seal is up to 18%. Despite not training, I can now sense up to a kilometer away. Taijutsu too has improved a lot due to constant sparring. And undoubtedly, my Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu have improved the most. I can now use Chakra flow on my sword with ease. I really want to get into an all-out fight to test my power. I wonder if I'll get any such chance soon.'

The next day, at 4:45 am, Fujin arrived at the training ground. Mieko and Hoka were already there. Seeing them, Fujin asked, "Yo, ready for another 3-4 weeks of hardcore training?"  Mieko's shoulders dropped and she replied, "I'd rather go on missions." Fujin and Hoka chuckled looking at her reactions. 4 months of training together and 2 long missions outside the village had improved the relationship between the three a lot. Their teamwork was also very good. Though it still needs to be tested against a proper ninja team.

At 5, Renjiro flickered in front of his team. Seeing his team is ready to begin their morning workout, he nodded internally. However, knowing what was to come, he couldn't help smirking a bit. Seeing that smirk instantly made his Genins very worried. Fujin thought, 'Okay, what now?' 

Renjiro started by saying, "In the last 4 months, I have drilled all the basic formations into you. You'll use these formations even when you become Genins." 

The team calmed down after hearing this. Fujin thought, 'Finally. No more boring training sessions on team formations. But why is he smirking? He won't become kind all of a sudden!'

Renjiro continued, "So, from now on, I'll be entirely focusing on increasing your capabilities. So the training will go up a few notches."

Hearing that all the 3 genins were stunned. Mieko freaked out, 'a few notches?' Fujin was also sweating a bit, 'Doesn't he already make us exert our 100%?' Hoka too wondered how intense a few notches would be.

[A/N : Thanks zero1995 for being my first P@treon]