Chapter 897 : An untapped talent pool!

[A/N: I'll edit the chapter tomorrow. Will try to do a double either tomorrow or the day after.]

The only trouble he faced was with Takeshi. Takeshi created Vacuum by moving the wind away from the center of the Wind Sphere rather easily. Unfortunately, that was where his luck ended.

The Wind Vacuum Technique could be divided into several stages. The first stage was to control the winds to remove all air from a spot, thus creating a vacuum. This wasn't particularly complicated and any moderately talented ninja who specialized in Wind Release could do it. Takeshi did it on the very first day of his training.

Unfortunately, this vacuum couldn't be sustained and would collapse immediately after the ninja stopped exerting direct control over the winds. The next step resolved this problem.

The second stage included shaping the vacuum to suit the jutsu and then encasing it with a very thin film of Wind chakra. In addition, the winds of the jutsu should flow in such a way that they don't damage the thin chakra film even once.

This stage also had several shortcomings, something Fujin experienced on the very first day when Hiruzen taught him this deadly technique. Despite being protected, the Vacuum core would collapse quickly after piercing through a target since it would absorb the matter that it pierced. Though the vacuum core strengthened the Wind jutsus considerably, they could only be considered as a slightly version of their respective wind jutsus.

The third stage was where the true terror of the Wind Vacuum Technique became visible. This stage included creating complicated vacuum cores, cores which would no longer be made of only vacuum. Chakra and even wind flowed through some parts of this core, much like veins in the human body. Instead of diluting the vacuum, these veins ensured that the vacuum was sustained for far longer as it pushed out whatever matter was absorbed into the vacuum core.

Only after completing this stage could a ninja be said to have learnt the Wind Vacuum Technique. Fujin, for a long time, was at this stage. Of course, Wind Vacuum Technique could improve further. Fujin made massive improvements by creating new and improved vacuum cores, increasing speed, unpredictability and penetrative power of bis jutsus. He improved drastically after learning to create a cluster of vacuum cores inside one another from Danzo. Regardless, simply learning the third stage was sufficient.

Fujin expected Takeshi to face troubles at the third stage. However, he was wrong. Forget the third stage, Takeshi couldn't complete the second stage despite receiving Fujin's guidance for 5 days! No matter how Fujin guided him, he simply failed to grasp it.

Even at the end of 5th day, over 95% of his attempts to create a decent Vacuum core ended in failure. The few that could barely be called a success ended in failure as well since he couldn't maintain winds around it and any attempts resulted in the winds tearing the thin chakra film.

In the end, Fujin thought, ‘I overestimated his talent at Wind Release… I managed to do this one the first day itself… No!’

Fujin realized, ‘It's not that his talent is bad. It's just that my talent at Wind Manipulation is simply too absurd. It'd be more appropriate to say I underestimated my talent…’

Back then, Fujin was engrossed in Hiruzen's training. So, he had failed to notice the shock Hiruzen felt at how quickly Fujin had grasped the difficult technique.

Fujin thought, ‘Even if I credit my talent in Space Time Ninjutsu to my transmigration, there's no way I can credit my talent in Wind Manipulation to myself too. After all, I was just a normal guy without any talents that could help me in this deadly world. My transmigration shouldn't have modified his talent in any way, other than the Space Time Ninjutsu. Still…

Even though I didn't receive any cheats or free power ups, I can't deny I was extremely lucky to transmigrate into such a talented kid. To think that he would have been nothing but just another nameless face in Konoha…’

Despite reading Naruto several times, he had never seen anyone named Fujin. Considering that Danzo didn't recruit the young Fujin, his guess was that the real Fujin either never became a ninja or became one of the many mediocre Genins.

The realization surprised Fujin a bit. He thought, ‘To think someone with such an immense talent would be completely overlooked and live an average life… The only difference between me and him are my memories of my past life and knowledge of some of the future events in this world.

To think that a single factor could result in such a different life trajectory. I used my knowledge to create a proper training trajectory for me, while using my experience of a lifetime to shamelessly get help from anyone who was willing to help me. Of course, the biggest factor behind my sharp rise was the amount of training I did…’

Fujin's training schedule was borderline insane. It had been over ten years since he transmigrated into the Naruto world. Yet, he was still completely focused on strengthening himself further. Fujin prioritized nothing over his strength.

This wasn't normal. While there were several others who trained extremely hard, very few could sustain such high intensity training for years, let alone decades. Most would stop or slow down after reaching their goals. A few would experience so much loss that they'd lose all motivation to maintain such a strict schedule.

To have motivation that sustained for so long was extremely rare, especially after the Warring States Period ended. The reason why Fujin could sustain it for so long was because of how long he desired such superpowers and adventure. For him, the training and adventuring were fun rather than a chore. The fact that he knew of the absurdly powerful threats yet to come also added to his motivation.

Fujin thought, ‘If I hadn't transmigrated into him, there's no way he would have trained even a tenth of what I did. So, there's little doubt why his talent wouldn't show. Nearly all the ninjas underestimate the result of continuous and proper training for over a decade. The few who understand either don't have the will to do so or are already entangled in too much work, like running a Great Village... There is only one who trains as much as me, if not more. And, he has trained for far longer than me.’

Needless to say, the ninja Fujin thought of was Guy. He went from a kid who was rejected by the Academy, to a monster who nearly killed the Ten Tails Jinchuriki Madara! Though the cost of opening the Gate of Death was too high, the strength Guy displayed was beyond phenomenal.

Fujin thought, ‘Though he failed to kill Madara, it isn't a fair comparison. If Madara hadn't had the powers of the Sage of Six Paths, he would have been killed. Even if Hashirama teamed up with him, the result would have been the same, assuming neither used techniques like Reverse Summoning jutsu to escape.’

Both Fujin and Guy's examples showed the results of continuous and consistent training. Fujin couldn't help but think, ‘If someone like him went so completely unnoticed, I wonder how many more such kids are in Konoha whose talents were never discovered. If Konoha could somehow tap into those hidden talents, the village's strength would explode!’

Even though Fujin didn't actively contribute to it, he was aware of the efforts Tsunade and Shikaku were undertaking to create a new elite force. Despite his relative disinterest in this matter, he subconsciously thought of it.

However, he could only shake his head, ‘Unfortunately, there's no way to know who has such hidden talent…’

Despite ranking at the top of his class, Fujin's real talent in Wind Release stayed hidden for a long time. Despite his interest in Fujin's peculiarities, even an experienced ninja like Hiruzen failed to realize it. It was only when he taught Fujin the Wind Vacuum Technique that Hiruzen realized Fujin's true potential. Ironically, Fujin was in the dark even longer than Hiruzen. It was only when he created the Wind Domain that Fujin got an idea of his talent. So, it was a hopeless prospect.

Takeshi didn't know what was going through Fujin's mind. He only saw Fujin shaking his head in disappointment and sighed internally, ‘Sensei is disappointed in me. It's been 5 days, but I still haven't learnt this!’

He asked, “Sensei, I still can't do it. Is there any other approach I can take to learn this?”

Unfortunately, Fujin shook his head and muttered, “Leave it. It's hopeless. At this rate, you'll never learn it.”

Fujin's words dejected the poor boy further. However, his ears perked when Fujin said, “We'll do the same thing as before. Don't resist!”