Chapter 887 : Fujin's Annoyance!

“Good to see you as well, Grandpa.”

As soon as Hiruzen heard ‘Grandpa’, he instinctively raised his guard. Though Fujin was still very young, he was no longer an innocent academy student whose nature Hiruzen was ignorant about. On the contrary, Hiruzen had been burned way too many times right after Fujin called him ‘Grandpa’.

Before Fujin could request something absurd, Hiruzen struck first and said, “When you explained passionately about why you need to journey outside, I didn't expect to keep seeing you this often, Fujin. But, I can't really blame Tsunade. Why did you provoke Iwa? Onoki may have a high restraint, but if we push him too much, he'll retaliate stronger than any other great village.”

Fujin raised an eyebrow and replied, “Come on now, Grandpa. Don't believe the words of our enemies so easily. You know me very well. What would I gain by creating such a mess there?”

A deadpan expression appeared on Hiruzen's face as he thought, ‘Hundreds of elemental crystals and several jutsus… Who else in this world can display such greed openly? Besides, why does he even need more elemental crystals? They should have become more or less ineffective on him by now. Does he eat those stones? Or has he become addicted to hoarding them?’

Knowing Fujin, Hiruzen strongly suspected the latter. Before he could say anything, Fujin said, “Anyway, Lady Tsunade and Shikaku-san should handle that issue. Let's talk about the good news.”

Fujin smiled, looking at the destruction left behind by Hiruzen's deadly jutsu. Hiruzen sighed internally, ‘There he goes, changing the subject again. Oh well, knowing him, he must have covered his tracks perfectly. Without any solid proof, Onoki won't start a war. Though it'll worsen our relationship with Iwa, it wasn't particularly good in the first place.

Besides, there are a few advantage for us. His move would also force Iwa to devote significant resources to improving their morale and eliminating the rumors and doubts, indirectly slowing the rate at which they create more elite ninjas. And, Onoki will be forced to retaliate in the dark, which will become the perfect training ground for the new Anbu recruits.’

Hiruzen smiled and said, “My chakra control has almost returned to my previous levels after another healing session with Tsunade. Unfortunately, I can't return to my peak unless my soul is completely healed. Worse, my chakra reserves are still just a third of what they were. I doubt that'll increase anymore…”

Hiruzen sighed. The cost of slashing his soul was too heavy. Despite his skill, he no longer possessed the strength to safeguard Konoha like he did for nearly half a century.

Fujin said in a comforting tone, “It's fine. Just you being alive after using that forbidden technique is enough. Take it easy and let the next generation handle the responsibility of protecting the village.”

Hiruzen's heart was relieved to hear Fujin's words. However, before he could rest easy, he felt a sudden unease. His eyes moved towards Fujin, as Fujin asked, “When will you teach me how to merge Yang and Fire perfectly? I'll burn our enemies to the ground just like you did in the past!”

Hiruzen sighed internally, ‘I should have known! Why are you beating around the bush? Just ask what you truly want…’

He replied, “Your Yin and Yang manipulation is still not good enough. If I teach you now, you may have some limited success, but you'll need to retrain again later to truly master it. Since Fire isn't your main nature, you shouldn't waste time unnecessary. How has your Wind Release progressed?”

Fujin sighed, “It's still at a bottleneck. I haven't managed to improve it much since the war. Merging Yin and Yang into it is also extremely difficult… I had no success so far with it…”

Fujin's words weren't entirely true. When he absorbed Shukaku's chakra and made it a part of himself, his afffinity to Wind Manipulation had increased along with his Earth affinity. As such, he had an even easier time using and controlling Wind jutsus. In addition, the massive increase in his chakra reserves along with the availability of artificial chakra lake made using Wind Domain far easier.

However, his improvements stopped at that point. Fujin's attempts to create Vacuum jutsus inside the Wind Domain had failed so far. His experiments with merging Yin & Yang chakra with his Wind chakra also failed to yield much results, despite his success in merging Yin chakra with Lightning chakra.

The reason was rather simple. Fujin had no references for merging Wind chakra with Yin & Yang chakra. The only reason why he succeeded with Lightning was the detailed explanation and demonstration provided by Sakumo. But with Wind, he was all on his own.

Seeing Fujin's troubles, Hiruzen chuckled, “As I said, you shouldn't be so hasty. Your strength is already far beyond what mine was at your age. Yin & Yang manipulation is far more difficult to master than any nature manipulation. Not to mention, you have spent far less time on it than your remaining nature manipulation. Just give it 2 to 3 years and everything will work out perfectly.”

His eyes moved back to his black flames as he continued, “Once you do, the power of your Wind Domain will increase exponentially.”

Fujin sighed, “Alright, I'll keep training. Anyway, did you have a breakthrough with the Edo Tensei jutsu?”

Hiruzen thought, ‘Finally he asks this…’

He shook his head and answered, “Unfortunately no. Modifying it is as difficult as I imagined. It'll take a long time.”

Fujin sighed, “That's a shame…”
He paused for a bit, before continuing, “Let me help you with the research…”

However, Hiruzen immediately shook his head, “Fujin, you don't specialize in this area. It'll be pointless and you'll waste your time needlessly. Continue your training and improve yourself further. This is the best time for you to rapidly increase your strength. Let me handle this one last matter.”

Fujin frowned and thought, ‘It's been slightly over a year since I left. During this time, I was called back to the village four times, with this being the fifth time. Every single time, I asked for the Edo Tensei jutsu, but Hiruzen has adamantly refused me every single time.’

He immediately said, “It'll be fine, Grandpa. I need to expand my horizons and helping you research this might just give me the inspiration I require. If it becomes a deadend, I'll stop working on it and focus back on my training.”

Unfortunately, his words didn't move Hiruzen, who replied with full seriousness, “Fujin, forbidden techniques aren't like the usual Ninjutsu. Especially a jutsu like the Edo Tensei. Once you look into it, you'll be drawn towards it and it'll impact your all-round development. Trust me when I say it, this is for your own good.

Don't get too caught up in forbidden techniques. You're still very young and have plenty of room for growth. Make use of this time and become the strongest you can. Eventually, you will hit a bottleneck over every aspect of your strength and find it difficult to continue progressing. That will be the time for you to venture into forbidden techniques. So, please don't stay hung up on this matter.”

Hiruzen's words left no room for negotiation. Even though his expression didn't change, Fujin's mood darkened. He thought, ‘He didn't even bother giving me any excuse this time… He has made up his mind on this matter. I can't get the Edo Tensei jutsu from him… Getting it from Tsunade is out of the question too…’

Unlike Tsunade and Hiruzen, who thought in terms of decades, Fujin's eyes were on the near future. It wouldn't be too long before Akatsuki became active. Though the world had changed a lot due to his interference, Fujin needed to be prepared for any variations. He didn't want to go into such a huge event without possessing such a powerful and convenient jutsu under his belt.

Fujin decided, ‘There's no choice. I can no longer depend on him for this jutsu. I have to get it on my own!’

To change the subject, Hiruzen smiled and said, “Let's leave this matter behind. How was your journey this time? And, how long will you be staying here this time?”

Fujin answered, “It was the same as last time. This world is much bigger than I imagined. I won't be staying long. I'll likely leave in a day or two unless something comes up.”

Hiruzen said, “That's soon. If you don't have any destination in mind, you should go to the Land of Water.”

“Hmm, why so?” Fujin asked curiously.

Hiruzen answered, “A major development happened there a few weeks ago, far bigger than the incident in Iwagakure. The Fourth Mizukage died on the battlefield.”