36 Chapter 36 : Senju Renjiro

Renjiro said, "I am Senju Renjiro. I'll be your jounin sensei. Let's start by getting to know each other. So just tell me something about yourself." 

Mieko asked, "What should we tell?" On the other hand, Fujin remembered the 'Tell me about yourself' question that used to be asked in interviews in his previous life. Renjiro replied, "Tell me about your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies and similar stuff."

Fujin then replied, "I am Suzuki Fujin. I like swords and cool jutsus. My hobby is to train and read shinobi history and wars. I dislike the carnage that wars cause. And my Dream is to become a strong ninja in the future so that I could bring peace to the world." 

Renjiro stared at Fujin and was very impressed with his 'dream'. Of course, if he knew Fujin's real thoughts, he might have vomited blood. After looking at an impressed Renjiro, Fujin thought, 'Yup, that's exactly what Konoha higher ups would like to hear. I couldn't care less about world peace, but saying that is what will get me in the good books of these guys and could provide me with the opportunity to learn Flying Thunder God jutsu, and also make Hiruzen protect me in case Danzo tries to recruit me. Either way, it's not like I can do anything about world peace right now. So why not just say it, hehe.' 

Renjiro then looked at Mieko. She said, "I am Uchiha Mieko. I like cats. I dislike anyone treating me like a small child. My hobby is practicing Ninjutsu and playing with cats. And my dream is to be the strongest Uchiha ever!" 

Fujin looked at her and chuckled internally thinking, 'Well you've got 2 years to surpass Madara. RIP' 

Renjiro nodded and looked towards Hoka. He said, "I am Hyuga Hoka. I like Taijutsu. I dislike studying. My hobby is to spar with others and my dream is to be the strongest Taijutsu user." 

Renjiro nodded and said, "Well congratulations on graduating early. But that doesn't mean that you are Konoha shinobi. You guys will be on probation for 3 months. And after that I'll decide whether you're ready to be a ninja or not." 

This announcement had mixed reactions from the 3 genins. Fujin wondered, 'Eh! No test?' After thinking for a bit, he realized 'Ah, they are probably still recovering. That's why there's a probation period instead of a test to check whether we are ready or not.' However, the other 2 kids didn't take the announcement lightly. Mieko impatiently asked, "But why? Didn't we pass the graduation exam?" Hoka took her point further and said, "Yeah, I even defeated everyone in the Taijutsu tournament!" 

Renjiro replied, "Graduation exam is the bare minimum you require to be a ninja. Your attitude, temperament, courage and values matter more. And I'll be the one to judge that." 

Mieko and Hoka were still unsatisfied and wanted to complain more, but Renjiro didn't give them a chance and announced, "We'll meet tomorrow in training ground 17 at 6 am. I'll check your skills tomorrow. Be on time, I hate tardiness." After saying that, he flickered away. When he left, Fujin thought, 'He didn't say a single thing about himself other than his name…. Heck, I think even Kakashi talked more with his team.' 

After he left, Mieko huffed and started to leave without saying anything. Hoka, on the other hand, said goodbye to Fujin and was planning to leave too. Fujin sighed and said, "Oye, wait a minute." This got both their attention. Hoka looked at him without saying anything, whereas Mieko annoyingly asked, "What?" 

Fujin replied, "Tomorrow we'll most probably have to fight against sensei as a team. So we need to understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. And we also need to plan how to fight together." Hoka agreed with that and nodded. However Mieko replied smugly, "You two don't need to worry about it. I'll beat him by myself tomorrow." 

Fujin gave her a deadpanned look, which irritated her and she asked, "What? You don't think that I can beat him?" 

Fujin resisted his urge to facepalm and replied, "Do tell how you plan on defeating a Jounin by yourself." She smirked and replied, "I'll catch him off guard and use Fire Dragon jutsu on him." Fujin said, "He is from the Senju clan, who specializes in Earth and Water Release jutsus. Assuming that you somehow catch him off guard, he'll still be able to defend." This reply caught her by surprise. She thought a bit and then smirked again and replied, "I know Sharingan Genjutsu. As soon as he looks in my eyes, I'll put him under a Genjutsu." 

Fujin mentally scoffed, 'As if he will fall for something so basic. But I'm tired of dealing with her!' He said, "Alright, we'll call that plan A and we will start with it. Now let's discuss plan B." 

Mieko replied, "Why do we need a plan B?" Fujin replied, "Well he knows that you have the sharingan. So what if he never looks into your eyes because he knows that your eyes are so 'awesome'? It'll be stupid if we just stand there doing nothing right? Worse, he may think that you are just a little kid…" 

This finally got her attention. Seeing that Fujin was relieved and thought, 'Finally! So I have to either praise her or say someone will think that she's a little brat or both to get her onboard.' 

She then asked, "So what should we do if plan A fails?" Fujin replied, "First, let's talk about what each one of us can do. I'll start. I'm a sensor and can sense in a 500 metres radius around me. I'm good at Taijutsu and with swords. And I know Wind release jutsus, the ones you saw in the exam. I can also perform Shadow clone and Body Flicker jutsu. What about you guys?" 

Mieko then replied, "I am good at Taijutsu too and can use the Uchiha Taijutsu style. My sharingan allows me to see chakra and use Genjutsu. I am very good with shurikens. Other than the basic jutsus, I can perform a few Fire release jutsus. You saw them in the exam. And I can do body flicker too. In fact, I was taught it by the very best!" Fujin was surprised at that information and thought, 'Did Shisui teach her this jutsu?' 

Hoka then replied, "I am a master at the Gentle Fist style. I can close enemy's chakra points and my eyes can see upto 800 metres away. Apart from it, I know Fish Spit jutsu and Rock Shield jutsu." Fujin nodded, and advised, "If u can, then learn Body Flicker jutsu. If all 3 of us can use it, then it'll be very helpful and we could use a lot of tactics." 

Hoka groaned a bit and said, "But I don't wanna learn more Ninjutsu." Fujin replied, "Well it's just a movement jutsu. You can move at incredibly fast speed. It'll help make your Taijutsu way more lethal. Just imagine your normal jab, then imagine you appearing out of nowhere and performing that jab on the enemy."

As Fujin expected, that got Hoka interested and he agreed to learn it. Fujin then talked a bit about tactics that they could use. He said, "We need to decide who'll fight sensei up-close and who'll perform support attacks from a distance. I…." However Hoka cut him off and said, "I want to fight up-close." Fujin was about to nod when Mieko said, "No I want to fight up-close." Hoka rebuked her and then they started arguing. Fujin sighed thinking, 'Kids!'  

He then stopped them both and said, "Among all of us, Hoka was ranked 1 in the Taijutsu tournament. So he'll engage in hand-to-hand combat with sensei." Mieko was about to talk, but Fujin continued, "But he can't handle sensei all by himself. So you and I will assist him from time to time. Also both of us have mid ranged jutsus, so it'll be a waste if we can't use them." Hoka, wanting to engage in hand-to-hand combat quickly supported Fujin and Mieko had to begrudgingly agree. 

Fujin thought, 'I planned on discussing a lot more, like the Fire-Wind combination, and even wanted to ask Hoka to learn more advanced Water release jutsus as they work well with Wind release as well. Sadly, I was too impatient. It'll take a lot of time before they are ready to listen to those tactics. Kinda makes me wish that Renjiro beats both of them up tomorrow to make them a little less stuck up. But I'm afraid that if he does that, then he'll beat me up too! And without using Earth Military Movement jutsu and Wind Propelling jutsu, it'll be hard to dodge for long. Sigh, I wonder when I can use these jutsus publicly. It's very uncomfortable to fake hand signs, limit their power and not use half of the jutsus I know. Sadly it's necessary. I hope I reach the jounin level soon, as after that, there won't be much worries about Danzo trying to recruit me. It'll be too late to attempt to brainwash me at that stage.'

Fujin had also planned to ask them to grab a bite together at Ichiraku. However he had enough for today, soon they said goodbyes and left. 

Fujin went over to the library. Now that he had become a Genin, he was allowed to access the section C of the library. However, that's not what he was here for. Becoming a ninja, allowed him to see a certain book. 

He went to the librarian and showed his card and asked, "Can I see the Bingo book?" She was surprised by a 10 year old kid asking her that question. However since he was a ninja, she nodded and asked, "Would you like to see the smaller one or the bigger one?" Now it was Fujin's turn to be surprised. He asked, "What's the difference?" She replied, "Well the smaller one only has names, bounty, affiliation and some basic information, whereas the bigger one has more in-depth information." Hearing that, Fujin asked her to show the bigger one. She nodded and brought it to Fujin. 

When Fujin saw the book, he was shocked! His first thought was, 'It's freaking huge!' He opened to see it. Apparently, every page covered the data of only one ninja. And the book had 2,197 pages! After analysing, Fujin thought, 'Well it makes sense, considering that there are over 100k ninjas in this world.'

He then mentally thanked the ones who made such a good index. Everything was arranged properly according to the village and alphabetically as per their names. There were also lists that arranged the ninjas as per their rank in their village and in the descending order of their bounties. 

After searching for a couple of minutes, he found the name he was looking for - Senju Renjiro. He began turning the page, but while doing that, a thought occurred to him, 'It's funny that I thought my biggest advantage in this world would be information. But considering how vast this world is, I don't think I have the information on even 1% of the ninjas. Heck, apart from Tsunade, I didn't even know any living Senju. Anyways, this data is very detailed. I am surprised that we can read it for free, but it makes sense I suppose. This data is compiled by the ones who make the Bingo book, and since it's already out in the open, why not just let all your ninjas read it for free.' 

He opened the page and began reading, and he was very surprised by what he read. His bounty was 45 million Ryo! It was even higher than Asuma's during Shippuden and was put on him by Kirigakure. He thought, 'Not bad at all. I guess Hiruzen did appoint someone very competent as my sensei.' He read further. 

The information that Fujin obtained was, 'Senju Renjiro, Rank A, 39 years old. He became Genin at 8, Chuunin at 10, Jounin at 16 and Elite Jounin at 28. He specializes in Water and Earth release Ninjutsu, but can use jutsu of other elements too. He's an excellent swordsman who was trained in the way of swords by a samurai. He fought in both the 2nd and 3rd Great Ninja Wars. In the 3rd war, he had served as Orochimaru's deputy on the Kiri front. Later on, when Orochimaru had to join a different battlefield, he became Konoha's commander on the Kiri front. Due to his skill with the sword, his proficiency in Water release jutsus and his summon, a Sloth, he was very effective against Kiri ninjas. He killed 13 Kiri Jounins and over 50 Kiri chuunins over the course of the war. His biggest accomplishment was killing one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist in that war. Though his army was defeated by a surprise offensive launched by Kiri, he managed to retreat with the majority of his army and kept Kiri at bay until Konoha's Yellow Flash reinforced him and pushed Kiri back to the seas.'

After reading that, Fujin thought 'Damn fuck! He's strong. Not Sannin level, but very close. Anyways, it says that he was trained by a Samurai, so I guess he's guide Hiruzen arranged for me. I do wonder what that summon is though. It's the first time I'm hearing of a Sloth. Ain't that a deadly sin? But that sounds a bit too overpowered and not something from this world. Well whatever, I'll look into it later.' 

He then looked into the data of the ninja he knew from Naruto. He sighed in relief, confirming that it was very similar to what he knew. He also got a better understanding of the Shinobi world. He thought, 'Konoha is way stronger than what was shown in Naruto. Fathers of Shikaku, Inoichi and Shibi are still alive and leading their clans. Each of them is an Elite Jounin and are very close to rank S. Though I guess that their strengths will decrease over time due to their age. In all, Konoha has just 3 rank S ninjas now. But Jiraiya is barely in the village, and Tsunade can barely even fight. However, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, the Bingo book has no mention of Danzo. Also, it's quite possible that Fugaku is hiding his Mangekyou. Same with Shisui. I'm not sure how many gates Guy can open, but he might be able to forcibly rise to compete with rank S ninja if needed. Also, it's quite surprising to see Koharu and Homura are rank A ninjas. I don't recall them ever fighting in Naruto. In all there are 22 Elite Jounins from Konoha mentioned in the Bingo book. And it's quite possible that there are a few more who haven't been mentioned here, like Danzo and others from Root. There are also a few more rank A ninjas who haven't yet become an Elite Jounin like Kakashi and Guy.'

He then sighed, 'I didn't think there would be so many Elite Jounins in Konoha. And despite this Hiruzen chose to sacrifice Hizashi. Makes me wonder how bad Konoha's losses were in the lower ranks due to the war. As for the other villages, Kumo and Iwa are pretty strong too, though not as strong as Konoha at least when it comes to Kage level and Elite Jounin level combat strength. Kiri is actually quite impressive too, or would have been if so many of their top ranked ninjas weren't labelled as rouge ninjas. I guess Obito has pretty much wrecked Kiri. Suna, on the other hand, is doing really bad. Their Kage is easily the weakest out of all 5 Kages. Though they have 2 more rank S ninjas, both are retired and very old. And their number of rank A ninjas is pitifully low.' 

He closed the book and thought, 'Well that should be enough information for now. I'll get more as and when there's a need to." He handed the Bingo book back to the librarian and went back home.