43 Chapter 43 : Training under an Elite Jounin

In the afternoon, Fujin visited the training grounds where Renjiro trained him in the basics of Samurai Saber Techniques.

Next day again began with the same workout. At 10 am, Renjiro said, "Today, we will begin learning new jutsus. Hoka, you'll begin with Rock Thorn Bed jutsu. Fujin, you'll start with Wind Dragon jutsu and Mieko, you'll start with Fire Release : Four jutsu."

The kids nodded. Renjiro then made a hand sign and prepared 3 shadow clones. Each of the shadow clones took a scroll from the main body and then took one genin. Hoka stayed at the same place, whereas Fujin and Mieko were moved to a different location in the training ground. The clones then gave the scroll to the genins, and asked them to read and start attempting the jutsu. As the kids began to learn them, the clone constantly kept a watch, and gave tips and advice when they felt the need to.

The training under Renjiro continued in this manner. The morning workout remained the same. Whereas, in the 10 am to noon session, Renjiro alternated between training them in team formations and Ninjutsu training. In the afternoons, Renjiro trained Fujin with the sword. And from 6 pm to 8:30 pm, Fujin trained by himself. He either practiced the jutsu he was learning, or fought against his shadow clones.

Fujin found the training under Renjiro to be very helpful. Even though Fujin was already able to perform a few jutsus without hand signs, getting tips from Renjiro on the same helped him optimize it even further. Learning new jutsu became much easier too due to the tips Renjiro gave. He learnt the Wind Dragon jutsu in a week, Wind Gale Wolf jutsu in 2 days, Spinning Shield of Wind jutsu in 9 days and Wind Instantaneous Body jutsu in 3 days. The rank C jutsus provided some challenge for Fujin. Wind Dragon and Spinning Shield of Wind was difficult to learn. Wind Gale Wolf jutsu however, was very easy to learn after having learnt Wind Dragon jutsu. Wind Instantaneous Body jutsu too was very similar to Body Flicker jutsu. Only, instead of depending on their own force, the user had to create a gust of wind and use it to move. It's range was larger than Body Flicker jutsu. Fujin was instantly able to move 300 metres away with the aid of this jutsu. Another advantage was that it didn't leave any traces behind for the enemy to track. While right now, Fujin could escape better by spamming Body Flicker jutsu, he was sure that once he mastered this jutsu, it'll be much better at escaping than Body Flicker jutsu.

His sword skills too had improved drastically. He and Renjiro decided on the length of the swords Fujin should get. It was 57 cm. After 3 weeks as a genin, Fujin received the 2 samurai swords he was promised. He was called to the Hokage's office along with Renjiro and given the swords. Fujin did note the fact that Hiruzen took every opportunity he could in order to make the kids more loyal to Konoha.

In the training grounds, he held the 2 swords. Even though he wasn't an expert in swords, he clearly felt that these 2 were much better in quality. On that day, Renjiro began teaching Fujin chakra flow. Fujin, who already knew it, calmed himself and acted like it was the first time he was seeing it. He thought, 'I am not sure I can hide my skill from him. I guess I should just not do what I know and follow his instructions to the T.' Luckily for Fujin, Renjiro's methods to create chakra flow was much different from what he had tried. It was also much more suitable. So he just honestly tried that method. Due to the method being different, he struggled initially. However, once he got a hang of it, the remaining phase was extremely easy for him. In merely three days, he managed to flow his chakra through his new swords. He noticed, 'Wow, this is so easy with this sword!'

Renjiro on the other hand, was very shocked. He thought, 'The hell? He learnt Chakra Flow in merely 3 days? Even assuming that he trained at home, he couldn't have trained for more than 15 hours.' He tried to make sense of it, 'Did he already know it?' He tried analysing, and concluded 'No, his struggle initially was very real. It's just that after he managed to do it a little bit, the rest became very easy for him. It's as if it was second nature to him.' His analysis shocked him even further. He finally chuckled and thought, 'Master Mifune, it seems like I have picked up a student more talented than anyone in the land of iron.' With that thought, he began laughing loudly, "Hahahahaha" That laugh did attract Fujin's attention. He thought, 'Did he notice? No, that shouldn't be it. I guess it's my talent. Sigh, there was no other choice. Still, he doesn't need to laugh like a retard.'

Renjiro noticed Fujin looking at him with a concerned look, as if he was wondering whether his sensei needed some medical attention. He said, "Don't worry about it kid. I just recalled an old geezer who was bragging about the talents in his village. Anyways, now that you have learnt chakra flow, we'll work towards mastering it. The intensity of the training too will increase a lot." Fujin nodded. From that day onwards, Renjiro became much more enthusiastic in teaching the Samurai Saber Techniques to Fujin. That also meant that the training became much tougher. It almost became half as intense as the morning workout.

Mieko and Hoka too made a lot of progress. Mieko learnt all her jutsus within the first 2 weeks, whereas Hoka needed a month to learn his. Learning Body Flicker made Hoka a much better ninja. By the end of the month, Mieko finally managed to get through the entire morning workout. As soon as she did that, Renjiro asked her to start activating the Training seal to 1% of its maximum capacity. Poor girl's joy at completing the workout quickly turned to horror. He had increased the pressure on Hoka's and Fujin's bodies too by making them increase the pressure of their seals to 32% and 15% respectively.

[A/N : I'll call that seal 'Training seal' from here onwards. Probably should've named it when I introduced it.]

Apart from the personal improvements, the squad had also improved as a team. Within the first week, all the basic 4 man and 3 man formations were drilled into the trio. After that, Renjiro began working on their teamwork and combination attacks. A lot of exercises and spars were conducted to improve teamwork. For combination attacks, Fujin and Mieko were made to combine Wind Dragon and Fire Dragon jutsus. It took a few days to learn, but the result was excellent. The fire dragon was enhanced by the wind dragon, nearly doubling its size. It's power was around 4 times the power of both the jutsus individually. The dragon could shoot Wind Explosion jutsu from its mouth, however, instead of normal winds, it was made of incredibly hot winds. On their first experiment, they nearly caused a forest fire! Luckily Renjiro was closely monitoring this training and quickly used Waterfall jutsu to douse the fire.

Seeing that Fujin thought, 'Isn't this very similar to Scorch style? I guess, only the power is lacking.' Fujin looked at Renjiro and asked, "Sensei, is it possible for only one ninja to perform this combination jutsu? And I mean without using clones." Mieko was very intrigued by this question and paid attention. Renjiro answered, "Yes, it is possible. You have to use both the nature transformations at the same time and release them together. One way to do it is by doing hand signs for Fire Dragon jutsu with one hand, and for Wind Dragon jutsu with the other. But don't worry about it for now. This is too advanced. You can't do it right now." This answer surprised Fujin. He quickly asked, "But sensei, wouldn't using 2 elements at the same time be a Kekkei Genkai? How can anyone do that without having the bloodline?" Renjiro answered, "This ain't Kekkei Genkai. It's merely using 2 elements to complement each other. For example, the Yuki clan has Ice release Kekkei Genkai. Ice release is a combination of water and wind. However, if you combine Wind and Water Dragons, all you get is a water dragon that cuts very sharply. There is no sign whatsoever of any ice forming. Combination jutsus merely enhance each other, whereas Kekkei Genkai bring a qualitative change to create something very different."

On hearing that answer, Fujin fell into his thoughts, 'I see. So it's possible to combine jutsus in this manner. I didn't know it was possible. This does open up more options for me. I guess I need to start training other elements too. Wind works great with both Fire and Water. I wonder if it's possible to make it work along with Lightning too. Sadly, I don't think there's a lot of scope in using the Wind element with Earth. I wonder when I'll be ready to learn this though. Would showing off all my cards make him teach it to me? Though, not having hidden cards in a world as dangerous as this will suck.'

He asked, "Sensei, when do you think I'll be ready for this? If I learn a second element now, would I be able to do this combination jutsu by myself?" Renjiro shook his head and said, "Don't think about this right now. Think about this only after you become a jounin. Your skills in chakra control, chakra moulding will need to improve a lot before you begin practicing this. The amount of chakra you have will also need to be much higher. So as I said earlier, for the time being, you'll only be mastering rank C jutsus." Fujin nodded dejectedly. Mieko too hung her head in disappointment on hearing this.