[A/N: Bonus Chapter for reaching 3k Power Stones last week.]
Hiruzen had just returned to his office after giving the speech. He was about to get back to paperwork when Hachiro knocked on the door.
Hachiro entered after receiving permission and greeted Hiruzen politely. Hiruzen asked, "Shouldn't you be conducting the exam? Why are you here?"
Hachiro replied, "I gave the students a lunch break. I am here because I noticed something suspicious that didn't make much sense. So I wanted to inform you."
Hiruzen asked, "What did you notice?"
Hachiro informed him, "My class has 5 orphans who always hang out together. Until a few months ago, I was sure that they would fail. But today, all 5 of them performed all the 3 jutsus perfectly. A couple of them even performed elemental jutsus."
A look of surprise appeared on Hiruzen's face. He said, "That's good. I didn't expect that we would have anyone outside the elite classrooms to learn elemental jutsus."
Hachiro replied, "Me neither. That is why I am suspicious."
However, Hiruzen wasn't worried. He asked, "What are their names?"
Hachiro reported their names. Hiruzen nodded. The names were as he expected. He said, "These 5 had approached Suzuki Fujin a few months ago for guidance and were tutored by him. That is probably why they progressed so quickly. You don't need to worry, but feel free to conduct a background check if you want to."
Hachiro was surprised. He asked, "Is Fujin the one who graduated a couple of years ago at the top of his class?"
Hiruzen nodded and said, "A few of them were in the same orphanage."
Hachiro realized. He quickly thanked Hiruzen for providing the info and left. Hiruzen thought, 'That boy keeps on giving me surprises. I didn't expect him to be good at teaching as well. Still, from my reports, he spent very little time with them. How did they improve so quickly?'
Hiruzen wondered for a couple of minutes before stopping. He shook his head and thought, 'It isn't important how he managed that. The important fact is that he did. From Hachiro's words, those 5 children would have entered the Genin reserve force and wouldn't have achieved anything else.
But now, since 2 managed to learn elemental jutsus, it's safe to say that those 2 will at least become Chunins. If they work hard or have good luck, they might even become a Jounin. After all, though it might not seem much to learn an elemental jutsu at the age of 12, the fact is that they made the progress in just a few months. If they could maintain that zeal for a few years, it'd be great. Regardless, this is a great achievement for Fujin.'
Hiruzen was very impressed with what Fujin did. The act of training 5 children in a village that has thousands of ninjas might seem insignificant. But from Hiruzen's point of view, it was very significant.
After all, there were hundreds of ninjas in Konoha who could be considered Veterans and were far more experienced than Fujin. If these ninjas also guided a few orphans or civilians in the academy and ensured that those kids reached the Chunin rank, Konoha's strength would grow exponentially!
Hiruzen thought, 'Initially, we didn't need any such training as all the clans would train their next generation with all their heart. But, after 3 great wars, the strength and numbers of the clan ninjas have severely dropped. Right now, the highest number of ninjas are from civilian families or orphans.
It is unlikely that this would change in the future. However, these civilian students don't get the same level of guidance as the clan children. After all, there is no way a teacher can make a difference when teaching so many students who have different levels of talents in every different fie…'
Suddenly, Hiruzen had an idea. He thought, 'Wait, instead of just hoping that someone guides these kids, how about I start a mentorship program?'
Hiruzen thought more about his idea and immediately began figuring out the details. In a couple of minutes, he decided, 'Yes, this can be great. I will first make a list of ninjas that can provide good guidance. Then I will assign 5 students to each of them. They won't have to do anything actively. But once a month, they will have to spend a couple of hours with the students, solve their doubts and provide them with some guidance on how to proceed further and create a decent training plan for them.
This way, we will be able to find all the hardworking or talented students that go under the radar. And I can even make some use of the retired ninjas who don't have anything to do. I could even ensure that most of such mentors are civilians or orphans themselves so that they would feel an emotional connection with the students and take them more seriously.'
Hiruzen saw Hatake Takao entering the office with a bunch of files. Takao said, "Lord Hok…"
However, Hiruzen interrupted him and instructed, "Keep those files to the side and call Shikaku to meet me at this moment."
Takao was surprised to see how impatient Hiruzen sounded. He immediately placed the files in a corner and left.
At the same time, Fujin, Teru and Kaen were hiding in the village while keeping a watch. Every single one of them was pissed off!
Half an hour earlier :
Tsuyoshi brought Fujin, Teri and Kaen to the streets of Konoha. He looked at them and asked in a serious tone, "Are you aware of where the new Konoha Prison is?"
The boys nodded. The old Prison was close to the Uchiha compound. The new one was built next to the Torture and Interrogation department.
Tsuyoshi said, "Since the Uchiha Massacre, the duties of policing the village have also fallen on the Anbu. Your first mission is to hide out of plain sight and keep a watch on the village.
If any fight is happening, you should break it off.
If a crime is taking place, stop it and arrest the criminal and escort him or her to the prison.
If it isn't, then keep hiding. Don't show yourself unless a situation occurs. We will meet back in the same room at 8 PM."
After saying that, he flickered away! Fujin, Teru and Kaen watched with dumbfounded expressions as their Captain gave them the most boring of the jobs and ran away!
Fujin immediately cursed, "What the fuck?"
He looked at Teru and said, "You said Anbu missions are thrilling!"
Teru was left speechless.
Kaen sighed and said, "I had heard that all Akimichi clan members are polite, straightforward and kind-hearted. It looks like it isn't correct."
The group was still shocked at how seriously Tsuyoshi had informed them about the mission and ran away before they could react.
Teru said in a dejected tone, "I didn't know that Anbu were also given the duty of policing the streets. No wonder Lord Hokage recruited so many new Anbu. It looks like the newbies will be made to police the village until the training is done."
Fujin said with a sigh, "I never expected that I'd say that the bandit extermination missions were more interesting."
Seeing that Fujin and Teru were dejected, Kaen, being the oldest one in the group, took responsibility and said, "Alright, that's enough brooding. Though the mission is boring, we should still do it seriously. It would be the worst if we do a bad job and they make us keep doing this mission as a punishment."
Teru looked at him and said, "On the contrary, they might permanently put us in charge of policing if we do a very good job."
Kaen's eyes twitched. He said, "Stop behaving like kids and keep a watch seriously."
Fujin looked at him with a deadpan expression and said, "We are watching over civilians. Why are you talking as if 2 S-rank ninjas are going to clash in this street in the next couple of seconds?"
Kaen was left speechless. Though he tried to instill seriousness, Fujin was on point. They didn't need to be serious while watching over civilians.
At the same moment, all 3 stared at the street and kept staring for a few seconds. However, nothing happened. Teru sighed and said, "You suck at jinxing, Fujin. Looks like we will have a boring day."
Fujin sighed as well, "Yeah. Leave it. Let's take our positions."
The trio stopped complaining and took their positions. They kept an eye on the surroundings while staying hidden. None of them was very serious as the job was too easy and boring.
Fujin wondered, 'Now, what to do.'
After thinking for a bit, he made a hand sign.
'Shadow Clone jutsu'
He used the jutsu thrice and created 3 clones. 2 clones had 10% of his maximum chakra while the third had 40% of his chakra.
The clone with the maximum chakra moved to the 23rd training ground. He continued his training of modifying his jutsus with Yin and Yang chakra and relearning them.
Meanwhile, the remaining two clones went to the library.
Fujin analyzed, 'The chances of any incident happening is low. Even if it does, the involved parties should be very weak. I will keep 40% of my chakra with me in case of an emergency. As long as nothing happens, my chakra will regenerate throughout the day. Meanwhile, one clone will keep modifying my jutsus. And the other two clones will begin training in Fire Manipulation.
If we receive the same mission tomorrow as well, then I will begin training in Fire Manipulation seriously while keeping an eye as well.'
Fujin let out a chuckle as he realized, 'I expected to receive some very difficult missions in Anbu. To think that I would get a rank D mission like when I became a Genin. And that I would sneakily train an element as I did during the academy days. Life is strange, hahaha.
Anyways, this is good too. Though it will take a bit longer now, I will still manage to modify all my jutsus in a few months. And I also learn Fire Release jutsus. That should improve my combination of jutsus with the summons considerably. It'd be best if I can complete all of that before having to go on the deadly missions.'
Just like Fujin, around 80 other Anbu ninjas were keeping an eye on the village. 90% of them were inducted into the Anbu on that day. Though their excitement was doused as well, the fire lit by Hiruzen still existed in their hearts. Like Fujin, they too began thinking about the ways they could get stronger.
In the following period of peace, their strength would grow rapidly. And along with them, Konoha too would close its chapter of weakness and revive its military might!
[A/N : We crossed 2k Power Stones. There will be a bonus chapter next Saturday as well.]
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