Fujin waved his hand dismissively, shooing the three of them away like they were pests. It annoyed the three of them once again but Gaara surprisingly didn't lose his control once again. He just stared at Fujin as the three of them left the room.
As soon as the trio exited, the expression of all four Konoha ninjas became serious. Hoka activated his Byakugan. Anko muttered, "Such strong bloodlust. No wonder you found them suspicious. It's surprising to see that the Kazekage trained his youngest son to be such a ninja."
Hoka agreed, "Yeah, I thought that he would attack us for sure due to the bloodlust he was oozing. Still, his chakra network seems very weird. I haven't seen anything like that."
Renjiro chipped in, "Knowing how lousy Suna's seal for sealing their Tailed Beast is, it's no wonder that the boy's chakra network is a mess and his bloodlust is so strong."
Anko and Hoka were shocked. Anko exclaimed, "A Tailed Beast?"
Hoka asked, "You mean that he is a Jinchuriki?"
Unlike Renjiro, who knew about it thanks to his connections and rank, Hoka and Anko weren't aware that Gaara was the Jinchuriki. Both knew how terrifying the Tailed Beasts were and immediately became tense.
Renjiro nodded and said, "Yeah. I guess that's why you called them here and taunted them, right?"
Fujin nodded and answered, "More or less. I was active in Sunagakure during my Anbu days and even saw him once. From the intel I collected, he was extremely unstable and frequently lost control of the Tailed Beast inside him.
I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't lose control easily. Otherwise, he could cause a catastrophe inside the village. From the restraint he displayed, it seems like he has gotten better control of his emotions and might not be that big of a threat.
Regardless, his appearance in the Chunin Exam is very suspicious. Normally, no village allows their Jinchuriki to even go out of the village. The fact that Orochimaru made a move makes it even more fishy."
"But, wouldn't it be dangerous if he lost control here? You're low on chakra and I'm not sure if we three would be able to defeat a Tailed Beast!" Anko exclaimed anxiously.
Fujin casually replied, "It's fine. I inscribed a few seals on the tower when I learnt that he would be participating. As long as he loses control inside the tower, I can suppress and capture him."
Hoka nervously asked, "A few seals? Would that be enough?"
Anko agreed with him, "Yes, don't underestimate the Tailed Beasts. A few seals wouldn't be sufficient to deal with them. Don't forget that Lord Fourth died while sealing the Nine Tails"
Only Renjiro looked at Fujin with a weird expression and thought, 'A few seals? Does he even understand what 'a few' means? His 'few' should be a few thousand for a normal person, right? That said, I didn't sense any seals. It looks like his Fuinjutsu has gotten better.'
As Renjiro expected, Fujin replied, "Don't worry, I can stop him. Just don't rush towards him and let me handle it in case he truly lets the Tailed Beast lose."
Hoka, Renjiro and Anko nodded in agreement. None of the three wanted to fight a Tailed Beast. Anko said, "We should report this information to Lord Hokage."
To her surprise, Fujin shook his head and said, "Don't look down on him. He couldn't have guessed that Orochimaru would show up, but he should know all about that kid."
Anko calmed down on hearing that. Fujin's words made sense. However, she couldn't help but wonder, 'What is Lord Hokage thinking by allowing someone so dangerous to take the Chunin Exam?'
After they left the room and got a sufficient distance away, Kankuro couldn't hold it in anymore and cursed, "That guy is so fucking arrogant. He acts like he is some sort of senior to us when he is barely older than us."
Temari agreed and said, "Yes, he's full of himself. I wanted to ask him about the Wind jutsus but he just kept on humiliating us. That said, I'm not sure whether he is that arrogant or whether he was purposefully taunting us."
Her words surprised Kankuro and Gaara. Both immediately understood that Fujin might have been suspecting them and trying to get a reaction from them. Kankuro immediately looked at Gaara and thought, 'This is trouble. Do those old geezers really have a good plan?'
Temari continued, "Anyway, there is nothing we can do about it. Let's just stay here quietly for the next 5 days. Once Baki sensei arrives, we can ask him."
Kankuro nodded and calmed down. After all, they were deep in enemy territory. He didn't want to attract too much attention especially when someone who could force Orochimaru away was present.
While Fujin met the Suna trio, Hiruzen reached his office. He immediately dispatched a few clones and assembled the same Anbu squads that he had tasked to improve Fujin's reputation and ruin Katsuhiro's reputation after the proposal for the Guidance Hall was passed successfully. He gave them a new mission, which was to spread the news of Fujin defeating Orochimaru!
In a couple of hours, a good chunk of Konoha's population learned about the fight between Fujin and Orochimaru. The Veteran Ninjas were shocked. They knew how terrifying Orochimaru was. They quickly asked the ones in power whether it was true. A few even approached Hiruzen. After confirming it, they immediately broke into celebrations.
As for the younger ninjas and the civilians, they weren't aware of how big of an achievement it was. However, just knowing that Konoha had another rank S ninja was enough for them to be happy.
Of course, there was one person who wasn't happy. On the contrary, he was terrified! Sitting inside his home, Katsuhiro was covered in sweat. A terrified expression could be seen on Katsuhiro's face. His body was involuntarily shivering at irregular intervals.
He muttered, "Fujin defeated Orochimaru? And he forced him to retreat?"
Unlike others who found the news hard to believe, he didn't want to believe it! Terror flooded his mind and for a long time, he couldn't even think properly. His blood pressure, which had come down to manageable levels, went haywire once again.
Nearly half an hour later, he managed to gather himself and analyzed, 'He couldn't have gotten so strong out of nowhere. Meaning that he was always that strong. Even if he wasn't this strong, he would definitely have been a formidable rank S ninja when I went to him with the proposal…'
As he realized it, one word escaped his mouth, "Fuck!"
Katsuhiro shivered in rage and fear when recalling his exchanges with Fujin. When Fujin kept him waiting for nearly a couple of months, he badly wanted to rush into Fujin's house and teach him a lesson.
The only reason that he didn't do so was that anyone so impulsive would never be selected for the council. When Fujin continued belittling him, it had taken a great amount of willpower for him to control himself. However, he was glad that he managed to control his impulses. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been alive!
He cursed, 'FUCK YOU DANZO!!! You sent me to compete against someone who was as strong as fucking Orochimaru? What the fuck did I do to offend you? Youu...youuuu bastard! I will never forget this scheme of yours! I nearly died so many times! Thankfully I controlled myself, else that demonic brat would've even swallowed up my bones!'
From wanting to rip Fujin into pieces, Katsuhiro began wanting to dismember Danzo. All his resentment towards Fujin disappeared and was transferred to Danzo. In fact, if Danzo hadn't been protected by Root, he would have definitely gone there to vent his frustrations. Unknowingly, he was saved by those Root ninjas.
In the Forest of Death, things calmed down. Kurenai's team managed to reach the tower on day 1 as well. Things didn't happen much differently than in the canon other than the fact that the Genins were far more alert. Sakura planted several traps and stayed on guard to protect Naruto and Sasuke. Meanwhile, the Oto squad searched for them following Orochimaru's orders.
The next morning, the Oto squad attacked her. What they didn't know was that their actions were closely watched by a pair of eyes. With nearly a day's rest, Fujin had recovered most of his chakra. He sent a clone with 5% of his chakra to keep an eye on Naruto and Sasuke. The reason for the same was to guard against any unexpected moves from Orochimaru due to Fujin's existence.
However, this wasn't the only clone Fujin had sent. There was another Shadow Clone who was at a different location in the Forest of Death. That clone had 25% of Fujin's chakra, 5 times more than the clone watching over Naruto and Sasuke. He was keeping an eye on three unsuspecting Genins.
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