Chapter 499: One and a half Months...
Fujin got back to training. He trained for the next couple of days until the effects of the soldier pill ran out. After resting for a couple of days, he consumed another pill and trained for another 5 days. During this time, he had learnt the Rasenshuriken, which now needed 34% of his maximum chakra. His clones could create it successfully every single time. However, he couldn't create it with just one clone.
The Rasengan Cannon was mastered as well. Fujin could propel it in a straight line for nearly 50 meters and control the timing of its explosion. In addition, he could change its direction by a few degrees by controlling the winds that propelled it forward.
And lastly, he had managed to master the Blade of the Thunder Spirit. Unlike the other two jutsus, Fujin could assign a lot of Shadow Clones to train the blade. As a result, his control over the blade had already exceeded that of the Ame Jounin who gifted him the sword.
Satisfied with how far he had progressed, Fujin decided to go to Konoha. In all, he had spent 20 days training on that mountain. Fujin ended his reverse summoning and appeared back in the training ground. As soon as he appeared, he saw Naruto training in front of him.
A deadpan expression appeared on his face as he wondered, 'I have been running into him too frequently lately. Is someone messing with me?'
The last time, Naruto appeared a couple of minutes after he had returned home. This time, he appeared instantly! He couldn't help but wonder, 'Is Hagoromo helping the reincarnation of his son? Hmm, probably not. I doubt he'd pay attention to something so insignificant.'
Naruto immediately saw Fujin when he appeared. He quickly ran towards him and asked excitedly, "Fujin, when did you return?"
Fujin answered, "Just a moment ago. I'm a bit hungry, wanna visit Ichiraku?"
Naruto excitedly jumped and said, "Of course I do. Believe it!"
Fujin smiled and said, "Alright, we race there. Believe it."
Naruto was surprised. He asked, "Rac…?"
However, before he could complete his question, Fujin had already disappeared. Realizing that Fujin had already started, he complained, "Hey, no fair! Wait for me!"
Naruto immediately began running towards Ichiraku. Needless to say, Fujin reached the stall within a few seconds and sat down on the stool. Ayame was surprised as Fujin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was sitting on the stool. She quickly smiled and said, "Fujin. You haven't visited in a while."
Fujin nodded and said, "Yeah. I was busy with some missions. Get me the usual… Actually, double that. I haven't eaten good food in a while. Also, make a few bowls for Naruto. He should be here in some time."
Ayame said, "Naruto is coming as well? Alright, order coming right up."
She quickly went in to help her father. A few minutes later, an exhausted Naruto reached the ramen shop. He took some deep breaths showing his tiredness. Just before he was about to complain, Fujin said, "That's too slow, Naruto. You need to train more."
That caused Naruto to snap. Even before he could complain, Fujin had taunted him even more. He pointed at Fujin and complained aggressively, "You cheater! You started without giving me a heads-up. And, you used a jutsu that I don't know. Fight fair!"
Fujin tilted his head and said, "Fight fair? During missions, will your enemies play fair? You always need to be alert, Naruto. Besides, even if I had played fair, I would have still defeated you by more than 5 minutes. Look."
Fujin pointed towards Ayame who was already bringing out a couple of bowls. A dumbfounded expression appeared on Naruto's face as he said, "How can that be? I only needed 5 minutes to come here."
Fujin chuckled and said, "Told you that you were slow."
Naruto wasn't sure what to say. He just became dejected and his shoulders dropped. Ayame placed the bowls and said, "Fujin, don't tease Naruto so much. Naruto, he is just messing with you. See, he already ordered for you as well. Come eat."
Naruto's mood immediately brightened up as he hopped into the seat next to Fujin. Fujin just chuckled and began eating the ramen. As they ate, Fujin asked, "So, how is your training progressing?"
Naruto answered, "I can walk and run on the water. The combination jutsu is still very difficult though."
Fujin nodded and said, "That's good progress. You can focus all your attention on the combination jutsus now. Just remember to practice the four jutsus individually every once in a while and practice tree climbing and water walking once a week or so."
Naruto nodded and asked, "Could you teach me how you can disappear suddenly?"
Fujin shook his head and answered, "Learning too many jutsus at the same time isn't a good thing. You should focus on mastering what you already know for the time being. Once your base becomes strong, you'll be able to learn more jutsus easily in the future."
Naruto looked at Fujin and immediately pestered him, "Come on! Just teach me this one jutsu. I'll master all of them, believe it!"
Fujin chuckled and said, "Alright. How about this? I'll teach you that jutsu as your graduation gift once you graduate. Deal?"
Naruto immediately beamed up and said, "Deal!"
There were only a couple of months left for his Graduation exam. Though Naruto still couldn't perform the Clone jutsu, learning so many new jutsus and skills had increased his confidence considerably.
The two talked a bit more about casual stuff as they ate. Naruto updated Fujin on the pranks he pulled during the time Fujin was away. Fujin gave Naruto some tips on how to improve his pranks further and sent him away ensuring that Naruto won't be disturbing him for a few days at least.
Fujin returned to his house. He stretched for a bit and thought, 'I guess it is back to Flying Thunder God training. I need to increase my teleportation range. I already rested a day on the mountain after the effects of the soldier pill ran out. I can do some low chakra intensity training today.'
Fujin entered his basement and began training. He had already dug a kilometer-long hole under his house and covered it with a range of seals to prevent detection. He had just begun his training when his bell rang. Fujin wondered, 'I have sent Naruto away. Who is it now?'
He spread his chakra field and sensed two ninjas. For a moment, he wondered, 'Who are these tw… Ah, it's them. I wonder what they want?'
Though Fujin could remember chakra signatures, he had seen way too many of them. As such, it was difficult to identify the chakra signatures of the people whose chakra signatures he didn't specifically try to remember or didn't see on a regular basis.
It was like trying to remember names or faces but a bit more difficult. After all, you would see faces whenever you meet the person and use their names while talking with or about them. However, Fujin could only see the chakra signature once he activated his chakra field or focused chakra in his eyes. It wasn't something Fujin did regularly while in Konoha.
He sent a Shadow Clone to see what the two visitors wanted. As soon as the clone opened the door, relief appeared on the faces of the visitors.
Yasushi sighed in relief and said, "Finally, we found you."
Harume sighed as well and added, "We were getting worried after not seeing you for so long."
The two of them were the assistants Hiruzen had assigned to help out Fujin with his Council duties. Fujin's clone raised an eyebrow as he noticed that both of them looked to be under immense pressure. He asked, "Leave me, what's bothering the two of you? Did something happen?"
While Fujin rarely interacted with them, the two were still his subordinates. As such, Fujin would help them out unless the matter was too troublesome. However, to his surprise, instead of answering, the two of them looked at him with an expression full of complaints.
The clone wondered, 'Why are they looking at me like I owe them a million Ryo?'
The two Chunins were speechless seeing the confused expression on the clone's face. After a minute of silence, Yasushi said, "You haven't visited the office for more than one and a half months!"