Chapter 666: A Weird Combination...
"Of course I am! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Fujin chuckled and replied, "Oh, let me see whether you'd still stay excited after a few hours."
Naruto's smile immediately faded away as he thought, 'I have a bad feeling! Nothing good happens when he chuckles like this…'
Fujin said, "Let's start. First, use the Infinite Breakthrough jutsu as you normally do."
Naruto nodded and weaved the hand seals while shouting, "Wind Release: Infinite Breakthrough jutsu!"
He prepared the jutsu and blew intense winds along the river. Everything on the ground along its path was blown away for a few dozen meters. The flow of water in the river became faster as well. A minute later, everything calmed down.
Fujin said, "Good. Now observe carefully."
Fujin weaved the hand seals just to give Naruto a better idea while saying, "As you just experienced, you prepared the jutsu and exhaled it out immediately, right?"
Naruto nodded. Fujin continued, "In order to supercharge, you should hold the jutsu for a few moments longer and infuse more chakra into it. Try to pour as much of your chakra as you can while still holding the jutsu's form. When you feel like you can't hold it anymore, exhale it out."
Fujin took a deep breath, sucking in a lot of air. Naruto observed that Fujin didn't exhale immediately after completing his hand seals. Instead, he gathered chakra for a couple of seconds before exhaling the jutsu out!
The winds Fujin exhaled left several scars on the ground for over 50 meters! The water in the river rushed ahead as if a dam had broken! However, the water behind stayed unmoving, making the river seem barren for over a hundred meters!
Naruto's eyes widened as he thought, 'Man! No matter how many times I see it, it always looks even cooler than the previous time!'
He snapped out of his thoughts when Fujin said, "Even though it is much stronger than a normal Infinite Breakthrough jutsu, it has the drawback of needing more time. Be mindful of that, otherwise your enemy might kill you while you're supercharging your jutsu. It is better to use Shadow Clones to keep your enemy occupied while you supercharge your jutsu.
If you want, you could have your clones hold down the enemy and hit the enemy as well as your clones with the supercharged jutsu. Do you understand, Naruto?"
Naruto immediately nodded. Fujin smiled and said, "Good. Try it now."
Naruto quickly weaved the hand seals and followed Fujin's instructions. He only managed to hold his form for a fraction of a second before exhaling the jutsu. Taking deep breaths, he said, "That looked much easier when I was seeing you doing it. I barely managed to hold the jutsu without losing control over it!"
Fujin's left eyebrow twitched. Naruto had managed to hold his form for less than a tenth of a second. And, the amount of chakra he fused into the jutsu was just around 0.01% of the chakra he needed to actually create the jutsu! It was a minuscule amount of chakra! Fujin couldn't help but wonder, 'What a weird combination… How can someone have limitless potential and yet be this untalented at the same time? Is this nature's way of balancing things out?'
Realizing something off with Fujin's expression, Naruto asked, "What? Is something wrong?"
Fujin sighed and said, "Nothing. Continue practicing."
Naruto immediately started practicing what Fujin displayed. Fujin found a place to sit while thinking, 'It's no wonder no one thought much of him when he was young. If I didn't have the knowledge of the future, I probably wouldn't have thought much of him either. Though considering his chakra reserves, I might have still tried to take him under my wing and used the Shadow Clone trick to strengthen him if it suited my plans…'
Seeing Naruto practicing, Fujin sighed again and thought, 'Leave it... He is like the stock that is performing terribly but will surely give 100 times returns in a few years. I'll endure for a couple of days. Then I'll let Jiraiya overlook this training. Irrespective of his talent, he should successfully learn it within a month considering he'll practice it day and night…'
While Fujin overlooked Naruto's training, things continued moving in the ninja world. On the surface, everything was running smoothly. However, in the shadows, Shikaku was making too many moves. As ordered by Hiruzen, he took control of the spy network of Kumo and Iwa by the evening.
At the same time, he made plans to eliminate their spy networks in the neighboring countries. By the time the day ended, he had already created an attack route to destroy the Kumo bases and began creating a plan to lure out the Raikage and Killer Bee! The scariest thing was that no one other than Hiruzen, Eagle and the Anbu Guards were aware of his schemes!
"Wind Release: Infinite Breakthrough jutsu!" Naruto gathered his chakra and exhaled strong winds along the river. He quickly turned around and shouted, "Did you see, Fujin? I managed to infuse more chakra into the jutsu!"
Fujin's left eyebrow twitched once again and thought, 'Nearly two days and he only managed to infuse around 0.02% of his chakra into the jutsu… Then again, I'm not sure I can completely blame him. That 0.02% will normally be 1% for most other Genins his age.'
Fujin walked towards Naruto and said with a sigh, "Don't celebrate. You have a lot of work to do. Try to infuse at least 1% of your chakra into the Infinite Breakthrough jutsu by the time the Finals start."
Naruto's mood immediately dampened. He complained, "Hey! Don't say it like that!"
Fujin chuckled and said, "Don't worry. Learning it for the first time takes a while. It is even more complicated for you due to the fox sleeping inside your body."
Naruto was surprised. He asked, "You mean that I can't learn it quickly due to the Nine Tailed Fox in my body?"
Fujin replied, "Sort of, but not in the way you think. The Fourth Hokage's seal is such that it allows small amounts of Nine Tails' chakra to flow into your chakra network."
Naruto was surprised to learn that. At the same time, he was slightly scared. Fortunately, Fujin explained, "Objectively speaking, that is a good thing. That is one of the main reasons why your chakra reserves and stamina are so much higher than others your age. It is also the reason why your body heals quickly and why you recover so quickly from exhaustion."
Naruto exclaimed, "It is such a good thing?"
Fujin nodded and said, "It is, though I don't think that the fox is too happy about it."
Naruto shivered imagining an angry Nine Tailed Beast! He muttered, "That sounds super scary."
Fujin chuckled and said, "Don't worry. He won't be able to break the seal. As for his anger, try thinking of ways to quell it and pacify the fox once you become strong enough to ensure that he can't kill you in the blink of an eye."
Naruto was surprised. He wondered, 'Can Nine Tails' anger be pacified?'
Even the beast inside Naruto was surprised to hear such words. Fujin continued, "Anyway, while it is a good thing, it also makes controlling your chakra much more difficult for you. That is why such things are more difficult for you than others. Continue training hard for the rest of the month."
Naruto began nodding but stopped halfway. He looked at Fujin suspiciously and asked, "Why are you saying it as if you won't continue training me?"
Fujin chuckled and said, "That's right. I won't be."
Naruto immediately complained, "Hey! That's not fair! You promised to train me for the entire month!"
Fujin chuckled again and said, "I was, but someone else was more interested in teaching you."
Naruto asked in confusion, "What do you mean? Who is interested in teaching me?"
Fujin replied, "A rather interesting fellow. Normally I wouldn't have agreed, but he can teach you a couple of things that would be very beneficial for you which I unfortunately can't. It would also allow you to make supercharged jutsus even more terrifying."
Naruto asked in surprise, "Something that even you can't teach me? Who is he?"
Fujin grabbed a kunai and handed it to Naruto while saying, "This kunai has 10 explosive seals inscribed on it. Throw it at that bush and you'll see who he is."
Naruto looked at the bush in confusion. Moments later, a white-haired man popped out and shouted, "Do you want to kill me?"
Fujin chuckled while Naruto took a closer look at that guy. His eyes widened and he pointed at him while shouting, "Hey! He's that pervert!"
Jiraiya's eyebrows twitched as Fujin barely managed to control his laughter. Naruto looked at Fujin and asked, "Why are you letting this pervert train me? Who is he?"
Before Fujin could make the situation worse, Jiraiya bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground, summoning a toad beneath him. He loudly said, "Good question! I'm the holy hermit sage of Mount Myoboku, otherwise known as the Toad Sage! Pleased to meet ya!"