Chapter 37: Sparring with Sensei

Next day, at 6 am, all the members of team 3 gathered in the training ground 17. It was a small open area in the center of a mini-forest. Renjiro was the last one to arrive. On seeing his genin squad already there, he wished them Good Morning and said, "As I said yesterday, before I begin training you three, I'll like to see what you can do. So we'll have a spar, you three versus me." He paused for a few seconds and said, "We begin NOW!"

As soon as he said that, he jumped forward with the intention to punch. It caught all the 3 genins off-guard. Mieko jumped backwards hurriedly and Hoka jumped to his left. Fujin, on the other hand, just flickered away. Renjiro's punch landed on the ground where the 3 genins were standing initially, and the ground cracked, causing a lot of dust to rise, which hid him. Renjiro thought, 'Not bad. I only intended to punch the ground in front of them, but I didn't think that all 3 would react so quickly. Especially Fujin, did he use Body Flicker jutsu without any hand signs?'

As soon as he used Body Flicker, Fujin thought, 'Damn! He attacked so suddenly that I flickered away by reflex.'

He then saw the dust rising up and covering Renjiro and so did Hoka and Mieko. Fujin immediately started sensing him, Mieko activated her Sharingan and Hoka activated his Byakugan. On sensing Renjiro, Fujin thought, 'Well now that I've shown it, I can't hide it anymore. So might as well spam it. Still I didn't think hiding my power would be so difficult. I really need to be more careful, in case he pulls a few more stunts like that. I hope I can protect the rest of my secrets for at least another year or two.'

While Fujin was thinking that, both Hoka and Mieko ran towards Renjiro to engage him in combat. Renjiro just stood there, waiting for them to begin their assault. Hoka was the first one to reach him, however, Mieko launched a few shurikens on Renjiro. Renjiro dodged them and then engaged Hoka in hand-to-hand combat. He was able to counter his Gentle Fist style very easily. When Mieko joined in, he suppressed both of them with ease.

However, he soon frowned. He tried to sense, but he couldn't sense Fujin at all. Taking the opportunity provided by his teammates, Fujin had disappeared from his sight and hid his chakra. Though Renjiro couldn't sense Fujin, Fujin closely monitored their fight, waiting for an opportunity to butt in. He soon found one when Renjiro punched Hoka. Fujin threw a shuriken with all his power.

However, Renjiro smirked and thought, 'A fake opening. Always works against brats.' He moved a step back to avoid the shuriken, however, the shuriken curved towards him. That surprised Renjiro. He was about to dodge again, when he felt 'No, something is weird.' So instead of dodging, he just caught the shuriken right out of its trajectory.

However, as soon as he caught it, he sensed 2 small chakra signatures behind him. He turned to see 2 wind spheres heading at him. He took a step to dodge, however, at the same time Mieko launched Fireball jutsu in the direction he was planning to dodge. Seeing that, he adjusted his direction and dodged both the jutsus and created distance from his students. Seeing that, Hoka rushed forward to engage him in close combat.N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

While Hoka was rushing towards him, Renjiro thought, 'Not bad at all. This doesn't seem planned, and their teamwork still needs a lot of work, but they are able to take advantage of the opportunities created by each other. Not to mention that I felt wind on that shuriken, which means that Fujin used Projectile Control jutsu on the shuriken. And instead of pressing forward on a hopeless assault, he took the advantage of that Fireball to disappear again.'

He engaged in another round of combat with Hoka and Mieko. Fujin, who was secretly observing the combat, thought 'An Elite Jounin indeed. That opening was a bait, to understand my location. Not to mention, he grabbed the shuriken outta thin air! Though, I wonder what he'd have done if I had infused that shuriken with wind chakra. Anyways, I wonder if I can fool him using a shadow clone.'

Fujin kept hiding, and made a shadow clone. After a minute, it looked like both Hoka and Mieko were about to lose. So the clone interrupted Renjiro by launching 2 wind explosion jutsu on him. He followed it up with shurikens. Renjiro dodged everything and moved towards Fujin to engage him in close combat. However the clone flickered and moved behind Mieko and Hoka.

All 3 genins began analysing and had the same first thought, 'An Elite Jounin is incredibly strong!' While Fujin had to take some effort to dig up information on Renjiro, Hoka and Mieko got it very easily from their parents. Renjiro's exploits were common knowledge among the shinobi who fought in the 3rd Great Ninja War. That had made them a bit more respectful of Renjiro.

After the 10 minutes were up, Renjiro asked, "The first question for you, when did I make a clone?" Fujin raised his hand and replied, "Most probably when you punched the ground and raised a dust cover." Mieko, who was thinking hard, replied, "Yes, I don't think there was any other opportunity for you to make a clone." Fujin could sense anger in her voice due to being beaten up. Hoka was still confused though. He asked, "But sensei, why couldn't my Byakugan see you?" Renjiro replied, "There are ways to hide even from the Byakugan. Take this as a lesson that just because you don't see it, doesn't mean you can relax and put your guard down." Hoka nodded with a conflicting expression. Knowing that the pride of his clan wasn't foolproof was a big blow to him.

Fujin then asked, "But sensei, how were you able to approach me from underground and still hide your chakra? Also, how did you keep a track of where I was, without letting me sense you back?" Renjiro replied, "There are ways to hide from a sensor. Also tricks to sneak up on a sensor. Just because you don't sense anyone, doesn't mean that you should completely drop your guard."

Mieko was the next one to ask a question. She asked, "Sensei, how did you fight me without even once looking into my eyes?" Renjiro smirked and said, "The Uchiha clan has been using sharingans for hundreds of years. There are many ways to combat your sharingan too. The one I showed you was just the most basic one."

The answers made all the 3 genins fall into a deep thought. Fujin especially was very worried. He thought, 'Does that mean if someone was spying on me, I wouldn't even have an idea?' This thought worried him. However he calmed down on thinking, 'Well he is an Elite Jounin, capable of leading a whole battlefront. Surely Konoha won't send an Elite Jounin to spy on a nobody. I should still be safe.'

Renjiro cut the thoughts of his students and said, "Now all three of you will think and tell me why you lost. And tell me how you could have performed better. Hoka, you first, followed by Mieko and then Fujin."

Hoka thought for a bit and said, "You countered my Gentle Fist and I couldn't land even one hit on you. Also my Byakugan couldn't see your clone. And you were also a lot faster than me or anyone else."

Renjiro then looked at Mieko who replied, "Your Taijutsu is much stronger than ours. And you were always able to dodge all of our attacks, no matter how thorough we were. Also you knew exactly how to counter each one of us."

He then looked over to Fujin who said, "Our teamwork wasn't proper. We barely ever even spoke to each other. I saw Hoka and Mieko tag team against you, but they weren't in sync with each other. And I, despite being hidden, couldn't help much from such a long distance. And we didn't have any plans to defeat you. Not to mention..." Fujin paused for a few moments and continued, "You were just too strong for us to handle."

Renjiro nodded and thought, 'Decent. Hoka's tactical thinking would have to be developed more, but the other two are much better.' He then said, "Alright, this is it for today. You can go home and heal yourself. We will meet here tomorrow at 5:00 am. You have one assignment for tomorrow. Write down your daily routine and bring it tomorrow. And Fujin, stay here. Hoka, Mieko, you two can leave."

On getting the permission to leave, they said goodbyes and left. Fujin did have to suppress his urge to laugh as they both were walking very weirdly. Though that urge went away very quickly as he had a horrifying thought, 'Wait! I was the only one not beaten up. So he didn't make me wait for....' He quickly got rid of that thought, 'No way. He's a reputed commander from a great ninja war, he won't be so petty.' He screamed internally, 'Where the fuck are those Human Rights activists? Also, why the fuck didn't that old monkey make laws to prevent child abuse despite warming the Hokage seat for decades!'

Fujin kept seeing his teammates walk away in a weird manner, while desperately hoping that his thoughts won't ever come true.