Chapter 471: Pitiful Hiruzen

A few moments earlier, Fujin's clone entered Hiruzen's office. Hiruzen looked at him and asked with a smile, "Welcome Fujin. Is anything the matter?"

Fujin clone nodded and answered with a smile, "Yes Grandpa, but it is nothing too serious to disturb you a lot. I am facing a couple of issues. Just send a Shadow Clone to help me out."

For a moment, Hiruzen was completely speechless. In fact, he even struggled to form proper thoughts. He was even wondering whether he heard the right thing! The speechlessness could be seen on his face. Needless to say, Fujin enjoyed the disbelief on Hiruzen's face but didn't react to it and acted as if everything he didn't notice it.

Hiruzen finally gathered his thoughts and cursed, 'This brat! Last time, he was at least respectful about it! This time... This time he didn't even ask or request it! He just said it as if it is the most natural thing to do and I have no reason to say no!'

Though Fujin's tone wasn't disrespectful nor his words extremely demanding, it wasn't servile either and it didn't sound like he was making a request. It was as if an old friend came up to you and asked you to tag along with him to do something. The old friend wouldn't request it due to your long relationship while you too would go along with it because of your relationship and the fact that the request wasn't anything ridiculous.

The only issue was that it wasn't the relationship Fujin and Hiruzen shared. One was the leader of the village and had been sitting in that position for decades while the other person was just a youngster who received guidance from time to time. The two were multiple generations apart. And though Fujin called Hiruzen Grandpa, Hiruzen was aware that Fujin just took complete advantage of the fact that Hiruzen loved to act as a Grandfather-like figure for promising kids while Fujin was aware that Hiruzen was aware of that fact!

Hiruzen was once again put in a tough spot. The last time Fujin approached him, he set a precedent. So, if Fujin had sent a clone and requested him like before, he would have agreed. Unfortunately for Hiruzen, Fujin decided to push the bar a bit, putting Hiruzen in an awkward situation once again.

Hiruzen's mind calculated rapidly, but there was only one solution. He sighed in his mind and thought, 'If it was someone else, I'd have thrown them out. But I have invested too much in this boy. I can't damage our relationship by declining him when he isn't asking for much despite his method being too straightforward.'

He looked at Fujin and thought in grief, 'Why isn't this boy as respectful as Kakashi? Even though Kakashi reads that lewd book openly and shows up late, he is at least respectful towards me and never asks me for anything. Sigh, I wonder which demon possessed me when I asked him to call me Grandpa. I need to be more careful in the future.'

Hiruzen hadn't responded for over half a minute. Fujin looked at him with a confused expression and asked, "Grandpa?"

That snapped Hiruzen out of his thoughts. He said, "Sure. I'll send one."

He was about to make his Shadow Clone when Fujin said, "Ah right, don't create the clone with too little chakra. I'll need him to have some to help me."

Hiruzen's clone shrugged and said, "The only other way would be for you to travel to the south and practice it on seas. However, training while away from the village isn't a good idea. Iwa or Kumo might make a move if they receive news of you training in the middle of nowhere. The Akatsuki organization might come after your bounty as well. If they find you when your chakra is low, you'll be in trouble."

Fujin nodded. Despite being as strong as he was, training outside the village was too risky. At his full strength, there weren't many foes that Fujin was afraid of. However, it was a different story once his chakra dropped too much.

Fujin let out a sigh and asked, "Is it fine if I change the terrain of this training ground?"

Hiruzen's clone understood what Fujin was implying. He nodded and said, "Sure. Just keep it limited to the training ground and maintain the trees on the edges of the training ground. Also, don't build something so big that it'll affect the surroundings on being destroyed."

Fujin replied, "Alright. I'll make a suitable one for this training then."

He thought, 'This might be a good opportunity to practice Earth jutsus again. I have been wanting to upgrade them and Fire jutsus for some time. Hmm, I should ask Hiruzen for suitable jutsus for them as well.

Actually, Fire and Earth elements aren't the mainstay of my strength. Even if I strengthen them, they will be far inferior to Wind and Lightning. So it'll be better if I directly ask him for a ready-made combat system for those elements. I won't need to waste any time creating them. Anyway, that can wait for the time being.'

Hiruzen's clone asked, "What was the second thing you wanted?"

Fujin replied, "I wanted a stronger defensive jutsu. Unfortunately, the library didn't have Triple Rashomon or the Quintuple Rashomon jutsus. Can you teach them to me?"

Hiruzen's clone stared at Fujin. He thought, 'As I guessed. He wants me to teach him a jutsu that he can't find in the library. Don't tell me he'll keep finding me whenever he needs new jutsus.'

He wasn't sure, but his speculation was exactly on point. Fujin was lucky enough to find an expert old ninja who was so good that everyone called him 'The Professor'. In addition, he was very kind-hearted and magnanimous and always showed how much he favored the younger generation. There was no way Fujin wouldn't deny such a kind-hearted soul the opportunity to pass down his knowledge to a promising youngster.

Fortunately, Hiruzen was unaware of Fujin's thoughts. If Hiruzen knew what Fujin's thoughts were, who knew what expression he would show?