Chapter 202: Renjiro's Past & Hoka's Conviction!

Renjiro continued, "They weren't as talented as you three. But they were very cheerful and worked hard. After two years of training under me, they were all promoted to chunins. I was very proud and fond of them.

Unfortunately, at the start of the third great ninja war, the army they were a part of was ambushed by an elite army of Kumogakure led by the current Raikage and the Jinchuriki of Eight Tailed Beast. The entire army was annihilated with no survivors. We never even got their dead bodies back."

He stayed silent for some time. Fujin and Hoka didn't disturb him. He continued, "In the war, I was deployed on the coastline the entire time. So I never had any opportunity to seek justice for them. Even if I did, I doubt I'd be able to take revenge on a future Kage and a perfect Jinchuriki. The sorrow made me determined to never take another squad of fresh genins as students. Until lord Hokage forced me to train you guys.

Seeing your talent, I was convinced that as long as you three grew up safely, there won't be many who could kill you. At worst, you will always be able to abandon the mission and escape."

He stopped talking for a minute before sighing, "However, I never imagined that my student would die in the village rather than on the battlefield."

He placed his hands on Fujin's and Hoka's heads and said gently, "Ensure that you two stay safe and alive. Don't make me attend the funerals of all the students I trained."

Fujin and Hoka said, "Yes Sensei."

Renjiro had a sad smile on his face. He left, leaving Fujin and Hoka alone. Both stood in front of Mieko's grave silently for some time. After a few minutes, Hoka asked, "Do you have any plans, Fujin?"

Fujin shook his head and said, "No. I just plan to focus a lot on training. The next time something like this happens, I hope to have the power to make a difference."

Hoka heard him. He didn't understand how Fujin could have made a difference in this matter. But he understood why Fujin wanted to become stronger. He said, "Let's both train Fujin. I want to hunt down Uchiha Itachi!"

His words shocked Fujin, who immediately looked at him. Though he was very serious a moment ago, he couldn't help but think, 'Shit, Renjiro will lose another student!'

He eliminated that thought from his head and said, "He slaughtered his entire clan. I went on a mission with Mieko earlier and saw how strong the Jounins in their clan were. I doubt we both together could beat one. And yet Itachi, who is only 1 year older than us, killed the entire clan!"

Hoka frowned. He thought and said, "He let the power go into his head. As long as he doesn't keep getting stronger and we keep training, we will eventually catch up with him. Then we can make a move."

Once again, Hoka surprised Fujin. This time it was the conviction with which he spoke. Fujin looked into his eyes and stared at him. However, Hoka's gaze didn't falter. Fujin smiled and said, "Yeah, eventually we will be stronger."

He raised his fist and said, "Three years."

Hoka was confused.

Fujin continued, "I will gain the Jounin rank officially in three years and challenge sensei to a fight. I know you have never managed to beat me. If you want to hunt Itachi, beat me when we meet after 3 years."

This time Hoka was surprised by Fujin's confidence. Hoka smiled and bumped Fujin's fist. Both left in different directions. Fujin smiled thinking, 'If he stays true to the decision he made today, Hoka will get strong. Very strong. I wonder what an S rank Hyuga would be like. But regardless, chasing after Itachi is suicide.

Not to mention his own prowess, there will also be Kisame or Juzo with him. And with Zetsu monitoring everything, Obito too could get involved. So it's best that I don't let Hoka seek a pointless death. After all, Mieko is already dead and it isn't really Itachi's fault. If anyone has to be blamed, then it would be Obito, the village elders and the Uchiha clan higher-ups.'

Fujin walked to his home. His little chat with Hoka motivated him to increase his training intensity significantly. He entered the basement and decided, 'My body is sufficiently trained to resist and endure electric shocks. It's time to train Lightning Transformation jutsu.'

Fujin clenched his fists. Immediately lightning covered his entire body. The long time that he had spent training his body with the burst jutsu helped him to generate lightning and flow it through his body without making any hand signs.

Fujin took a step forward. In a blink of an eye, he reached the walls of the basement. He immediately focused chakra on his feet and exerted force on the ground to stop himself from crashing into the wall! When he stopped, the wall was only an inch from his nose!

He thought, 'Shit. If I wasn't already used to travelling at high speeds, this would have ended badly. This jutsus speed is good but it doesn't provide any control. No wonder the scroll said that the only way to move freely with this is to use obstacles like trees or rocks to change direction.

And though the speed this jutsu provides is high, it isn't as fast as flickering when it comes to travelling and also takes a lot more chakra than it. However, on the plus side, in a battlefield that doesn't have a lot of space, this jutsu will be quite strong. Especially if the fight is inside a cave or if the battle situation doesn't allow me to move away long distances using flicker.'

Having analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the jutsu, Fujin began training it.

Six hours later, Fujin was standing with his back to the wall. He observed all the pillars in the basement. In addition to the pillars, there were 6 mannequins in the basement. Lightning began flowing through Fujin's body. He bent at his knees slightly and disappeared from his spot.

In the basement, lightning could be seen bouncing between pillars. Fujin suddenly appeared before one of the pillars. His left fist was clenched. Chakra had been concentrated on the fist. Fujin punched the mannequin.

The force of Fujin's punch caused the mannequin to explode! Chunks of metal got launched across the room and crashed into the pillars and the wall. Due to the seals Fujin had inscribed on the pillars and walls, the metal pieces bounced back without damaging them. A smile could be seen on Fujin's face.

He analyzed, 'Senju Taijutsu style along with this jutsu is a very powerful combination. I doubt many would survive this unharmed.'

However, his smile faded as he concluded, 'Unfortunately, this is the limit of this jutsu. No matter how much I try, I can't keep this jutsu on continuously. After I attack once, all the lightning flowing in my body disappears. I tried generating more lightning, but even that didn't work.

It looks like this is the limitation of Lightning Transformation jutsu. Sigh, I thought I could match Raikage's speed aspect with this jutsu. Though it's understandable as it is only a rank D jutsu. So either Hiruzen or whoever tried to copy the Raikage only reached this level of efficiency or they are hiding what they achieved and only put a subpar version in the Academy.'

Fujin stopped practicing and went to the Meditation room. He sat in meditation to analyze whether he could modify the jutsu to ensure that it stays on for a long time as long as he continues pouring in chakra.

After an hour, Fujin let out a sigh. He concluded, 'No. The limitation is due to the way the chakra is manipulated. If I have to go past it, I'll have to change the way chakra flows. Unfortunately, I have no experience in this.

I am not sure if I could do something like this even with Wind jutsus. Even if I start experimenting, I'll probably need years of experimentation until I get lucky and find the right way. It's not worth it. I will just have to stick with this until I find a more advanced version or become an expert in Lightning element to create my own jutsus.'

Fujin decided to rest for the day. The next day, Fujin began training the Electric Skin jutsu. Fujin weaved the hand signs. An electric layer formed along his skin. Fujin observed, 'Hmm, it doesn't boost me physically like the Lightning Transformation jutsu. But if anyone hits me, then the attacker will get zapped just like in the Burst and Lightning Transformation jutsu. Alright, let's see how this works.'

He began making hand signs.

'Lightning Release: Lightning Beam jutsu'

A beam of Lightning was released from Fujin's hands. It hit a mannequin head-on and destroyed it. Fujin analyzed, 'Looks like the power of my jutsu has increased by almost 50%. I guess the Jashinist Priest that Mieko and I fought used this to increase the power of his Lightning jutsu before he went on a rampage during the final clash.

If I can use this without any hand signs every time before I use a Lightning jutsu, it could be considered as me permanently boosting the power of my Lightning jutsus. Hmm, yeah, I should do that. While I am training, I'll use this jutsu every time before using a Lightning jutsu. Over time, I will be able to do this instinctively and without wasting any time.'