Chapter 422: Hiruzen's Hidden Message

The council meeting finally ended. Hiruzen and the three elders left immediately. Fujin was about to leave as well when Choza stopped him. For the next 15 minutes, Fujin exchanged pleasantries with the clan leaders. They praised Fujin for his ideas and a few invited him to visit their clans later.

The civilian council members also wanted to greet Fujin. However, seeing him busy with the clan leaders, the five of them left as well.

Fujin politely replied to all the clan leaders and accepted their invites as it would have been rude to reject it. After getting free from them, Fujin returned to Hiruzen's office.

In Hiruzen's office, Hiruzen was analyzing Fujin's idea. He thought, 'Though his idea is very good, it will pose a threat to the clans... What to do?'

Hiruzen analyzed the issue properly. After a few minutes, he concluded, 'No, this is unavoidable. The number of ninjas from the clans has already dropped to less than half. If another Great War happens, that number will drop even further. If ninjas from civilian backgrounds can't keep up with the clan ninjas, then the village will be very compromised after the end of the next war.

It was a concern that we had for several years but we couldn't think of any good solution other than taking more efforts in the academy and inducting more civilian ninjas into the Anbu so that they can be trained more. However, making them capable enough to reach the Anbu was a challenge. Fujin's recommendation properly fills this missing link.

Not to mention, even though the civilian ninjas would become Special Jounins in large numbers, the ninjas from the clans would still have the advantage. After all, the civilian ninjas won't have access to secret techniques and Kekkei Genkai. So in their fields, the kids from ninja clans will have a huge advantage.

Yeah, it should be fine. I will just have to convince the clan leaders one by one. Most of them should see the big picture. I'm just afraid that Danzo might make some moves. Fortunately, everyone is on guard against him. Perhaps I should make the clans change their focus on creating Jounins rather than just Special Jounins.'

As Hiruzen was thinking, Fujin entered the office. Hiruzen looked at him and smiled. He said, "You did great in the meeting today. I didn't expect such a surprise from you."

Fujin smiled and replied, "They were just some ideas I had that I felt might benefit the village. I'm glad that I got to present them. I didn't think that you would value them so highly though."

Hiruzen replied, "The academy hasn't been revamped in a long time. Your suggestions were invaluable. You might not see it at your age, but in a couple of decades, you'll see the change that your ideas bring in. Anyway, I have another important matter to discuss with you."

Fujin wondered, 'So he hadn't called me to his office to just take feedback on how I felt and give me some advice?'

Fujin asked, "What is it?"

Hiruzen asked in a serious tone, "Did you notice something odd in this building?"

Hiruzen's question surprised Fujin. Fujin thought, 'What the hell? Is there something wrong with the building? Shouldn't he be checking it himself rather than asking me? Or does he want a second opinion because he suspected something but couldn't find it?'

Hiruzen noticed Fujin's expression and frowned as well. He became completely confused by Fujin's actions.

Fujin analyzed but couldn't think of anything. He shook his head and replied, "I never checked this building much. Has there been an issue recently?"

Hiruzen looked into Fujin's eyes and asked, "If you didn't notice anything odd in the building, why did you inscribe so many seals in your office?"

Fujin was surprised once again. He thought, 'That's it? For that thing he made me think so much?'

He smiled and replied, "I followed your instructions, Grandpa."

Hiruzen's left eye twitched on hearing 'Grandpa'. He asked as steadily as he could, "What do you mean? I asked you to not overdo it. So why did you still inscribe hundreds of seals?"

Fujin tilted his head and asked, "But isn't that what you meant, Grandpa?"

This time, Hiruzen fell into a dilemma. He asked, "What do you mean?"

Fujin explained, "You asked me to not overdo it. At the same time, you told me to not inscribe thousands of seals. Didn't you imply that it is fine to inscribe hundreds of seals? I assumed that you wanted me to make those because you couldn't do so for some reason."

Hiruzen was dumbfounded by Fujin's response. He wondered, 'My words meant that? How?'

Hiruzen had a headache. Thoughts ran through Hiruzen's brain at the speed of light. He realized, 'Though outrageous, my words could actually be interpreted like what Fujin understood. But that isn't what I meant. How did he even reach such a conclusion?'

Fujin maintained a neutral face, but seeing Hiruzen being so stressed amused him to no end. Finally, Hiruzen asked, "What do those seals do?"

Fujin replied, "Nothing. You didn't say why you needed me to inscribe those seals. So I just inscribed some defense and privacy seals and hid them under a few hundred stealth seals of different types for disguise. This way, I can inscribe the seals that you want when you ask me to and no one will suspect a thing."

Hiruzen replied, "Alright. I'll let you know when I want you to. You can leave for now."

Fujin smiled and said, "Alright. See you later, Grandpa."

He turned around and left. As he left the building, a wide grin appeared on his face. Back in the office, Hiruzen massaged his forehead. He muttered in defeat, "Now what do I do about this boy?"

Fujin's reasoning left Hiruzen speechless. Though he could ask Fujin to remove those seals, since Fujin had already inscribed them and offered Hiruzen to take advantage of them in the future, he decided to let them be for the time being. Of course, that didn't do anything to ease the headache he was suffering.

Hiruzen thought, 'I'll have to be very careful with the words I use in front of him. Who knows what calamity he will cause if I let him freely interpret my words?'

Unlike Hiruzen, Fujin didn't bother thinking much about it. He was merely amused by Hiruzen's state and expressions. As for his suggestions for the academy, they would require a couple of years to implement and at least a decade to show results. So it wouldn't benefit him in any way before the start of the next Great War.

Without wasting any time, Fujin returned to his training. He spent the next week shuffling between training and visiting the clan heads that had invited him. Once the meetings were done, his life returned to normal. His Shadow Clones worked on the Flying Thunder God Seal while he worked on the Wind Domain and sparred regularly with Guy. In addition, he had one Shadow Clone look over Naruto's training.

One month later, inside his basement, a smile formed on Fujin's face. He dispelled all the Shadow Clones in the room. On both of his palms, a distinct seal could be seen. With one thought, both seals disappeared. Fujin muttered, "Flying Thunder God Seal mastered and imprinted!"

At the same time, in the training field opposite Fujin's house, two words could be heard throughout the training field.

"Gale Jutsu!"

"Gale Jutsu!"

"Gale Jutsu!"

Fujin's clone opened his eyes and looked at Naruto. A smile appeared on his face as a Shadow Clone appeared next to him and popped, sending a message to Fujin.

Naruto continued stretching his right arm.

"Gale jutsu!"

"Gale jutsu!"

Suddenly, a small amount of wind was released from Naruto's right palm. The wind formed a breeze and caused some leaves in its path to move along the winds for around a meter before stopping. Naruto's eyes widened. A wide grin broke out on his face as he jumped in joy and exclaimed, "I did it! I did it!"

He immediately ran towards Fujin, who had already taken the place of his clone, and asked, "Did you see it Fujin? I did it! Wind blew from my hand! And I only took one and a half months!"

Fujin smiled and said, "Good work, Naruto."

Naruto grinned even more upon getting praised. He jumped up and shouted, "I will become the Hokage, believe it!"

Fujin chuckled and wondered, 'Maybe I should make him challenge Hiruzen like how Konohamaru does. That would be a sight to see.'

Fujin chuckled at that thought. However, he decided against it thinking, 'Leave it. The old man has been rather kind to me lately. If only I could have Naruto mess with Danzo somehow. Unfortunately, that asshole keeps hiding underground and has several Root ninjas keeping an eye all the time. Even I won't be able to enter the Root base undetected.'

Fujin let Naruto run around and celebrate for around 5 minutes until he tired himself out. Finally, Naruto collapsed on the ground and exclaimed once again, "I did it!"

Fujin chuckled at the sight and asked, "Want to go to Ichiraku? My treat."

Naruto's eyes sparkled. He jumped up once again and exclaimed, "I want to, believe it!"