Chapter 112: Bonding with the Hokage!
At 10, an Anbu appeared behind Hiruzen. This broke Fujin\'s concentration and he observed him.
The Anbu greeted Hiruzen, "Lord Hokage." And he handed him a tiffin box. Fujin, who had just eaten a couple of Ration bars, was amused. The Anbu left after Hiruzen took the box and thanked him.
Hiruzen looked at Fujin and said, "Fujin, come join me." As it\'d be impolite to turn him down, Fujin joined him. Hiruzen opened the box, and there were a few sandwiches in it.
Fujin sat down and picked up one piece. While eating he said softly, "I didn\'t know the Anbu were responsible for this as well."
Hiruzen laughed and replied, "He is a part of my personal guard. They do everything that I ask them to."
Fujin nodded while thinking, \'Well, except for paperwork.\'
Seeing that Fujin wasn\'t taking any initiative to converse, Hiruzen asked, "So Fujin, what do you usually do?"
Fujin replied while taking a bite, "Pretty much just train, eat and sleep, Lord Hokage. Before the chunin exams, Renjiro sensei would train me all day."
Hiruzen knew that. He smiled and said, "No need to keep calling me Lord Hokage. You can call me grandpa."
Fujin got a bit worried, \'What is this old fox planning?\'
He showed an enthusiastic face and said, "Alright grandpa!"
Hiruzen smiled on hearing that.
Since he didn\'t have anything to talk about with Fujin, Hiruzen began telling him old stories from his own experiences. Fujin listened carefully. After all, Hiruzen\'s record as a Ninja was just too good! Very few could say that they were stronger than him. As for his experience, it\'d be difficult to find anyone in the ninja world to have a richer experience than him. Perhaps only Onoki could claim to have a similar level of experience.
After breakfast, Fujin once again kept trying without any success. They took a similar break around 1 PM for lunch. And trained till 4 PM.
The next few days were spent in this manner. Fujin kept improving his vacuum core but didn\'t reach a satisfactory level. Hiruzen kept monitoring and giving him tips.
Over breakfast and lunch, Fujin took initiative to ask for more such stories. He, especially, asked a lot about Hashirama and Tobirama. After Hiruzen ran out of stories to tell about them, Fujin asked about the 2nd Kazekage, 3rd Raikage, Hatake Sakumo, and the Sannins.
He initially started asking them in a way to show that he idolized the past Hokages. But as Hiruzen told more, the conversations became about their techniques. How they created them. How Hiruzen or someone else countered them.
Of course, Hiruzen noticed the change in the conversation. But he didn\'t mind. After all, if he were to tell these stories to any other kid, they would get bored and fall asleep. Having a good listener who would ask a lot of questions was something he liked.
At one point, Fujin asked Hiruzen, "Grandpa, how do you counter the Sharingan in combat? Is avoiding eye contact the only counter?"
Hiruzen asked, "Doesn\'t your teammate have Sharingans?"
Fujin nodded, "Yes. And every time I fight her, I maintain my distance and fight her with clones. Unlike Hoka, who I can engage in close combat, I prefer to let my clones do the fighting against Mieko."
Hiruzen nodded. He had seen their fight. He said, "The advantage of Sharingan is that they can cast Genjutsu very quickly. However, even if it is very quick, they still need a fraction of a second to use the genjutsu.
While not looking into their eyes or fighting with clones works, they are quite restrictive. The better way is to sense when they would use Sharingan genjutsu. And right before they cast it, disrupt your chakra so that you can\'t be placed under Genjutsu."
Fujin furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "But how can we sense that quickly?"
Hiruzen replied, "You can focus chakra in your eyes. It enhances your vision and can allow you to see chakra. Since you are a sensor, you should be able to see the chakra. It is what Sakai Yumi was doing in the chunin exam."
Fujin exclaimed, "Oh, I didn\'t think that would work."
Hiruzen replied, "Yes. But it isn\'t easy. You first need to know how their chakra changes before they cast Genjutsu. And be quick enough to realize it and disrupt your own chakra. However, even this isn\'t foolproof. There are some Uchiha who are capable of casting very powerful genjutsu. Even if you detect and disrupt your chakra, you would still be caught in the genjutsu."
Fujin frowned on hearing that. He wondered, \'Is he talking about the Mangekyou or does he mean that even normal Sharingan can be used to cast such a strong Genjutsu?\'
Hiruzen noticed Fujin frowning and said, "But there is no need to worry. After all, the Uchiha are a part of Konoha."
There was a hint of helplessness and sadness in Hiruzen\'s tone. The relations between Konoha and Uchiha were deteriorating day by day!
Fujin didn\'t notice that. He sighed internally, \'Yeah, I wish. Even without the coup, the strongest Uchihas are already against Konoha. No, they are against the entire Ninja world!\'
Hoka and Mieko also kept up their training. Hoka was the first one to learn his technique. It took him 3 days to learn. However, the power of his vacuum palm was quite weak. Hiruzen provided him insights on how to improve the power and their training ended.
Mieko managed to learn her jutsu on the 5th day. Hiruzen spent another couple of days with her to improve her mastery of the jutsu. He gave her a lot of good advice and proper guidance. After all, Hiruzen was hoping that this act would improve his relationship with the Uchiha.
The Uchihas did appreciate the Hokage for teaching his original jutsu to Mieko. Unfortunately, with the village turning a deaf ear to their demands, their resentment didn\'t decrease.
Later, Hiruzen would try to remove the surveillance on the Uchiha and move them back into their previous territory. Unfortunately, his plans would be opposed by Danzo and the two elders. Losing the 4th Hokage to a Sharingan-controlled Kyubi was a huge blow to the village. With Minato no longer alive, if something similar were to happen, then the other village would probably invade Konoha! The elders wouldn\'t risk that.
So the fate of the Uchiha clan wouldn\'t change!