Chapter 847 : Personalities! (Patreon)

Fujin's words caught Hiruzen and his students by surprise. Unlike Hiruzen, who expected Fujin to extort something in exchange for this favor, Jiraiya and Tsunade weren't familiar with this side of Fujin.

They didn't expect anyone from the younger generation to reject a request made by Hiruzen. While the two of them did the same several times, it was different as they only did so after following Hiruzen obediently for decades. Not to mention, it wasn't the request of only Hiruzen. It was the combined request of Hiruzen, the former Hokage, Tsunade, the new Hokage and Jiraiya.

Yet, Fujin not only rejected their request without a second's hesitation, but also made fun of it by asking whether he should take the entire Uchiha clan under his wing. Jiraiya and Tsunade didn't know how to respond to Fujin since they couldn't exactly force Fujin to accept it.

Hiruzen was unsure how to respond, when he suddenly had an absurd thought. He wondered, ‘Is Fujin serious? Or, has his technique of making me pay improved to such an extent that he wants me to offer him top tier jutsus or something invaluable to convince him to guide Sasuke?’

Hiruzen wasn't sure what was the case, though his instincts warned him to guard against the second possibility. With Fujin's current strength, there wasn't much he could offer Fujin. And, everything that he could, he didn't want to so early.

Fortunately or unfortunately, his hunch was incorrect. While the three of them were lost in thoughts, Fujin thought, ‘Teaching Sasuke… I had thought about this extensively after I quit the Anbu. Not just him, but Sakura as well. After all, Sasuke is the reincarnation of Indra. His strength will be on par with Naruto. Even though Sakura won't reach their level, she will become a splendid rank S ninja.

As such, ensuring these two owed me and looked up to me should have had nothing but advantages. Unfortunately…’

There was a major difference between Naruto and his two teammates. A difference that made Fujin against guiding the two of them. It was nothing else than loyalty!

Fujin continued thinking, ‘Naruto may be foolish compared to other kids his age, but he is rock-solid in his principles. He is loyal to the ones who did him a favor, no matter how small it is. Any investment I did on him will have multibagger returns.

The same isn't true for Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke betrayed his village, his Sensei, the comrades he trained with, and went to Orochimaru, a man who killed Hiruzen, the Third Hokage. He didn't know he'd become strong enough to do what he eventually did and yet he did so despite the risk of Orochimaru gaining the strength to destroy Konoha.

Eventually, he killed Orochimaru, the person who trained him. Though it was called for, it's another red flag. After Obito manipulated him, he was also willing to kill Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi, the three people who were closest to him. Eventually, when Itachi manipulated Sasuke again, he turned around and fought against Obito, the very person who implanted Itachi's eyes on him and helped him gain the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan!

So, even if I train him, he wouldn't hesitate for a second to turn on me. Why should I bother to waste my efforts on him? There is no practical advantage for me.

While I can manipulate him, the problem is that it is too easy to manipulate Sasuke. Someone else can easily manipulate him again and make him turn on me. This is something I don't need to worry about with Naruto.

Sakura, even though not as extreme as Sasuke, is still the same. Her love of Sasuke triumphs over all her other loyalties. In the original story, she was willing to leave Konoha and follow him to Orochimaru despite everything he had done.’

Since Fujin wasn't sure he'd have their loyalty, he didn't want to waste his efforts and, more importantly, his priceless time on Sakura and Sasuke.

Of course, he was aware that he was more than a bit hypocritical. After all, he wasn't particularly loyal to Konoha. Despite possessing a technique as deadly as Flying Thunder God, he didn't use it during the deadly assault and only decided to use it when he was given a scare by ‘fate’.

However, Fujin didn't care how hypocritical he was. All he cared about was ensuring his own benefits, something he couldn't guarantee with Sasuke and Sakura.

Fujin thought, ‘Besides, this was my analysis 2 years ago, when I had just quit the Anbu. A lot has changed since then. Back then, I was barely a rank S ninja. If I had ran into someone like Ay or Onoki, escaping would have been extremely difficult. Without any gifts or special bloodline, I wasn't sure how strong I would become.

However, today I can stand against the best of the ninjas. With my Wind Domain, I have the capability to confront the likes of Onoki and Ay. It also heavily restricts someone as troublesome as Obito. Thanks to Danzo, my Vacuum jutsus are in a whole different league as well. In these 2 years, I have grown tremendously in every aspect!

So, I already have the ability to stand tall during the Fourth Great Ninja War. In a year or two, I'll make Ryu teach me Senjutsu and my Wind Domain's weakness against the Rinnegan will be dealt with as well.

And, all this is without considering Flying Thunder God jutsu. Once I start using it openly, only reanimated Madara can stop me, apart from the ones having access to Sage of Six Paths’ powers. However, once my Myriad Tetragram Seal starts showing its effect, I may gain the power to even confront them, though winning would likely be impossible unless I gain similar powers.

Regardless, I no longer have any reason to gain Sasuke's or Sakura's favor, even if their personalities were different. Having Naruto owe me is more than sufficient. Right now, I have to devote all my energy to increasing my strength rapidly. Everything else is secondary!’

With all four engrossed in their thoughts, the office became silent. Tsunade and Jiraiya expected Fujin to say something, but he didn't. Hiruzen became even more sure that this was Fujin's new strategy. Left with no choice, he sighed and muttered, “Just tell what you want, Fujin. I'm too tired to bargain with you…”

His words left Tsunade and Jiraiya speechless. Both exchanged eye glances, as if asking each other, ‘What sort of relationship do these two have?’

Unlike them, Fujin was amused. He thought, ‘Interesting. I never thought of using this tactic to force Hiruzen to cough up some forbidden jutsus. A shame I didn't think of it earlier. Right now, it's more or less useless for me.’

To Hiruzen's surprise, Fujin sighed and replied, “You're forgetting that I'm only a few years older than Sasuke. Unlike you three, my powers haven't peaked yet nor have I learnt everything I want to learn. I need to devote all my energy to learning them. I truly have no time to accept a new student.”

Jiraiya's eyes twitched as he thought, ‘You forced Orochimaru to retreat twice, burned his entire country, killed an Akatsuki member while facing four… Are you still not satisfied with your strength?’

While Hiruzen and Tsunade were aware of how much Fujin trained earlier, neither expected Fujin to continue such a training schedule given what he accomplished in the last two months. Everyone who reached such a stage decreased their training time considerably and instead accepted more responsibilities or worked on increasing their influence. As such, they didn't even consider this point while discussing earlier.

Before any of them could say anything, Fujin added, “Even if I did, I'm not sure what you expect me to teach Sasuke. I don't specialize in Lightning, nor do I have any experience in using the Sharingan. I don't see how I could do any better job than Kakashi in guiding him. If he just wants to change his Sensei, I'd recommend one of you to guide him. Any of you would be better than me.”

Naturally, they couldn't argue with Fujin on this as this was a reservation they shared. They just never expected Fujin to own up to it instead of seeing it as a challenge. Hiruzen sighed internally, ‘I didn't expect this… He's serious. It's impossible to convince him…’

Seeing that none of them had anything to say, Fujin asked, “Anything else, Grandpa?”

Hiruzen shook his head, “No, that's all we wanted to talk about.”

Fujin smiled and said, “Alright, I had some things to discuss with you, or rather you and Lady Tsunade.”

He turned his gaze to Tsunade and politely said, “I want your help to increase my cellular activity and by extension, my chakra reserves. Grandpa had said you were the only one who could help me do it. Now that he's healed, can you help me with that, assuming you aren't too busy of course?”

Hiruzen's eyes twitched while Jiraiya and Tsunade stared at Fujin strangely. Not only had Fujin declined their request, but he shamelessly asked for their help without any hesitation or embarrassment in his voice!