Chapter 37: Chapter 37 : Sparring with Sensei
Next day, at 6 am, all the members of team 3 gathered in the training ground 17. It was a small open area in the center of a mini-forest. Renjiro was the last one to arrive. On seeing his genin squad already there, he wished them Good Morning and said, "As I said yesterday, before I begin training you three, I'll like to see what you can do. So we'll have a spar, you three versus me." He paused for a few seconds and said, "We begin NOW!"
As soon as he said that, he jumped forward with the intention to punch. It caught all the 3 genins off-guard. Mieko jumped backwards hurriedly and Hoka jumped to his left. Fujin, on the other hand, just flickered away. Renjiro's punch landed on the ground where the 3 genins were standing initially, and the ground cracked, causing a lot of dust to rise, which hid him. Renjiro thought, 'Not bad. I only intended to punch the ground in front of them, but I didn't think that all 3 would react so quickly. Especially Fujin, did he use Body Flicker jutsu without any hand signs?'
As soon as he used Body Flicker, Fujin thought, 'Damn! He attacked so suddenly that I flickered away by reflex.'
He then saw the dust rising up and covering Renjiro and so did Hoka and Mieko. Fujin immediately started sensing him, Mieko activated her Sharingan and Hoka activated his Byakugan. On sensing Renjiro, Fujin thought, 'Well now that I've shown it, I can't hide it anymore. So might as well spam it. Still I didn't think hiding my power would be so difficult. I really need to be more careful, in case he pulls a few more stunts like that. I hope I can protect the rest of my secrets for at least another year or two.'
While Fujin was thinking that, both Hoka and Mieko ran towards Renjiro to engage him in combat. Renjiro just stood there, waiting for them to begin their assault. Hoka was the first one to reach him, however, Mieko launched a few shurikens on Renjiro. Renjiro dodged them and then engaged Hoka in hand-to-hand combat. He was able to counter his Gentle Fist style very easily. When Mieko joined in, he suppressed both of them with ease.
However, he soon frowned. He tried to sense, but he couldn't sense Fujin at all. Taking the opportunity provided by his teammates, Fujin had disappeared from his sight and hid his chakra. Though Renjiro couldn't sense Fujin, Fujin closely monitored their fight, waiting for an opportunity to butt in. He soon found one when Renjiro punched Hoka. Fujin threw a shuriken with all his power.
However, Renjiro smirked and thought, 'A fake opening. Always works against brats.' He moved a step back to avoid the shuriken, however, the shuriken curved towards him. That surprised Renjiro. He was about to dodge again, when he felt 'No, something is weird.' So instead of dodging, he just caught the shuriken right out of its trajectory.
However, as soon as he caught it, he sensed 2 small chakra signatures behind him. He turned to see 2 wind spheres heading at him. He took a step to dodge, however, at the same time Mieko launched Fireball jutsu in the direction he was planning to dodge. Seeing that, he adjusted his direction and dodged both the jutsus and created distance from his students. Seeing that, Hoka rushed forward to engage him in close combat.
While Hoka was rushing towards him, Renjiro thought, 'Not bad at all. This doesn't seem planned, and their teamwork still needs a lot of work, but they are able to take advantage of the opportunities created by each other. Not to mention that I felt wind on that shuriken, which means that Fujin used Projectile Control jutsu on the shuriken. And instead of pressing forward on a hopeless assault, he took the advantage of that Fireball to disappear again.'
He engaged in another round of combat with Hoka and Mieko. Fujin, who was secretly observing the combat, thought 'An Elite Jounin indeed. That opening was a bait, to understand my location. Not to mention, he grabbed the shuriken outta thin air! Though, I wonder what he'd have done if I had infused that shuriken with wind chakra. Anyways, I wonder if I can fool him using a shadow clone.'
Fujin kept hiding, and made a shadow clone. After a minute, it looked like both Hoka and Mieko were about to lose. So the clone interrupted Renjiro by launching 2 wind explosion jutsu on him. He followed it up with shurikens. Renjiro dodged everything and moved towards Fujin to engage him in close combat. However the clone flickered and moved behind Mieko and Hoka.
Seeing Renjiro approaching, Hoka began moving forward to engage him. However, Fujin sensed a huge chakra built up by Mieko and shouted, "Hoka, move aside!" That shout alarmed Hoka and he turned to see that Mieko was weaving hand signs and had gathered almost all of her chakra. He quickly got out of her way and created distance by running to his left.
Mieko, actually, was very frustrated by this fight. Poor girl had been trying to use Sharingan Genjutsu on her sensei since the start of the fight, but not once did he look in her eyes. Due to her frustration, she launched Fire Dragon jutsu, and nearly poured all her chakra in it. Fujin's clone sensed that and used Great Breakthrough jutsu. He timed his jutsu just after Mieko launched hers, and tried to limit the range of his jutsu to just cover her Fire Dragon. The result increased the power and the size of the Dragon. Not wanting to take that jutsu head-on, Renjiro flickered away.
The power of this jutsu really surprised Hoka and Mieko. Especially Mieko, who was awestruck by it.
Fujin was still keeping an eye on Renjiro. He noticed that Renjiro had flickered without using any hand signs, and had flickered just enough distance to barely dodge the jutsus. He thought, 'Sigh, that's the first time he has used a Ninjutsu. Anyways, it seems like this fight is pretty much over. Hoka has taken quite a beating. So has Mieko and she is out of chakra too. Only I am still fine. Sadly there's not much me and my clone can do. Not having a good long range jutsu sucks though. Despite being perfectly hidden, there's not much I can do.'
Right then, Fujin suddenly used Body Flicker jutsu purely with his instincts. However, right when his feet left the ground, a hand came out of the ground and caught his right leg. This caused him to fall forward, at a very rapid speed. Luckily for him, he managed to put his arms forward, ensuring that his face didn't get badly damaged.
Soon, another hand clutched the back of his neck and pinned him to the ground. He realized that it was Renjiro's chakra signature and thought, 'What the fuck? I didn't sense him at all.' He soon got his clone's memories. His clone had been dispelled, and Hoka and Mieko had been defeated.
He thought, 'A clone? But when?' On thinking a bit he realised, 'Was it when the dust provided him cover? But I had almost immediately begun sensing him, was that fraction of a second enough for him to make a clone and hide it or his main body? And why didn't I sense him? I should be able to sense anyone sensing me. Heck, even if someone merely looks at me, I sense that too!'
Renjiro thought, 'He was able to see an attack coming? No, that doesn't seem right, my chakra control was perfect. It seems like he decided to move purely on his instincts.' He then took his hand off Fujin's neck and said, "That's enough. Follow me." Fujin followed Renjiro to where Hoka and Mieko were. Both were lying on the ground. He thought, 'Poor kids. They really got beat up! Both their faces are swollen. And there are bruises even on their limbs.' Renjiro, who had beaten up these 2 and dispelled Fujin's clone, dispelled himself. Fujin then looked at Renjiro and thought, 'Did he beat these 2 up to curb their arrogance? Well whatever, I hope they think more now.'
After getting his clone's memories, Renjiro looked at Fujin in a new light and thought, 'Very good. He was successfully able to hide from my clone not only once, but twice. If not for the fact that his clone had only half his chakra, my clone might not have been able to identify him as a clone. He has a very good mindset. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any good long range jutsu. Which meant that him hiding such a long distance away was disadvantageous to him as well. Also, he gave up a bit too quickly after I caught him. Something I should correct, though I suppose it did save him from receiving a beating. A shame really, though he doesn't seem as arrogant as the other two, some beating would have been good for his development.' Luckily for Fujin, he was totally oblivious of Renjiro's plans and thoughts.
He then looked at Hoka and Mieko and thought, 'But that still makes him much better than these two. Sigh, which genin engages a jounin in a head-on confrontation? But other than that, their skills are very good. Hoka is very good at Taijutsu and he is very fast too. And Mieko's Fire release jutsus were quite strong for a genin. I'm still surprised by the combo attack of Fujin and her.'
While Renjiro was engaged in those thoughts, both Hoka and Mieko got up. Though they still were groaning and looking at their 'sensei' with a lot of complaints. Mieko also looked begrudgingly at Fujin, who seemed to be in a much better condition.
Renjiro of course ignored those looks and said, "You have ten minutes. Sit here quietly and think about our little spar. I'll ask you some questions after 10 minutes and I expect you to answer them." Fujin sat down and began to analyze the fight. Hoka and Mieko did that too, however they were still looking at Renjiro angrily.
All 3 genins began analysing and had the same first thought, 'An Elite Jounin is incredibly strong!' While Fujin had to take some effort to dig up information on Renjiro, Hoka and Mieko got it very easily from their parents. Renjiro's exploits were common knowledge among the shinobi who fought in the 3rd Great Ninja War. That had made them a bit more respectful of Renjiro.
After the 10 minutes were up, Renjiro asked, "The first question for you, when did I make a clone?" Fujin raised his hand and replied, "Most probably when you punched the ground and raised a dust cover." Mieko, who was thinking hard, replied, "Yes, I don't think there was any other opportunity for you to make a clone." Fujin could sense anger in her voice due to being beaten up. Hoka was still confused though. He asked, "But sensei, why couldn't my Byakugan see you?" Renjiro replied, "There are ways to hide even from the Byakugan. Take this as a lesson that just because you don't see it, doesn't mean you can relax and put your guard down." Hoka nodded with a conflicting expression. Knowing that the pride of his clan wasn't foolproof was a big blow to him.
Fujin then asked, "But sensei, how were you able to approach me from underground and still hide your chakra? Also, how did you keep a track of where I was, without letting me sense you back?" Renjiro replied, "There are ways to hide from a sensor. Also tricks to sneak up on a sensor. Just because you don't sense anyone, doesn't mean that you should completely drop your guard."
Mieko was the next one to ask a question. She asked, "Sensei, how did you fight me without even once looking into my eyes?" Renjiro smirked and said, "The Uchiha clan has been using sharingans for hundreds of years. There are many ways to combat your sharingan too. The one I showed you was just the most basic one."
The answers made all the 3 genins fall into a deep thought. Fujin especially was very worried. He thought, 'Does that mean if someone was spying on me, I wouldn't even have an idea?' This thought worried him. However he calmed down on thinking, 'Well he is an Elite Jounin, capable of leading a whole battlefront. Surely Konoha won't send an Elite Jounin to spy on a nobody. I should still be safe.'
Renjiro cut the thoughts of his students and said, "Now all three of you will think and tell me why you lost. And tell me how you could have performed better. Hoka, you first, followed by Mieko and then Fujin."
Hoka thought for a bit and said, "You countered my Gentle Fist and I couldn't land even one hit on you. Also my Byakugan couldn't see your clone. And you were also a lot faster than me or anyone else."
Renjiro then looked at Mieko who replied, "Your Taijutsu is much stronger than ours. And you were always able to dodge all of our attacks, no matter how thorough we were. Also you knew exactly how to counter each one of us."
He then looked over to Fujin who said, "Our teamwork wasn't proper. We barely ever even spoke to each other. I saw Hoka and Mieko tag team against you, but they weren't in sync with each other. And I, despite being hidden, couldn't help much from such a long distance. And we didn't have any plans to defeat you. Not to mention..." Fujin paused for a few moments and continued, "You were just too strong for us to handle."
Renjiro nodded and thought, 'Decent. Hoka's tactical thinking would have to be developed more, but the other two are much better.' He then said, "Alright, this is it for today. You can go home and heal yourself. We will meet here tomorrow at 5:00 am. You have one assignment for tomorrow. Write down your daily routine and bring it tomorrow. And Fujin, stay here. Hoka, Mieko, you two can leave."
On getting the permission to leave, they said goodbyes and left. Fujin did have to suppress his urge to laugh as they both were walking very weirdly. Though that urge went away very quickly as he had a horrifying thought, 'Wait! I was the only one not beaten up. So he didn't make me wait for....' He quickly got rid of that thought, 'No way. He's a reputed commander from a great ninja war, he won't be so petty.' He screamed internally, 'Where the fuck are those Human Rights activists? Also, why the fuck didn't that old monkey make laws to prevent child abuse despite warming the Hokage seat for decades!'
Fujin kept seeing his teammates walk away in a weird manner, while desperately hoping that his thoughts won't ever come true.
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