Chapter 38: Chapter 38 : Light Morning Workout
In training ground 17, Fujin and his new Sensei were alone. Renjiro asked, "Why didn't you use swords during the spar?"
Fujin replied, "Cause I don't have any. I checked the prices, and even the cheapest one costs 12k Ryo. Sadly I can't afford them."
The answer was within Renjiro's expectations. He nodded and said, "I'll be teaching you how to wield swords from now onwards. Don't worry about the swords, I have a few you can use. We will first test your skills and also the size of the sword that'll suit you. After that, the 3rd Hokage will order 2 custom made samurai swords for you."
Fujin nodded and thanked him. Renjiro took out a scroll, laid it on the ground and rolled it open. Fujin noticed that it was a storage scroll. And looking at the number of storage seals, he probably was the one who made it.
Renjiro made a hand sign and 12 swords appeared on the scroll. Fujin picked up two, which were very similar in size to the ones he already used and said, "Sensei, the ones I used in the academy were of this size." Renjiro replied, "Alright, we'll start with these then. Let's have another spar. I wanna see how good your sword skills are."
Fujin and Renjiro then sparred to compare their sword skills. While sparring, both had different thoughts. Fujin was happy that his sensei wasn't the same 'monster' he was earlier. Renjiro on the other hand had mixed feelings about Fujin's swordsmanship.
He thought, 'This kid's basics are extremely solid. Especially considering that he has only trained with swords for less than a year. However, apart from the basics, he has nothing at all. There's no style to his swordplay. It's just a simple straightforward attack and defense. While he has been attacking and defending well, it's only due to him leveraging his speed and strength. If I were to increase my speed and strength to match his, he most probably won't even last 5 seconds.'
The spar continued for a few minutes more before Renjiro halted it. He concluded, 'He's like an unpolished jade! Not having any other styles means that he doesn't have any bad habits. While in the long run it may be disadvantageous, but for practicing just one style, this would be very convenient. Of course, since he hasn't practiced any styles yet, I can't say how fast or slow he will be at learning the Samurai Saber Techniques.'
Renjiro then suddenly increased his speed to match Fujin's and skillfully hit both his swords consecutively to create an opening, and then placed the tip of his sword very close to Fujin's throat. He said, "Alright that's enough. I'll teach you some new forms."
He then displayed a few forms for Fujin and asked him to copy and practice them. The training continued for 3 hours, after which Renjiro dismissed Fujin.
After dismissing Fujin, Renjiro reported to Hiruzen. On entering his office, Hiruzen asked him, "So how were the kids." Renjiro replied, "Very promising old man. They are much stronger than an average genin. Hoka is already at chuunin level in terms of Taijutsu. And Mieko is the same in terms of Ninjutsu, though her chakra reserves need to increase. Fujin's Ninjutsu isn't bad either. Though his Ninjutsu was weaker than Mieko's, he was more skillful with them. And his chakra reserves are higher than hers. The most surprising thing is that his tactical thinking is already on par with someone who has gone through many missions. And, even though they didn't actively strategize, they were smart enough to take advantage of the openings provided by their other teammates. Even if I had conducted a test, they would have easily passed it to become genins."
Hiruzen nodded and thought, 'Just as their results indicate. Though Fujin's tactical prowess is surprising to hear. I guess that is why he was able to easily rank 1st in the written exams.' He then asked, "What about Fujin's sword skills?" Renjiro shook his head and said, "I can't say yet. His basics are good, but whether he can learn further or not depends on his talent and the effort he puts in." Hiruzen replied, "Alright. I'll leave it to you" and dismissed him.
Next day, Fujin got up at 4:20 am and thought, 'I thought waking up at 5 am was too early. Now this guy asks us to gather there at 5 am! Not to mention, that training ground is over 15 fucking kilometres from my home. Sigh, whatever. I guess I'll get a good morning run at least. Not sure if he's training will be as intense as my morning workouts, so I could increase the pressure applied by the seal on my body during that run.'
Fujin reached the training grounds just before 5 am and saw that both his teammates were already there. He wished them good morning and waited for Renjiro. Renjiro appeared right at 5 am and said, "Morning"
The kids wished him back. Renjiro began by saying, "From today onwards, we'll meet here daily at 5 am. Our mornings will begin with rigorous physical training."
He then looked at Mieko and said, "Fujin's and Hoka's physiques are very well developed. However Mieko, you don't have any seals on your body to help build your physical strength, do you?" Mieko shook her head. Renjiro said, "Today, you'll ask your parents to get that seal for you. And get the seal before this week ends." Mieko nodded and said, "Yes Sensei"
He then looked at Hoka and Fujin and asked, "How much maximum pressure can your seals apply?" Hoka replied, "Maximum, it can apply 125 kg weight." Fujin replied, "Mine can apply a maximum weight of 250 kg." Hoka looked at Fujin with a bit of jealousy as his seal was better.
Renjiro then asked, "Alright, and how much percent of the pressure do you two use?" Hoka replied, "30%" and Fujin replied, "13.5%" On hearing Hoka's reply, Fujin sighed internally, 'No wonder he can keep up so easily with me.' Whereas Hoka's mood cheered up as he thought, 'Even though his seal is better, I apply more pressure on my body!' Mieko, on the other hand, was upset and annoyed thinking, 'No wonder these two move so fast. Why didn't anyone ever tell me about this method to get stronger?'
Renjiro thought, 'Really impressive. It seems that I can make their physical training more rigorous than I had planned.' He said, "Alright, let's begin with our training."
And team 3 began their first training session under their new sensei. Everyone was very enthusiastic. Getting personally trained by an Elite Jounin would be really helpful. No matter what their dreams were, becoming an Elite Jounin would be the minimum requirement for them to reach. Only after that could they think of making their dreams a reality.
In the first 30 minutes, all 3 were very energetic. In the next 30 minutes, their enthusiasm died down. After 1 hour, Mieko could barely keep up with the training. Even an aloof Hoka could clearly notice that she was trying her hardest to hold back her tears. Hoka could still keep up and was the only one looking forward to the next three hours. Fujin could keep up too, but he had a very bad feeling. After 2 hours, Fujin was badly regretting the decision he made in the morning. He thought, 'Which fucking demon put the thoughts of turning up the pressure of the seal to fucking 25% for the morning run to this training ground?'
When the training finally ended at 9 am, Hoka and Fujin dropped to the ground. They could barely even move any muscle. Mieko had already dropped unconscious sometime earlier. Neither Fujin nor Hoka were aware when exactly, but Renjiro picked her up and laid her under a tree. Fujin would have screamed for 'Child Protection laws', but he was too tired to even think about it. He noticed that Mieko got up a few minutes after the training ended, and that felt very fishy for some reason.
Looking at that sight, Renjiro chuckled internally. He said, "No need to overreact so much. It was merely a light morning workout. Now get up and move under that tree." They both barely got up and wobbled somehow to those trees and sat there, while resting their backs on the trunk of the tree. Renjiro then tossed a couple of ration bars and a water bottle to all 3 and said, "You can rest here for the next hour. Eat those ration bars and hydrate yourself, preferably after half an hour. I'll meet you here again at 10." He then flickered away.
As soon as he left, both Fujin and Hoka slid down and began sleeping. This pissed Mieko who said loudly, "Wake up you two, we can't sleep all day!" That woke the two of them up. Hoka dismissively replied, "We didn't sleep for over an hour during the workout." Fujin continued in the same tone, "Yeah, wake us up after 30-40 minutes." And they both went back to sleep. Mieko was very annoyed and made some noise, but both were too tired to respond to her antics and just ignored her.
After around half an hour, Mieko woke them both up. As soon as they woke up, they ate the ration bars and emptied the water bottle. The short nap brought their energy levels up, but didn't do much to stop the muscle ache all over the body. Fujin sighed and said, "I think every single muscle in my body is aching." Hoka replied, "Yeah, same here. I don't think it's gonna stop anytime soon." Fujin replied, "Especially if this has to be done every morning." That sentence scared both Hoka and Mieko. Mieko asked, "No way, right? Unlike you two, I didn't even last the whole workout! How will we do this daily?"
Fujin chuckled internally and thought, 'Poor girl. She is totally freaked out! Hahaha. Still, this sensei.... I was upset at not getting a chance to meet Guy and hence not having any opportunity to learn from him. But with this, I don't think it was such a bad thing to not meet him. As insane as this workout was, Guy, probably, still beats this by a long distance. Otherwise there's no way he'd learn the Eight Inner Gates all the way to the 8th Gate!'
Hoka tried to console Mieko and said, "Don't worry. I have been doing such physical workouts for years. After some time, our body will get used to it. And the results will be worth it." That calmed Mieko down a bit. However, Fujin thought, 'Now that I think about it, this is a good opportunity to curb her Uchiha pride a bit.' He countered Hoka by saying, "I don't think that will be the case with Renjiro sensei. If we get anywhere near being comfortable with this workout, he'll probably change it. Even if that isn't the case, he could just make us increase the pressure on our body."
That again freaked Mieko out. She quickly asked, "But can't we fool sensei by lying about how much pressure we have applied?" Hoka commented, "Yeah, we can. There's no way for others to check it." However Fujin countered again, "Even if he can't check it, he'll understand by how tired we are after the workout. So though we could fake the pressure, I don't think we can fool an Elite Jounin about how difficult the workout is."
On being countered again, Hoka wondered what Fujin was up to. He thought, 'I'm going out of my way to make her feel better, but Fujin is making her more and more scared.' He thought for a bit, but couldn't think of anything and let it go, 'Whatever, I don't care. Still though, for a physical workout to push me to this extent. I need to get stronger!'
Mieko tried to think of more ways out, but couldn't think of anything. She had one thought which she was planning to ask her teammates, 'Can we ask sensei to decrease the difficulty of the workout?' However, her pride didn't allow her to say that. She decided, 'Fine. I'll just work harder and improve my physique! I'm the only one to graduate from my class, which shows how much better I am as compared to others. There's no way a single routine will stop me from achieving my dream!'
Fujin didn't see the look of determination on both his teammates. His body was still very sore to pay much attention to them. However, another person did.
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