Chapter 446: Hiruzen the Matchmaker
While Fujin was researching about the Jashin, Hiruzen was sitting in his office facing a different headache. Hiruzen was staring intently at the 3 letters on his desk.
Despite his decades of experience, Hiruzen was left clueless about how to handle the situation in front of him. The three letters were sent to him by the Hyuga, Yamanaka and the Inuzuka clan leaders. All three letters were extremely similar to one another!
He cursed, 'That brat. Just when I thought that he wouldn't trouble me again, he caused me headaches once again. Though I can't fault him on this one, he is still the reason for this headache. Sigh, I'm getting too old. Though they don't state it specifically, don't they have any shame asking a widowed old man to decide something like this?'
The letters from the three clan leaders requested Fujin to be the Jounin Sensei of teams of their respective children.
Some time ago -
Hyuga Clan Compound -
Hyuga Hiashi sat in front of a table writing a letter. Once he was done, he read it while wondering, 'Is this the right thing to do?'
He fell into deep thought for a few minutes. Finally, his expression became resolute as he thought, 'Hinata is too timid and soft. As she is now, she won't be able to accomplish much as a ninja. The chances of that changing is negligible. Once the time comes, there will be no other choice but to put the seal on her.'
Hiashi stopped thinking. He had seen what had happened with his brother due to the seal. If possible, he would choose to not have either of his daughters be branded by the curse seal. Unfortunately, that was a difficult task and against their customs.
He thought, 'Suzuki Fujin is almost opposite to her. Though not a lot of his information is available even to us clan leaders, there is little question about how lethal and ruthless he is on the battlefield. Though I failed, there might be some hope for him to succeed.
Even if he doesn't, if he trains Hinata, it'll give me several opportunities to interact with him. I'll take these opportunities to get closer to him and ask him to marry Hinata.
The reason to brand the curse seal on branch members is for their safety on the battlefield. However, what better safety there will be than being with a rank S ninja? Not to mention, there is no way someone like him will allow his partner to be branded by the curse seal.
I can use the pressure applied by a rank S ninja to avoid branding Hinata with the curse seal. That will be the best for her. I just hope everything goes well.'
Yamanaka Clan Compound -
Just like Hiashi, Inoichi had written a letter as well. His request was the same as well. He asked Fujin to be Ino's Jounin Sensei.
Inoichi thought, 'I hadn't expected Fujin to be a good teacher as well. After all, Kakashi, despite his prowess, failed every team he was assigned. And, he was assigned the top teams of each year. Unlike him, Fujin already has shown great signs despite being much younger.
From what Ino says, Naruto has steadily become stronger this year. His Taijutsu has improved and within a few months, he has mastered some Wind jutsus. When I heard that Fujin had taken an interest in Naruto, I thought that he wanted to create an influence over Konoha's only Jinchuriki. I never expected that he'd surprise me. Such progress by someone like Naruto is shocking. If Fujin can be assigned to Ino's team, she will benefit a lot. So will Shikamaru and Choji.
Though Lord Hokage wants Asuma to be their Jounin Sensei, our three clans are already very close to the Sarutobi clan. There won't be any change. However, with Fujin, there are a lot of benefits. I'll ask Shikaku and Choza to back me up as well.
Not to mention, Fujin is an orphan without any clan. If they fall in love and he marries Ino, he'd be a part of the Yamanaka clan as well. With a rank S ninja among our ranks and two votes on the council, I could increase the amount of benefits the Yamanaka clan gets several times.'
Inoichi sent the letter to Hiruzen and asked Shikaku and Choza to do the same very soon as well.
Inuzuka Clan Compound -
Tsume wrote a similar letter as well while thinking, 'Though Kiba has talent, he lacks discipline and focus. I still recall how much that kid trained in the 5 days he was in the central tower in the Forest of Death. If he can instill that discipline in Kiba, then I wouldn't need to worry.'
A smirk appeared on her face as she thought, 'Of course, if he becomes Kiba's Jounin Sensei, then it'll provide me a chance to push Hana closer to him. That girl is still very reserved. I need to teach her a thing or two about being a woman!'
Back to the present -
Hiruzen stayed in his chair while wondering what he should do. Though he could very easily see what the true goal of the clan leaders was, he still needed to make a decision.
He analyzed, 'What should I do? In terms of relationships, I'm a lot closer to Inoichi. However, the Hyuga clan has a lot more influence. Not to mention, the Inuzuka clan is with them as well on this matter. While forming a squad, Hyuga and Inuzuka ninjas are the most preferred teammates due to their abilities. I can't offend both of them at the same time.'
Hiruzen massaged his forehead while thinking, 'That said, what luck this brat has. Three clan leaders want to set him up with their daughters. Now that I think about it, the same should have happened with Minato. He was even more impressive than Fujin at this age.
However, he was already in a relationship with Kushina by the time he gained fame. No one dared to make a move fearing Kushina's response. Since Fujin isn't in any relationship, nothing is stopping them. Fortunately, Hinata and Ino are still very young and Fujin is stronger than the clan leaders. Otherwise, they might have gone past me and directly tried to do something.'
As Hiruzen was thinking, he heard a voice, "What interesting letters, Sensei. This brat's luck makes even the Great Toad Sage Jiraiya feel envy, hahaha."
Hiruzen looked behind him to see that Jiraiya was sitting at the window. He looked at him with annoyance. Without being asked for, Jiraiya gave his free advice, "Why don't you just put the three of them in one squad? Won't that solve the issue? Just imagine that lucky brat with three girls. He'll be in heaven and hell at the same time. It'll be fun to watch. I'll get so much more research material for my next book!"
Hiruzen looked at the letters again as he asked, "Solve the issue? Or raise a hundred new ones? The Ino-Shika-Cho formation can't be disrupted. With the three of them working together, they can become a rank S-level threat in the future just like their parents. It's not something we can give up on for some whim."
He thought, 'Besides, what fun will I get to watch? Those girls won't come of age for the next 6 years. Will I be even still alive and kicking by them? Even if I am, this brat hides behind a million seals. Even my crystal ball doesn't work! Who knows what he needs so much privacy for!'
Jiraiya said, "Stop being a party pooper, Sensei. Just imagine that my next book can be titled, The Orphan and the Three Princess!"
Hiruzen looked at Jiraiya with a tick mark on his forehead. Jiraiya chuckled and asked, "So, what will you do?"
Hiruzen answered, "What can I do? I'll obviously need to ignore their real agenda. As for the decision, I'll leave it to Fujin. Let him decide."
Jiraiya sighed and said, "That's boring."
Hiruzen glanced at him and said, "If you want to make it interesting, come take this seat. Feel free to do whatever you want to then."
Jiraiya immediately replied, "No thanks, I am out!"
A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared and Jiraiya disappeared within the smoke. Hiruzen cursed internally, 'At this rate, I'll have to do paperwork until I am 100 years old! I need to quickly find someone to dump these neverending files on!'
He looked at the three letters and muttered to himself, 'Enjoy, for now, kiddo. I promise that your future years won't be this carefree!'
Hiruzen decided to leave the choice to Fujin. He didn't want any more headaches. As for Fujin, he was completely unaware of the fact that two grown men and one woman were about to force their daughters on him as soon as he returned back to the village! Whether he'd be pleased or annoyed remains to be seen!
[A/N: Next Chapter : Fujin - The Harem Lord.
Just kidding. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Needless to say, these events don't occur. I had this idea back in September when I was writing a chapter. Back then I got a lovely recommendation to use this idea as the Halloween Trick! Unfortunately, October was very busy for me. I wanted to write this on Christmas, but once again I got busy exactly around that time. Finally managed to get this done today.
Lemme know if you guys would like a follow-up on this chapter sometime later. Could be another fun chapter (though I won't be able to blend it in the chapters as a prank chapter as the plot would have moved forward). Anyways...
Happy New Year everyone. I hope everyone has a prosperous and healthy year ahead of you and I hope all of you are able to make your New Year resolutions come true :)
PS: This isn't the gift I promised. That is already up on P@treon and is free to be read by anyone. Check the latest free post (or if you read this chapter sometime later, then check the free post uploaded on 1st January 2024 on my P@treon).]
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