บท 287: Chapter 284 : A Long Game of Shogi
By the time the Konoha ninjas were deployed outside the village, Fujin had managed to perform the Geyser Creation jutsu without the use of hand signs. Satisfied with his progress, Fujin decided to move his attention to Fuinjutsu.
He returned to his basement and created a Shadow Clone which dispelled itself instantly. The Shadow clone that was in the Library immediately received the message. He packed the scrolls and placed them back and dispelled himself.
Fujin received memories and began analyzing. During the last week, Fujin left one clone in the Library to plan out the order in which he should learn the seals. He didn't have clones working actively on the seal as training rank A jutsus was very straining on his chakra. He could barely train for an hour straight with all his chakra.
A frown formed on Fujin's face as he realized, 'The Four Symbol Seal is too complicated. I won't be able to learn it right now. In fact, most of the top seals are very complicated. I will have to start with the easier seals. It's fine though. I still have a lot of time.'
Fujin planned for a couple of minutes and decided, 'Using too many clones to learn the seals will be redundant. I'll leave some chakra with me and meditate in the Wind Training Room. As long as none of my clones is dispelled, I won't be disturbed and can meditate in peace.'
Fujin created a Shadow Clone with 70% of his max chakra. The clone used Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu to equally divide his chakra into 60 clones. They began practicing the seals while Fujin left his house and moved towards the Anbu Training Facilities.
In a remote location in the desert, a camp was set up. A dozen similar camps were set up in the desert. However, this camp was special as it housed one of the five Kages in the world.
A messenger ran into Rasa's tent and reported, "Lord Kazekage. 500 ninjas have left Konoha and appeared on the Eastern border of the Land of Grass. Iwa reciprocated and deployed 500 ninjas on the Western border of the Land of Grass. And Iwa's ninjas still haven't entered the Land of Birds or Bear."
A frown formed on Rasa's face. He thought, 'What the hell is happening? I first thought that this was done by Konoha. But when Iwa moved, I felt that I could have been wrong. But Iwa didn't invade us and instead, Konoha assisted us. How do I make sense of this situation?'
He thought for a bit but couldn't come to any conclusion. Finally, he instructed, "Have Goza deploy more spies in the Land of Grass. If Konoha and Iwa have allied, then this might be a trick to fool us. Is there any news from Sajo?"
The messenger shook his head and answered, "No. He hasn't even seen the shadow of the culprit! It's as if he has disappeared from the desert."
Rasa snorted and instructed, "Where will he disappear? Ask him to keep searching."
The messenger replied, "Yes Lord Kazekage, but there is another news. It's just that we haven't confirmed it yet. Some spies reported that Hatake Kakashi is leading a 1200-strong ninja army and conducting military drills near their border with the Land of Hot Water. So some Council Members think that he has already left."
Rasa frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. Once again, he received information that didn't make any sense.
Shikaku couldn't guess that Suna would put the blame on Kakashi's head. If he did, he'd have kept Kakashi hidden to keep Suna occupied in the West.
After thinking for a bit, Rasa said, "It is likely a trick by Konoha to make us drop our guard. Since it isn't confirmed, Konoha probably made someone use Transformation jutsu. Let Sajo keep doing his work."
The messenger nodded and left. For the next 3 weeks, Suna kept scouring the desert and for obvious reasons, they didn't find Kakashi there. However, in these 3 weeks, they stabilized the situation in the West. Though there was still resentment against them, law and order was maintained and common people were assured of their safety.
However, the political situation still got worse as Toshio's family reached Wind Capital and complained about the events in Shunkuto. Around the same time, Iwa and Kumo received some details about the events in the Western regions of the Land of Wind.
Onoki relaxed as it meant that no war would happen, while Ay was upset for the same reason. Regardless, the tensions died down as everyone realized that no war would happen. However, both countries raised their guard against Konoha as they were the only suspects.
Neither Iwa nor Kumo wanted to deal with such a headache. So they provided additional security to their Nobles and increased the number of Patrol units. At the same time, Suna began plotting their revenge and started what would be a long game of Shogi with Shikaku.
In these 3 weeks, Fujin practiced Fuinjutsu for more than 12 hours every day with 60 Shadow Clones while he spent a similar amount of time meditating in the Elemental Training rooms. Finally, he received a message asking to visit Hiruzen's office.
Fujin thought, 'It's almost a month since I came back. Did they find suitable subordinates for me? But, why did the messenger ask me to appear in the normal mission outfit instead of Anbu uniform?'
Fujin stopped his morning workout and went to Hiruzen's office. On entering, he saw a bunch of civilian officials along with Shikaku, Choza and Homura in the room. Hiruzen saw Fujin and said, "Fujin, you'll be accompanying me on a mission to the Land of Tea. Wait outside for a while."
Fujin furrowed his eyebrows as he wondered, 'Accompanying him on a mission? Is this supposed to be a rank S mission?'
He nodded and waited outside the room. Shikaku looked at Fujin and wondered, 'Why did Lord Hokage ask Fujin to follow him on this mission?'
He looked at Hiruzen as a thought appeared in his head, 'Does he intend to groom him like Kakashi for the Hokage position? I can see why considering his performance on the previous mission. But, he's still too young.'
Homura also looked at Fujin and thought, 'So this is the kid that Hiruzen refused to give to Danzo. I wonder what's special about him.'
Hiruzen hadn't mentioned Fujin's achievements in the Land of Wind to anyone. So no one apart from him and Shikaku knew. Though Danzo, Homura and Koharu had questions and doubts after the recent event, Hiruzen feigned ignorance and pushed the blame on Iwa.
Inside the room, discussions continued for another half an hour. Finally, the civilian officials left. A few minutes later, Hiruzen left as well. He was followed by Choza, Homura and his Anbu guards. Hiruzen looked at Fujin and said, "Come with me."
Fujin followed him. The group of 8 left the village and began travelling to the South. Hiruzen informed Fujin, "We are going to the Land of Tea to discuss some trade-related matters as well as some cooperation. You don't have to do anything, just pay proper attention in the meeting."
Fujin was confused. He tilted his head and asked, "What will I observe in a trade-related meeting?"
Fujin's first thought was that Hiruzen knew that someone would ambush him. But he immediately dismissed that idea. Despite his age, Hiruzen was one of the strongest ninjas in the world. Why would he need Fujin's protection? He wondered, 'Is he planning on burning some city and needs an assist from my Wind jutsu?'
Hiruzen replied, "Just pay proper attention. I'll tell you later."
Fujin said, "Alright."
The group travelled through the vast forests rapidly. Fujin was a bit surprised that Homura was able to keep up with ease. He looked at him from the corner of his eye and thought, 'Looks like despite his age, he has retained a good part of his strength. I wonder why he and Koharu never fought in the original story.
Be it Orochimaru's attack, Pain's attack or the Fourth Great Ninja War, they didn't participate in any fight despite being available. I don't recall properly, but I think they didn't fight even when Kurama rampaged inside Konoha.'
At the same time, Homaru also sized up Fujin. He observed, 'Not bad. Despite travelling with Hiruzen, he hasn't put his guard down and is prepared for any ambush. His chakra isn't bad either. It's at the Jounin level at such a young age. However, I can sense that he is hiding a portion of his chakra. So I can't be sure yet. Still, it shouldn't be much higher. But, why does Hiruzen want to make him a negotiator?'
[A/N : Bonus chapter on next Sunday if the fic gets 1000 Power Stones. Bonus chapter on next week's Saturday if the fic gets 2000 Power Stones.]
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