Chapter 573 : Great Breakthrough Jutsu!

Kakashi and Naruto moved around a hundred meters deeper into the woods before Kakashi stopped moving. Naruto asked curiously, “What are we doing here, Kakashi-sensei?”

Kakashi said, “I'll be teaching you a special jutsu.”

Naruto immediately became excited and exclaimed while jumping in joy, “Really? Yahoo!!! Which special jutsu will you teach me, sensei?”

Kakashi sighed at Naruto's antics and said, “Calm down, Naruto. Before I teach you, run your chakra through this piece of paper.”

Kakashi handed Naruto a chakra paper. Naruto was confused but followed his instructions. As soon as his chakra flowed through the paper, the paper split into two, surprising Naruto. Kakashi thought, ‘It looks like Fujin's decision wasn't entirely random.’

Naruto asked in surprise, “How did that happen?”

Kakashi explained, “This is the chakra paper. It is used to find out your nature affinity.”

Naruto asked in a confused tone, “Nature affinity? What's that?”

Kakashi slowly explained to Naruto the basics of nature manipulation and how chakra paper reacts to each affinity. It took a few tries and a huge portion of Kakashi's patience, but Naruto finally understood.

He said, “So my affinity is Wind Manipulation. That's why the paper split. Does that mean the paper will begin burning if Sasuke tries it?”

Kakashi answered, “Not necessarily.”

Naruto became confused once again and asked, “What do you mean? Doesn't he have an affinity for Fire Manipulation?”

Kakashi said, “You don't need to have an affinity to be able to perform the jutsus of that particular nature. Even though you have an affinity for Wind Manipulation, you can learn jutsus of other natures as well. It's just that you'll have a harder time doing so.

The Chakra paper only shows your strongest affinity. For you, it is Wind. For Sasuke, it might not be Fire.”

Kakashi thought, ‘From his chakra, I have a feeling that Sasuke is the same type as me. Even though he didn't say so, I guess Fujin had the same feeling with Naruto, which is probably why he decided to teach Naruto Wind jutsus.’

Naruto spoke with a confused expression, “I don't understand. But whatever. Can you teach me the jutsu now, sensei?”

Kakashi nodded and said, “Sure. The jutsu I'll be teaching you is called The Great Breakthrough Jutsu. It is a very strong Wind Release jutsu. Listen carefully…”

Since Fujin had already built up Naruto's basics, Kakashi decided to teach Naruto a jutsu that he could use more effectively in battle. While he could have decided against teaching Naruto and just let him protect Tazuna, like he would soon do with Sakura, he decided against it knowing that Naruto would annoy him constantly the entire time.

He carefully explained everything to Naruto and even demonstrated it once despite the state of his body. Naruto immediately began practicing it. Kakashi looked at him and wondered, ‘Will he manage to learn this jutsu in a week's time?’


While team 7 trained while awaiting their rematch with Zabuza, Fujin's group returned to the village in the evening. Fujin said, “I and Elder Homura will report the mission to Lord Hokage. The rest of you can return to your homes.”

The group nodded and dispersed. Fujin and Homura continued forward and entered Hiruzen's office. Hiruzen was pleasantly surprised to see them. He said, “You two are back early. Did the negotiations go well?”

Fujin smiled and answered, “It went as I had expected. I don't think they will be asking for help considering that their opponent is considerably weaker. On the off chance that they can't defeat them, then we can earn a fortune. As for allying with Iwa, I don't think they will do anything that foolish.”

Fujin's reply intrigued Hiruzen. He wondered, ‘What exactly happened there? Maybe I should have disguised myself and gone with them as well. From Homura's reaction, whatever happened there sure seems interesting.’

Hiruzen said, “That sounds good. What exactly happened during the negotiations?”

Fujin nodded and gave a rundown. Initially, Hiruzen was pleased with how the interaction had gone. Fujin's insistence on not doing anything for free and not taking the initiative to allow them to owe him was something he had anticipated even before he assigned Fujin that mission. Apart from his reputation as the Spectral Swordsman, it was the main reason he chose Fujin to lead the negotiations.

However, when Fujin informed him about the four choices he presented to Kusagakure, sweat appeared on his face. He was left speechless.

He cursed, ‘What the hell? Why does it feel like he was actually wanting a fight instead of negotiating? Even Sensei was never this overbearing! If he had an issue, he would just assassinate everyone he had an issue with, leaving no survivors or witnesses. Heck, even Danzo has never threatened an ally so openly!’

While threatening during negotiations wasn't anything new and Hiruzen himself had employed that option several times, he had never threatened an ally directly. Hiruzen would generally utilize the danger that other major villages posed along with the long list of rank S ninjas from Konoha to disguise his threats as compassion and reminders.

Hiruzen's eyes wandered towards his old friend, whose face was full of complaints. He immediately understood why Homura was angry at him. In Hiruzen's defense, he hadn't anticipated Fujin escalating the issue to such an extent.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Fujin's threat had achieved the results he desired. So, Hiruzen couldn't even ‘educate’ him and ask him to tone down his aggression slightly. He could only say, “I am glad that the negotiations went well. Prepare the mission report and hand it to me.”

Fujin replied, “I could, but considering that Elder Homura travelled such a long distance to ensure that I didn't mess up at the negotiations and also observed everyone properly, I believe that it is only fair for Elder Homura to have this honor.”

As Fujin was speaking, he turned his eyes from Hiruzen to Homura. Homura, who was still thinking about how to eat Hiruzen's head for sending someone so reckless to lead such a mission, was caught off guard.

For a moment, he didn't know how to react on hearing the sudden 'praise'. Before he could gather his thoughts, Fujin bowed slightly and said, “Thank you for your guidance, Elder Homura. I'll leave the mission report to you. See you later, Grandpa.”

Not waiting for anyone's response, Fujin disappeared from the room, leaving the two old men alone. With a few flickers, Fujin arrived at his house and muttered to himself, ‘Creating a mission report for a negotiation mission is a pain in the ass. It takes several days to complete even with the help of the diplomats. Though I can have my clones work on it, why should I waste them on such a pointless task when there is someone more experienced to take care of it?’

Back in the office, both Hiruzen and Homura were left speechless. Given their experience, both could see the lack of sincerity in Fujin's gratitude. He had just dumped the work on Homura and escaped. As someone who had gotten used to dumping his work on others, Homura felt that he had returned half a century into the past!

Hiruzen was the one to gather his thoughts first. He said with a smile on his face, “In that case, I'll be waiting for your report, old friend.”

Homura immediately cursed, “Old friend my ass! Why didn't you tell me that this boy is such a lunatic? He is even worse than Danzo! Danzo would have ensured that Kusagakure was surrounded by a thousand Root ninjas before even thinking about making such a threat!

Instead, I nearly suffered a heart attack due to this boy! What would have happened if they didn't stay calm and attacked us instead? Do you think these old bones could have endured such an attack?”

Hiruzen knew that there was no point in debating with Homura as there wasn't any way he'd win. He instead chuckled and said, “But everything worked out well, didn't it? I have to admit that even I underestimated how much he is feared though. When he was active in the Anbu, all the minor villages were terrified of him. I didn't imagine that that terror would still exist to such a degree.”

Hearing Hiruzen's words made Homura think about the reactions of the Kusagakure leaders. He said, "I didn't know that his reputation was so fearsome back when he was active either. You should have seen their reaction when Fujin mentioned their third choice. Even Hiroshi's eyes showed fear. It was as if he was certain that he would die if a battle broke out.

Which missions was Fujin exactly a part of when he was in the Anbu? And how many of the rumors regarding him are true?"

Hiruzen replied, "Most of his missions were assassination and elimination missions. With how efficient he was, he gained a reputation very quickly. That said, there is no record of his mission reports. We burned it a long time ago. It'll create a lot of diplomatic issues if they ever come out. As for the rumors, there is not much point in paying attention to them. They are exaggerated as always."